The Vampire's Masquerade
Page 2
“Do you like to watch him pick up other chicks and have sex with them? Is that your kink?”
The idea horrified her. “My God, no! And, well, that’s really none of your business. And no, that’s not my...kink.”
He put up both his hands, a tiny smile playing along his lips. “Okay. I was just curious why your guy, I’m assuming he’s your guy, is all the way over there and you’re all the way over here.”
“Again, none of your business.”
“Fair enough. I was just wondering if this was some kind of game between you two. Like when couples dress up and pretend to be strangers. If you’re waiting for him to mosey on over here and pretend to pick you up, I can leave.”
“No!”
He blinked.
Her outburst drew The King’s attention from the other side of the bar. She lowered her voice. “I mean...that’s not it. I just...If you could stay, just for a while longer, I’d appreciate it.”
He contemplated her for a long moment, then nodded, once again checking his watch. She almost asked if he was waiting for someone, but refrained. Obviously that was the case. A man that looked like that did not go stag to a party. He probably had a hot-something-or-other on the way.
For several minutes they sat in silence, and she found her eyes slipping toward him more than a few times. He polished off his drink, ordered a second, and then checked his watch again, displaying no more interest in her.
Which should have been a good thing. So why was she itching to engage him in conversation? In unison, the girls at Brian’s table cackled as though he’d said something terribly cleaver. It even drew the stranger’s attention. He glanced her way as if to gauge her reaction.
She smiled, though it felt forced. Then an idea tripped into her mind. The dark-masked man wasn’t going out of his way to hit on her. He wasn’t invading her space. So it was likely he either didn’t find her attractive or he did have a girlfriend on the way, which meant it should be safe to engage him in light conversation. Perhaps if Brian saw her chatting up someone as handsome as this stranger, he’d be compelled to leave his groupies to claim his woman.
“Are you waiting for someone?” she asked, smiling as if she were enjoying herself.
“I am,” he replied, casually glancing around the room.
Okay. Not a lot of response there.
The peacock’s hyena-like laugh grated from across the room. Kasima downed the last of her wine and wiped her mouth. A small amount of lipstick smeared onto her arm. That red hue, originally meant to entice Brian, was now like a stain on this entire night.
She suddenly realized how much she resented this one-night-only free-pass.
Snatching a napkin from the bar, she scrubbed clean her arm, and then wiped the rest of her carefully applied lipstick off her lips. Task done, she wadded the napkin into a tight ball and crushed it in her palm.
The masked stranger appeared to be studying her. When he eyed her fist, she made an effort to relax her grip. And when he slanted his gaze at Brian, doing a perfect impression of someone who didn’t give a damn that his girlfriend was sitting by herself in a den of hot-blooded, hard-up males, she wished she could curl up and disappear. Humiliation ran rampant through her veins.
The stranger faced her. “You get off on jealousy, is that it?”
That took her off guard for a moment. “Do you always ask strangers such inappropriate questions?”
He gestured around the room as if to remind her where they were. “Ain’t nothing inappropriate here.”
Touché. She blew out a long breath. She’d likely never see this man again, so what did it matter if she opened up to him. “Brian and I don’t usually come to places like this.”
“You don’t, maybe. But I’ve seen him here on occasion.”
Say what now? Surely not recently.
“Mind you, Ever Nights offers a variety of entertainment, not all as extreme as tonight.”
Yes, Ever Nights played host to everything from wholesome weddings to nights of kinky debauchery. “So then you must come here a lot?” she countered.
One side of his mouth curled up.
He looked too handsome when he did that. Mischievous and mysterious. She heard herself ask, “So what’s your kink?”
That half grin widened into a full grin and she was suddenly enthralled by the perfect way it displayed his straight white teeth...and fangs?
Vampire!
Her heart thundered. Her instincts told her the predator in him could sense the change in her pulse. She struggled to squash her anxiety, failing miserably.
With a challenge in his tone, he asked, “Do you really want to know my kink?” He leaned in to whisper near her ear, his hot breath kissing her skin and causing shivers to dance along her shoulders. “It’s not something I can just explain. I’d be better if I showed you.”
Drumsticks played a hard beat against her rib cage. A full-body blush warmed her skin. She glanced at Brian. Would he notice her alarm? But he was too busy burying his face in the peacock’s cleavage!
Bastard!
The vampire followed her gaze, noticing that particular disgrace too, making it all the worse.
“You don’t like vampires?” The vampire didn’t sound offended by his own question, merely curious.
“I—uh” she clamored for words. Her newspaper had done a few articles on vampires. Some were PR puff pieces largely revolving around vampire-owned businesses like Ever Nights. Others had been reports on crimes in the city involving vampires who’d been unable, or unwilling, to curtail their appetites. She’d edited many of them. One bit of trivia she recalled about his kind: This vampire could sense her unease as easily as her furious heartbeat. Which meant trying to deny his question would be pointless. Her heart was fluttering like a hummingbird’s.
“It’s not that. I just…I’m not used to being around, um, vampires, is all.” Though the town’s population was largely vampires, she’d never held a full-blown conversation with one...over drinks...at a party meant for torrid liaisons.
“Well, don’t worry. I won’t bite.” Again that half grin displayed his fangs.
She laughed in spite of herself. A little of her anxiety waned at his lighthearted attempt at humor.
“So you don’t seem to be interested in participating in anything offered here tonight.”
She shrugged.
“Was it your man’s idea to come here?”
She sighed. “He thought we should get some stuff out of our systems before…well, things are getting serious.” Yet she wondered if after tonight she would still want that.
The vampire muttered, “Things are getting serious with Blondie over there too.”
She frowned. She didn’t think he’d meant it as a jab, but it stung all the same.
His expression turned apologetic. “Sorry.” He snapped his fingers at the bartender, and gestured to her glass. Seconds later her drink was refilled and so was his.
She took a small sip and set the glass down, feeling the sudden need to save face in front of this vampire. Striving for nonchalance, she said, “We’ve discussed it, he and I, and it makes sense. We’re both young.” Relatively. Brian was in his early thirties. She was twenty six. “We don’t want any regrets later in life. We don’t want to feel like we missed out on anything.” If she sounded rehearsed, it was because she was repeating Brian’s words verbatim.
“Sowing of the wild oats, as it were?”
“Precisely.”
“Okay. Well, I see him working that needle, but I’m getting the sense you don’t even plan to knit. Do you really think you’re going to be okay sitting here all night while he’s playing hide the salami?”
She raised her wine glass. “That’s what this is for.”
He gave her a whiskey salute. “Then cheers.”
He faced the bar and checked his watch again. Someone on the other side of the room giggled and a couple darted out of the room, hand-in-hand, their eyes lit with excitement. The music shif
ted to a rhythmic melody that made her want to dance, but she dared not. Not on a night like tonight. She’d only end up inviting more unwanted suitors.
The vampire was looking away, so she took the chance to study him more closely. He wore a sharp charcoal tailored suit, high-end by the looks of it, and held himself with the air of someone perfectly at ease with all that was going on around him. Yet here he was, in this relatively quiet room. A jaded member of the club, perhaps?
His eyes wandered the room, his gaze not landing on any one person for too long. When he finished his scan, he faced her.
She sipped her drink, hoping he hadn’t noticed her watching him.
“May I ask you just one more thing?” the vampire said, facing her.
“Sure.”
“Aren’t you worried about what happens tomorrow?”
“Huh?”
He swiveled her way and rested his arm on the bar. Without thinking, she mirrored his action, accidently bumping their legs together. At the touch, a jolt danced through her bones. She crossed her legs to one side, butting space between them. He followed the movement with his gaze.
She cleared her throat.
When he met her gaze again, she was once more drawn in by his vibrant green eyes. “Say he gets busy with that blonde over there, or even that whole table of ladies, while you dutifully sit here all night, chaste. Aren’t you afraid you’ll resent your fiancé later?”
Yes! “He’s not my fiancé,” she said, trying not to crumble under the oration of her very real fears. She recalled asking Brian the exact same thing, in so many words. He’d merely waved her worry away. If we both agree that it won’t be a problem, then it won’t be, right?
When she relayed that to the vampire, his expression turned disbelieving.
“What’s that look for?” she said.
“Sorry, it really isn’t my place to get involved.”
“No, go on and say it. You don’t think I’ll be able to get past it? One pre-planned, pre-approved and agreed upon by all parties night? I’ll remind you that you don’t even know me.” She feared this stranger could see through her even now.
He shrugged. “Maybe you can. Maybe this is just a tiny hitch in your happily ever after. But…”
Arms crossed, she prompted him to continue.
“More likely you won’t be able to, but you won’t tell him that. Not for years at least. Instead, you’ll do everything in your power to convince yourself otherwise. You’ll bottle it up and pretend you’re not secretly resenting him this one night of passion that didn’t involve you. You’ll try to convince yourself that everything is fine, that what happened tonight is in the past and doesn’t matter, but like a weed, that resentment might grow, day by day. Till one day, without you having realized it, it has become this monstrous thing that has consumed you body and soul.”
He leaned back in his chair.
She opened her mouth to argue, but for the life of her, no sound came out. He’d hit on every one of her reservations, every worrisome point Brian had dismissed and downplayed and balked at. And he was one hundred percent right. What Brian wanted, what he was asking of her? It could destroy them before they even had a chance to get started.
“He told me I should find a partner.” Just call me Blurty McBableson. There was no recalling the hastily spoken words. She wasn’t even sure whether they were meant as a defense or an invitation to a door she’d intended to leave closed. Would he step through? Was she mad for even contemplating this?
“That would be one solution. It would keep you both on even ground. In fact, ten to one says he gets jealous.” His eyes turned teasing. “I could call our lion friend back over if you like.”
She cringed. “Please no. Anyone but him.”
He flipped around on the stool and leaned his elbows on the bar, taking in the rest of the room with a lively scan. “Then let’s see. Who should it be? You could have your pick, you know? Most of these fools are just sitting around waiting for a wink and a nod from a pretty dove like you.”
She followed his gaze, playing along. “Alright. How about that one?” she pointed to a spikey haired man dressed all in faux leather who couldn’t be more than a couple years over twenty.”
The vampire shook his head. “The pup? You’d break him like a dried twig.”
“You think?”
He scrutinized her up and down. His slow perusal of her body left her skin heated. “No doubt,” he said confidently.
Moving on, she jerked her chin toward a taller gentleman dressed in a suit and tie. “Him then?”
“Are we preparing taxes or having a last fling?”
She laughed. “Very well, who would you pick?”
As though taking the task very seriously, he rubbed his chin and considered the selection at hand. “That gruff fellow in the corner might be able to handle you.”
She wrinkled her nose. “He looks like he smells of tomato sauce and garlic. What makes you think I’m a lot to handle?”
Again he took her in from head to toe. “Trust me, Little Dove, you’re a pill. I can already tell.”
The moniker sounded sweeter coming from his lips than it had from the Lion King.
The vampire continued scanning the room. “That willowy chap over there looks like he might be able to pull out at least one good night.”
“Only one?”
“Mm. Any more than that and he’ll be ready to introduce you to the parents.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“Hey, I thought we were trying to save your current relationship here.” Something she was starting to question. “Come now, you’re going to have to take this a little more seriously.”
In any case, she was finally starting to have fun. “Serious. Got it.”
One by one, they ticked off every guy in the room, she or the vampire invariably finding one flaw or the other with each of them.
“Looks like there’s no one left,” she concluded. “Any suggestions? Or am I SOL.” She could see where this was going...and she was wildly intrigued.
“Huh. You’re right,” he said, feigning surprise. “We’ve gone through our entire supply. I guess there’s only one thing left for you to do.”
“And what’s that?”
Swirling the whiskey in his glass, he met her gaze. “Me.”
A spark of lust sizzled through her as she tried to keep her cool. “Oh, what a surprise.” Oh, how tempting.
“I don’t do this lightly, mind you. In our short time together I feel we’ve become like this”—he twined his middle and index fingers together—“I dare say I’d call you one of my closest friends.”
She laughed, enchanted by his natural charm and easy humor.
“So if I must, I’ll take one for the team. I’ll step in front of the bullet. I’ll sacrifice myself for the greater good.”
“Sacrifice?!” She feigned an insulted expression.
“For you, Little Dove, I’ll land on the grenade.”
“I’m a grenade now?”
“Oh yes. Any second now you’re going to go off. I think it would be best if you were in my bed when you do.”
“Do you really think I’m going to give in just like that?” Tempting as it was.
He shook his head, losing some of his humor. “No. I think you’re set on turning me down. But before you do, let me tell you how I see this going for you. You’ll probably spend the next hour or so thinking about me, what I can do to you, how I can pleasure you, no strings attached. You’ll debate the pros and cons and you might even realize one night with me really is the perfect solution to your dilemma.
“Sadly, you’re going to talk yourself out of it. You’ll go home and tell yourself you did the right thing. You were a good girl. Except now you’ll have a heavy dose of regret to keep your resentment of Brian company, and after a few years, you’ll begin to think of me, this night, what could have been, and the pleasure I could have brought you. It very well might haunt you for years to come.”
He sighed and took a long pull of his drink. “Still, I understand your reservations. I see only one way to decide the right course of action.”
“And that is?” she murmured, setting down her glass.
“As I see it, it’s a matter of chemistry.”
She cocked her head.
He placed his drink on the bar. “We should see if we have any.” He stood and closed the space between them, inserting himself between her legs, his eyes bearing down on her as she stared up at him. She was all but too stunned to react.
“I’m going to kiss you now. If you feel nothing, then there will be no reason to continue. Moreover, as your self-appointed protector for the night, if you want, I will sit here with you, chatting innocently while keeping the wolves at bay.” He leaned closer till their lips were inches apart. His breath caressed her face. “But if you do feel something, I’m going to take you to my private room and make love to your body until we’re both too exhausted to move.”
She gulped, heart thundering in her chest. Her gaze slipped to his lips. They looked soft and firm at the same time. Would they feel warm?
He leaned in and slanted his mouth over hers. The touch was feather light, a tease, a forbidden temptation. It fired her blood as desire shanghaied her every nerve.
She slanted her head, deepening the kiss.
His lips slowly swept along hers, stoking a spark that was quickly building into a blaze. She slid her hands through his dark hair and swept her tongue out to taste him. He groaned, following her lead. His big hand clamped the back of her neck, keeping her in place as he plunged, taking her mouth with carnal hunger. Her breath came in erratic gasps, making her lightheaded. Caught up in the moment, she fisted his hair and dragged him closer. In response, he pressed his big body deeper into the crevice of her legs. Her skirt rode high on her hips, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. All that mattered was his delicious, devouring kiss. The way his tongue caressed hers like she was the answer to a prayer.
This was madness.
This was a terrible idea.