Eye of the Beholder

by M. D. Grimm

  “Close, close. I—”

  His mind brushed mine again. Give it to me. Give me all of you.

  “Cas!” I came hard and vaguely felt Cassius’s throat work as he swallowed me down. Then a sensation like a pinprick stung at the very tip of my cock. The orgasm continued to rip through me and left me a quivering mess. I faded out for a moment.

  When I opened my eyes, Cassius was reclining next to me, his head resting in the palm of his hand. He rubbed his other hand up and down my stomach, petting me. He had a contented smile on his face.

  I swallowed despite my dry mouth. “You bit me.”

  “Just a little.” He leaned forward and kissed me lightly. I wanted more and grabbed his hair, tugging him back when he tried to move away. He made a pleased sound and kissed me more intently, slipping his tongue over my lips, my teeth.

  When I let him back away, I glanced down his body and saw his erection was as solid as ever. I bit my lip, wondering. I glanced at his face, and he watched me with a small smile as if aware of my struggle.

  “Can I…? Do you want…?” I cleared my throat. “Do you want me to return the favor?”

  His smile widened. “Now why would I say no to that?”

  He lay down and gestured me closer. I sat up and went for gold. I grabbed his cock even as he gripped my hip, then slid his hand around to pet my ass. I glanced once at his face before clamping my lips around his sensitive tip. He groaned, and his body tightened as I massaged his tip with my tongue and lips, stroking my hand along his shaft. He squeezed my ass, brushing his fingers against my asshole.

  I closed my eyes, went with instinct, and worshipped him. I slid my mouth up and down his erection, sucking and licking, then swallowing as much as I could. I had too much of a gag reflex to deep-throat him as he’d done to me, so I made up for it with my tongue, lips, and hands, determined to give him as much pleasure as he’d given me. His painful grip on my ass told me I was doing just fine.

  Then he pushed and rubbed more determinedly against my intimate hole, and for a moment I lost my rhythm. My cock was stirring again from his attentions and from the taste and sensation of his dick in my mouth. God, he tasted good, warm, salty, musky. With my free hand, I fondled his balls, the curly hair soft against my skin, tickling slightly. Some of my self-consciousness left, drowned out by my desire and determination for more pleasure, for more of Cassius.

  “By the gods, Vulcan!”

  I preened inside. Precome coated my tongue, and I sucked harder, stroked quicker. He gripped my head, and before I knew what he was about, he thrust up into my mouth once, twice, and then he came. I coughed, choked slightly, but didn’t move away, didn’t stop swallowing his cum or licking his shaft clean.

  Only when I was satisfied I’d done the job properly did I lean back and wipe my mouth. I peered at Cassius to see him staring at me in apparent wonder. I couldn’t stop the blush and glanced away. He tackled me. I gasped out a laugh as he covered me, his powerful body holding down my slight one.

  “You are amazing,” he said. He kissed my eyes, my cheeks, the tip of my nose. Then he took my mouth again, just as ravenous as before. His fangs scraped me, and the danger of them added to the desire. “I have never wanted anyone more. Never, not in all my years.”

  “Liar,” I said jokingly. I had to joke. If I took his words too seriously, I would start crying. Nothing sexy about that.

  His eyes bored into mine. “I do not jest.”

  I shivered and let out a shaky breath. “Cas, please—”

  “Believe me,” he whispered. He gripped my hands and pressed them above my head. Then he settled more solidly against me, pushing his hips between my legs, our groins rubbing together. I couldn’t stop from bending my knees, tightening them around his waist.

  He nuzzled his nose against mine. “Believe me, Vulcan. Carissime.”

  “Huh?”

  He kissed me again and moved his hips back and forth, creating friction, need. I laced our fingers together, and any movement of my hips only intensified the pleasure. I shuddered and moaned. His cock thickened against mine.

  He pulled back just enough to meet my eyes. I really needed to stop letting that happen. Yet I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the blue-red of his eyes.

  “Your father called you a rat, didn’t he?”

  The sudden change in topic threw me. The fact that he would even mention my father while I was naked and pinned by his body was enough to kill the mood.

  “Yeah. So what?”

  “You believe it.”

  I opened my mouth. Shut it. Shrugged.

  “You are not a rat,” he said fiercely. “Believe me now. Only me. You are beautiful and you’re mine. All mine.”

  “I’ll try. I promise I’ll try.” I smiled. “Besides, it’s kinda hard to argue with what you’re saying when your cock is digging into me.”

  He grinned, and his eyes glimmered. “Good.”

  Then he straightened and urged me to roll over. I did, anticipation knotting my gut. He started kissing the base of my neck, then moved down my back, dancing his tongue along my spine, sucking the skin of my shoulder blades. He stroked his hands over my ass, and when he gently urged me to spread my legs, I did without hesitation. I was hard again and growing harder with his ministrations. I gripped a pillow and shoved my face into it.

  I was trembling by the time he reached the top of my ass. Then I felt him part my ass cheeks with his thumbs, exposing my asshole to his gaze. I squeezed the pillow tighter, knowing my face would be steaming red.

  I want to taste every bit of you.

  So saying, his lips pressed against my ass, one kiss for each cheek. Then one for my asshole. I gasped. Then he firmly swiped his tongue over it, and I moaned.

  Cassius moved on the bed, a drawer scraped opened, then a bottle cap popped open. Ohmygodohmygod…. this was it.

  Only a moment passed before he touched my asshole with his lubed fingers.

  “On your knees, carissime.”

  There was that strange word again. I did as I was told, my face still in the pillow. He stroked one ass cheek as he pushed a finger into me. I fought the urge to tighten and struggled to relax. He pushed my legs open wider with his own before gripping my cock and stroking. I shuddered as he moved his finger languidly in and out of my ass. He continued to stroke me as he fingered my ass, and every now and then, his soft lips would press against some part of me, my ass, my back, my legs. His patience and thoroughness were admirable.

  Soon he had three fingers pushing and rotating inside me. I realized I was pushing back against his fingers, riding them. Then he hit my prostate, and I yelped, the pillow muffling the sound. He shifted his fingers and kept hitting that spot, and I couldn’t stop whimpering.

  “Yes,” he hissed. May I bite you?

  I panted. Obviously blood-play would be part of sex with a vampire. While he’d already nipped me during the blowjob, I suspected he wanted a lot more and needed my consent. He really was sweet. While I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the whole biting thing, I wanted to make him happy and curiosity about the act made me consider it. The duchess’s words came back to me, and I had to hope, even though I wasn’t a vampire, perhaps drinking my blood would help him.

  Yes.

  He groaned and bit one ass cheek. I jerked at the pain of the full bite. He lapped at my spilled blood with his tongue. God, this was really happening.

  Then he removed his fingers, leaving me hollow, bereft.

  Cas! I screamed with my mind.

  Vulcan.

  With a deep groan, he pushed his lubed cock into me. I stilled, and he went slow. My heart hammered against my ribs and my breath was short. I moved my face away from the pillow to suck in fresh air. His grip on my hips was unbreakable. He kept pushing, still brutally slow, until he was fully seated.

  “Holy shit,” I moaned.

  Then he moved. With one hand on my back, the other on my hip, he thrust back and forth, still with admirable control. I grunted each
time he came back and penetrated me, the burn and stretch unfamiliar but something I could happily become accustomed to.

  He just kept going, steady and sure. My pleasure grew, layered, and my cock throbbed, begging for release, but I couldn’t reach that point. I could see the edge, but I couldn’t touch it. I finally lifted my head from the pillows and rose up on my arms. I pushed back against Cassius, needing more, wanting more. Demanding it. It was his turn to grunt, and he wrapped his hand around my neck. He draped himself over me and nipped my shoulder, drawing blood. He adjusted a few times before pegging my prostate head-on. I jerked and cried out. He grunted and held that position, rutting, short jabs that stabbed my prostate. I groaned, hovering on the edge.

  I was soon soaked in sweat, my ass raw and sensitive, but in the best way. I just wanted to come! Didn’t he need to? Considering the broom handle in my ass, yeah, he needed to come as badly as I did. I reached underneath myself and tried to grab my cock.

  He abruptly rolled me onto my back, and I panted, ached.

  “Wha—?”

  Cassius covered me once again, pinning me to the bed. His expression was fierce, his eyes almost all dark red. My breath caught as he shoved back inside me, my hole already stretched and primed. His thrusts weren’t so controlled now, and holy shit, they had more force than before! Oh fuck, he rammed into my prostate mercilessly.

  Now it was more than a grunt I made when he pushed into me. I tried to close my eyes or look away, the intimacy too much. He gripped my face and held me still as he plundered my body.

  “Your eyes,” he growled. A bolt of pure, dark lust shot down to my groin, thickening my cock painfully. “I want your eyes on me.”

  I stared at him, unable to turn away. I gripped his wrists, my legs wrapped around his waist, my body his to ravish.

  “Vulcan.”

  “Andrew,” I choked out.

  His hot breath fanned my face, and because our minds still brushed together, I sensed his confusion.

  “My name is—oh God—Andrew!”

  “Andrew,” he murmured before capturing my mouth, his fangs scraping my lips. I tangled my hands in his hair, more than ready to tip over the edge.

  Please now, Cas. For the love of God!

  Call me Marcus.

  My eyes popped open. Stared into the deadly red of his.

  He reached down and gripped my cock, jerking roughly in unison with his thrusts. I ripped my mouth away and screamed when I came.

  “Marcus!”

  He surged forward and bit my neck. No love bite or nibble this time. He full-on fanged me, sinking deeply into my flesh, causing blood to gush. I screamed again as he pressed his mind against mine, as his pleasure mixed with my own. He emptied himself inside me even as my blood filled his mouth, ran down his throat.

  I whimpered and went limp, his mouth still clamped to my neck.

  Is he going to kill me?

  The stray thought must have reached Cassius’s mind, because he instantly jerked away. He bared his teeth and dragged his tongue over the marks, the saliva stopping the bleeding. He shifted slightly to his right, then collapsed on me. Or halfway on me since I could still breathe fine.

  We shook like survivors of a cataclysm, and my lips pulled into a smile. That was freaking spectacular. And that was only the beginning.

  I closed my eyes. “Thanks.”

  He grunted. “Not done yet.”

  My smile widened.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Cassius took too much pleasure in cleaning me up. I blushed and tried to hide my face. He swept a damp cloth over and inside my ass, as thoroughly as you please. I alternated between adoring the attention and being embarrassed by it.

  As soon as he tossed the cloth aside, however, I surged up and tackled him. He cried out in surprise as we thumped back on the bed. I grinned as he blinked up at me, blue eyes wide.

  “Fair’s fair. I get to touch and explore you too,” I said.

  His grin was lightning fast, and he squeezed my ass. “Please do, Andrew. I’m yours.”

  I shuddered when he said my name. My birth name. Not many had ever called me by it, and for some reason, I wanted him to. I wanted him to know me. All of me.

  “Thank you, Marcus. You’re such the gentleman.”

  His eyes gleamed. I think we understood each other. Those names were for intimate moments like this, just the two of us.

  I sat up and straddled him. Deep red entered his eyes again at the corners, and he gripped my hips.

  “What was that other name you called me?” I slid my hands down his chest, delighting in the firmness of it, the soft hair that tickled my palms.

  “It means dearest,” he said.

  I kissed the middle of his chest and felt his heartbeat. It was beating rapidly, just as a human’s would.

  “Latin?”

  “Yes, from my youth.”

  I took that to mean his time as a human before becoming a vampire. I lifted my head and met his gaze.

  “I’m your dearest?” I whispered.

  He cupped my cheek with infinite gentleness. “Of course you are. You have been since we met.”

  I touched the back of his hand and closed my eyes for a moment. Despite my attempt to stop it, a single stupid tear managed to break free from my control and slide down my cheek.

  “Here now, what’s this?” He sat up and hugged me, holding tight.

  He should have been running away from this emotional human, yet he stayed. He held on. I pressed my face into his shoulder and took a calming breath.

  “I’m fine. Really. It’s just….” I sighed. “Only you, Marcus Cassius Vespillo. Only you.”

  I thought he understood. He nodded and stroked my back, my hair. He kissed my cheek. We stayed like that for a long time, holding, comforting. I enjoyed the freedom of simply holding him. Of course other needs made themselves known, and he lay down again, smiling at me, stroking my thighs.

  “I like looking up at you like this. You should ride me.”

  I gaped. “What?”

  He grinned, and he grabbed my cock with his sneaky hand and stroked me until I was shuddering with need again.

  “You smell so damn good. I can’t get enough of you,” he murmured, focused solely on me. “I want you to use me, Andrew. Use me to gain your pleasure.”

  I closed my eyes, panting. “Fuck. The things you say.”

  “Will you?”

  I swallowed hard and told myself it was stupid to still be self-conscious. Whatever he saw when he looked at me was something he wanted to keep. I leaned forward and kissed him.

  “Yes,” I said against his lips.

  He readied me with his long, skilled fingers, and I stroked myself as he watched, eyes tinted red, fangs partially descended. Then I was lowering myself on him, and he held his cock with one hand and gripped my hip with the other. I pressed my palms against his chest and moaned as he stretched me. He growled.

  I had to take a moment and just breathe. Damn. He tweaked my nipples, pinching and rolling them, and I clenched my ass in reaction. He hissed and shuddered as I contracted around his cock. I smiled at him, realizing the power I had. I moved slowly at first, finding a rhythm. After a few thrusts, his tip pegged my prostate, and I gasped. Hot damn, yes!

  I proceeded to lose my mind and rode him hard, driving us both insane. He clutched my hips but didn’t control my movements. I think he just needed an anchor as I whipped us both over the edge. As my orgasm built, I stroked myself once and came, squeezing his dick hard. He snarled and surged up, hugging me close and biting my neck. I gripped his hair and pushed into him, still moving, still milking his cock. He shuddered and dug his fingers into my skin.

  When I was about to shove him away, he finally flopped down with a grunt. He licked his lips, and I fingered the bite marks.

  “Ow,” I said.

  “Sorry. I was a little rough.”

  I shrugged. “Whatever.”

  He slipped out of me, and I curled up next to him,
exhausted and happily sore. He licked my neck, and the bleeding, as well as the ache, faded. He wrapped me in his arms, and I snuggled in.

  “I knew you would enjoy that,” he said rather smugly.

  I snorted. “Please. You enjoyed not having to do any of the work.”

  He chuckled. “It’s no work, carissime. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve fantasized about you riding my cock.”

  I buried my hot face against his chest. “I hate you.”

  He laughed outright at that and held me tighter, lightly kissing my hair. I had the impression that he never planned to let me go, and I held him back as tightly as I could, feeling the exact same way.

  I woke up when sunlight hit my eyes. I rolled onto my back and stretched languidly, contemplating my sore body. The soreness was nice, though. Really nice. I smiled and opened my eyes. Then I gasped and sprang out of bed, launching myself at the thick curtains. I yanked them closed even as the rising sun crept along the bed.

  Shaking, heart racing with adrenaline, I turned and examined Cassius’s defenseless body. Within minutes the sun would have passed over me and covered him. He would have burst into flames.

  What kind of idiot vampire got a condo that faced east? And where the hell was his coffin? Probably in the second bedroom. I should have thought of that sooner. Hell, he should have thought of that before sunrise!

  I blew out a steadying breath and continued to stand, allowing myself to drink in the sight of my lover. He really was fascinating. The sheets mostly covered his legs, bunched at his groin. The thatch of dark-blond hair peeked over the edges. The rest of him was visible, his slightly hairy chest and torso, his shapely arms. Jesus. How many times had we fucked?

  I rubbed my ass and rolled my neck. I was about to crawl back into bed but realized I was dreadfully hungry. I hadn’t eaten much before going to the club to find him, and once at his condo, I’d been a little busy. I was also a little dizzy. Made sense considering he’d drunk a fair amount of my blood.

  Parched and hungry, I pulled on my pants and walked into the kitchen. Along with more pizza, he’d bought some fruit and vegetables. He must have been quite confident I’d end up in his bed one way or another. I had a large meal of all of it and drank probably ten gallons of water. I should probably have him stock up on Gatorade as well.