“Coffee would be great. You don’t have to get it for me, though. I don’t mind making it myself.”
“No trouble at all. I’m a tea drinker myself, but we have coffee for—” He paused and added, “guests.”
By guests, I figured he meant blood courtesans. A flicker of jealousy welled up. I pushed it away, forcing myself to think of other things. “Are you giving out candy tonight?”
He shook his head. “We’ve never done that.”
I stared at him, incredulous. “Any particular reason why not?”
He shrugged. “Renato isn’t a very social neighbor.”
“But—it’s kids?” I protested, remembering how much fun I had trick-or-treating when I was younger. “They live for free candy.”
James laughed. “True.”
Questions about his relationship with Renato rose. What was it like being a human working for a vampire? “How long have you been here?”
“Thirteen years.”
“What kinds of things do you do?”
“Whatever is needed.” When James turned from me and paid interest in a plant, I sensed I was getting too nosy.
I might be pushing my luck, but I couldn’t spend Halloween in this gorgeous house and not hand out candy to trick or treaters. “Do you think it would be all right if I picked up some bags of candy to give out tonight?”
James returned his attention to me and flashed a conspiratorial smile. “I think it’s an excellent idea.”
I spent the day at school, and on the way home, stopped by a market to pick up bags of chocolate.
Under daylight, I took in more of the details of Renato’s house. When I’d arrived after sunset last night, the gardens had been hidden in the shadows, yet they were as impressive as the architecture. A striking willow tree draped gracefully over one corner of the grounds while various other trees graced the landscape. Rhododendrons and azalea bordered the house. They weren’t in flower this time of year, but the chrysanthemums were in full bloom. Ornamental grasses were set off among stone gardens. With no inch neglected in this spectacular landscape, the grounds probably offered colorful surprises during every season. Even in the winter, covered in snow, it must have cast a magical glow.
When James welcomed me back, I greeted him and scanned the foyer. Yesterday, I’d been somewhat in shock, as I’d never been in any home so elegant. The exquisite moldings and woodwork carried throughout the home. Exposed beams and sinewy archways framed the rooms with polished hardwood floors and rich Oriental rugs. My gaze moved up the imposing staircase, reminding me how captivated I’d been when I’d seen Renato descend last night.
Renato hadn’t yet woken, so I used the time to shower and dress in a simple black dress and some silver jewelry.
Last night, he’d taken my blood. But tonight might lead to more. I wanted to be ready for whatever happened.
CHAPTER 5
Renato
When I woke, I sought Mia. She might have left during the day and decided not to return. That idea filled me with a churning in my stomach, disturbing me more than it should.
Relief swept through me when I found her in the kitchen with James. Confusion soon followed when I saw them pouring bags of chocolate and candy into a large silver bowl.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
She turned to me and gave me a bright smile. “Happy Halloween!”
I furrowed my brow. “What?”
“I already turned on the light out front. Trick or treaters should be here any minute.”
“You’re giving out…candy?”
“Yes.” She beamed. “Why are you looking at me like it’s a foreign concept? Surely, you know that’s what kids do on Halloween? They knock on people’s doors for candy.”
I shook my head, flustered. “Yes, I know what that is. But I’m…a vampire.”
“Ah.” She reached into one of the bags and inserted a ridiculous pair of plastic fangs in her mouth. “And tonight, I am, too.”
Her speech came out garbled. Combined with the ridiculous prop, I burst out with a laugh.
She pulled out the fangs. “These things are impossible to talk with. How do you do it?”
“By avoiding plastic knock-offs.” I put my hand behind her back and led her to the living room. “Come on, show me how this works.”
She raised her brows. “Seriously? You don’t know?”
“Of course not. We didn’t go trick or treating when I was a child.”
“You must have grown up during the dark ages,” she teased.
I swatted her backside, and she yelped. “Oh, you’re funny, aren’t you?”
Over the next few hours, we sat in the living room, listening to a Halloween playlist she found. Every time the doorbell rang, she popped the fangs in and ran to the door like an excited puppy. I laughed harder each time, anticipating it happening.
James joined us for half an hour, as eager to see the visitors and their costumes. They made guesses on what costumes they’d see, based on celebrities, blockbusters, or trends of the year. Humans could be so amusing sometimes. When Thriller came on, Mia tried to get us to dance like zombies in the video. No way would I join in on that. James didn’t need much convincing, though. I watched them while I sipped at a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. I’d never seen James like this. We discussed business and household matters. It was fascinating to see a more playful side of a man who’d worked for me for years.
The numbers dwindled after nine and after a group of teenagers left, she put the lights out.
“I think they were probably our last stragglers. It’s a Tuesday, a school night. Halloween is always better on the weekends.” She sat down.
“Sei bella,” I said. “Utterly ridiculous with those horrible plastic fangs, but still beautiful.”
I changed the music, finding a classical station. “I’m glad you enjoyed handing out candy. Now it’s my turn to taste something sweet.”
Mia
Renato’s look was intense as he walked to me. More like prowled. The heat that burned in his gaze was strong enough to stoke a fire without a single touch. The desire wafting from this ultra-male, powerful vampire was an aphrodisiac.
“Come to me.”
Those three words uttered were enough to unglue me. He could slay any woman with that accent. Right now, I was the one under willing fire.
I rose and stepped up to him. He caressed me with his eyes before following up with his fingers. He stroked from my cheek down over my neck and then traced over my shoulder.
“Your skin is so soft.”
He reached behind my head and ran his fingers through my hair, before cradling the back of my neck. Pulling me closer so my breasts touched his torso, he lowered his mouth onto mine. The kiss quickly ignited as it intensified. His other hand traveled over my body. Small fireworks exploding in succession as he moved over my breasts, caressing my nipples and continuing down.
“Let’s go to your room.”
Those words spread wild delight through me. His voice had dropped a tone, capturing me in a seductive trance. I was surprised I could answer.
“Yesss.” Jeez, I sounded like a purring cat.
Powered by anticipation, I practically floated upstairs. After we entered my room and he closed the door, he fixed his intense gaze on me. For a flash, I panicked, thinking I’d forgotten how to exist. Breathing, moving, talking—they all flew out the window.
When he stepped up to me in two large strides, I gulped air. He reached for me, and I leaned into his grasp, submitting to him. Every movement showed his dominance. Nothing like the awkwardness I’d encountered with inexperienced boys my age. His gaze dropped to my mouth and then he bent down, capturing it in a kiss. It wasn’t tentative nor gentle, but possessive and somewhat rough. Heat rose through me, making my blood move through my veins like lava. I shifted my feet, aware of the need intensifying between my legs. Apparently, I liked this edge of roughness.
Renato removed my dress without any hint of struggle, an
d it pooled at my feet with a swoosh of fabric. I was aware of how exposed I stood before him, only in a delicate pink satin and lace bra and panties.
He pulled back. “Let me see you.” His gaze raked over my body and returned to my eyes. “All of you.”
For an instant, I froze. I’d never stripped in front of a man before, and a thousand thoughts of how inadequate I was for this role filled me. How many other courtesans had done the same exact thing right where I stood? Yet, they’d probably mastered the art of seduction while I had failed that test, a novice who wasn’t even sure where to place her hands.
“Don’t be nervous, bella Mia. My beautiful.”
Yikes. He probably scented my apprehension with his superhuman senses.
“I’ve just—uh—never done this before.”
He moved his head an inch to the side while assessing me. “You’re a virgin?”
“Technically, no, but in many ways, still yes.” My laugh came out with an anxious edge. “I’ve been with one person. What I mean is, I’ve never undressed before a man before.”
He nodded. “Does it make you uncomfortable?”
“A little,” I admitted.
“Does it also excite you?”
A blush rose in my cheeks. If he only knew how wet my panties were already. “Yes.”
He unbuttoned his black shirt, and I was distracted by him revealing his chest to me, inch by delicious inch. When he’d finished the last button, he kept his hand on each side of the shirt.
“Do you want us to stop?”
“No!” Oh jeez, I’d practically shouted that last part. Not when I was gaping at him like a voyeur at a peep show, desperate to see more of him. To touch him.
No way was I going to bail tonight, not after how I’d been living in a perpetual daze of lust since last night, waiting for this moment.
“Good.” He smiled with decadence in his eyes. “I want you tonight. All of you.”
My heart took two leaping beats. I surmised he meant sex and blood. I gauged myself to make sure I was ready.
Hell freaking yes.
He shed the rest of his clothes and led me back toward the bed in as smooth a movement as if we were continuing the dance from the night before. As he lowered himself onto me, deepening a kiss, I ran my hands over his shoulders and back, exploring his body wherever I could reach.
When he reached beneath my back to unfasten my bra, I arched my back. He removed my bra and gave me a long, hungry look that shed my inhibitions. Each minute with him had lowered them more, like I was descending a ladder. At this rate, I’d be begging for him by the time I reached the ground.
He kissed me again while caressing my breasts. My nipples hardened while heat pooled in my core. He slid down my body, kissing along the way.
I arched my back to encourage him to continue. He covered one breast with his warm mouth, and I moaned with delight. Alternating between each one with his hands and mouth, I lost myself in the experience.
As he moved down my torso, my breathing rate escalated, becoming uneven. All my senses fired as I writhed under his velvety tongue, anticipating where he was heading. When he reached my panties, I ceased to breathe.
“I’ve never done this either.”
Why did I say that anyway? By the way my body trembled, I didn’t want him to stop.
“I’ll be gentle.” He kissed my inner thigh as he slid my panties off. “Is that all right with you?”
I gave a shaky nod and murmured, “Uh huh,” all the while trembling with anticipation.
The moment his tongue touched me there, I squirmed. It felt so good and so strange all at once—I didn’t know what to think. He licked me with long slow movements that made me settle back into the bed, captivated by the sensation. Who cared about thoughts? I only wanted to feel more of it. And to touch him. I needed him. I reached out and ran my fingers through his hair.
When he focused on my clit, I gasped. All my awareness shifted there, desperate for more of his attention. I lost all sense of time as he continued and the pressure intensified. Releasing his hair, I grasped at the sheets, not even sure what to do with myself. My hips rose and fell in a rhythm to increase the sensations. Each exhale came out a breathy sigh, which soon turned into low moans. He was making me lose control of my body in the most wonderful, decadent way.
And then, he brought me to the edge. I hovered there, desperately lost in front of this new abyss, before I fell over and into it. Shattering into the nothingness as I descended.
As my splintered pieces returned to me, he slipped up my body. He kissed my lips. My taste and scent were on him, arousing in its own strange way.
“That was… amazing.”
“I’m glad.” He rubbed his cock against me. “I’ve only just started.”
The storm had only just begun. I inhaled a sharp breath as I prepared for the tempest to grow.
“Please.”
“Please, what?” He teased my entrance with the tip of his shaft.
“Please now.”
When I envisioned becoming a blood courtesan, I thought the sex part would be a chore. Never did I think I’d want it so much as to beg for it.
Renato leaned back and watched me. “Bella,” he whispered.
I waited impatiently for what he would do next. He wouldn’t tease me again and leave me like this, would he? His cock stood proud and erect. I reached for it, stroking the soft skin, letting him know what I wanted.
He moaned. “That feels so good, Mia.” Climbing on top of me, he slid the head in. He inched inside me with slow movements, pausing to let me adjust. When he was fully in, I exhaled and moved with him. He pumped into me with deeper thrusts, and I countered his rhythm with movements my body naturally claimed. He grabbed my hips and lifted me a few inches higher, intensifying the friction as he drove in harder.
This was nothing like the awkward sex I’d had in my dorm room my sophomore year.
He muttered something in Italian and then he stilled. The smolder in his eyes turned feral, and all his muscles tightened beneath my hands. I braced myself for what was coming, that piercing of pain followed by overwhelming pleasure. His fangs gleamed when he exposed them. A flutter of arousal swept through me, pooling between my legs, and I wrapped them around his waist.
Lowering his head, he sank his fangs into my throat. I squeezed my legs tighter and fisted his hair.
As he drank, we resumed our rhythm. My desire had magnified a thousand-fold with him inside me, as if I was the vampire taking in the world through heightened senses. He caressed my breast with a free hand, rubbing one of my sensitive nipples between his thumb and forefinger. His command over my body and all my senses was overwhelming. The friction of him deep inside me struck a chord that intensified and sent me soaring once again. An orgasm rushed through me with so much intensity, I whimpered, terrified it was too explosive for me to handle.
Then I detonated. I came apart over him, pulsing with volcanic tremors that left me unable to think or speak. It must have sent him over the edge, as he drove into me with hard thrusts that made me yelp. With each successive wave, the intensity faded. He stilled and pulled his mouth from my neck, before licking the wound.
Renato rolled beside me, his hair falling over his face. “I don’t think I can move ever again.”
I pushed a strand away. “That’s a good sign, I hope.”
“A very good sign.” His eyes still had the red, feral look, and blood stained his lips.
A sudden compulsion came over me. Lacking any sort of filter in the afterglow, I blurted it out.
“I want to taste it.” I ran my finger over his lower lip.
Although I thought he might be a little turned on by my offer, he surprised me by pulling back.
“My blood?”
I doubted Renato would ever let me draw some of his blood, but if he let me drink from him, I could study my own. How would it be affected by the introduction of vampiric blood?
Not that I’d ever tell him this.
“Yes. I want to see what it tastes like.”
He lay on his back and stared at the ceiling. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”
“What do you mean?”
He rolled on his side and faced me. “It would create a blood bond between us. We would be connected.”
This was news to me. “Connected how?”
“It depends on the bond. Some vampires can read emotions, others thoughts. Some connections flip the power switch and the vampire can control the human.”
That gave me pause. “Can’t you do that anyway? If I stare at you, can’t you force me to do your will?”
“Yes.”
“Have you?”
Was that why I reacted to him with such a sensual response? I guessed if I was under some vamp spell, I wouldn’t be aware of it.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I have no need or desire to control you, Mia. I like you the way you are, with that fire smoldering right beneath the surface.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant, but it did make me blush.
“Exactly,” he said.
Renato
I couldn’t get enough of the little minx last night, and when I woke the next evening, I sought her. Her aroma was addictive, and when I caught scent of her desire, I could think of nothing but burying myself deep inside her again.
It was already the third and final night of our arrangement, one that arrived so quickly. It meant she’d be leaving in the morning. I gritted my teeth, not looking forward to that happening.
I took her to dinner at an Italian restaurant on Huron Avenue.
“I hope this experience hasn’t been too terrible for you.”
She peered at me over her glass of chardonnay. “Actually, I enjoyed it. Much more than I ever thought I would.”
“I’m glad.” With a grin, I teased, “Perhaps it had something to do with me.”
After a pause, she said, “It has everything to do with you.”
Something jolted inside me. That statement moved me more than I expected. Why would I care if a courtesan was happy with my company? That wasn’t why they’d agreed to join me. They simply came for the payments.
Pursued: A Vampire Blood Courtesans Romance Page 6
