by Kayleigh Sky
“No reports of casualties yet, but all local bridges are closed for inspection. No ETA on reopening.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
A moment later he slid back behind the wheel of his car. “We might have to stay the night. The bridges are closed for inspection.”
“But my family. They’re going to worry about me.”
Otto handed over his phone. “Call.”
Jessa climbed out and plastered his ass against the back window. Otto bit back a groan. Damn. All his efforts to remind himself Jessa was a vampire fell on his own deaf ears. Jessa didn’t look like a vampire and didn’t flash his fangs around like fashion accessories. No bitter humor glittered behind brutal eyes. Jessa was brutal’s opposite. Suspicious but friendly. Spoiled but generous. Hyper-sexed, as the other day had proven, but untouched, and likely unloved. And he seemed resigned to it. But it was probably for the best because the last thing Otto needed was the complication of an affair with a bead-stringing vampire prince who wasn’t allowed out by himself.
Now Otto—cynical, beat-up, quick-tempered, barely sober—was the worst choice for somebody like Jessa anyway.
So is Wen.
That’s not your business.
But he hated the thought of Jessa wrapped up and set in a corner to be looked at by somebody like Wen. That bastard didn’t appreciate him. Not like Otto could.
Mine.
No.
“Okay. Uriah says there’s an inn near here. We should turn around and go back about a mile to a road that goes up into the hills. We can’t miss it, Uriah says. It’s for vampires.”
“And me?”
Jessa grinned. “You’re with me.”
Great.
Otto started the car. “Everything okay at the castle?”
“Just a jolt.”
“Good.”
Otto reversed onto the shoulder, pulled back out and drove in the wrong direction until an opening in the median appeared and he turned off the highway and drove into the hills on a road that meandered through dense pockets of mixed forest. A drizzle fogged the windshield and when the inn appeared nearly an hour later, it jumped out of the grayness, a cabin-like two-story building of wood and glass. It wasn’t large, and the parking lot was half full. “I hope they have room.”
“Uriah called for us.”
Otto pulled up beside the other cars and turned off the engine. He followed the movement of a guy in a yellow slicker climbing down an aluminum ladder from one of the balconies that dotted the second story. Jessa popped open his door, and Otto got out too.
They followed the guy in the slicker into the lobby. A few dimly lit lamps pushed back the gloom inside and turned the skin of the vampire behind the counter as luminous as candlelight. He dipped his chin, and the guy in the slicker said, “Well, everything looks good, so I’m just gonna collect my things and write up your invoice.”
“Thank you.”
“Anytime,” the guy said, stepping away.
Jessa moved into his place and rested his fingertips on the counter. “Do you have reservations for Jessamine Senera?”
The vampire’s chin bobbed low. “We are honored to have received a request for a room on your behalf, prince.”
Otto leaned sideways to peer over Jessa’s shoulder. “One room?”
The vamp fixed him with a stare. Otto would be hard-pressed to find any life in that stare. It was as black and empty as a grave in the gloomy room. But cheerful voices came from other parts of the inn, so maybe it was only Otto who thought a few lights might help the atmosphere.
“A room,” said the vampire. “Per request. You may leave your clothes at the door for laundry if you’d like.”
Great. Naked. That oughta work.
Jessa snatched the key. Forcing a smile, Otto traced his footsteps up the stairs and down a wood-paneled hall. The rugs on the floor were thick and quiet. Jessa opened the last door and stepped inside the room. Otto followed him.
“Wow,” Jessa said. “This is gorgeous.”
Gold and cream and rosy wood. A fire in the fireplace. The bed was large, framed by nightstands, and a coffee table and chairs sat in front of a pair of French doors to a balcony.
“Good to know there’s no damage here,” said Otto.
Jessa bounced on the side of the bed. “It’s solid.”
“I hope so.”
He opened the French doors. Voices floated on the air. The glow of a heat lamp on the next-door balcony pushed back the drizzle. It wasn’t entirely dark yet. The lights in the rooms were bright and spilled outside, pulling the trunks of the nearby trees from the gloom. Mist, as thick as a fog, hung in the space between the trunks. Otto stared at it, gray as smoke.
Jessa’s voice at his ear shattered the stillness. “Let’s go eat.”
Otto blew out a breath. “Sure.”
As he reached for the doors to pull them shut, he looked one more time into the trees.
The mist was gone.
31
A Night at the Inn
After dinner, they took a walk around the inn, their footfalls on the gravel loud in the dark. Jessa nestled closer to Otto, bumping his arm as they circled nearer the trees and the… mist.
Soft and pale like the breaths from their mouths.
The faint gray wisps clung to the trees like dark-loving vampires. But he was safe near the light.
“Are you cold?” Otto asked.
Jessa’s lips parted, a no on the tip of his tongue, before he bit it back and said, “A little.”
He let himself shiver. Hopefully, Otto wouldn’t suggest going back inside. That would be Jessa’s luck. A grand seduction was beyond him. He had the schemes from his romances to follow but… real life detoured and took odd turns he got lost on. Was it possible to tempt somebody who had already rejected him? He racked his mind for a story where that had happened but got nothing.
Instead, he flashed on perfect heroines who always knew what to say. Sassy heroines who shivered and melted in the heat of the hero’s jacket a moment later.
But with Otto, they just kept walking. When they made another circle of the inn, and Otto stopped, Jessa kept on for a few paces, lost in his thoughts before coming back to himself and turning.
“What?” he asked.
“It’s all wrong,” Otto said.
And vague though Otto’s comment was, to Jessa it meant they were finally on the same wavelength. Otto didn’t want to want Jessa, but he did anyway. This time, Jessa’s shiver was more of a shudder, and he had trouble talking through numb lips.
But maybe he was supposed to be coy like the sassy heroine.
But he was tongue-tied instead. He had no talent for this. “I really want you.” The words spilled out with a groan of despair that didn’t sound sexy at all. It sounded… desperate.
And Otto chuckled. “Of all the fucking things.”
“What?”
Otto shook his head. The silence tore at Jessa’s nerves.
“I like you, vampire.”
That wasn’t what Jessa expected. “I like you too.”
Otto smiled. Close. Close enough to touch Jessa’s face, but he didn’t. “I’ll hurt you.”
“No, you won’t.”
Because Jessa knew that. He wasn’t a child. This wasn’t love. They weren’t fated… Were they?
Now Otto reached out and ran a finger along Jessa’s jaw. “You have no idea.”
Jessa swallowed. “Show me.”
Otto frowned, and shadows hid in the marks of pain on his face. But still he stroked Jessa’s jaw and sighed a ghostly breath before he took a step closer, sliding his arm around Jessa’s shoulder and pulling him against the hot, solid wall of his chest. “Such a bad idea,” he murmured into Jessa’s ear.
“I know what I’m doing.”
Otto chuckled. “You have no idea,” he said again.
But this time he took Jessa’s hand and led him inside.
Only a single family sat in the dining room now. The golden gl
owing lights led them up the stairs and down the cozy hallway. Jessa swept his gaze over the wood and the low ceilings and the homey warmth of the orange and green and yellow pattern on the rugs. He took it all in, embedding the images in his brain.
The swinging open of a door into a room about to change his life took Jessa’s breath away.
Otto tugged gently on his hand, and Jessa followed him in.
They stood staring at each other, and Jessa’s thoughts scattered like mist broken by the wind. The sensations in his body, untouched yet, overwhelmed him. Goosebumps and tremors. His heart raced, his lungs swelled. He inhaled Otto’s scent and the damp air. Dust and furniture polish. Blood… a hint, tingling on his tongue, tantalizing like a memory half forgotten. His fangs pushed at his gums. His cock ached, pressing at his zipper. And his hole… Oh God. It twitched and itched as though it knew exactly what it wanted, though the thought of Otto’s dick inside him sent panic and joy coursing through Jessa’s veins.
Otto shut the door.
And Jessa jumped. Right into Otto’s arms, knocking him back into the door with a grunt. When Otto straightened, still holding on, Jessa wrapped him in his arms and legs and buried his face in Otto’s neck, burrowing into the warm blood scent. Otto’s scent, sweet as liqueur. Sultry spice like cardamom and cloves.
“You aren’t gonna bite me?”
“No,” Jessa moaned.
He clung tighter, and Otto stroked his back, trailing fingers down his spine, finding the skin under his shirt with a flame-like touch. Jessa sucked in a breath.
“Shh.”
Was he saying something? No. Moans spilled from his lips, fanning across Otto’s skin like whispers.
He opened his eyes when the bed met his back, and Otto braced himself on his elbows and cupped Jessa’s head with a hand, brushing away his hair with his thumb.
“Are you sure? You can’t go back.”
“I’m already gone.” God, he sounded fourteen. How melodramatic. He swallowed. “Wen is good to me. I just want…” Qudim and Dawn’s love. The undying passion and devotion of his parents before the darkness ruined it. “I don’t want Wen to be all. And with us, we’re free until marriage. I wouldn’t cheat. That’s not me.”
Otto smiled, his thumb brushing in a soothing rhythm over Jessa’s skin. “I don’t have sex that counts. I’m not that brave. This is the deepest I’ve ever gone, but it’s just for now.”
“I’m bound,” Jessa murmured. “I won’t fight that.”
But the fact he thought of it as a fight, as something he had to do, was like a fissure in the earth’s crust, widening under an invisible pressure. What was love? He didn’t know. Maybe he wouldn’t love Otto. Maybe he’d take his pleasure like Mal and Rune as a joyful part of life. Maybe his heart didn’t have to expand to the edges of the universe, though it was.
“Kiss me.”
Otto smiled. “My pleasure, baby prince.”
A faint breath touched Jessa’s lips, and he opened to the kiss. Stubble rubbed his skin. He cupped Otto’s shorn head and met him tongue to tongue. The weight that descended on him surrounded him in heat. Hard flesh pinned him, and he arched into it, rubbing his cock on Otto’s hard thigh. He let his legs fall open.
Lust burst with the whomp of a bonfire igniting. The spread of heat through Jessa’s body melted his bones. Otto plunged into his mouth, dug fingers into his skull, rocked against Jessa’s cock and balls. Skin. Pushing into Otto’s kiss, Jessa scrabbled at the back of Otto’s shirt, yanking at it, fumbling for a touch of Otto’s bare back. Soft, soft skin, iron rippling underneath, bunching as Otto rose onto his knees and pulled his shirt off over his head.
Jessa groaned. Loud and shameless. Oh fuck. Fuck, fuck. He dragged his nails through the hair on Otto’s chest. It was dark and sexy as fuck, narrowing in a thin line that ran down to his crotch. Jessa’s own hand had taught him the pleasure of desire. The ache. The restlessness. The crazy fantasies that saw him pinned down by a dark, faceless attacker who would give him everything he knew he shouldn’t have. Crazy, mindless, biting passion. But this… He tugged at Otto’s hair, dragging his fingers down the line to Otto’s belly button. Solid muscle twitched under his touch. He lifted his eyes and sank into the hot gaze holding onto him.
“So beautiful,” Otto whispered.
And Jessa nodded because, yes, Otto was beautiful.
He sat up and let Otto pull off his shirt and toss it onto the floor. Next, his shoes fell. Jessa unbuttoned his jeans and lay back when Otto gripped the waistband and pulled. Jessa bent his neck, watching the material slide over his fat dick, flattening it as Otto slowly revealed him. His mouth parted. Nudity meant nothing to vampires, but… He was naked. Naked inside and out.
“Yes,” Otto said, a smile on his lips. “This. So fucking beautiful.”
Pink. He was pink, growing rosy. His pubic hair was tinged with red, a little browner than the hair on his head. The scrape of fabric over the crown of his dick sent a shot of electricity up his spine. Fireworks exploded in his eyes. He let his head fall back on the bed. “What are you going to do?”
“Turn you inside out.”
Yes!
His dick sprang up, his jeans ripping past his feet now. He sat up again, legs spread, like a blood whore, hips twitching. A moan rumbled in his ear. His.
“Want this?” Otto asked, squeezing the ridge in his jeans.
“Yesss.”
Could he come like this? His dick bobbed, animated by some instinct he had no control over. He fell back on his elbows, rocking, the motion strangely exhilarating.
“Know what I wanna see?” Otto asked, popping the button on his jeans.
“What?”
“Your hole.”
“Oh God.”
“You like that? Being exposed to me?”
A whiney “Yes,” squeezed out of Jessa’s throat.
“Pull your feet onto the edge of the bed. Show me that sweet hole.”
Pants came from his mouth, but he obeyed, squirming back on the mattress. Something warm drizzled onto his belly. He peered at his dick, leaking a gossamer string of fluid.
“Taste it,” Otto said.
Jessa gasped. “Me?”
“Don’t you want to know what I’m going to be filling my mouth with?”
His eyes rolled to the back of his head. He was blind, but he wrapped his fingers around his cock, sliding his grip toward the head. He stroked his slit and shuddered.
“Go on.”
Eyes on Otto again, he brought the finger to his mouth. How dirty. A slow smile lifted the corners of Otto’s lips. “How flexible are you?”
He froze. “I… I don’t…”
“No worry,” Otto said. “Another time though, we’ll see. Imagine if you could suck yourself off.”
His chest heaved. “Can you?”
“Nope. You’re our only hope. Now go on. Open your mouth. Put your finger in there and suck.”
Jessa stared at the pearly gleam on his fingertip. He put his tongue out. The drop of precum swelled in his vision, growing heavy, threatening to fall. He stuck his finger in his mouth, and a salty tang spread on his tongue with a tingle. Odd. Weird, but not… bad.
Otto grinned. “Greedy.”
He gaped, pulling his finger free. “You told me too.”
“My turn.”
Jessa stared with widening eyes as Otto shucked his jeans and his dark red cock sprang back against his belly. Oh God. All the hair, so dark and gorgeous, made Jessa want to spurt right there. He pulled his knees up and clenched his hole.
“Damn,” Otto whispered.
He stroked Jessa’s thighs and a tremble ran through Jessa’s whole body. He gasped, alarm racing through him as Otto settled himself between his legs and closed his fingers around the grip Jessa had on his dick.
“Mine,” he said.
Swallowing, Jessa nodded and removed his hand. The heat of Otto’s palm was like none of his fantasies. It baked into his already hot dick, and he groaned as O
tto leaned down, smiling, lips parting, tongue curled and ready to cradle Jessa’s cock. Not in a million years did he think anybody would go down on him. Not Wen… No, no thoughts of Wen. He’d resigned himself. Resigned himself to companionship, safety, maybe affection. A good marriage that kept him close to Mal and Rune but freed them from the burden of caring for a drainer.
They worried about him. And worry was a terrible thing to live with.
The tip of Otto’s tongue emerged, silky pink, hovering above Jessa’s slit. Jessa moaned again, bucked against the hand holding him down. Otto’s other hand tipped Jessa’s cock toward his mouth. His breath, hot as a stove, seared Jessa’s flesh. But he didn’t come closer, only hovered there, that tantalizing smile on his lips, light dancing in his eyes. Pressure built in Jessa’s tense muscles. He strained to push his dick into Otto’s mouth. More of that clear juice oozed from his slit. Sticky, tangy. His mouth watered.
“Suck me.”
Otto laughed. “My pleasure.”
And then he took Jessa deep into heat and slippery bliss. “Oh my angels… Oh my God… Oh… Oh.”
The rumble of Otto’s laugh vibrated into Jessa’s flesh. He clawed at the bedclothes, and his fangs shot out, grazing his bottom lip. He opened his mouth and panted loudly. The throb in his balls and belly peaked into an ache inseparable from pain. His dick was on fire, laced with ribbons of pleasure as Otto’s tongue swirled around him. He whimpered, pulling at the comforter in his fists.
“Please…”
Otto rose.
The air on his cock was like ice.
“Please what, babe.”
“I don’t know.” Otto stroked him, fingers sliding easily on his slick skin. Somebody was touching him, giving him pleasure, enjoying him. “Do you like that?” he asked.
“You taste like honey. Skin’s soft as velvet. So warm. I really hope you’re as flexible as I think you are.”
Jessa’s laugh burst out in a series of windy gasps. “Who does that?”
“Hm. I’ve seen it. You taste so good. I want you to come in your mouth. Swallow your own jizz.”
He breathed in gasps now. “I-I don’t think so.”
“Tastes good.”
