by Shona Husk
She’d always thought Owen perfect. He had an old-world charm Jack lacked. A presence that couldn’t be denied. She couldn’t understand why he let William play first violin. William was all show and little substance. Owen was the real thing. Talented and smart…and all that would be lost if he gave in to the ennui and lay down and died.
She bit her lip. Was Owen really aging, not in body, but in mind?
She should be jumping at the chance to have Owen. If Jack had let her believe they were breaking up, or maybe if he hadn’t told her the reasons and hadn’t managed to come off all wounded and noble while suggesting they have a three-way, then maybe she’d have been keener. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be the new bride brought in to save Owen. It was too much responsibility.
While the three of them together was nothing she hadn’t thought of in moments by herself, living it would be different. She’d seen the men kiss and felt the swell of desire before looking away. Jack all golden, and she’d thought human, and Owen dark haired and dark eyed. Like night and day, both battling for supremacy. But she never knew who won once they went upstairs. But she could if she took up Jack’s offer.
Jack wasn’t who she thought he was. He wasn’t human…she let out a slow breath. Owen was sleeping with a dhampir. She hadn’t thought they existed anymore. Her tongue traced her lip and remembered the taste of his blood on her tongue, sweet, sweeter than Vampire blood and with a different feel. She picked up her mug and sipped her much cooler chokolat.
The high etheric content slithered into her system and gave her a buzz, like sipping from the vein. Her gaze landed on the polished wood desk. Heat crept up her cheeks, yet she reached out and ran her fingers over the surface and tried to imagine it against her bare skin. Had Jack really been on the desk or was he putting thoughts in her head?
Too many thoughts. His touch was imprinted on her skin, she’d wanted him to kiss her for half a second simply because no man had dared lay a hand on her without asking first for so long. She sighed, not even Owen. Despite the heat in his gaze, he didn’t do anything. But he wouldn’t. She knew he hadn’t started seeing Jack until their business relationship was over—he had strict rules about mixing business and pleasure.
She’d stayed because she didn’t want to work for someone else. And now?
She shouldn’t get involved. This was between the men, not her. She stared into her cup. Jack had spoiled everything. She couldn’t work for Owen and not think about what Jack had said. And she couldn’t talk to Jack without thinking about the way his hand had felt against her back. In his concern for his lover, she’d glimpsed why Owen loved him.
“Are you early, or am I late?” Owen stood in the doorway. The cuffs of his shirt were unbuttoned, his feet were bare, as if he’d thrown on the clothes when he rolled out of bed and hadn’t bothered to tidy up.
When she’d first started working for him that would never have been the case. He’d have been shaved and neat. Her heart clenched. Jack was right. Owen was losing interest in everything, for the simple reason he’d been there and done that a hundred, maybe two hundred times before. She’d ignored the signs and found reasons to ignore them because she hadn’t wanted to see the truth. She hadn’t wanted to believe Owen could be suffering from the ennui.
“You’re late, but that’s okay. So I was I. I was talking to Jack in the kitchen.” She paused, not knowing what to say. If she told Owen what Jack had told her, it would be betraying his trust. Her loyalty to Owen meant looking after his interests—all of them —and that included his relationship with Jack.
Damn it. What was she supposed to do? Resign and walk away.
Owen looked out the window. “He’s supposed to be working on a big job.”
Katya got up and followed his gaze and glimpsed Jack just before he got rolled by a wave and went underwater. “I…ah… He was having trouble concentrating this morning.”
The corner of Owen’s lips curved. “He’ll be fine after a surf.”
Katya couldn’t join his smile. Not this time. Jack was hurting and Owen was the cause. And she was the solution. A shiver scraped down her spine like a lover’s nails. Her gaze skimmed over Owen’s body. She knew what he looked like without a shirt. She’d seen Lucinda’s Lover play many, many times. Raw and male with nothing but leather pants and makeup keeping them from the hungry audience. She’d battled to keep her lust in check so she didn’t screw up her dream job. And now she had an excuse to indulge. She exhaled slowly as Jack’s words rolled around her mind.
Tease him, entice him.
But she didn’t know how. It was one thing to imagine the things she’d like to do, but another to put them on the table. Quitting her job would be safer. She glanced at Owen. If she left, what would Jack do? If she left, would she be able to live knowing that she’d let one of the most talented Vampires around die of boredom?
That was why she’d stayed, because every time she imagined another assistant sitting with him, her heart turned green with envy.
Owen turned to look at her. “Shall we get started? Or did you want to watch Jack a little more?” He offered her his arm as if he were escorting her to a ball.
There was a sparkle in Owen’s brown eyes as if he was quite content that she found Jack attractive. Even when she’d thought him human, Jack had always been a handsome distraction. Now that she knew the truth, his golden looks had a much sharper edge.
She took Owen’s arm and a tremor of heat spread from the contact. There was something about him that sparked a lust she thought well buried and well hidden. But if Jack had seen it—had Owen? She swallowed, then dared herself to dip one toe in the water just to see what would happen.
“Question, do you miss not being bitten?” She kept her words light as if his answer would mean nothing.
“Sometimes, but I prefer a lover’s bite than one done out of simple need.” He faced her, his gaze searching her face. “Just what were you talking to Jack about?”
The truth rested on the tip of her tongue. But telling him would do no good. He’d brushed aside her tentative question that implied she’d like to bite him. Owen would be faithful even if it killed him. He waited for an answer and she couldn’t lie.
“Jack was telling me he is dhampir. I’m intrigued.” Beneath the taste of the chokolat, the sweet heat of Jack’s blood lingered. One drop was like a drug. What would Owen taste like? She’d heard the older a Vampire was, the more intoxicating the taste. Her fangs ached in her mouth as she swept her tongue over her lip.
“Don’t let his lack of fangs fool you. He still bites.”
She smiled and lowered her lashes. “I have no doubt about that.”
And she didn’t want to be on the wrong end of either man’s teeth. This was a delicate game and she wanted to play, even though she was out of her depth.
Chapter Two
Owen dragged his attention back to what Katya was saying. She was quite capable of dealing with most of this stuff. More and more he’d been letting her take over. She was organized and had an attention to detail he was lacking when it came to the business side of music.
“Is everything sorted for tomorrow?” Tomorrow was the launch of the new album and a slightly new direction for Lucinda’s Lover.
Katya raised her fine eyebrows and he realized they must have already covered this while he wasn’t listening. He was finding it harder to stay focused on most things. But he pushed aside the niggling doubt. It was just because he was thinking about how the new songs would be received and was worried about a few whisperings he’d read in the social media. Vampires couldn’t stay in the spotlight forever. They didn’t age, and after twelve years of having their photos taken and making video clips, they were pushing the edges.
“Yes, and the media will be there along with a radio show. You promised an after-show interview and private party—they held the contest. Remember?”
Owen nodded. He did. But instead of the shimmering heat in her eyes he was used to seeing, there was concern. He preferred the lus
t, even though it fed his own. His gaze skimmed over Katya. If he’d been single, and she hadn’t been working for him, he would’ve asked her out. She was a spark of light in a world that was increasingly dull and repetitive. Because of their short lives, humans tended to repeat history on an alarming basis. He’d given up on human lovers a couple of centuries ago—they were too much hard work.
He gave Katya a smile. He’d be lost without her.
Her lips curved, revealing her teeth. No fangs. It had been awhile since he’d felt a lover’s bite deep in his neck, drawing out his blood as he came…on the other hand, tasting a dhampir was its own pleasure. One he hadn’t found anywhere else. Jack was as good in bed as he was at designing buildings. And Owen appreciated beauty and artistic talent when he saw it. No matter the species, art spoke to all, and was the great leveling field—that and death. Humans and non-humans all died, though some were more mortally challenged than others.
Movement on the beach caught his eye. Owen looked past Katya and out the window. Jack walked up the beach toward the house, his wetsuit pulled down around his waist. Water dripped off his hair and beaded down his chest, catching the sun so he glistened. Owen ran his tongue over his teeth as his fangs lengthened. A Vampire would never be so bold in sunlight.
While Vampires could walk in daylight if they hadn’t had too much blood fresh from the vein, most still had a healthy respect for if not fear of ultraviolet light and the damage it could cause. Dhampirs didn’t have that problem. They never fed on blood and found the idea repulsive. Owen smiled as he remembered Jack’s groans as he was being bitten, yet like any Vampire hell bent on coming hard, he was willing to give up his blood in pursuit of pleasure.
Pleasuring Jack seemed like a good way to spend the rest of the morning. He’d start by licking the water from Jack’s skin and working his way down. Maybe bite him on his inner thigh before sucking him dry. His cock hardened as his blood heated, wanting to be spilled. He turned his head away, remembering he was supposed to be listening to Katya, but Katya was looking out the window at Jack.
Her eyebrows were lowered slightly as if she were lusting after Jack and imagining what she’d like to do to him. And if she was? He waited for the pinch of jealousy, but it didn’t come. Instead he was picturing her teeth in Jack’s neck while she rode him. The thought held far too much appeal. If Jack could read his thoughts, he’d be embarrassed. It wasn’t like him to even think unfaithfully.
He was getting old if he thought watching people fuck was exciting. He’d always wanted to be part of the action instead of sitting on the sidelines. Katya glanced at him and he glimpsed the tips of her fangs. Needle-sharp points of white against her lip.
Usually Katya looked at Jack like some poor human dependent on a Vampire for longevity. Now she was looking at him with a wary respect and more than a little hunger. Not that he minded. It was always nice to know others fancied his lover. What he didn’t want was problems between Katya and Jack and him.
There was definitely something in the air this morning. Katya was acting odd and Jack was mucking around instead of working. Jack had said something…something more than what he was, and something had shifted, but Owen didn’t know what. He looked again at Jack, then at Katya. He needed to find out what Jack was up to.
He stood up and eased his jeans around the hard-on that didn’t want to leave. “You can look, but he’s mine.” And he wasn’t sure he could share, that had never been his thing—there was a difference between one night of fun and decades of love.
She blinked and the molten heat was gone, along with her fangs. When she spoke it was with cool detachment. “I know. I’ve seen him as human for so long, I’m trying to reconcile what I know with a creature I’ve only heard of. Is it true the blood of a dhampir is addictive?”
“Maybe. Maybe I’m addicted.” Owen grinned, not bothering to hide his fangs. Katya wasn’t telling him the whole truth, but he let it slide because he knew Jack would confess. “If I am, I’m not stopping.”
It had been torture waiting for the house to be finished so he could have Jack as his lover. Jack had handed over the keys and they’d barely gotten inside before Owen had taken him on the floor. But he’d met Jack and had discovered what he was fifty years before. Back then, the timing had been wrong for both of them. That they’d crossed paths again had been serendipitous.
After seven centuries, he didn’t let second chances slip past without a fight.
“I’m going to speak to Jack. You can finalize the media requests?” He was pretty sure that was one of the things he was supposed to have been listening to.
She bit her lip in a way that made his skin ache for similar treatment. Then she smiled, but it was forced and the concern was back in her eyes, making him feel every one of his seven hundred and…three—or was it four?—years.
“Of course I can.” She touched his arm. Through the fabric of his shirt, the warmth of her fingers fueled the heat riding in his blood. “Are you okay, Owen? You don’t seem quite yourself.”
That made three of them.
Something was going on and Jack was at the center.
“I’m fine.” Wasn’t he? What had Jack said to Katya?
He didn’t give her a chance to argue. He strode out of the study, determined to confront Jack. He took the stairs two at a time and walked into the bedroom. The shower was already running, so he took a few more paces and leaned against the bathroom doorframe to watch and wait.
Jack had his back to him, lean and muscled with only the faintest tan line on his buttocks—something that no Vampire would ever get. The number of times he’d traced that line with his tongue. Jack turned. Owen’s gaze traveled over the golden dusting of hair on Jack’s legs that thickened around his sac and then arrowed up to his navel.
“You just going to watch?” Jack said as he turned off the taps and reached for his towel, his cock waking under the attention.
“Yep.” For the moment. Until he got some answers.
Jack dried his hair, giving Owen full view of his body and his rising shaft. He rubbed the towel over his chest and arms, never breaking Owen’s gaze. He slowly ran the towel over his thighs, between his legs, before throwing it over the rail. There was never any false modesty in anything Jack did.
“Why’d you tell Katya?”
“Time to stop keeping secrets. I’m not the scared youngster in need of saving anymore.” He gave his shaft a slow stroke, knowing he had Owen’s full consideration.
Owen didn’t move, but his gaze took in everything and his fingers curled at his side. Not the whole truth, he could see the edge in Jack’s eye. The shadow of doubt. Warning flickered in his mind, but he pushed it down. He’d get the truth from Jack’s lips one way or another. Jack had never been able to lie to him—or keep a secret.
“Half-dead if I recall.” Owen’s cock twitched as he watched Jack make another stroke along his length. His fangs were down, but he didn’t care. He wanted to taste Jack as the dhampir came. The hunger for blood was already lightening his eyes.
“I prefer to think I was half-alive.” Jack’s lip curled in a sexy grin as he walked closer, then ran his hand down Owen’s chest. He jerked on the belt holding up Owen’s jeans, but he didn’t unbuckle it. Instead, his hand cupped Owen’s cock through the denim. “I trust her not to tell anyone.”
A groan escaped Owen’s lips as Jack’s hand stroked. Jack knew exactly what to do to elicit a reaction after years together. He nipped at Owen’s lip without breaking the skin, ran his tongue over the bite and delved deeper. Owen opened his mouth and slid his tongue over Jack’s. The faint scent of the sea and salt clung to Jack despite the shower to wash off the sand. Owen raked his teeth over Jack’s lip but didn’t use his fangs. Not yet. Blood tasted better when loaded with sexual energy—just before climax. He rubbed his hips against Jack and felt his lover’s lips curve against his as Jack grinned.
“Ah, so you did come up here for something.” Jack’s voice was soft and deep in his ea
r. The rasping of the zipper as it was dragged down was too loud. Then Jack’s hand wrapped around Owen’s shaft. “I totally understand why you watch her. That pert ass and tiny fangs.”
“I don’t—” His denial was cut short by a growl as Jack bit his neck, harder than usual. Every tooth leaving an impression in his skin, but never breaking the surface the way he wished Jack would. The need to be bitten was burning through his blood. The scorching lust made his knees weak even though no blood was spilled and never would be. Jack couldn’t stomach the thought of blood.
Jack’s thumb brushed over the slit of Owen’s cock and circled the smooth head. “You want to feel her fangs in your neck?” He yanked open the shirt buttons and raked his teeth over one nipple. “Or here?” He dropped to his knees and pulled Owen’s jeans down. “How about here?” He nipped at Owen’s sac.
Images of Katya, fangs down, filled his head. His skin tingled, craving the bite that would cut. He forced himself to focus on the man in front of him. Owen gripped Jack’s hair, the damp golden curls wrapping around his fingers like silk, and tugged on Jack’s head so he was forced to look up. “I want to feel your teeth.”
Even as the words left his lips, he knew it was a lie. While he loved the feel of Jack’s teeth on his skin, it wasn’t the same as a lover’s fangs, biting deep and rousing an ecstasy that couldn’t be matched. But he would not cheat on Jack by having another bite him. No matter how much his blood burned. No matter how delicately she’d phrased the question. His gut tightened. Did Jack know how much he longed to be bitten? Had that been the conversation?
The thought scattered as Jack flicked out his tongue and tasted the hot flesh of Owen’s cock. Owen couldn’t suppress the shiver of desire that followed, chasing through his veins. Jack knew how to tease him. Owen eased his grip but didn’t let go entirely. Jack’s dark brown eyes glinted with mischief as he ignored Owen’s shaft and traced his tongue over the vein in Owen’s thigh instead as if he intended to bite. Jack’s fingers curled around Owen’s balls and Owen knew who was in control at that moment, and it wasn’t him. He should’ve taken him in the bathroom, fucked him while his fangs were buried deep in Jack’s neck.
