Fashionably Hotter Than Hell: Book Six, The Hot Damned Series Read online

  "Nope, I do believe I've finally found it."

  "Found what?"

  "The last wall I have to break," I answered. "I told you before…you're mine."

  "I'm no one’s," Raquel insisted weakly as she closed her eyes and clenched her fists at her sides. "I will not risk doing this to you. You could end up dying every night or just simply dying."

  "Or we could both live out our immortality together—happily."

  "There are no guarantees about how the story will end," she insisted. "I'm a freak. There is no explanation for me. There is no telling what could happen to you."

  "Tell me why you die every night."

  Her chin dropped to her chest and her shoulders sagged forward. "It's a spell—a punishment I suppose. All I know is that I’m cursed. It was cast by someone shortly after I was turned."

  "Who?"

  "Ahh, there's the conundrum," she spat with hopelessness and fury. "I don't know. No one knows."

  "Can it be broken?" I asked, not caring either way.

  I would take Raquel any way I could get her. If I died at night with her, it would be a small price to pay. And if we died for real, we would still be together. Win—win.

  "Some believe if I mate the spell will be broken," she admitted cautiously. "And some believe if I mate, the spell will kill my mate and myself. No one knows… and I can't take that chance with you. I won't."

  "Look at me."

  "No," she said as she squeezed her eyes shut even tighter. "I can't."

  "Fine," I replied lightly and closed the distance between us. The relief of touching her almost undid me.

  I pressed my lips to her ear and breathed in her scent. "You are my mate. You will mate with me," I whispered.

  Her body shuddered with desire and I ran my tongue along her delicate jaw.

  "Did you not hear anything I just said?" she demanded as she tried to push me away. "I have denied you for hundreds of years because I'm wildly, insanely in love with you. Nothing you can do or say will change my mind."

  "Again, I have to disagree," I said as a smile pulled at the corner of my lips.

  "Oh my God," she hissed as she tried to bite back her inappropriate grin. "This is not funny. At all."

  She pushed against me again. I grabbed her wrists and wound them around my neck. We were nose to nose and our lips were a breath apart.

  "Kiss me," I begged gruffly. "If you don't, I'll lose it."

  "I’ll kiss you, but if you bite me, I will beat your ass," she said as her eyes turned from silver-blue to green.

  “Do it. I dare you.”

  “You suck,” she whispered as she bit back a giggle.

  “I’ve been known to,” I agreed with a grin and a shrug as I leaned in even closer.

  And she kissed me.

  My head spun and my need for her intensified to proportions I'd never known. Her lips were soft and her taste intoxicating. While I wanted nothing more than to throw her on the bed and lose myself in her body, we still had a few more things to get straight.

  I pulled away, but stayed close enough that escape wasn't an option.

  "I have lived half a life for hundreds of years," I told her. Her lips opened to argue and I gently put my finger over them. "I no longer want half a life. It's the same as no life at all."

  "That was kind of brave," she said with a smirk.

  "My words?"

  "Nope, putting your finger over my mouth so close to my teeth. I could have bitten it clean off."

  "I'll remember that in the future," I said with a grin. "Raquel, I don't care if you die every night. I don't care if I die every night. I don't care if this kills both of us because we'll be together—in Heaven or in Hell. I just don't give a fuck as long as I'm with you."

  "It's not your call," she said as tears pooled in her eyes. "It's mine."

  "No, it's ours. In your quest to save me, you've almost destroyed me. A mate will eventually go insane without their other half. Death would be kinder. I already feel the pull toward madness. Is that what you want for me? For you?"

  "No," she whispered so softly I had to lean in.

  "Missed that, Red," I said with a raised brow as I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

  "I said no, but wouldn't you have done the same?" she demanded harshly as her eyes rose defiantly to mine.

  That stopped me. Would I have done the same thing? Possibly.

  "A little space here?" she inquired.

  "Will you run?" I asked.

  "No. I won't. Not this time," she promised.

  I gave her the space to think as I walked back to the other side of the room. Arguments raced around in my brain. I would not lose. I couldn't lose.

  "I don't know what I would have done," I answered honestly, even though I didn't want to. "I might have tried your method for a while, but if it came to this—this moment, right here right now—I would give myself to you."

  She made a noise of disbelief. "You're too noble. You would do the same thing I'm doing."

  "Look at me," I ground out. "You think you’re broken? You have no clue what broken is until you walk in my shoes. I have chased you for two hundred years. I can't stop. Now that I know what the problem is, I will never stop. If you won't mate with me today, I will chase you to the ends of the world and wear you down until you do. I mean it when I say my life is no longer worth living without you. If we only have today as mates, then this will be the best goddamned day of my life. To hold you and know you are truly and willingly mine will complete me in ways you can't begin to understand."

  "I'd rather see you alive and whole." Her body trembled and tears streamed down her beautiful face.

  "I'd rather be broken and happy."

  She watched me with wonder. "You really mean that, don't you?"

  "Never meant anything more in my life."

  "Your father. Your sister," she said with hesitation.

  "I have spoken with them… and your father. They've all given their blessings," I told her.

  "They've given their blessings for you to possibly die?" she asked as she shook her head angrily.

  "They've given their blessings for us to find happiness. With each other—as fate has destined. Even if it's only for a day."

  The silence was charged with her emotions. In her indecision, she let down her walls and I was able to enter her thoughts. Flashes of my face ran through her mind wildly. Her love for me was so evident it was difficult to watch. Her years of tears and pain matched my own. I pulled her into my mind. My gift was reading thoughts. I was capable of sending thoughts as well. My words were not enough—maybe my memories would be.

  "Watch," I said quietly. "See me."

  She closed her eyes, dropped to the bed and rocked like a child as I let her into my head and my soul. Thousands of scenarios of us together, and me alone and pining for her, entered her mind. The depths of my feeling and need for her blasted into her head as tears poured from both of us. My loneliness and hopelessness invaded her and her own shot back at me. My worry at her seeing every corner of my mind was outweighed by my need to make her believe me.

  "See me, Raquel. Please see me," I said quietly as I knelt on the floor next to her and took her in my arms. "I have nothing without you."

  Her body softened and her crying subsided to sniffles. "I have nothing without you either," she whispered.

  "Mate with me. Be mine," I said.

  Her pause felt like a knife in my gut. Her eyes searched mine and I stared back steadily, willing her to give me the answer I wanted.

  "Yes," she said as she buried her face in my chest. "Yes, Heathcliff, I will mate with you."

  Chapter 11

  We both sat in silent shock for a few moments as we watched each other carefully.

  "My instinct is to bite you really fast in case you change your mind," I said as I held her tightly to my body.

  "You're smooshing me," she said with a giggle.

  "Sorry," I muttered, relaxing my hold but not letting her go. "Kin
d of excited here."

  "Will it hurt?" she asked as she traced my dimples with her finger.

  "No clue," I answered with a grin. "Never done it before."

  She straddled my legs and pressed her forehead to mine.

  "I love you, Heathcliff. I still don't know if this is the right thing to do. I'm scared, but I have never wanted anything more in my life."

  "Do you think after we're mated we'll be able to stop throwing shit at each other?" I asked as I tangled my fingers in her hair.

  "Oh my God." She laughed. "I'm being serious here."

  "Me too," I said with a smirk. "I feel happier and more free than I’ve ever felt in my very long life. This is the right thing to do. Scary? Yes. Scary enough to stop me? Absolutely not. Come what may. I want you more than I want to go on alone. You ready?"

  "Ummm… yes. I think. Oh shit, this is terrifying," she said as she let her head drop back on her shoulders.

  I lifted her up and laid her on the bed. I settled in next to her and pulled her close. "Think about it this way. I'm scared every time I go into battle. Do I show it? No. Do I feel it? Yes. If I didn't feel trepidation, it would mean I'd gotten careless or didn't care at all. Nothing in our world worth having should be easy to get. It should be worth dying for. You are worth dying for. With everything I am, I mean that."

  "You’re worth dying for too," she said. She took my face in her hands and kissed me—opening up to me like she never had before. It was glorious and humbling. I knew we had only scratched the surface of being one.

  "This is the beginning of our love story. Whether we are on this plane or some other, I will love and worship you for eternity."

  "Back at you, sexy pants. Let's do it."

  Her laugh went all through me and my grin practically split my face.

  "I thought you'd never ask," I said as my fangs descended and every muscle I had tightened to the point of pain.

  We slowly leaned into each other's necks and bit down. The explosive feeling that rocked my entire being was unlike anything I'd ever known. It went straight to my cock and the orgasm was mind blowing. Her blood ran sweet down my throat and her body writhed in a sensual dance against mine.

  In a frenzy, we tore the clothes from our bodies. It was inhuman and sexier than Hell. There was no way to be close enough. Her moans of desire made my head spin. Her curves felt like Heaven beneath my hands. I ran my open mouth from her neck to her breast and licked and sucked until she was a whimpering mess underneath me. It took everything I had not to plunge into her body immediately. I intended to worship every inch before I pounded into her.

  "Oh my God," she screamed. "I need you."

  "You've got me," I hissed through clenched teeth as my fingers found her wet channel and the heel of my palm pressed down on her throbbing clit. "You have all of me."

  "Make love to me," she begged. Her hips met the thrusts of my hand and she cried out in pleasure as an orgasm ripped violently through her body. "I need more."

  I positioned myself between her legs with Vampyre speed. My cock ached and the tingling in my spine dictated my actions. Slow was impossible. I needed her like I needed blood to live.

  "I love you," I growled as I entered her body, not stopping until I was fully seated inside her.

  I paused for only a brief second to enjoy the feeling of her tight body wrapped around my cock, but the look of lust and love in her eyes set me off. She was mine—body, mind and soul. Finally.

  "Mine," I shouted as I slammed into her body at a speed that would have destroyed a human. She met me with wild abandon, thrust for thrust, and her fingernails raked down my back, tightening my balls to the point of agony.

  "I love you. I love you," she muttered over and over as our bodies melded together.

  I couldn't figure where she stopped and I began, but I didn't care. I wanted everything she had to give.

  I knew I was close, but I needed her to go over with me. I reached down between her legs as I pistoned into her like a wild man. I squeezed her clit between two fingers and she detonated under my touch. Her scream set me off, and I came so hard colors ripped across my vision as I roared my release. Her body clamped around my cock and contracted with the aftershocks of an orgasm that almost killed both of us for real dead.

  As I floated back to Earth, I heard happy sigh. I was finally home.

  "Best day of my life," I muttered as I pulled her close and my cock hardened with desire for her again.

  "I want more," she whispered against my chest. "I still want more."

  "Nothing would give me greater pleasure," I said as I took her lips in a kiss that made us both moan with need. "I can go all day."

  "Me too." She giggled and she nipped at my bottom lip.

  And we did.

  And it was insane.

  ***

  "Are we still alive?" she asked tiredly as she stretched her sore body in such a way that my extremely overused cock hardened again.

  "Not sure. Don't care," I said with a chuckle as I traced the smooth contours of her hip with my finger.

  "How many times did we do it?" she asked.

  "Twenty? Thirty?" I answered as I pressed my hardness against her.

  "Oh my God," she moaned with a grin as she took me in her hand and stroked me. "You're an animal."

  "A very happy animal."

  Her hand left my cock and travelled lightly up my body. She ran her finger across my bottom lip and she worried her own with her teeth.

  "Don't think," I whispered. I pulled her swollen lip from her teeth and kissed her.

  "I can't help it. It's almost sundown," she said as she shuddered and cuddled closer to me. "Aren't you scared?"

  I thought for a moment, and realized I wasn't—not at all. I was complete and whatever the night held in store for us, I would embrace it gratefully. I finally had the love of my life at my side as my mate. Nothing had made more sense than what we had shared today. Nothing.

  "No, I'm not," I told her. "Whatever happens, we’ll be together. It's all I've ever wanted."

  "I don't deserve you," she said softly.

  "Actually you do," I said. "And I deserve you."

  "I'm still going to throw stuff," she mumbled.

  "God, I hope so." I laughed. "I'd miss that."

  "You’re truly crazy." She snickered and nipped my lip. "And I love you. Always."

  "Back at you, sexy ass."

  She rolled her eyes and shook her head. Her wild red curls fell into her face. "What should we do?"

  “We’ll hold each other close and simply wait to see what fate has in store for us," I said, wrapping her in my embrace and tucking her hair gently behind her ear.

  "Fate can be a bitch," Raquel murmured as she held me tight.

  "True, but she usually has a plan. Tonight I choose to trust her."

  As the sun dipped lower onto the horizon I held the love of my life close to my chest. She trembled and I felt the dampness of her tears, but also the magnitude of her love. Tomorrow would be a new day. I had no clue where we would be, but as long as we were together it was good for me.

  "I love you," I whispered with my lips against her forehead.

  "I love you too," she whispered. "I'm afraid to close my eyes."

  "I'm right here. Whatever is going to happen will happen whether we get some rest or not."

  "Will you close your eyes?" she asked as she gripped my body tightly.

  "Maybe."

  Finally her eyes fluttered shut and she rested in my arms. She didn't fall into death, but it was still twilight outside. Trying to figure out what was going to happen was futile so I closed my eyes and let my mind wander into oblivion. My mate's Heavenly scent was in my nose and on my skin. Her body was wrapped around mine. It was absolute perfection. There was no place else I'd rather be.

  ***

  An ominous darkness surrounded me and a feeling of unease skittered up my spine. I reached out quickly and felt Raquel, soft and alive, still by my side. We’d made it t
hrough the night and neither of us had died. The curse was broken and we would live to tell the story—or so I hoped.

  The sense of relief was overwhelming, but my body stayed tense and alert. Where in the Hell were we? We were no longer lying on my bed, but instead on the cold, hard ground of some place unfamiliar. I grabbed my mate and pulled her close.