by Ravyn Wilde
Already showered and dressed in comfortable sweats and a t-shirt, bemoaning the voices in her head, she started a pot of coffee and munched on trail mix. With her hip propped against the counter, she decided she’d get some writing done while she waited to hear from Zane.
Looking out the window, she smiled. It was a perfect writing day, all misty rain and dark clouds with nothing to tempt her outside. Lighting a fire in the front room, she grabbed her laptop. A few moments later she was sipping coffee and rereading the chapter she’d written a few days ago. She’d left off at the beginning of a sex scene…
Taking control of her body, he checked to make sure she was ready to withstand his wild desire. Nibbling at her mouth, he simultaneously opened her thighs with his leg and slid his hand over her stomach, down to the strip of tiny curls accenting her mound. Slipping his fingers through her folds, he found her dripping with moisture. Wanting him. Sampling the hot, slick wetness by pushing two fingers into her channel, he ignored her cries of passion and pushed deeper, forcing her to ride his hand, wanting her to burn for him.
Stop!
Nicole frowned. She didn’t think the heroine would say “stop” at this point, but the word had popped into her head nonetheless. Usually she let her characters dictate the action, but really—now wasn’t a good time to stop.
His world centered on the velvet friction and heat between her thighs. Dragging her back toward him with each hard stroke, he rode her—
“Damn it, Nicole!” A rough hand grabbed her arm and shook her. “Stop it!”
Nicky gasped. Blinked. Took a few minutes to transition from the world she’d created to the here and now. Zane stood in front of her. Feet spread apart, hands on his hips and a fierce scowl on his face. His hair and clothing were soaked. She noticed a small puddle of water growing at his feet.
“Oh! Zane, I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you come in. Let me get you a towel.” Nicky jumped up, looking forward to stripping the well-worn jeans and blue windbreaker off his hot body so he could sit by the fire and warm up.
When she got back to the living room, Zane was pacing. The hard fury in his face changed her plans. “Here. What’s wrong? Did something happen?” Nicky handed him the green towel she’d grabbed from the downstairs bathroom and took a quick step away from Zane when he snarled at her.
“Wrong? What. Could. Possibly. Be. Wrong?” Each word seemed squeezed between his clenched teeth.
Nicky shuddered. “Do you want a cup of coffee? Then you can—”
“I don’t want coffee, Nicky. I want an explanation.”
The words hit her like an icy slap. When she frowned, he tossed a damp file folder on the coffee table.
“Explain that!” he growled, pointing at the blue file.
Frowning, she inched toward the table to see what he was so upset about. “Explain what? Why do you have my file on…” Bending over to look, she scowled. “Blood Red Ruby?” Raising her gaze back to Zane, she stumbled to the nearest chair under the focus of all the anger and hurt in his eyes. “Zane?” she softened her voice. The man was clearly upset about something.
“Don’t play dumb blonde with me, Nicole. I’ve seen your performance before, remember?” he snarled.
Okay, now he’d managed to piss her off. “What in the hell crawled up your ass this morning?”
“As if you don’t know. Tell me, Nicole, did you kill Gustof or did you have Mikey do it?”
He’d lost his mind. That was the only explanation for this attack. “Who’s Gustof? And why would I kill him? Why do you think I’d have Mikey do anything? This doesn’t make sense, Zane. You’re going to have to spell it out for me.” She jumped up, crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Zane. He loomed over her, practically frothing at the mouth.
“The ruby.”
Nicole waited for a moment. When he didn’t say anything else, she prompted, “What ruby? Wait. You read my Blood Red Ruby file? Are you talking about a real ruby or my book?” Now she was totally confused.
Zane looked at her long and hard. The chapters she’d written and the detailed research she’d done on the ruby hidden under his bed had led him to believe she was using him. Yet she sounded as if she had no idea what he was talking about.
Either she was the best actress he’d ever seen, or he was a raving idiot. Taking a deep breath, he reached a hand out to touch her arm. Ignoring her attempt to pull away, he let his mind seek hers. The barriers between them came down easily when she was thinking about sex. Or they were having it. In order to see anything else, he had to touch her. He needed to read more than just the thoughts she had about sex.
He winced when she tried to pull away from him. Buried beneath anger, he felt her pain at his accusations. The confusion. Skimming her surface thoughts—he realized he was definitely an idiot.
Sighing, he released her arm and rubbed a hand over his face. Pushed his hair back. He hadn’t considered this. After reading the entire file last night, including the two hundred or so pages of her incomplete manuscript, he’d jumped to the most logical conclusion.
It just didn’t appear to be the correct one.
Then when she’d started writing this morning, filling his mind with her erotic musings…he’d snapped. Grabbing the file, he’d run to her house. And attacked her.
In a much calmer tone of voice, he tried to apologize. “Let’s sit down. I’ll have that cup of coffee and we’ll talk.”
Nicky just stood there for a moment. Looking at him as if she’d like to shove him back into the pouring rain and bar the door, instead she turned and went into the kitchen. Zane hoped it was for a coffee cup and not something sharp.
Now that his anger had subsided, he watched her hips sway with what he hoped would turn into a mesmerizing invitation. His body hardened. He had a lot of ground to make up before she forgave him. Taking off his jacket, he ran the towel through his hair and tossed it to the side. He sat down on the couch and waited for her.
When she handed him a mug of coffee, she didn’t look at him. Moving away from him, she sat on the floor in front of the fire with legs crossed, a blanket arranged on her lap. “Explain what just happened,” she demanded.
Zane winced. “I will. First…I’d like to ask you a question.”
She raised her eyebrows. He could ask but she might not answer. “How did you come up with the idea to write about Catherine the Great and the ruby?”
“A dream.”
Zane frowned. “I don’t understand. You dreamed about her ruby?”
Rolling her eyes, she shrugged. “I didn’t dream about that specific ruby. I had a dream…several dreams, really. They started about a month ago. All of them were about an egg-sized ruby with strange, mystical powers.” She winced. “And vampires. There were vampires in the dreams. I Googled ‘egg-sized ruby’ and got hers. I already had most of a story written that seemed made for the drama and intrigue of a priceless, historic ruby. The fact that no one knows where the ruby is now was a bonus.”
“You’re wrong,” Zane said.
Frowning, she looked at him. “Wrong about what?”
Slowly taking his hand out of his pocket, he leaned forward and sat the ruby on the coffee table. “There are a few people who know where it is.”
Her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened in shock. Staring at the priceless ruby, she didn’t question for one minute that it had once belonged to Catherine the Great. Obviously Zane had more problems than Mike and JJ. The man had secrets. Possessions men would kill for. “Who’s Gustof?” she asked as she got to her knees and reached for the stone.
“No!” Zane dove for the ruby and their hands closed over the stone at the same time.
Nicole shuddered, whimpered as her fingers surrounded the ruby with Zane’s hand encompassing hers. She felt the ruby pulse and heat as her body matched the stone’s rhythm. Her breasts ached to be touched, her internal muscles clenched as her pussy wept in readiness. For Zane. Only Zane.
“Christ!” he growled. Releasing
her hand, he buried his fingers in her hair and leaned over to capture her mouth in a kiss.
Clutching the stone to her chest, she landed on the floor in front of the fireplace with Zane on top of her. She heard him grunt. When she looked between their bodies, she saw that his t-shirt had ridden up under his arms, exposing most of his chest. A sharp edge of the uncut ruby had scratched the flesh over his heart. He was bleeding.
Why had the ruby cut him and not her? She tried to tell him, but the ruby throbbed between their bodies. The erotic sensations beating through every pore made her forget about the small scrape.
Nicole fought to get her hands free and won. Throwing her arms around his neck, she pulled him to her. Their mouths ravished. Lips, teeth and tongues frantically moved over flesh, seeking more. In the back of her mind she acknowledged the sound of fabric tearing as Zane ripped the t-shirt she wore down the front, exposing her breasts. Thank God she hadn’t bothered with a bra this morning.
When she tried to pull his shirt over his head she realized the ruby clenched in one hand interfered with her ability to get him naked. She dropped it to the floor.
Her fingers found the hem of the shirt and at the same time, he took her nipple into his mouth and sucked. Arching her body as the pleasure spiked through her, she pushed his shirt upward, struggling to get it off…
Releasing her breast, Zane groaned and sat back. “Fuck this!”
When he waved his hand and their clothes melted away, she blinked. But the questions faded from her mind when he picked up the ruby and placed it on her belly.
A deep, red radiance seemed to pulse within the stone, sending currents of sharp desire through her soul with each flicker. “Zaaane!” She cried his name in supplication. Firelight mixed with the dancing beam from the ruby, playing over his muscled chest, making his golden skin glow. Her breath left her lungs in a whoosh.
The man was seriously gorgeous. With long, dark-brown hair falling past his shoulders, strong biceps flexing as he held her in place. Lowering her gaze over the downy soft hair on his chest, she moaned at the sight of his cock standing straight up from a nest of dark curls. The plum tip oozed pre-come. She licked her lips.
“Hold the ruby,” he commanded, his voice rough with emotion.
Automatically she obeyed, dropping one hand to cover the stone.
“I wanted to take you in bed.”
At her unhappy groan, he smiled. “I won’t make it up those stairs. Hang on, love. Sex with you is like riding lightning, but this is going to get even wilder.”
It was a warning. One that thrilled her. Watching him wrap the fingers of one hand around his shaft and guide it toward her, she tilted her hips and met him halfway.
Pushing forward, he slipped between her folds, sinking deep into her body. Rising over her, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders to hold her in place with the ruby wedged between them. Rotating his hips, he dug his cock into her pussy. “You feel so damn good,” he whispered into her neck.
Pulling out, he slammed back in. Making her grunt with the force. Wrapping her thighs around his hips, she strained to meet every thrust and dig. There was no need to urge him to a faster pace. He went wild. Meeting the cadence of the stone, he answered its summons to a frantic scramble, an insane search for something just out of reach.
Nicole felt Zane’s mind nudge hers and she opened for him. Their psyches flooded with sensations from both bodies. They merged, became one. His cock strangled by her inner muscles and her breath teasing over his skin, they lost sight of which sensations belonged to who.
As their bodies slapped together, the room filled with Zane’s frenzied cries and her heartfelt sobs as orgasmic release was held just out of their grasp. Finally, finally Zane’s lips searched and found her jugular. The sharp jolt of pain and his suckling shoved them over the edge of reason and they shattered. He moved his mouth from her neck, holding her to him.
Her face pressed against Zane’s chest, Nicole cried out. She opened her eyes and saw the blood still trickling from the ruby’s cut just above his left nipple. Without considering her actions, she placed her mouth over the small wound and suckled. The sharp, sweet fire of Zane’s blood filled her mouth and she swallowed. Moaning against his flesh, she felt an overwhelming urge to take more. Part of her mind recoiled at the action. But the sensations flooding her body silenced any internal opposition.
Zane shuddered. Went rigid above her as her mouth worked the small cut. When the ruby throbbed once more, they gasped. She forgot about his blood and struggled to meet the reawakening demands of her body.
They started again.
Zane listened as Nicky struggled to breathe without panting. Over the last few hours he’d explored, touched and turned-on her body…from the top of her head down to her toenails. He was feeling rather smug.
“Get that damn ruby away from me!” she cried in horror.
Zane chuckled, pushing the ruby off her stomach and under the couch. He stayed on the floor by her side, too replete to move just yet.
“What the hell is that thing?”
“I don’t know. But as soon as I can move, I think I might make a call to find out.” Rolling onto his back, he pulled her body tight against his and waved his hand in the air. A blanket floated out of nothingness to cover them.
Nicky gasped. “About that little trick…”
“Vampires have a little magic. We can dress ourselves this way, or take our clothes off. Summon simple things like blankets and books. It’s not as if I can make a person or a car appear.”
“How about food? I had a handful of trail mix this morning and I’m famished. You wore me out.”
Laughing, Zane flicked his wrist and a wooden platter with cheese and fruit appeared beside Nicky’s hip.
“Works for me,” she said, grabbing an apple and a slice of Gouda. Snuggling back down beside him, she turned her head and smiled.
Her delight robbed him of breath. It was a strange thing to feel a punch in the gut so hard it drove the air out of his lungs. The ruby-induced sexual marathon had taken everything out of him. Before that smile he would have sworn it would take several hours for his body to recuperate enough to respond to any stimuli. He was wrong. “You know, I’m really into sexual diversity, but do you think next time we could do this in a bed?”
Grinning, Nicole poked him in the rib. “As long as it’s a few hours from now. So what other magic can you do, besides locking and unlocking doors?”
“Turning the lock at JJ’s house was just making something move. Like opening doors or windows, or bringing us pillows.” A quick movement with his hand summoned two pillows from the couch. He caught them as they flew overhead. “The most basic vampire powers are the ones most likely to get us killed, so we rarely use them.”
“What do you mean?” Nicole frowned.
“Every vampire has the ability to clean themselves, change their clothing, use a little mind control when they feed to keep…” How did he put it without scaring her?
“Their meal from remembering the bite?” she said sarcastically.
Zane winced. Obviously she hadn’t forgotten what he’d said about the first couple times he’d bitten her. “Yes. Anyway, those are the gifts we’re born with. They take little energy and no thought. However, there are other gifts. Those we acquire with age, like the ability to go out in the sun or fly.”
“You can fly? Cool!”
“Yes. Some vampires get something extra when they’re turned, as if the power was locked inside their psyche and vampirism released it. I have an affinity with animals, an ability to communicate with them. Which is one reason why the horses I train do so well. Those gifts are, for lack of a better word…special. Not every vampire gets a special gift. The point I’m trying to make is all these other powers, from age or special gifts—take concentration and a great deal of energy. I’m not going to forget where I am, jump out a fifteenth-floor window after a business meeting and fly home.”
“But you might spill gra
vy on your shirt and clean it without thinking.” She nodded.
“Yes. Cleaning myself is easy and deadly. Before plumbing was invented, cleanliness of any kind was perilous. It was difficult to keep from waving away the dirt when it would solve the god-awful smell emanating from my body. And with preternatural senses, well…I can tell you it was a vampire who coined the phrase ‘cleanliness is next to godliness’.”
Nicole laughed.
“In the past we had to wait for someone to fill a tub, or go outside and take an icy bath in a nearby body of water. Or wait two days for clothes to be washed and dried. In this day and age, vampires take showers, or at least run the water so it seems like we have. A couple times a day we go in a bathroom, wait for a few seconds and flush the toilet whether there are mortals surrounding us or not. You never know who might be paying attention and a few precautions help us appear human.”
“So the simple things get you killed. What about never growing old?” Nicole thought of the pictures Mike and JJ had shown her.
“In the last few decades our age-related problems have become both easier and harder. Easier because we used to be limited to ten or fifteen years in one place before we were forced to move. The advent of plastic surgery allows us to stay twenty-five or thirty years now.”
“I would imagine pictures, the Internet and coming up with passports reflecting what you look like versus how you should appear would make it harder.”
“That’s not as difficult as it seems. We have vampire geeks just like there are human geeks. It amazes me what they can do with a computer and a printer. It’s easy to leave your worldly goods to a fantasy son if the paper trail can withstand scrutiny. Our biggest problem is a shrinking world. A hundred years ago, if you moved halfway around the globe you didn’t worry about running into someone you’d met forty years before on another continent.”
“So you’re always worried someone will recognize you?” She shifted her body into his, propping her chin on his chest to stare into his eyes.
