Love Bites (Bitten Book 4) by C.C. Wood Page A

they were, but not because of the females’ desires, but in the males’ willingness to fulfill them.
    At first, she seemed surprised by my efforts, but after a few days she began to open up. A little at a time I was getting back to the woman I’d met our first night together.
    Nine days after the move, Ricki had become comfortable enough with me to throw things at my head every time I startled her. It didn’t bother me because she had horrible aim. I never realized exactly how vulnerable humans were to us before. Another shifter or vampire would hear me walking around the house or smell me when I entered a room, but Ricki couldn’t do either. Of course, I forgot to make noise almost every time I walked into a room, so I’d dodged three pillows, two shoes, and even a book.
    I got her a burner phone and she’d been calling Shannon, Ivie and Kerry every day. Which was a good thing, because being trapped in Conner’s mansion without a lot to do was making her stir crazy. Donna was working from home, so she didn’t have much time to spend with Ricki during the day and the isolation was beginning to take its toll on her.
    After two days of watching movies and cooking, Ricki started getting restless. I tried to spend as much time with her as possible, but I had things to do with Lach and couldn’t be there all the time. Three days in a row, I came home from meetings with Lach to find Ricki sitting in the library, staring blankly into space and looking miserable.
    Finally, I suggested we take a walk or jog around the property every day. She loved the idea and some of her moodiness seemed to lift.
    Now, if only I could get her to open up to me, to let me touch her. I’d been horny before, hell, shifter males were perpetually horny, but this was different. It was sharper and stronger than any desire I’d felt before. Holding myself back physically hurt. Sometimes, when I looked at her, my fingertips literally burned because I wanted to touch her so badly.
    Tonight was the worst so far. Donna and Conner were out of town, meeting with another vampire leader in Houston about the Faction and planned to be gone for at least three days. The two of us had the house to ourselves, if you didn’t count the vampire guards roaming the grounds.
    We were in the kitchen, getting dinner ready, and I felt like I was losing my mind. She was wearing a thin t-shirt that hugged her breasts and dipped low enough in the front to reveal a hint of cleavage, and a pair of what she called yoga pants. If that’s what she wore to practice yoga, I was never letting her attend a class again. No way would another man get to see her high, tight ass in those clingy black pants.
    Every time I turned around, her body brushed mine. Her arm, her hip, her breasts. The heat from the stove warmed her skin and caused her scent to intensify until it filled the room. My jeans felt three sizes too small in the groin and every part of my body ached for her.
    My control lasted the entire forty-five minutes we spent cooking. I didn’t stand a chance when I turned to grab something out of the fridge and Ricki’s body collided with mine. Her hands latched on to my shoulders to help her stay upright.
    “Whoa. Sorry,” she murmured. She swayed against me, her hips pressing into mine, and I knew when she felt how hard I was because her eyes widened. “Calder.”
    I gritted my teeth at the way she said my name. I doubted she meant it as an invitation. What shattered my control was the change in her scent. She wanted me too.
    “Aw, hell.”
    I wrapped my hand around the back of her neck and lifted her face to mine. I knew I was being rough, but I couldn’t control myself. My mouth crashed down on hers and I wrapped my arms around her until she was plastered against me completely. She tasted as she smelled, sweet and tangy simultaneously. I wanted to devour her, to put my mouth and teeth on every inch of her skin until she had no doubts about me and how much I needed