Free Dalakis Passion 2 - Lucian's Delight by N.J. Walters Page A

life.
She chewed on her bottom lip as she thought about it. The only excuse she could
come up with was that she must have been more shaken and muddled by the events of
last night than she'd thought. Otherwise, she would have called the authorities
immediately and then gone straight home to reassure her family that she was fine.
It took her a while to get her body to cooperate, but Delight finally managed to roll
out from under the male arm. Sitting on the side of the bed, she stared down at his
sleeping figure. He was so gorgeous. Lucian's long, black hair was pushed back from
his face and rested on the plump pillow under his head. Even in sleep, his face looked
stern with its severe lines and angles.
Reaching out, she placed a hand in the center of his chest. The sheet had slipped to
his waist when she'd moved from his embrace and she couldn't resist touching the hard
planes of his torso. The man was hard everywhere. She kept her touch light so as not to
wake him. The last thing she wanted was to have to deal with what they had done last
night. Moving her hand, she placed it over his heart, wanting to feel its steady beating
once more before she left him.
Frowning, she shifted her hand a little to the left. Nothing. Leaning down, she
placed her ear on his chest, no longer worried about waking him. Nothing.
"Lucian." She shook him slightly and got no reaction. He didn't seem to be
breathing. "Lucian!" Her voice was louder now and had a slight hysterical edge to it.
He couldn't be dead. She'd seen three dead men last night and that was more than
enough for her to have to deal with.
As she opened his mouth and tilted back his head, she glanced around the room,
frantically searching for a telephone. Reaching across Lucian, she clicked on the bedside
lamp and flinched when the light hit her eyes. Her worried gazed went back to him and
she froze. Lying on his back in the bed, he looked dead. There was no sign of life in him
at all.
There was no phone and she didn't have time to try and find one. Trying to
remember everything she'd learned about first aid, she began to give him CPR. As she
blew into his mouth, she felt his lungs rise. When her lips touched his, an elusive
memory floated to the surface.
She could hear Lucian's voice telling her that she wouldn't remember what had
happened. Her own reply echoed in her brain. She would remember. She started chest
compressions. "Come on. Breathe!"
It hit her suddenly. Pulling back so quickly she almost fell off the bed, visions of
herself totally naked, offering herself to Lucian, flooded her. She'd not only offered her
body, but her blood. And he had taken both.
Shaking now, she concentrated on the growing memory. Two of his teeth had
grown into fangs, and he'd sucked the blood from her body. Her tongue tingled as she
remembered drinking his blood in return.
Clapping her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming, she launched herself
from the bed, stumbling down off the platform. Slowly, she backed away from the still
body lying there. Vampire. The word was loud and clear in her head. This was no
dream, but a living nightmare. She had escaped being murdered by local killers just to
end up with a vampire.
Clutching her chest, she realized that she was beginning to hyperventilate and
forced herself to control her breathing. Everything was okay. If Lucian had meant her
any harm, she'd already be dead. As strange as it all seemed, she still wasn't really
afraid of him. She was more afraid of what he was. Deep inside, she felt she knew
Lucian and trusted him. Which was crazy and showed her just how precarious her
mental state was at the moment. This was all just too much for her to take in.
Needing to be home among everything and everyone that was familiar to her,
Delight groped around the room until she found her soiled clothing from the night
before. Wrinkling her nose in distaste, she pulled on her underwear before tugging on
the ruined pants and blouse. Most of the buttons were gone