Nothing has ever hurt this bad before." Her voice sounded puzzled and Colin mentally kicked himself. He knew what he'd done had sucked the soul right out of her.

In general, he considered himself a nice guy, an upbeat, happy guy. Not angsty or arrogant like many men. He didn't like to hurt people or bad mouth them. He didn't like lying or bending the truth. He didn't have a manipulative bone in his body. He rarely believed the worst of people, but he had tonight for a few short minutes. In the process, he had hurt the last person he would ever want to hurt.

"Eden, what happened tonight will never happen again, I promise you. You are my bloodmate. I am falling in love with you. You come before everyone else in my life now."

A ghost of a smile touched her lips. "I believe you, Colin." She burrowed her face into the hollow of his shoulder.

"Good." Now, that she seemed more at ease, he wriggled his hips, working his way out of his uncomfortable briefs.

He tossed them out of the bed and a little smile curled her lips. With a sigh, he settled her gently against his naked body, his hands stroking her comfortingly. "Sleep now. You've had little sleep and far too much excitement and emotion. I can feel how tired you are."

She murmured something unintelligible and he watched her eyelids droop, her beautiful face growing slack as she fell asleep. While she slept, Colin mentally made a checklist. He needed to call his sister and Declan. He needed to call the airline and he needed to call Corey. He had decided to take Eden home with him.

Despite the fact that Colin hated confrontations and fighting, and he didn't like hitting people, he would do whatever was necessary to protect his mate both physically, mentally, and emotionally. That thought fueled his determination to ensure that one thing above all others became the truth. Sean Antaeus had told his last lie about his sister.

Chapter Seven.

Eden's body burned. Usually, her dragon blood kept her pretty warm so she rarely slept with more than a sheet covering her even in the coolest weather. The heavy weight of a sheet and blanket pressed onto her, and she wondered how that had happened. Something itched her nose too. Without opening her eyes, she wriggled her nose. Something still tickled it. She took a deep breath. Sugar cookies. Who the h.e.l.l was baking? Was that why it was so hot?

She drew another breath. d.a.m.n. Sugar cookies?

Her eyes popped open. The sheet and coverlet on the hotel bed covered her. However, the heat she felt didn't come from her coverings but from the big male body that curled around hers. Colin's head rested half on her shoulder, half on her pillow, and his blond spikes brushed against her nose. He had one long arm draped across her body, and his hand curved possessively over her naked hip. One of his thighs nestled intimately between hers. For a moment, Eden savored the feeling of him lying half on her. He radiated heat like an oven. She wondered if all vampires were warm like Colin. With a rush, the events of the previous night came flooding back. Now, that the thought of losing her mate on the day she had found him no longer crushed her, anger took hold.

f.u.c.king Sean would pay for what he had said to Colin about her. Paris Hilton? She'd show him Paris f.u.c.king Hilton! Her dragon uncurled within her, anger and adrenaline fueling the beast's instincts. Unfortunately, the dragon then noticed Colin draped across her body. Instantly, the urge to mate became her dragon's priority. Kicking Sean where the sun didn't shine took a backseat to her dragon's primal instincts.

The scent of sugar cookies overwhelmed her. Eden wondered why Colin's body gave off the scent so strongly. He moved a little and something hard and hot dug into her hip. A wry smile tilted up the corner of her mouth. That would be why. Morning wood. Apparently, Colin dreamt of her.

Her mouth turned down. At least, she hoped he dreamed of her. With a frown, she tried to wriggle out from beneath him.

I am dreaming of you. Stop moving and let me finish.

His amused thought slid into her head and she felt a strange warm tingle there. She hadn't noticed that little tingle the day before. Now, she was fully aware of his presence in her head.

You're not having a wet dream, are you?

He flexed his hips and his c.o.c.k pressed into her flesh. Does that feel wet to you?

Not yet, she admitted, trying to wriggle free of his grasp.

Keep moving like that and it will feel wet much sooner than expected.

Eden froze. Colin's chuckle sounded in her head. Don't worry, love. We have far too much to do today. There's no time for s.e.xual escapades. Get your a.s.s in the shower. He reached out and lightly smacked her right b.u.t.tock.

Her eyes widened. Did you just spank me?

Yes. Now get outta here or you'll have to watch me spank the monkey.

She scooted away from him, and he laughed out loud. "I'm joking. I have phone calls to make and you probably want a shower."

Eden grimaced. Oh, yeah. Hot water ruled when you'd been tucked up against a living furnace all night.

He flopped onto his back as she slid out of bed. "I thought that might be the case."

"You're not always gonna be right in this relationship, Colin, so you'd better not get used to it," she warned.

I wouldn't dare.

She showered quickly. When she got out, she could hear the murmur of Colin's voice as he spoke on the phone.

She brushed her teeth three times, grimacing over the fact that she'd practically spewed in front of him. Walking into the bedroom, she found him on his laptop. He looked busy except for the fact that he was naked.

"How many other naked a.s.ses have been on that chair? Don't sit on it! Sit on a towel!" she exclaimed.

"Don't have one," he quipped.

She whipped off her damp towel and tossed it to him. He put it on the chair and sat back down. He looked at her with a wide grin. "Now you're naked. Perfect. I love it when a ploy works as it's supposed to," he laughed.

"You're a crazy man." Eden kept her voice stern, but let him see her grin.

"Crazy like a fox." He turned off his computer. "I need to shower. You need to pack."

"Come again?" Her eyebrows shot upward.

"You and I are booked on a flight back to the west coast this morning. I got the last two first cla.s.s seats," he told her.

"What if I don't want to go?" She crossed her arms over her chest.

"You'll go. We're going to my house, not your family's."

Eden walked over to the closet and pulled out her suitcase. Despite her words, she wasn't going to argue with him.

Both of them knew that it was time to go home.

The flight was uneventful. Both of them slept a little. During the movie, they cuddled under a blanket and m.a.s.t.u.r.b.a.t.ed each other to o.r.g.a.s.m. Luckily, Eden had thought to grab a napkin before they started or Colin would have been a mess. Well, as much as he came, they both would have.

The dinner hour had pa.s.sed and night had fallen by the time they landed. An eerie sense of ent.i.tlement welled from within Eden as they walked through the airport. Usually, she walked this concourse alone. Now, she strode along, hip to hip with Colin, one hand clasped in his, each of them with a laptop case slung over their shoulder and their free hands pulling their suitcases along behind them. She knew they looked like any other young affluent couple arriving home from a trip. And her sense that this was the life she deserved grew stronger with every brush of Colin's hip against hers.

Instead of heading toward the line of cabs at the curb, Colin turned her toward the long term parking structure.

Eden played a little game in her head trying to guess which car was his as they walked along. She'd progressed from SUVs to sports cars when suddenly he stopped. She c.o.c.ked an eyebrow up at the sporty Lexus sedan in dark candy apple red.

Her mate pulled a key fob from his jacket pocket and with a blip and a flash of lights, disarmed the alarm. The trunk opened remotely. Colin stowed their suitcases there and their laptops in the backseat. When they got inside the car, he turned down the volume on the stereo. Eden's brows rose curiously, but then he started the engine. Music blared from the speakers and she winced a little. Apparently, he liked his music played at concert level. With an apologetic smile, Colin turned the volume down further. Minutes later, they rolled out of the parking structure.

Eden watched her lover drive. He was relaxed, his fingers drumming on the leather and burlwood wrapped steering wheel in time to the music. Although she should have been angsty about coming home but not going home, excitement bubbled within her, warring with her eagerness to see where he lived. Colin had told her about his house, that it was less than a year old, in a new private community on the beach. He'd moved in just after his sister had hooked up with her brother. She wondered what it looked like.

She knew this stretch of coast highway, and his turn onto a private road marked Crimson Beach didn't surprise her.

When they reached a guardhouse, the guard obviously recognized Colin and opened the gate. Instead of driving through, Colin pulled up to the guardhouse, rolling down his window.

The guard leaned in with a smile. "Good evening, Mr. Granville. How was your business trip?" Eden noticed the man's friendly smile and that the name tag above his badge read 'Edward'.

"Heya, Ed. Yeah, it was a great trip." He leaned back, gesturing toward Eden. "This is Eden Antaeus. She's moving into my house so I'll need a security packet for her."

Ed tipped his cap at her. "You'll have the packet first thing in the morning, sir. Evening, ma'am. Are you related to Mr. Granville's new brother-in-law?"

"She's his sister. She'll be picking up her car tomorrow so make sure you let her in," Colin told him.

Ed nodded solemnly. "No problem, Mr. Granville. I've got you on the video and I'll make sure my day staff familiarizes themselves with her." Ed stepped back from the car. "Have a good evening, sir, ma'am."

Colin put the car in gear and they rolled through the gate. As he drove through the small community, Eden saw that the homes were all different sizes from cottages to mansions, some right on the beach and others not. Colin drove until they reached a row of houses that seemed like an odd mix of California modern and New England Cape Cod. Each of the medium sizes homes sat on a large lot and backed onto the beach itself.

Colin's house stood out because the houses on either side were sprawling single level houses while his stood two stories high. Because the lots ran right out to the sand, no one had fences, but on one side of Colin's house, she spied a six foot privacy fence that enclosed a huge patio. Because the lots were so big, the house next door wasn't close nor did it have an upper story that would allow someone to look down into Colin's yard. The fence roused her curiosity.

The car pulled into the center of the huge double sized garage. Actually, the garage had a double sized bay and a single sized bay with enough room for two cars and water toys like a boat or jet skis. Apparently, Colin didn't have any toys though. The garage sported a large pile of flattened packing boxes and nothing else.

Eden got out as the garage door closed. She stared at the huge empty s.p.a.ce. Absolutely nothing about it said that this was Colin Granville's garage. It seemed odd to her because her brothers had tools and ... man stuff in their garages.

Colin opened the trunk and took out their suitcases. "Can you get the laptops? I'll take care of these," he said, hauling the two cases to the door.

Eden grabbed the computers out of the backseat and hurried after him. She followed him into a huge kitchen that looked out over a wrap around porch that faced the ocean. She sucked in a breath. The view was fantastic, but the room appeared just as sterile as the garage. Colin hadn't put his stamp on it at all. She followed him through the house and up the stairs, all the while marveling at how unlived in it looked.

Colin threw open the double doors to the master suite and Eden stifled a gasp. A huge California King four-poster bed draped in blue faced a wall of windows that gave an incredible view of the Pacific Ocean. A messy trail of clothes led from the bed to the huge walk-in closet c.u.m dressing room. Eden set the computers on a desk near the windows and looked around. The suite consisted of the huge bedroom that had an alcove on one side near the windows. The alcove held a desk, a futon, and a recliner.

Two closets opened from either side of the bathroom door. Although identical in size, one held clothes and the other had work out equipment. The bathroom had a huge shower stall with six showerheads and an enormous Jacuzzi tub. Two other doors turned out to be a small sauna and a linen closet. The long counter with double sinks was flanked by a toilet on one side and a bidet that looked like no one had ever touched it on the other.

"Do I look like the kind of guy who would use one of those?" Colin said when he caught her staring at the bidet.

She turned to find him standing in the doorway, an amused expression on his face. She arched a brow at him. "It wouldn't hurt you to use it. You know, cleanliness is supposed to be next to G.o.dliness."

"The only G.o.ddess I get next to is you."

"Like I said, it wouldn't hurt you to use it," she teased.

Colin reached out and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her against him. "Do you like the house?" He nuzzled her neck.

Eden sighed. "It's very white. And it looks like no one lives here, but yes, I like the house."

He made a face. "It came white. I didn't know what to do with it."

"I suppose that means you're giving me carte blanche to do something with it."

The instant the words left her mouth their eyes locked. "Yes," Colin said softly. "You're my bloodmate. Maybe it's wrong of me to a.s.sume that you will want to live here with me permanently, but..."

She put her fingers over his lips, stilling his words. "It's not wrong. It just takes some getting used to. It felt strange to come home and not go to Sean's. But this feels ... right."

His sigh conveyed his relief. "Pizza and a swim?" he asked with a bright, hopeful smile. "I have a great place that will deliver. What do you like on a pizza?"

"Everything except bell peppers and anchovies. Any combination of items is fine with me." Eden pulled away and walked over to the windows. They stretched from floor to ceiling, the width of the wall, and the expanse of the Pacific Ocean stretched before her on the other side of the gla.s.s. The night sky twinkled with lights that reflected off the water.

The view tugged at her senses and she knew if the windows and patio door were open, she would feel as if she was outdoors. "This view... it's unbelievable."

"Yeah, I thought so too. I bought this house solely for that view. The house is way too big for me, but I couldn't resist the feeling of being at sea."

Eden knew what he meant. Standing before the wall of windows, the ocean seemed so close it felt as if she could reach out her hand and touch it, as if she stood on the deck of a yacht with the ocean all around her. A long sigh escaped her. The mating thing had gone more smoothly than she'd thought it would. Colin's house was perfect. No one had made any imprint on it, not even Colin. It was a blank canvas, waiting for her. For the first time in her life, Eden had the sense that she had really come home. The place felt comfortable and welcoming despite its lack of furniture.

They sat on the deck outside the bedroom and ate their pizza. Colin kept flinging his crust out onto the sand for the seagulls despite Eden's warning that the gulls would keep coming back every day if he did that. After they ate, they got into swimsuits and Colin pulled out towels. He led the way down an outside staircase to the huge patio behind the privacy fence. Gray flagstones stretched from one side of the house all the way around to the other side. The side with the privacy fence had a huge hot tub and an infinity pool set into the stones.

The pool was landscaped all around with big gray rocks and a waterfall near the hot tub. When she stood at the waterfall end of the pool and looked toward the open end of the patio, the pool looked like it merged with the ocean.

The effect was spectacular and Eden knew Colin must have paid a small fortune for it.

She sat on the edge as Colin turned the pool lights on. When he came toward her, she slipped into the water, backstroking away from him. He smiled and dove in, coming up next to her. The seductive warmth of the water made her limbs feel light and languorous as Colin wrapped his arms around her. Their bodies slid together sensuously as he kissed her. His mouth rubbed against hers, hot and urgent. Eden's heart took on a thunderous rhythm.

His tongue danced with hers as his hands untied her bikini top. Moments later, their swimsuits landed on the flagstones with a wet slap. Eden scissored her legs around Colin, rubbing her p.u.s.s.y against his thick erection. His hands cupped her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and they went under. Without breaking the kiss, Colin kicked out, pushing them back to the surface. He maneuvered them toward the shallow end, close to the rocks and waterfall where their feet could touch the bottom.

Eden moaned as his thumbs teased her hard nipples. "Now. Just f.u.c.k me now," she panted, rubbing against him.

With a growl, Colin grabbed her a.s.s and lifted. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he fitted himself to her and thrust home. The delicious feel of being impaled by his thick c.o.c.k had Eden shuddering in o.r.g.a.s.m. Colin held her close, his fingers digging into her b.u.t.tocks. She gazed into his dark eyes, seeing the flame of his arousal burning there.

"More," she rasped breathlessly.

Colin pressed her back against a smooth stone and pulled almost all the way out of her. He thrust within her again, beginning a rhythm that had the water sloshing around them. Heat rose in her as her dragon stretched and clawed to be free. Her skin rippled with the effort of holding her human shape. She wanted more... wanted something... her hips moved urgently against Colin's as her body sought relief from the incredibly pleasurable tension.

Eden's fingernails dug into his shoulders and their gazes locked. Colin's breathing was rapid and rough. Her own matched it. She could tell that they were both about to come. She tossed her wet hair back, exposing her neck. A low growl came from Colin.

"Bite me," she demanded, her wet naked b.r.e.a.s.t.s rubbing against his chest, against his pierced nipples.

His eyes glowed with a preternatural light and within her, her dragon roared its approval. He kissed her and she could feel the sharp edge of his fangs. She arched her neck as his lips left hers, feeling the fangs dance along her sensitive skin. Then heat scored her as a sharp sting told her his fangs had pierced her vein. Instantly, Colin's thoughts flooded her mind.

Oh G.o.ds, her blood tastes so good.

From his thoughts, she could feel his ecstasy at tasting her blood on his tongue, how the joy filled his senses and his soul. His love wrapped itself around her as surely as his physical body did. He continued thrusting into her as he drank from her and the sensation made her mindless with l.u.s.t. She bucked against him, pressing closer. The need to be one with him overwhelmed her. The pounding of his heart became the thundering of her own heart. They were a seamless unit, melded together until she couldn't tell where she ended and Colin began.

His fangs began to retract and pleasure burst within her. She screamed his name as he licked her throat, moaning her name over and over again. She convulsed, her body going rigid with the most intense o.r.g.a.s.m she'd ever had. Colin's c.o.c.k swelled inside her and she cried out again as his hot s.e.m.e.n bathed her hot channel. Somehow they ended up on the shallow steps, lying limp and dazed. Groggy, Eden's body still shook with little tremors. Colin's mouth had a bit of blood smeared on it and his eyes were unfocused. Suddenly, it dawned on her what had happened.

"Colin?" she asked shakily. "Did you just bond with me?"

He blinked a few times before his eyes finally focused. "Yes."

She looked at the still water and realized she hadn't loosed her dragonfire yet. The water would have been boiling if she had. "I didn't bond with you."