She turned her head away, hoping to reclaim reality. She knew what he was suggesting. He and Jack were two of a kind. Party boys who cleverly thought up ways to get off and do business at the same time.
Obviously, Jack and Alex had partaken in some mutual entertainment. Not a big surprise. Jack was definitely a free spirit when it came to sex and she knew he was attracted to the vampire lifestyle. Vampires loved to have sex and they loved to watch sex. It had been a very big deal in Alex’s vampire community when he’d stopped participating in group sex because of her. Alex was a vampire prince, and he was much sought after as a partner.
Such a stupid girl she’d been to think her love would ever be enough.
She turned off the faucet and watched him try to straighten his necktie. Too bad she hadn’t been nervy enough to get him naked. She loved his body. Craved his body.
But she couldn’t give in to blind need. What she needed was to remember how devious that mind of his could be and figure out whether this was all some plot to undermine her independence.
She’d replaced her naïve dreams of a happy life with Alex with something more concrete and controllable, a successful career. She’d diverted all her love, dreams and passion into Party Mavens. She had employees she loved, clients she cared about, a business partner who was like a brother. And she made other people’s dreams come true by creating parties they’d remember forever.
She’d come to Chicago to kick some business butt and she’d be damned—literally—if she let her weakness for Alex sideline those objectives. Now that she had the account—or at least part of the account—her focus should be on what Stoked wanted.
But if Jack wanted Alex… Oh God.
Business and pleasure were about to get hopelessly muddled. Vampire ethics were different from traditional human ethics, especially when it came to money and sex.
“Here, let me.” She began loosening and re-straightening his tie. “Is this about business or pleasure?” she asked. “Are you going to use your…skills to get in better with the big boys at Stoked? Or is this just vampire fun?”
Alex smiled big, flashing his canines. “Ah, the businesswoman speaks. Cheers to your newly found acumen.”
She dropped her hands from his tie. “Don’t be a patronizing son of a bitch, Alex. I’d simply like to know what you’re thinking. Like if you’re really serious about this account with Stoked, or if it’s just a way to sabotage me so I’ll come running back to you.”
“You want to know the truth? Read my mind.”
“No thanks. I’m not rude like you.”
“All right, all right. I guess an honest question deserves an honest answer.” He turned to the mirror, adjusted one of his ruby cufflinks. “I truly didn’t know you were in the running for this account. Jack didn’t tell me your name. He only said you were a good party planner and a great fuck.” His eyes flared silver for a moment. When he spoke again his voice sounded tightly controlled. “I’ve been a good boy and kept all my promises about your freedom. No spies, no mind links, no checking up on you at all. I thought you were still working exclusively in Cleveland.
“As for whether tonight will be about business or pleasure…” He shrugged. His serious expression suddenly gave way to a quirky smile. “Actually, Jack told me that no matter how many times he gets off tonight the deal will remain as stated. He’ll be running the show, not me.”
“What?” He’d managed to shock her. “You’ve already discussed the possibility of a…rendezvous with Jack?”
“Yep. We’ve been doing some hanging out. Sherene has a thing for him. He’s more than a little bit vampire-struck. So. This is our first chance to make the big boss man happy. As a team. Just practicing good vampire business. Keeping the client happy and all that.”
Caro snorted. “How did you ever get Jack Farrell to take on a pirate like you?” She saw his eyes widen. “Wait,” she said. “Don’t bother to answer that question.”
His smile was incorrigible. He really was the most irresistible male. She couldn’t blame Jack Farrell any more than she could blame herself.
“So what do you say, Caroline?” He smoothed his tie, rolled his shoulders to straighten his wickedly impressive suit coat. It was impossible not to look at him. His come-on-and-fuck-me charisma eventually crushed any creature who tried to resist him.
“Are you up for an evening of fucking and sucking with the vamps?” He wiggled his eyebrows. She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “Dicking and licking? Spooning and swooning?” he coaxed ridiculously.
She couldn’t suppress a smile. “Coming and bumming?” she quipped.
He took her hand and Caro saw a victorious gleam in his eyes. He was so damn sure of himself. Too damn sure. She’d call his bluff and see how much he really wanted to work as a “team”. She pushed away from the sink and said, “No thanks. I’m gonna go back to my hotel and take it easy tonight.”
His brows came together. “What?”
Poor Prince Alex. He wasn’t used to being told no.
“No,” she repeated. “You know I’ve never been into the group thing…never been into watching. I haven’t changed.”
“Oh come on, Caro. I saw the look in your eyes. You were honestly tempted. What changed your mind?”
“You did.”
“I don’t get it—”
Caro interrupted him with a rueful laugh. “I know you don’t. You never did, Alex.” She turned away from him and he grabbed her arm, his grip firm yet gentle.
“Caro, listen…” He started to stroke her wrist and she pushed his hand away. “I don’t know how well you know Jack, but the guy’s a player. In business and everything else. And he’s gonna expect us to play his game.”
She looked at him warily, wondering who would end up playing whom in this so-called game. Alex had always been the champion game-player of any crowd he joined.
He reached for one of her long curls and wrapped it around his finger like he used to do. “Okay then. Let’s forget about Sherene and Jack. Forget about work for tonight. I bought a place here in Chicago that I’d love to show you. Come home with me. You know how good it’s gonna be…” His whisper evoked sumptuous memories of dark, endless kisses. “Why put off the inevitable when the inevitable is exactly what we want?”
He dipped his head, torturing her with his warm, sweet breath and the promise of his lips. “Come on, princess, why not?”
He was a master at dismissing complicated emotions, at condensing their relationship into one core need. But sex with him was never simple. Did she want to end up lost and alone again? Stuck in another quagmire of self-doubt?
“You know why not, damn you! I want more than a few hours of mindless fucking—”
Her voice broke and she closed her eyes. God…damn. They’d been alone for less than half an hour. She’d performed a sex act with him and now she was whining for his love.
Why, why, why does it have to be this way?
She was bound to him for life. She loved him completely. But he could never be all hers. At least not in any of the ways that were important to her.
His arms came around her and she pulled away, heading blindly for the door. Her defenses had crumbled completely so she felt rather than heard his words.
Sorry, my love. So, so sorry.
* * * * *
Alex headed straight for the bar. As he made his way through the crowd of bubbly imbibing bigwigs, he noted with relief that Sherene was happily entertaining the Stoked CEO and a couple of his cronies. She had her laptop out—apparently she was giving them a preview of their plans for the first product launch event. Which was great, because Alex was having a hard time keeping his mind on business right now.
He drained the first martini he could get his fingers around. As he worked the pimento out of the gin-soaked olive with his tongue, he scanned the room for Caro.
Ah. She was talking to Jack. Of course.
Hmm…what to do about this most intriguing situation? He chewed the oliv
e and swallowed.
Fall on Jack’s throat and rip him apart like a ravening beast?
Nah. Too messy. Besides, he liked Jack. He couldn’t hold it against him that he’d fucked Caro. Which was amazingly progressive and magnanimous for Alex, really. Showed how far he’d come at civilizing his vamp side. Because vamps were basically Neanderthals when it came to their women—and Caro was definitely his woman.
As he watched Jack introduce Caro to a group of Stoked executives, he had to acknowledge that Caro’s brand of demure sexiness worked well with Jack’s enthusiastic-business-guy persona. They made a disgustingly beautiful couple. When Jack put his arm around Caro’s waist, Alex felt his fangs lengthen and his cock get hard. He smiled. Yeah, his vamp side still dominated certain senses in certain scenarios. And sometimes it was a pleasure to let the power loose and get reacquainted with his inner alpha.
Years ago Alex had diligently fought off dozens of Caro’s admirers at the numerous parties they’d attended together. But in those days, most of her admirers had been vampires who, like him, sensed her potential as a bloodmate. Over the years the shy, gawky girl had made some changes to the way she presented herself. And humans like Jack definitely took notice of Caro, the woman.
He’d always known she would come back into his life. There had been no way to avoid it, after all. They were mated and the vamp blood bond was impossible to break. He’d been human enough—and guilty enough—to grant her a few years of freedom, but they’d both known he would force her to relinquish it some day.
There were about six hundred ways he could have dragged her back into his life over the last five years, but when she came back to him he wanted her to be happy about it. And making her happy was going to take some serious finessing. The business connection here at Stoked was an unexpected and interesting surprise.
He caught himself staring like a lecher as Caro bent over to retrieve a dropped cocktail napkin. Yes indeed, the coltish teenager who’d been all big eyes and long legs had filled out nicely. Her low-cut suit jacket provided him with a provocative eyeful of full breasts rising above some wicked-looking lace lingerie. When she stood up she smoothed down the suit’s short, short skirt.
Mm. Caro’s long, beautiful legs. He remembered the way they clung to his surging body as they made love, the way they tangled with his own legs as they slept. It had always been so damn difficult to break apart from each other—they’d fall asleep in the oddest positions trying to maintain the mind-blowing joy that occurred when bloodmates connected. Joy that was better than the sex itself, better than anything else period. Power, money, art, drugs… He’d tried his damnedest to rival the sensation, and he’d failed.
Shit. He wasn’t going to have the strength to be patient about reconnecting, the episode in the bathroom merely a tiny little appetizer to the feast he was gearing up for.
He looked up and caught her gaze. Oh yeah. She knew exactly what he was thinking.
He grinned, letting his expression show he appreciated her efforts to remain professional even though his presence had obviously thrown a big, evil monkey wrench into her plans.
It must be hard to suddenly find out you’d have to work with your former lover. Especially when he was the vampire who had fucked up your life. The vampire who knew every little sinful secret about your body. The vampire who’d thrown your young love back in your face with every other body he’d fucked…
Yeah, he’d been a prime asshole to her in the past. A lot of it had been the brashly arrogant behavior expected of a prince of his race. Some of it had been outright inexperience—he’d never been in love before.
Vampire males weren’t supposed to fall in love with human bloodmates. His vampire father had been horrified, blaming the “weakness” on Alex’s human blood—and conveniently forgetting his own propensity for human females.
Regardless of reason, the experience had been…harrowing.
When Caro left him for the final time he’d nearly lost his mind, torturing both himself and her with some particularly domineering behavior. Then, after realizing he was endangering her life, he made the enlightened decision that it was time to break some old-school vampire traditions. Caro wanted freedom and he was willing to give it to her.
However…some customs were impossible to break. Blood ties, for example. Caro was his. He didn’t give a fuck which instinct spurred his possessiveness. She belonged to him whether they chose to acknowledge the fact or not.
She headed for the bar on the other side of the room and, as he watched her hips sway, he realized that although he’d made a lot of changes in his life, his desire for Caro remained the same.
Aware that Alex was following her, Caro controlled a flinch when she felt him brush against her back, determined to maintain her composure this go-round.
“I didn’t have a chance to ask earlier,” he murmured, stroking a curl of hair away from her ear. “Did you miss me at all in the last five years?”
She turned to face him. “You know I did. But I’ve learned to live happily without you.” It was mostly an honest answer.
Arching one of those regal eyebrows, he deliberately grazed her breasts with his arm as he snagged a martini from the bar.
“I’m glad to hear it,” he said ambiguously. He sipped deeply from the frosty glass before handing it to her. “Mm.” He turned and smiled charmingly at the attractive female bartender who’d come up to take his order. “Can you throw a few extra olives into one of those for me, please?”
He turned back to Caro. “And I’m also glad to hear that you’re in business for yourself now.”
“Thanks. As you know, owning a business has been a dream of mine for a long time.”
The bartender brought back his drink—Alex always got served in record time—and he thanked her with a wink as he stirred the rippling gin with an olive-laden toothpick. The bartender gave Alex a sultry-eyed twice-over, immersing Caro in the hopeless task of trying to break down what was so goddamn alluring about Alex.
His face was two shades from handsome—his nose was a little too big and his face went all lopsided when he smiled. But that smile was devastating. And after being treated to a few them, you realized he was maybe better than plain old handsome. His mouth added to the devastation factor—it was outrageously sensual, with a full lower lip. The kind that made you want to sample and touch. Okay, and yeah, his cheekbones were stunners too. A gift from his Eastern European heritage, no doubt. And he had a great chin—squared off and masculine with just a touch of a cleft. His “dent” as he liked to call it. Caro had always thought of it as her own personal kissing spot. Her mouth curved at the memory.
Caro’s smile faded as she saw the bartender lick her upper lip in a rather unsubtle appeal for more of Alex’s attention. She wondered how many bartenders and waitresses Alex had fucked at the thousands of soirées he’d attended in his long, party-filled life.
Mm, but I don’t want to fuck her… The whisper wafted unbidden into her mind, like a curling trail of smoke. I want to fuck you. Over and over and over and over…
God, he was annoying. While she’d been standing here dreamily enumerating his assets, he’d been hovering just outside her thoughts, waiting for the weakness that would allow him to break in and wreak havoc.
He slid an olive off the toothpick with his front teeth and, reminding herself to think repulsive thoughts, Caro mentally replaced the pimento in his olive with a worm. She exhaled an involuntary giggle as he began to chew enthusiastically.
“What?” He looked down at her with a questioning smile. “You know how I love olives.”
“Yeah, I know,” she said with her own smile. She pushed away from the bar, trying to act casual as he put his hand at the small of her back. “Anyway, with the business thing, Len and I just decided it was time. The catering company we worked for was under new ownership…” Stopping in front of a window, she took in the sight of Chicago’s incredible night lights. “My grandma died and left me some money. We decided wi
th those funds and a mondo start-up loan, we’d just do it. And if things continue to go well, we’ll hire the rest of the crew away from the hands-off guy who bought the catering company a couple years ago.”
“Caro…” He stroked her back with a solicitous touch. “I want you to know how sorry I was to hear about your grandma. It was very difficult not to come to her funeral…not to contact you. But I’d like to give you my sympathy now.” His gentle words made a familiar lump form in her throat. She closed her eyes, knowing his sympathy was genuine. He’d always loved her grandmother.
“Thanks,” Caro said as she opened her eyes again, grateful she’d held back the tears. “I still miss her terribly.”
“I’m sure.” He set his drink down and took one of her hands in both of his. He began to tenderly stroke her palm with his thumbs, his touch one of pure comfort, and she let her lids flutter shut again. Her chest ached. Like long-unused parts of her heart were finally getting some exercise.
Oh God. She didn’t want to remember how sweet he could be. She had purposely spent the last few years dwelling on Alex’s bad side. But part of the force of his personality was his huge capacity for warmth, for kindness. He could be exceedingly generous, particularly with his body.
“So how about you?” Caro abruptly changed the subject. “Obviously, I’m surprised to see you here at Stoked. I thought you’d given up on the business world.”
“I did for a while. I took a long, soul-searching break from my dad’s business and did some satisfying stuff on my own. But last year I got talked into doing some consulting work and it got my business juices flowing again. I’ve been wanting to move into the human side of things, and Jack is willing to get creative.” Alex stopped stroking her hand long enough to grab two more martinis from a passing waiter. He handed her a glass and then picked up her hand again.
“Sounds interesting.” She tried to breathe calmly as she watched his fingers entwine with her own. It felt too natural, too easy. “I’d like to hear about what you did on your break sometime.”
Party Vamps Page 3
