Vampire Up: A Cowboy Rides (Siren Publishing Classic) Read online

  “Oh, so we’re back to that rabbit-thing again?”

  “No, I’m stating facts here. If I wanted to take a life—yours for instance—there’s not anything you could do to stop me.”

  “Woman, let me ask you something, if you’re such a big bad vampire, why was it you were so afraid of me last night?” He knew now it was all an act.

  She looked away from him and from her stooped position, she stood up and dusted off her hands before swiping at her backside.

  “Allow me.” He took his hat off and swatted her too.

  “That’s unnecessary!”

  “Not to mention rude. But let me explain something to you. What you have in mind for me is far from proper. In fact, I imagine there ain’t too many people in this town inviting you over for supper for fear they might become the main course.” He looked around the barn for his saddle and spotted it in the far corner. She’d moved it from wherever he originally had it.

  Her mouth twisted awkwardly, up and down, then in and out before she rolled delicious lips into a pucker—one he hated to see a woman, any woman, waste without a place to spend it. He figured, why the hell not? He planned to ride on toward Tombstone anyway.

  Before he picked up Blue’s saddle, he turned on the heel of his boot. “Shucks.” He stomped over and stopped inches in front of her. “Come here. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings.”

  He grabbed at her waist and hardly gave her time to moisten those dried-up lips. It didn’t matter, he had enough moisture in his to allow for plenty of spit-swapping once his lips met hers. And the rodeo between tongues began. It was one he would never forget and bound to lead somewhere.

  * * * *

  If kissing could drive a woman to spread her legs, then Ryan was a man who probably found himself between plenty of them. His kiss did things to her a woman shouldn’t have to experience with a man who considered her a stranger. She felt considerably wanted the second his lips separated hers. She realized the need he felt was more aligned with profound lust, while the desire she felt bordered on love. She loved him long before she met him. And she protected him whenever she could after she realized he was her chosen mate. Now, it all seemed worth it.

  Ryan kissed his way down to the base of her neck, and the gesture alone drove her to think about his jugular vein, which she intended to claim. His mouth tormented her further by dropping to her breast. He teased her with a suckling motion by pulling the material into his mouth and refusing to release it. At the same time, his hand dropped to her waist and then moved behind her back in one sweeping motion, rocking them into an uncomfortable sway of give and take.

  “Good damn, Beth, what I could do to a body like this.”

  “You can do anything you want to me, with me, for me.” She wanted to tell him why, but right then she knew the stubborn cowboy planned to ride on out as quickly as he rode in. And she hated to stop the moment.

  Her hand flattened against the top of his head until her cries for more pleasure stopped him from taking her right there in the barn. He moved away from her and it surprised them both.

  “Did I do something wrong?”

  She knew better. He was still fighting, trying his best to defy the chemistry between them and the fate he faced.

  “Hell no,” he said.

  After a few heated stares, he came right back for more.

  He kissed his way right passed her lips. His teeth tapped against her teeth and his tongue dueled for the lead before she slowly sipped on his tongue. She pulled it in deeper and then released it before she sucked on it, determined to make him think of nothing more, or less, than sex.

  “Dear God, woman. It’s been too long and a man’s gotta do what he needs to do.” He took her hips in his hands and rotated his own forward.

  She felt his size and lost herself in his moves. His dick was hard against her center and so what if material kept them apart, she already responded to him. Her tongue tingled as she thought of how he might taste. She yearned for his blood and her core burned for more. She needed an intimate touch—his hand, his fingers, his cock. She wanted all of him stroking her, loving her, driving into her, thrusting them into a new world, and a better life.

  “I’m riding out of here. You have to know that before anything else can happen.”

  She felt a twinge of hurt but she understood. Many of the females in their clan often ran into similar situations. She’d given Ryan a choice. For some reason, he didn’t make his decision in time. Now, she’d have to take him by force. After the roughness in the foreplay, she didn’t find it impossible to fathom. In fact, she almost craved him more because of it.

  Ryan shifted his weight. He pinched her cheek in a condescending effort to perhaps drive his point home more. “You gotta know this can’t work with us. I’m all for screwing you into slow satisfaction, but afterwards, I’m gonna ride out of here.”

  “Over your dead body. You’re not going anywhere.” She felt her eyes change into the familiar lavender tone. She recognized the altering because of the pain the changing of colors brought. Beth quickly turned away from him in hopes he wouldn’t become aggressive yet. She wanted time to gather her jumbled thoughts in the event there was a struggle. Whenever she was provoked to anger, she seldom made good decisions.

  “Maybe so, but see death is where the real problem exists. A mortal death and burial sort of becomes me over hell and damnation or even livin’ on forever. In fact, I’ve already picked out a real nice place where I’ll one day rest in peace. It’s a real pretty piece of land next to a quiet stream…”

  “What are you talking about?” Perplexed and far from amused, she turned to face him as she listened to the ramblings of a human.

  “Well, ya see, I thought about your offer. I almost came crawling into your loft last night. When a man’s hand ain’t doing the trick, desperation sets in and sometimes a man really needs a woman.

  “I was about ready, really thinkin’ about, giving up my quiet resting place beneath those fruit trees and just living here with you in the middle of nowhere as a made-to-sip-on vampire. See, my mind got to thinkin’ crazy thoughts on that nip-and-tuck factor, and I decided, depending of course on what you wrapped your lips around, it might work out all right for us.”

  “And then a gentle reminder of a quiet resting place stopped you?”

  “It did. I admit it.”

  “Perhaps I’ve made a mistake. If you didn’t ponder on the pleasure I can bring you, but focused on death instead, then you’re not a cowboy worth riding.” She marched passed him, pissed off. She’d been told more than once how beautiful she was, and she wasn’t going to waste time on a cowboy who wasn’t equally impressed.

  Sure, she’d loved Ryan for a great number of years, as much as an untouched woman loved a man, but now she was being tossed aside for a final resting place. Frustration didn’t quite cover what she felt.

  The barn door opened and slammed with her anger. The wind just happened to allow for it. She walked, no trotted, with a faster gait, toward the cabin now. If he was so interested in a final resting place then who was she to stop him? She could sure as hell help him get there a bit sooner and still have his blood by suppertime. Or she might just help him dig a hole since he seemed more eager to die a mortal death than to live out his life with her. She should tell him his lifespan would fall short of his expectancy since he wouldn’t have her in his shadows to help him dodge bullets.

  She stormed into the cabin and stripped the bed immediately. She didn’t want any evidence of him left in her space. She planned to burn everything he touched and she would learn to live with the obvious.

  Mortality wasn’t hers to have.

  The dumb cowboy she fell in love with didn’t realize she was different. Beth didn’t want to turn him into a vampire, she wanted to become like him. Since she was the runt of the clan, she had the ability to live like the humans who raised her rather than the vampires who snacked on blood.

  She stared out the small window before
she fell on the bed. “I’m never going to do this right. Never!”

  “Well, you could’ve started by taking me up on my offer.”

  Propping herself up on her elbows, she glared at him. “What are you babbling about now?”

  “All I wanted was for you to give me a list longer than a thousand acres with lots of promises and good intentions—you know, some kind of something to make me feel like leaving behind a cowboy’s life was a good trade for a vampire’s ways. A man wants to feel wanted and cared for by a woman as much as a woman wants the same from a man. I don’t get that from you. All you care about is takin’ my blood and making me like you.”

  “You don’t know how wrong you are.”

  “You don’t want my blood? You don’t want me now? Why?” He sounded far too disappointed. “Was I too much of a challenge or not enough?”

  “Yes, no, yes, shoot—you don’t understand!”

  “I know one thing. I don’t want to run around here with pale skin and sit up on a ridge somewhere waiting for a weary traveler to pass by me so I can ambush them for a bite out of their neck.”

  “You think I want to turn you so you can be like me?”

  “You admitted you did. You talked to me about my buddy in Dodge City and told me what to expect.”

  “Yes, but not because of the reasons you believe.” She stared outside then. “I want to feel the sun on my face, watch the sunrise, and not run for cover when it shines too brightly. I want to have children, not just any children, but your children…not now, but someday. I want to taste the berries I pick from a vine and learn to cook because I can eat as much or as little as I please. Oh yes, I want all these things. And because of you, the love I have always carried around for you, I can have them.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “My clan has several females, classified as runts, destined for mortality. It’s an unexplainable gift and every other generation is cluttered with females who are not cursed with a life of immortality. They are allowed to love one man, and if he loves her in return, she becomes mortal. I realize you don’t love me now, but you could and you will fall in love with me. Every mortal we’ve ever turned, falls in love with their mate.”

  He sat down on the edge of the bed. “Well, I don’t imagine a man would find a woman like you hard to love.” His brow furrowed. “So, what kind of nonsense did you mention last night when you talked about the loneliness of the outcasts who take up with your people?”

  The way he classified her clan didn’t sit well with her. He said it with distaste in his tongue. She instinctively sneered before she replied, “We’re known regardless of where we hide. Our perfectly white skin is only too obvious, our inability to eat or drink doesn’t go unnoticed, and various other characteristics are often hard to ignore. A female vampire never ages, she is far more beautiful than the average mortal woman. Even in Tombstone, I’m known as a witch to some and a monster to others—and yes, a vampire to those who fear I crave their blood. The only way you could’ve escaped me altogether was to leave before sunrise.”

  “You’re not planning to let me go now?”

  She stood in front of him. “You’re not going to let me go.” She possessed all the confidence in the world because not only did he kiss her earlier with a lot of passion, but he also held her close before the physical pain of holding her forced him to let her go.

  Before he questioned her more, her hands moved across three pearly white buttons on her shirt, and with agonizing effort, because it took a lot to disrobe with uncertainty, she let the blouse fall away from her body. She reached for him.

  The guttural sounds of approval slipped from his chest and in a great groan of surrender, Ryan dropped his holster. Then his hand moved to his belt and black pants. Their eyes remained focused on one another. She didn’t look down, even though she was tempted, and he didn’t gawk when she lost her blouse and skirt.

  Within seconds, they were completely nude. He didn’t look at her body until she gave him a slight nod, and her fingertips lightly toughed his biceps. Then, he fisted his cock and rubbed it against her bare thigh.

  With a crooked smile across his lips, he said, “What I’ll do to you will have you begging for mercy, hell, and glory.”

  Somehow, she never doubted it. Ryan’s body proved he was a gunfighter with all the right motives behind him. Since he initiated the first draw, now he just needed to point and aim.

  Chapter Seven

  “You’ll have to tell me how this works,” he whispered into her ear as his mouth moved over hers in an affectionate reminder of how much he enjoyed kissing her. He hoped she noticed it. He liked the hell out of the lip-lock business. In fact, he liked the hell out of her—especially now that he understood she only wanted to drain his blood once. He almost pricked his skin for her.

  He was too damn excited for his own good and he realized she placed him in a very unique position. He was the one with all the power. She stirred something in his gut, in the pit of his soul as well as in his breeches, when he had them on. She empowered him and he liked a woman who relinquished control to her man.

  Beth kissed the words into his mouth. “I think you have it all wrong. I don’t know how it works.” She watched for a reaction.

  “Wait a second, you mean…” He stopped kissing her and swallowed back fear. He was ready to fuck her into Tombstone and back around to Dodge City. Then, she just stopped him short of having one hell of an ego. His cock went all soft, too, which really wasn’t a good thing considering the timing.

  Smiling, she gently pumped his dick into her palm and well, she did it good enough. He was still nervous considering her confession.

  “I ain’t been with a vampire or a virgin,” he told her.

  “Me either.”

  “You’re not too funny, right now.”

  “You ain’t either.” She mocked him. She realized when Ryan was nervous, his southern drawl was thick. His charm was cute but the way he started to swell in her closed hand made her wet and ready. She understood the puddle of moisture wasn’t there by freak consequence. Virgin or not, she was in tune with him and craving him more, desiring his taste, and tired of feeling the hunger pangs he stirred in her when he touched her.

  His fingers trailed down her side. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

  “No, remember, you still get your quiet resting place,” she teased.

  “You’d better believe it because I’m trying to find it right now.” He eased her closer to him and gently leaned into her, forcing her to stretch across the bed. He nipped at her full breasts before he licked around her nipples. The way she arched when his tongue flicked over the nub only drove him further south.

  He kissed little circles into her belly and moaned against her flesh as her hand dropped to his head.

  “That feels so good.” She cried out.

  “Darlin’, it’s gonna feel better than good.”

  He dropped his mouth over her mound and licked the outside of her vagina. “Nice.” He chuckled after he made the observation. He’d heard of pillow talk before, someone in one of the fancier whore-houses claimed he didn’t do it well, but by golly, he had the most intimate of all conversations down to an art.

  He blew on her once and held his cock at the base when he watched her twitch with his gesture. He was completely turned on by the fact he would be the first man to taste or please her.

  “Ryan?” Beth tried to push herself up on her elbows, and he glanced at her long enough to figure out this little lady wasn’t going to last long.”

  “Lay down, Beth, cause if you don’t, I swear you’re gonna fall back any second.”

  He dipped his head ready to make good on a few promises.

  His long tongue licked at her center, and she squirmed under each stroke. “I’m going to take care of you. Don’t you move.” He swiped again. “Not one inch.” His fingers twirled outside of her vagina, before he moved one fingertip inside. She moaned softly, and his lips covered where his
mouth refused to leave.

  She didn’t move, at first but when he ate like a starved man, she pressed her pussy to his lips and her hips jerked forward. His loving her came easy because being untouched and simply beautiful made him proud to make her his woman. For him, it was a long awaited encounter even though they only met the day before. His internal hell began with her shocking confession. Once he grasped, truly understood, she waited for only him, he lost his cotton pickin’ heart to her. She didn’t even have to suck on his neck in order to convince him.

  Her legs draped over his back, and she rose and fell into and with his strokes. Ryan wasn’t going to let her ride out her first pleasure with only his mouth to guide her. He couldn’t. Hard and ready, the only way he’d let her take a first orgasm was if he experienced her sweet vibrations closing around his cock. It was important to him now. Everything about their experience mattered.

  Nothing was overlooked.

  Sliding back up to her, he kissed her again. She squirmed away at first.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “You like the way I taste?”

  “I love it,” he confessed. He felt the wicked grin form at the corners of his mouth. “You don’t have to.”

  “But I want to.” She was talking about something else, and her head moved from side to side kissing a trail down his belly as she slid under him.

  He arched himself over her as she fiddled around with his cock. The woman didn’t know how to give a blow job. It was obvious from the start.

  “Ouch!” He cried out as she bit down. “Easy down there, baby.”

  She tried again. This time, she got it right and she damn near got it good too.

  * * * *

  If all men were created equal then all women were well satisfied when they had a hard cock swell in their mouth. She swallowed as the tip of his mushroom head scraped the back of her throat. Beth decided if they spent a lot of time in bed, she might crave sucking his dick. The way he looked at her with genuine appreciation guided her decision, but those hungry growls he released made her grind against the open air.