Free Retribution (Book 3 of The Dominion Series) by S. E. Lund Page B

magnifying everything ten-fold.
    It’s almost too much to bear.
    Almost.
    But I can bear it because it's washing away the pain and grief over learning that Michel killed my mother. I will bear it because this is what I need to forget him. I shut off my mind and let my body lead me where it wants me to go – where my heart wants to be.
    Then Julien bites me, the pain sharp and short and we wallow in pleasure too intense to describe.
     
    The next morning, I wake and he’s naked on his stomach beside me, a pillow over his head. I'm surprised to see him there and that he wants to sleep with me. He always left before.
    “What’s going on in that too-busy mind of yours, Eve?” he says, his voice muffled under the pillow. “You think too much.”
    I smile. “How can I not think with you lying there naked like that?”
    He pulls the pillow off his head and rolls on to his side, reaching to run his fingers over my cheek, aiming for my dimple.
    “God, all I want to do is fuck you,” he says. “It’s really distracting.”
    My gaze travels down his body to his erection. “That’s just a morning thing,” I say and grin. “Even I know that. You get one of those,” I say and point to it, “and you look around for a way to get rid of it. If it wasn’t me, it’d be someone – or something else.”
    “Luckily, it is you. But what were you thinking? I couldn't quite read you because my blood is leaving your system."
    "I was thinking that you never slept with me before and wondering why you are now."
    "I've changed," he says softly. "Before I thought you'd died, I thought I had time to position myself so I could win you back from Michel. I can't wait anymore. I have to take what I want or Michel and Soren will."
    I don’t really know what I think of this possessiveness of his, other than it thrills me a bit and scares me at the same time. He’s so powerful now as a vampire since he and Michel took the waters of life, but it’s just the force of his personality that’s also so powerful.
    He pulls me over on top of him and kisses my neck. I try to pull away.
    “Let’s have a shower first,” I say.
    “Women. Always want to be so clean. Men just want to fuck.”
    He lets me go and I get off the bed and go to the bathroom. I turn on the shower so that it’s nice and warm and I get in, Julien behind me. We stand together under the streams of water until we’re both soaked. Then I get shampoo and start washing my hair. He does the same and then pulls me closer so that my back is against him. I lean against the wall, my hands spread to hold my weight.
    He starts running his soapy hands over my body, from my shoulders, over my breasts and down to my groin and between my thighs.  Then he soaps my back and down to my behind, his fingers slipping between my cheeks. It’s just so warm and pleasant and arousing, standing like this, for we’re connected, just enough of him touching my mind so that I’m able to take it without getting dizzy.
    He slips his hands back around to my mound, his erection pressing against me from behind. Then he takes my hips in his hands rubs his erection between my cheeks, and for a moment, it presses against my anus.
    I tense, something nameless but very dark rising inside of me, scaring me when I feel him there.
    “ Don’t ,” I say. I straighten up and clench my fists, nails digging into my palms.
    “What’s the matter?” he says and stops. But then he knows because he feels the buried memory just before the pain from my palms blocks him.
    “I’m sorry, I’m sorry ,” he says, instantly understanding. He tries to turn me around and embrace me but I don’t let him for nausea rises in me at the body memories I can't block. I pull away from him, and he lets me, his hands dropping. I rinse off, all desire fleeing.
    “I wasn’t going to take you that way,” he says, standing there, his hair still all soapy, his lashes wet and clumped together. “I would never unless we talked about