Accidentally…Cimil? (Accidentally Yours #4.5)(24)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

We walked up one side of the grand staircase and reached a landing that had been made into a large drawing room. A log gently crackled in the fireplace giving off a warm glow to the hand-carved furniture and rich silk tapestries. Giant vases in almost every corner held fresh-cut roses. It truly was a Spanish palace fit for a queen.

“Yeah. I guess it’s okay,” I said.

Roberto snickered. He knew he’d totally nailed it.

“Our bedchamber is this way.” He gestured toward a long hallway with windows on one side and a series of arched doorways on the other.

I followed along. “Our? My, my. Aren’t we a bit presumptuous, vampire?”

“Always. I am a vampire.”

Excellent point.

When we reached the last door, he pushed it open and made a small bow.

The room, with its Spanish-style tiles and white plaster walls, was simple yet elegant. A set of French doors, situated next to the fireplace, led to a private terrace overlooking what I assumed was the vineyard. A large bed stood in the center of the room, surrounded by soft, rich velvety red curtains.

“To keep out the daylight,” he said.

“Why would I need that? I like the light.”

He swooped in front of me and locked his arms around my waist. “You may cease with the games, Cimil. I have met your challenge and pleased you.”

“Maybe.” I smiled coyly.

“I plan to continue the pleasing with the same amount of enthusiasm and vigor as we spend the next nineteen days in that bed, making love. I will please you in every way a man could possibly please a woman.”

I tried to swallow, but a glob of lust was stuck halfway down my throat. I found myself really, really wanting him.

You need to punish him, punish him!

But despite that being my evil master plan, that’s not what I wanted.

Okay, punish him with really awesome sex. For nineteen days. That will teach him to never hurt you again!

He pulled me closer, and I craned my neck up to see his face. “Yes. I’ve had many lovers, Cimil. I will not lie. This has allowed me to perfect the art of pleasuring a woman and to prepare myself for you…”

“I always believed that”—I cleared my throat, feeling his erection prodding my stomach—“practice makes perfect.”

“Uh-uh-uh, Cimil,” said Other-me. “He’ll only break your heart. Remember what he did to us?”

Ugh! She’s right! Why was I so easy? So spineless when it came to him?

“Cimiiiil?” she warned. “Are you listening?”

“Shut up! Okay? I know,” I barked.

Roberto glanced sideways, perplexed. “I am confused.”

“I’m not talking to you.” I pushed away. “We can’t have sex.”

“Of course, we can. I am a vampire. I am able to withstand your touch.”

“No, I mean, I don’t want to.”

He moved so quickly, I saw only a blur as scraps of fabric flew through the air. The next thing I knew, I was on my back on the bed, Roberto just as na**d as I, lying with his jutting shaft nestled between my legs.

“The smell of your arousal,” he said in a low, gravelly voice laden with sex, “and heat between your thighs, both of which have been driving me mad these past hours, do not lie.”

Dammit. Damned vampires with their sex-sniffing noses.

“Cimil! You can’t do this!” Other-me warned. “This sort of indulgence is what got us into trouble in the first place.”

I looked at her, then at Roberto. His strong jaw and thick, sensuous lips, his exotic eyes, and long black hair falling about his face gave the appearance of a mysterious god from another time. He was beautiful. And my heart couldn’t deny what it wanted: to be whole again. He carried a piece of my light, forever connecting us. Revenge just didn’t sound enticing any more. But loving him did.

He slowly bent his head and kissed me with an unforgiving passion, a yearning that didn’t require words. I knew exactly how he felt.

Our lips moved together, and I felt his hand move down my torso and cup my breast. He massaged it for a moment before sliding down and placing his hot mouth over my nipple. His other hand worked its way toward that magical little spot ready to explode with the slightest touch.

“Gods, Cimil, how you drive me mad with your body.” He lapped and sucked on my nipple, allowing the sharp edges of his fangs to scrape forth a gasp while his other fingers lightly grazed the top of the throbbing bud between my legs. “Yes. I like it when you breathe like that.”

Holy horny pharaohs. My entire body felt like it might shatter into a million particles of light if he didn’t release the pent-up pressure.

I quickly rolled him over onto his back. I paused briefly and stared into his dark eyes.

“Cimil! Don’t do it!” Other-me barked in the background. “He broke our heart, and he’ll do it again.”

I looked at him and then at her. Dammit. She was right.

I swung my leg around and hopped off the bed. “No can do, big boy.”

“What is the matter?” Roberto’s voice hummed with frustration. “I know you want me. Your body does not lie.”

“No, it doesn’t. But my human body doesn’t know any better,” I said. He now sat on the edge of the bed staring at me, and I truly wanted to return to him. “But my heart does. Just ask it. Part of it’s sitting right there with you.”

His shoulders raised and then sagged as his lungs released a heavy sigh. “I feel it. I feel it very well. It has been my constant companion, Cimil. All these years, not a moment passed when I did not wish to die because of the sadness living inside me—your sadness, your loneliness. And mine, I suppose. I tried to forget you and what I’d done. I knew it was unforgivable despite what I’d believed about that first year we were apart. But as many women as I took and drank from, none washed away the mark you left on my heart.” His head fell. “I finally gave up trying. Though I feed from them, I have not been with another for a thousand years.”

Roberto sifted in front of me and cupped my face. “I love you, Cimil. I know that you love me, too. Your light inside me glows when we are together. It does not lie.”

Dammit. Shit. Hell! I did feel it. I wanted to give in to it, to be with him, to forgive him for everything. How had he done it? He’d accomplished the one thing I’d never thought possible and that I’d sworn to never do: love him again.

No. It didn’t make an ounce of sense, other than when the Universe gets involved, everything you know to be true flies out the window. You cannot help but bow down to its will. No human, vampire, or deity can resist her.