Free Kai (A Dark Assassins Novel Book One) by Valerie Ullmer Page A

teasing me, I will find a way to make it excruciating for you.”   Her hand whipped up and slapped against her mouth, her eyes bulging.
    His roar of laughter echoed through the room, and something inside him settled at her actions.   She would never hurt him and with clarity, knew she would have never developed a weapon to do just that.
    Before she could stumble over her words or express guilt, he snaked an arm around her waist and tugged her close.   He hugged her against him for a split second before he stepped back.   He enjoyed her uninhibited reactions to him and smiled as her breath hitched at his unexpected contact.
    “I should have warned you about the possibility of my venom causing euphoria.   I must’ve allowed too much venom to release into your body,” he said.
    “I wouldn’t exactly call it euphoric,” she mumbled.
    “What…”
    Her eyes darted around the room until they settled on the floor.
    “Erotic.   It was the most erotic experience of my life.”   She glanced up.   “Does…is that what usually happens?”
    Fuck.
    The words that fell elegantly from her lips shocked his body with intense desire, and as fast as he could pull his next breath, his cock was pressed against the zipper of his jeans, pulsing.  
    He could smell her arousal, thick and honeyed in his nose, and bit back a groan as he spotted her swollen nipples through her shirt.   Because of a growing hunger that had nothing to do with her sweet blood, the next words out of his mouth were gruff and rapid.
    “No.   I hypnotize them so they can’t remember the experience.   If I can’t drink from a target, then I’m provided a volunteer, and after the experience, I wipe their memory of the event.”
    “Why didn’t you hypnotize me?”
    He opened his mouth to give her an excuse, any number of the ones that he’d come up with to justify his actions, but the truth flew out of his mouth before he could censor himself.
    “I didn’t think about it.   You allowed me a small taste when I scraped my fang against your wrist, and despite your earlier anxiety, you sank into my arms and trusted me not to hurt you.   The moment I tasted you, I couldn’t stop myself from taking more.”
    A silence stretched between them as he watched her as she mulled over his words.   He listened to her stuttered breathing, and absently wondered at her next question for him, while his sole thought was on how to control his need to taste more than her blood.
    His eyes skimmed the counter as he calculated the quickness of his hands undressing her, exposing inch by inch of creamy, olive skin to his viewing, before he set her on the counter and feasted on her.   He tried to imagine whether she tasted of honey, or another sweetness that he’d discounted after honey had taken residence in his brain.   He thought about his lips traveling over every inch of skin as he exposed her to his view, with slow, torturous movements.  
    Lust, and something more he couldn’t determine at the moment, slammed into him with such force, he dug his nails into his palms enough to bleed and allowed the pain to wash over him so he could regain a small semblance of control.   He healed at a rapid rate, so no matter how deep he cut himself, the pain wouldn’t be able to distract him for long.
    “Kai?”
    His eyes snapped back up to hers.   The flush on her face drew him closer, but after one step, he made himself stop.   Had she guessed his thoughts?
    “Does drinking from me,” she swallowed, “stimulate you sexually?”
    A snarl tore from his throat to prevent the words that would come across as a plea.   Instead of shrinking at his hostile gesture, a smile played on the corner of her lips as she studied him.   Her eyes roamed his body, similar to how he scanned her a few minutes before.   But with each demure drop of her eyes, or what felt like a caress of his sensitized skin, heat erupted underneath his skin and burned, unimpeded.
    “If you drank a little