Bleed For Me by Cynthia Eden Page A

they were a deep, deep blue—fell to his hand. “I don’t
like to be touched, Apollo.”
    He didn’t remove his hand. He planned to touch her a
whole lot, and he’d make absolutely sure she enjoyed the feel of
his hands. “What’s your name?”
    Her head tilted to the side, and she studied him with
a raised brow. “Terese. Terese Lafitte.”
    “Well, Terese…” His fingers skimmed down her arm.
“May I offer you a drink?”
    Her eyes widened, and stark hunger flashed across her
face. Then, just as quickly as the hunger had appeared, it
vanished, and that blank expression slipped over her features once
again. “I don’t think you have what I need.”
    She tried to walk away,
again
, but he just
tightened his fingers around her arm. “You’d be surprised.”
    “No,” she told him flatly. “You would be.” This time,
she did walk away.
    And Apollo laughed.
    The hunt was on.
    ***
    Terese Lafitte took a deep breath and tried to fight
the ravenous hunger pounding through her. The blond hunk was still
close by, watching her, and sending a shiver over her flesh.
    The guy obviously wasn’t used to a woman telling him
no. Hell, when you looked as good as he did, you probably didn’t
get a lot of rejections. The guy was…gorgeous. No other word for
him. He had the kind of strong, chiseled features that probably
made women—
me—
quiver. Perfectly cut, square jaw. Sculpted
cheekbones. Wide set, light blue eyes. Firm, sensuous lips. He even
had thick, tousled blond hair. The kind of hair that she’d seen
once on a shampoo commercial.
    And his body. She swallowed. Talk about a perfect
package. The guy was tall, with tight muscles and deeply tanned,
golden skin. The lucky jerk probably got to spend hours in the sun
each day.
    Oh, yes. He was absolutely gorgeous. A feast for the
eyes. But she’d never been the type to fall for pretty boys. Not
while she was alive, and certainly not while she was…well,
dead
wasn’t the right word. Because she wasn’t technically
dead.
    But she was a vampire.
    Her heart still beat. Her lungs still worked. She got
tired, she got hungry—well, for blood, anyway. Her body was pretty
much as it’d been before, except for the addition of the fangs.
    No, she wasn’t dead. Not yet, anyway. But if she
didn’t find something to drink soon, she might be.
    Her gaze drifted around the bar. So many men. She’d
need to find a weak link. A man she should be able to control. If
things got rough, she’d need to be able to escape easily.
    So many men.
She could hear their
heartbeats. Almost feel the rush of their blood and—
    And he was touching her again.
    Her head whipped to the left and her gaze immediately
locked on Mr. Perfect’s. Then, slowly, helplessly, her stare
dropped to his throat. She could see his pulse beating and could
even hear the soft swoosh of his blood.
    He wouldn’t be the kind of man that she could
control.
    “Looking for someone?” His voice was like a stroke
over her flesh.
    She managed to nod.
    “Forget him.” He brought her hand to his lips.
Pressed a kiss to her knuckles, and his tongue slid against her
skin. “I can give you a night you’ll never forget.”
    She’d give him that, too. It was hard to forget some
nightmares.
    Her heart raced like mad, and her knees trembled.
Okay, he wasn’t weak prey, but maybe that would be a good thing. He
was so big and strong that she shouldn’t have to worry about her
bite hurting him too much. And a big guy like him…surely he’d be
fine with losing a few pints of blood?
    “Why don’t you come with me?” He leaned in close, and
his fingers feathered down her cheek. My, he was
warm.
“I’ll take care of all your…needs.”
    Her teeth began to ache. He was so close to her now.
So close.
    Oh, damn, if she didn’t drink soon, she was going to
break down.The hard, driving hunger lanced through her. Her hands
curled into fists, and her nails bit into her palms.
    The hunk would have to do because she didn’t