A Vampire's Promise by Carla Susan Smith

was.
    â€œHow did you know?” I asked.
    â€œHow could I not? Your dreams, your hopes, your desires, you have shared them all with me. You don’t remember . . . but you will.”
    His answer didn’t surprise me, and it didn’t alarm me either. In dreams, everything is perfectly reasonable, plausible, and acceptable. He lowered his arms and smiled at me, and any uncertainty on my part vanished.
    Somewhere in the pit of my stomach, I could feel the heat evolving as it flared to life. Gabriel began unbuttoning his shirt, the same black silk he’d worn on our date. I felt my breath catch as each button that slipped free revealed more skin. He moved slowly, more slowly than I would have done, teasing me with glimpses of his body, and then slipped the shirt off his shoulders, at which point it dropped out of sight.
    He was so indescribably beautiful.
    The ambient light played with the sculpted musculature of his body, creating hollows and planes that teased my senses. I watched his abdomen tighten, the muscles rippling as he unbuckled his belt, unzipped his jeans, and let them join the shirt. His legs were strong, heavy thighs straining against the edge of black boxers. And that wasn’t all that was straining. I decided to see if this really was my dream. If so, then Gabriel would follow my lead. I wanted the boxers to stay. For now. He smiled, hooking a thumb inside the waistband . . . and hesitated.
    I could only imagine what my face looked like. It must have been flushed fire engine red, but I didn’t care. Putting a knee on the bed and wearing a sinfully erotic smile, Gabriel came toward me. He moved with the grace of a predator, prowling across a red satin landscape. I thought of a leopard, all golden pelt and powerful rolling shoulders as he came closer. Leaning back on my elbows, I watched him stalk me, forgetting how to breathe.
    Thump! Thump! Thump!
    My heart was going ape shit inside my rib cage. Gabriel had one hand planted next to my hip, and with the other he reached forward and tugged on the satin bow between my breasts. The filmy sheath I was wearing dissolved, falling away from my body and turning me into my own image of carnal decadence. Naked, breathless, and lying on red satin sheets. Holding me fast with his eyes, Gabriel stroked his hand over my skin. Long elegant fingers sweeping across my flesh, raising goose bumps that had nothing to do with the falling snow. Moving back a little, he dipped his head, and I shivered with delight at the silky feel of his hair whispering over my thighs. It was exactly as I had imagined. And then his hand caught the curve of my waist, sliding around me, encouraging me to raise my hips.
    Thump! Thump! Thump!
    He brought himself closer, long white hair sliding across my stomach, up my rib cage, and over my breasts. With my palms against his chest, I felt movement as he inhaled, his breath ragged and deep while he struggled to maintain control. Nudging my legs apart with his knee, he settled himself against me, letting me feel him through the thin material of his boxers, and I gasped. God, he was big!
    Anxiety took hold as the thought struck me that I might not be able to take him, my body unable to stretch far enough to sheath him, but then I realized I was worrying needlessly. My body wanted him, had wanted him from the first time I’d seen him, and it would not refuse him. I was on fire, and he was all I wanted.
    He made a sound that came from deep in his throat as he slipped both arms around me and moved his mouth close to my ear.
    â€œRowan . . .”
    Thump! Thump! Thump!
    â€œRowan . . .” Lips grazing over my jaw, pulling on my earlobe, trailing a sensuous path down my neck. “I don’t think they’re going away.”
    â€œGoing . . . what?” My hair spilled over my face as I pushed him off me and sat up.
    Thump! Thump! Thump!
    It wasn’t my heart doing a rhumba in my chest after all. Someone was