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In the amount of ti at my door Silently he opened it, clicked ed ainst the fender and placed a hand on either side of arded me, searched my face

"Yeah, I know it," he said quietly "You h you are, all the tirasped ile huile, so delicate, so easy to kill" His grip tightened "When are you going to get that through your thick skull?"

I stared at hi Instead, the unavoidable happened--so that seemed to happen more and more since I’d met Eli Dupré Tears formed in my eyes and rolled down my cheeks I lifted , deter flared in Eli’s eyes, and then they softened His hand loosened and slid fro into ainst mine I breathed in his scent, unique, sweet, and earthy, and slippedhappen to you," he whispered against my ear "You’ve become too important to me, Riley" He pulled back and looked at me, his eyes dark pools in the shadows "Understand?"

"Not really," I whispered, and I didn’t"But if you think I’ to cower in so, you’re crazy I prohtened, his jaw flinched, and he sighed, as though he was holding so he wished to discuss He stared at hthouse "Cohthouse; I just followed hirabbed my hand and led me across the shadowy interior "I was just a ways up the shore when they installed the first Fresnel lens," he said "Pretty cool Always did like lighthouses They fascinateyou’re so old"

"Yeah, right," he said

We made it to the steps "I’d race you, but I’m sure you’d cheat and use your vamp powers to beat me," I said, then craned my neck and peered above me at the steps as they spiraled upward "Seth and I used to race theht steps to the top" I laughed, but it ith sadness "He always got such a kick out of it" I felt the beginning of panic seize ain, Eli was there to rescueclose "And hold on"

I did, and slipped my arms around his neck We were face-to-face, body to body, and sensations soared within me Eli read entle, sensual kiss that hadHe tasted sweet, just like his scent, and I kneasn’t anything like a ht could possess And Eli possessed it fully

With a sensual pull of ue, Eli ended the kiss and took the one hundred and seventy-eight steps to the top in seven Yeah, seven Traveling that fast while hanging on to someone, in a spiral staircase? It was better than any amusement park ride I’d ever been on My head spun, adrenaline pumped, and somehow, my sexual desire for Eli tripled Quadrupled

At the top, Eli lowered me onto the platform and eased open the door that led to the outer balcony The icked strong, salty, andperfect Without a word, he shut the door behind us and urged me to the rail, where he crowded behind me and placed his ar trapped by Eli’s body

"Good," he whispered against h my body, and I looked out over the darkened Atlantic Several lights blinked frolow from the moon rippled steadily over the water Somewhere close, an oyster shoal bubbled, and the wind carried the ever-present brine to e to think we’ve shared this place," Eli said, sliding his hands over ht the tender area of skin beneath uard since he was a vaet all of it "The two of us, in the same city but totally different worlds," he whispered He turned ht flashed off his eyes "Same world now"

I didn’t have to wait for his mouth to descend upondesire his touch created felt just as new as the first tiue, on me My skin heated under his touch, and sensations rocked ue tasted, his teeth nipped, and he suckled my bottom lip as his hands swept over ainst him I kissed him back, lost in the atmosphere and in Eli, and as I slipped es of his abs, he gasped against ers buried in my hair, he held my head still and looked at me