Page 51 of Vampire's Choice

Which foolishly encouraged her to press the case. "Vampires can be killed by very specific things. Beheading. Burned to ash by the sun. Staking our heart with a hardwood.”

"So plywood would be ineffective."

He was making a joke, but his tone didn’t change. It was eerie, but also a full-blown warning that he was fighting a war for control inside of him.

She was perverse enough to keep pushing. "Point being, I've heard nothing about vampires dying from a sex demon's powers."

"It could still weaken you. Harm you. You are proposing an experiment with no guarantees or safeguards."

“Maybe on the guarantees. But there is a safeguard.”

“What would that be?”

“You. You have control. You know how to use it.”

“Within limits. Stop.”

She’d started to move toward him, but halted at the tone of command. At least for now. “I think the idea intrigues you. It does me.” Another step. “What would happen if you found you could have that limitless feed on another being and not take their life? For one thing, you could test whether what gives you the charge is actually killing them, or just having been given everything from them. Making that connection I mentioned. We all have a hunger for something deeper than food, Merc. We can pretend we don’t, but it doesn’t make it true."

“If you do not stop moving forward, I will leave.”

“You do that a lot. Retreat when you don’t want to have a conversation.”

His gaze narrowed. “This isn’t a retreat. It’s a refusal to allow you to direct me in the way you wish.”

Had he just suggested she was topping from the bottom? Okay, she probably was. But she had no problem with that. Not if it gave her the fight she craved. She was pretty sure it was right in front of her, a hair’s breadth from taking up that gauntlet.

"Some kinds of questions are best left unanswered,” he said. “It allows one to hold onto the idea that he might be better than he really is."

A fist closed around her heart. She remembered how Dollar had assumed Merc might have betrayed them. In a wrong-ass way, it made sense. He held himself away from the others, and no one seemed interested in changing that. Most of all Merc.

Don’t offer friendship, and the question of whether anyone wants to be your friend, if anyone trusts you enough for that, is left unanswered.

“Females act like prey around you," she said. “Submissive females.”

“You don't."

Was that what he’d meant, during that earlier conversation? “I’m not used to having casual conversations…with a female like you.”

“A vampire female?”

“No.”

Her submission, coupled with her lack of fear—despite his best efforts—was what had drawn his attention?

She pressed for more. “You encourage their fear.”

"They lose it when I compel them. It only remains deep within, the unconscious part of them that recognizes the danger. That kernel of fear is the seasoning among the sexual desire. You have it, too, but it's a different…flavor." He shook his head. "So it’s better for them to consciously fear me."

Bingo. He was aware of what he was doing with the keep away vibes.

She started to move forward again. This time he didn’t tell her not to. When she stood before him, she tilted her head to look up into his forbidding expression. His hands were curled at his sides, tense. Waiting. “I want to touch you,” she said softly. “May I?”

“Humans get fascinated with vampires,” he said. “Like rock band groupies. Sex demons have the same problem.”

She gave him a cool stare. “If you want me to stab you in the groin, you can suggest that’s what this is. I’m happy to cut your ego down to size.”

His lips twitched, but she could still tell nothing from his expression. Until he reached out and touched her face. Slid his fingertips along her brow.