"Come for me, Mina," he said, as he moved his hand down to where their bodies joined, finding the tiny bud in the curls of her sex.

He just touched her when she screamed, her body convulsing around him. His fangs distended, but he easily ignored them, lost in the strong quiver of her body. He pumped once more, hard and deep, then his own orgasm rocked his body. He collapsed on top of her, weak, trembling.

As he fell into a state of satisfied unconsciousness, he tried to recall how his orgasms had felt before Mina. Had they been as mind-blowing, as awe-inspiring?

Oddly, he couldn't seem to recall.

Sebastian stretched, a smile of tremendous satisfaction on his face. "Damn I'm good."

Mina rolled her eyes. "You would be proud of that," she said, attempting to roll across the bed away from him, but he easily snagged her around the waist and pulled her back. "Damned right. Five orgasms in... " He lifted his head from the pillow to look at the digital clock on his nightstand. "In forty-seven minutes. That's got to be a record." She grunted, pretending not to be impressed. But as she was the one who'd received the five orgasms, she was actually quite impressed and very, very satisfied. Her whole body felt heavy and boneless. "Man, you're a tough lady," he said with a weary sigh. "Okay, I'll go for two more." He started to slide back down under the comforter, but she groaned and caught her arm. "Okay, you win. I don't think my body can take any more."

He slid back beside her, his irritatingly smug grin back in place. But even as she told herself he really was far too self-satisfied, she snuggled against him with a contented sigh. They remained that way, Sebastian leisurely stroking her back, she basking in the exhausting afterglow of his lovemaking. "Do you still think I'm narcissistic and depraved?" he asked suddenly. She lifted her head, seeing that his brow was furrowed, his golden eyes serious. "No. You are definitely confident. And definitely very wicked." She rubbed a leg up his as she said the last, to let him know she very much liked his brand of wicked. "But I'm starting to like those qualities in you." His eyes roamed her face for a moment, then he cupped one of his big hands around the back of her head and pulled her in for a kiss, slow and sweet. When they parted, she sank against his chest, rubbing her cheek against his smooth skin.

They were silent again, until Sebastian moved.

"Okay," he said sounding far more awake and together than she was. "We need to get dressed. I've got

plans."

She groaned, falling back against the pillows as he rose from the bed. "Can't we just stay in?"

"Nope."

Mina watched him as he strode across the room to his dresser, admiring all his golden skin and taut

muscles. Narcissistic, confident, depraved-the man deserved to be whatever he wanted. He was

breathtaking. With great disappointment, she watched as he shrugged on a green shirt and a pair of jeans. Then he padded barefoot back to the bed, the shirt unbuttoned and a line of muscled chest and stomach still peeking out at her, teasingly. He sat on the edge of the bed and she couldn't resist slipping her hand over his belly. Tight muscles, a shallow navel surrounded by coarse hair that dipped down into his jeans.

He smiled at her as her fingertips snaked under the waistband toying with the curls below his belly button.

"And I'm the third most dangerous vampire in New York? Woman, you are going to kill me."

She smiled, but didn't stop touching him, not until he caught her hand.

"I want to touch you," she told him. "You've done all the touching since you woke me up."

And what a way to be woken up, she thought, her toes curling.

He glanced at the bed, and she could tell he was tempted. But instead, he removed her hand from him and rose. "Later. Definitely later. But we have another lesson."

She groaned. Sebastian's lessons to help her understand her vampire self were the last thing she wanted to do.

"Plus, you want time to stop by your place, don't you? For clean clothes?"

Now that was a temptation she couldn't resist. She couldn't bear to wear that damp, dirty dress any longer. Especially when Sebastian looked all fresh and clean.

"Okay," she agreed. "But I get to touch you as much as I want later." Sebastian grinned at her. "You say that like you think I might say no. You should know me better than that. Later, I'm all yours." Mina smiled back until he left the room. Not quite all of him was hers. She crawled out of bed and reached for her crumpled dress. But she'd be happy with what she did have.

"I like your apartment," Sebastian called to Mina from her living room. Mina straightened from looking in her fridge, a blue, plastic pitcher in her hand. "A bit smaller than what you're used to," she said as she went to the cupboard and pulled down two mugs.

"It's cozy," he said, appearing in the doorway.

She smiled over her shoulder, then returned her attention to pouring thick red liquid into the mugs. She didn't realize he was right behind her until he pressed a kiss to the back of her neck. She noticed he kept the touch very brief, always aware of the fact that his lips at her neck might scare her. It didn't, not anymore. She couldn't imagine Sebastian hurting her. Not physically anyway.

She turned, their bodies touching, but he made no further attempt to kiss her. In fact, after a few moments, he stepped back. She knew he was trying to behave. To keep on track of the night's plans. Plans he, as usual, hadn't filled her in on.

She reached for the mugs, offering him one. He accepted it, sniffing the concoction doubtfully.

"The pig-and-cow mix?" he asked.

She nodded, lifting the mug in a toast.

He grimaced, but raised his too.

She took a sip, fighting back her own grimace. The mixture was unappealing, she knew. And grew more

so of late. Sebastian actually sputtered, but managed to get the drink down.

"Good Lord, you lived on this?"

She nodded, trying not to reveal that now she was nearly as stunned by the idea as he was. She didn't

know how she'd managed. Except that she'd had to and then it had become her norm.

"Well, it is a little stale," she said, although she knew being fresher wouldn't make it any more appealing to him.

He made another disgusted face and set the mug back on the table. "I think I'll wait until I get back to my place for some of Rhys's blood-bank stuff." He glanced again at the mug, then shuddered. "And I thought his stuff was awful."

She tried not to laugh at his extreme reaction and forced herself to finish hers.

She placed both mugs in the sink. "Okay. I need to get a quick shower and clean clothes."

Sebastian followed her as she headed to her bedroom. He wandered around the room, touching this, inspecting that as she tried to figure out what to wear.

He just set down a book about day-to-day life in Regency England, when he asked, "Your roommate? What's she like?"

Mina looked up from her underwear drawer, where she was lamenting her lack of pretty undergarments. "Lizzie? What about her?"

"Lizzie." For a second, he looked as if he was considering something.

"How long have you been roommates?"

"Only about three months. She just moved to New York. She was living in Colorado or Montana. Somewhere like that. She's a scientist. She came here to work with Dr. Fowler. She's a werewolf."

Sebastian nodded, then he noticed the pale blue panties she held, forgotten, in her hand.

He walked toward her, but stopped before he touched her. Pulling in a deep breath, he smiled. "You'd better get that shower."

He didn't have to add, before they ended up back in bed. Her bed, this time. She glanced longingly at the simple white wrought-iron bed with its pale lavender comforter.

She grabbed a bra and her jeans and shirt-and the blue panties and squeezed past him. She did need a shower-a cold one. Although she didn't think cold showers worked quite the same on vampires.

Once in the bathroom, she kept her attention on starting the shower, getting out of her rumpled dress, anything but the idea of Sebastian gazing around her apartment. There was something very exciting about his being here, in her world.

She tested the water before stepping into the tub. She closed her eyes, letting the hot water sluice down her body. Then she opened them, not really seeing, her mind on all the things Sebastian had done to her when they'd awoken together. Her toes curled against the slick porcelain of the tub. He was amazing. And she now understood how a person could become fixated on making love. Although she knew for her, her fixation was more about Sebastian. She knew she couldn't enjoy sexual intimacy like that with anyone else. It was all about Sebastian and what she felt for him.

She closed her eyes for a moment, sighing deeply. She knew she'd have to move on from him eventually. It was inevitable. But she didn't want to think about that now. About a time without Sebastian.

She opened her eyes, her skin tingling. She looked down at herself. Steam swirled around her, like mist just before a strong storm. She continued to watch as her nipples puckered, forming tight little beads. Her skin grew more sensitive, more aware of the water and the continual brush of that damp steam on her skin. Her breasts grew heavier, achy. And between her thighs, she felt more throbbing need.

A small whimper escaped her as she closed her eyes and moved her legs apart. The water and the mist lapped between her thighs, making her wet and desperate.

Could just thinking about Sebastian make her ache this way? She opened her eyes, telling herself she was out of control. She needed to get a handle on her need for the man. And still the mist swirled like a mini-twister around her body.

She whimpered again, her hand moving to her breasts, cupping her aroused skin. Skimming her palms, her fingers over her nipples. Imagining it was Sebastian touching her that way.

In the mist she could see him, his damp features, the curl of his wet hair, the glistening of water on his skin. She really was far too obsessed. Then her misty, fantasy image spoke.

"I like watching you touch yourself."

She made a startled noise, her hand pausing on her breast.

"Don't stop." Sebastian stepped forward and Mina realized he wasn't a fantasy. He was real and

solid-her eyes drifted down his naked body. Very, very solid.

"How did you do that?" she asked, even as she knew the answer. Vampires could change form. She

knew that intellectually, although she'd never been able to do it herself. And she didn't know that in their other forms they could still touch another.

"You were doing that," she murmured. "Swirling around me. Touching me."

He nodded. "But it's not a substantial touch. More just a faint, stimulating stir of the air. Nothing more

than mist. Or shadow."

She nodded, then she realized her hands still cupped her breasts. She started to drop them, but Sebastian shook his head. "No, keep touching yourself." "Sebastian." She blushed. They had done so much together. But somehow standing before him, pleasing herself, made her too aware of herself. Too aware of him. "Please," he said with his sexy grin. She mustered her courage, then rubbed her hand over her water-slicked breast. He watched her, the heat in his golden eyes encouraging her. She caressed the other breast, her fingers toying with the tightened nipple. Sebastian's gaze remained fascinated on her. His attention excited her. She squeezed one breast, wringing a low moan from herself. When she opened her eyes, Sebastian was gone.

"Sebastian?" Then she felt him, the mist again eddying around her. She gasped, the touch of him in that form just as he said, faint, barely there, yet so exciting, so, so arousing. Helpless to stop herself, one of her hands left her breast, gliding down her stomach to the curls at the juncture of her thighs. She parted herself, finding her clitoris. Desperately she began to stroke herself. The mist also stroked her, spinning and churning around her, driving her mad. She pressed her fingers hard to herself, feeling herself being twirled toward her release. Just as she started to cry out, Sebastian was there, hard and real at her back, his hand joining hers between her spread thighs. She screamed, her orgasm flooding her like a storm amid rolling fog.

Sebastian held her tightly as she trembled with the power of her release. His own desire was only barely held in check, but he managed to control it. He had no idea using his shifting abilities could be so much fun, so damned sexy. That had been... "Wow," Mina finally murmured, still boneless against him.

"This wasn't exactly how I planned this lesson to go," he said, kissing her ear.

"Mmm," she rubbed back against him, from satisfaction rather than arousal. His cock pulsed anyway.

"How was the lesson supposed to go?"

"I was going to take you to the botanical gardens. They have a lovely herb and perennial garden that

reminds me very much of the gardens we had outside of our estate in Derbyshire, back before I crossed

over. I planned to teach you how to shift, then we could sneak in to see it, since it's after closing hours." She turned in his arms, a small, dreamy smile curling her rosy lips. "That does sound lovely. But this was lovely too. Very lovely."

Sebastian gritted his teeth, trying to stay focused on their conversation rather than the slick rub of her breasts against his chest.

"But you didn't learn anything new about your vampirism."

Her eyes widened and she laughed. "Didn't I? I think I learned something very new. And I want to learn more, right here in this shower."

"Like what?" he asked, liking the naughty gleam in her blue eyes.