Blood Rites: (Royal Blood #3) by Amity Cross Page B

cresting the wave and crashing, coming violently on his
cock, my muscles tightening around his shaft. He was muttering my
name as he pumped then stilled, joining me in my
free-fall.
    Rolling off me, he pulled me
near, his fingers exploring my body. He covered my breast with his
palm, massaging the tender flesh and I felt my core spike yet
again. What was that word? Insatiable .
    “We need to lay some ground rules,” he said,
stretching his arms over his head.
    “Ground rules?” I scowled, wising he’d just
keep his hands on me and never let go. “Since when?”
    “Since now.”
    I scowled harder at his aloofness. “Okay
then, what are they?”
    “I don’t do relationships. Or exclusivity.
I’m my own man.”
    I snorted. “You could’ve told
me that before you stuck your dick in me.” Fuck, my mouth had done
a total one-eighty and all it took was a little fuckery in the back
of a limo.
    He glanced at me, his eyes full of
amusement. “Would you have listened?”
    He had me there. “No.”
    “Then stop complaining.”
    “ If we aren’t exclusive,” I
said, air quoting ‘exclusive’, “then you can’t boss me
around.”
    “ Only when I want to get off on
it,” he retorted and I found myself liking the playful side of
Vaughn, very much. “Know that there are some things that I will
never be able to tell you,” he said, gazing up at the ceiling. “But
know that you will always be safe with me.”
    Maybe I should’ve been a little
more worried about this ‘deal’ of his, but where matters of the
heart were concerned…love, or lust , made people do stupid things. Very stupid
things. It was a drug that took all sense and logic and threw it
out the bloody window.
    “I understand,” I murmured.
    “You’re precious to me,” he said and I began
to melt. “From now on, there’s only you.”
    “But you said no relationship…” I
complained.
    “ No, but I’m sexually
monogamous, Lorelei. I don’t sleep with other women while I’m with
someone. I would hope you’d do the same.”
    There was no problem with that. I sighed.
“Of course. I’m not like that.”
    Vaughn hesitated, running his hand over his
face. “I have business to attend to this afternoon, but if you’d
like to remain and have breakfast with me…”
    I smiled at his uncertainty and was amazed
at how accepting of all this I was. “Sounds great.”
    He smiled his trademark perfect smile.
“Perfect.”
    I couldn’t help the warmth that began to
spread through my veins and smiled in return. “Perfect.”

Thirteen
    Vaughn

    I sat across from Lorelei at
the dining room table and watched as she cut her pancakes up into
delicate little squares.
    She glanced up at me, her eyes sparkling.
“What?”
    I smiled and shook my head. “Nothing.”
    When I walked into the kitchen and asked for
breakfast for two, the look on the housekeeper’s face was
priceless. It had everything to do with the fact that there were
never two, only one, unless I had a business meeting at the house.
When Lorelei had walked into the dining room, the surprise had
grown.
    Strangely, I liked seeing a woman in my
shower, I liked seeing a woman in my bed, I liked seeing a woman in
my house…and I really liked that it was Lorelei.
    “Do you enjoy working at the gallery?” I
asked, smiling at her movements. She really was very…orderly with
her food.
    “Yes,” she replied, oblivious to my
thoughts. “I mean, I don’t need to work, but I love it.”
    “Your family allows it?”
    “My father just wants me to be happy,” she
said with a shrug. “Working at the gallery gets me off, so he
encourages it.”
    “Art gets you off?” I asked with a smirk.
“I’ll have to remember that.”
    Lorelei laughed and speared a slice of
pancake on her fork.
    “Your father hasn’t pressed you to
marry?”
    “No. He married for love, so he doesn’t see
marriage like most. We don’t have a title or anything worth
preserving like that. My mother, on the other