Yvette cleared her throat and pulled at the duvet, trying to cover herself with a portion. “I think we both know that this won’t work. It’s only about the sex.”

“Is it?” he challenged, his voice hard, the tender man from earlier gone.

“Yes. Or have you already forgotten what I am? I’m the very creature you’ve hated all your life.”

“Does that scare you?”

Yvette pulled herself up, confusion spreading inside. “Scare me?” She wasn’t scared of anything other than her heart breaking.

Haven looked over his shoulder. “Does it scare you that we have something that goes beyond sex?”

Yvette pulled at the duvet, trying to cover her naked breasts in an attempt to hide her vulnerability. “We have nothing.”

“You’re a terrible liar, Yvette. Even worse than I am.”

“I’m not—” Her protest got stuck in her throat when his gaze locked with hers.

“You cried.”

Yvette’s heart stopped. “Who told you?” A sense of betrayal cut through her. How could her friends do this to her, expose her like this.

Haven made a dismissive hand movement. “It doesn’t matter. You cried when you thought Zane had killed me, which means you feel something.”

“I’m not a stone!” she hissed. Of course she felt something. “Or do you think vampires have no heart, no capacity for emotions?” She was angry now, angry at his assumption that she was heartless.

He reached for her, grabbed her arm and pulled her closer. “You misunderstand me. You feel something for me. And I want you to admit that.” His eyes bored into her, and his hand around her bicep burned her as if it was a hot iron.

“And why should I?”

“Because I want to be sure that I’m not the only one who feels that this is more than just a quick jump in the sack.” He pulled her until she was in his lap, where his cock was still as hard and heavy as before. Haven dipped his head to hers. “Because I want more from you.”
Twenty-Nine

Haven brushed his lips against Yvette’s, knowing he’d definitely gone off the deep end this time. But he didn’t care any longer. When Yvette was in his arms, the world seemed right despite everything that had happened. He was still trying to digest the blow he’d been dealt earlier: his own mother had used him and his siblings to gain power. And she’d killed his father over it—the father he’d wrongly hated all these years. The knowledge had uprooted his entire world. If he couldn’t even trust in a mother’s love anymore, what or who could he trust?

And maybe that’s why he now threw all caution to the wind, trusting the one thing that had never failed him before: his gut. And his gut told him he needed Yvette. What she was—a creature he’d hunted all his life—didn’t matter now. Because suddenly his reason for hunting vampires wasn’t quite as pure as he’d always thought. The vampire killing his mother and taking Katie had done so to protect his own race from a power that could have destroyed them. Could he really fault him for that? But more importantly, could he forgive his mother for what she’d tried to do?

Despite of what Haven had done to members of the vampire race, neither Samson nor any of his colleagues had taken revenge on him and Wesley, even though they easily could have. Wasn’t it time now to show the same sort of forgiveness toward them? Or was he just trying to fashion a reason so he could allow himself to be with Yvette?

“Haven, we can’t do this,” she whispered against his lips. “We’ll just hurt each other.”

“No, not hurt—heal.” Haven captured her soft mouth, pulling her upper lip between his and licked gently. “We can heal each other.”

“This is dangerous.”

“I know. So, let’s be courageous then.” He exhaled deeply, then drew in his next breath and with it her scent. “Let me make love to you.” It was the first time he had ever uttered those words. No other woman had heard them from him. But with Yvette it was what he wanted, to make love, to join their bodies, to feel.

This time when he slid into her, he went slowly, forgetting the frantic rush toward a climax and allowing the seconds to stretch to minutes. He didn’t want to rush anything but explore her so he could learn what she needed from him, how he could pleasure her, and how he’d learn to understand her. Their bodies intertwined and their gazes locked, Haven couldn’t imagine ever doing anything else but making love to Yvette.

Her slick heat felt like home, her hands on him like the soothing embrace he’d gone without for too long. The wall around his heart fractured with every smile and every moan from Yvette’s lips. And the sparkle in her eyes, the desire that burned there for him was like a battering ram swinging against the gate of his heart to bash it open. He didn’t do a thing to stop it.