“Oh, we haven’t seen those yet,” Toni said in a honeyed voice. “You’re welcome to bite me, Xander. I’ll warn you that I bite back.”
“I look forward to that,” Xander replied.
Laurencio stepped back and was alternately gazing at Toni and Jessi through a box he made out of his hands.
“You’re both right,” he declared with enough self-importance that Jessi wanted to scream. “She’s got the innocence but not the body. Headshot, close-up of Xander and his fangs.” He motioned to his assistant.
“I can do innocent,” Toni whined.
“Not this kind of innocence,” Laurencio replied. “Those big eyes are the key. You’re a little too …”
“Whorish,” Jessi supplied with a sweet smile.
Toni stared at her. Xander chuckled. Laurencin’s assistant took Jessi’s arm before she could see how red Toni’s face turned. Disappointed, she turned her attention to Xander, whose half-smile was one of warning, not comfort.
“On your back,” the assistant said, motioning to the sand.
“Total fan girl moment,” Jessi said.
“What’s the name of my show, fan-girl?” Xander challenged.
Jessi pretended to take her time settling on the sand, struggling to recall what Gerry said the name of Xander’s show was. She lay down.
“Vampire something,” she said then gave a breezy sigh. “I’m too excited to remember!”
The assistant squatted over her midsection and fanned out her hair, positioning and repositioning it around her head.
“Makeup,” he said without glancing up.
Someone tossed him a small kit. He dipped a pinky into it and roughly spread lipstick across her lips then dipped his pinky again to smear something on her cheekbones.
“Eyes closed.”
She obeyed. He swept something over her eyelids.
“Rub your lips together.”
She did. He took her hands and positioned them over her head. She opened her eyes. He was frowning and glancing back at Laurencio for direction. He positioned her hands on either side of her head.
“Good,” Laurencio said. “To keep this a headshot, Xander will need to be lower than last time.”
“Best day of my life!” she exclaimed. Toni appeared pissed while Gerry was a cross between amused and concerned.
“We’re about to make your dreams come true.” This came from Xander. He kicked one of her feet with his. “Spread ‘em.”
“Excuse me?” she raised her head.
“No! Don’t move!” the assistant cried.
She lowered her head. The last pose with Toni was far too …intimate for Jessi’s taste. She hoped they took her picture and left her alone.
“We’re all professionals here,” Xander said, a smile crossing his face.
“We’re all professionals here,” Laurencio echoed. “Xander, your head needs to be level with hers. We’re doing an extreme close-up, so we don’t have to do too much post-photo work.”
The assistant left, and Xander replaced him. He didn’t hesitate to straddle her hips and rest on his haunches. The nearness of his bare chest and feel of his strong thighs on either side of her made her heart flutter. The smile she plastered across her face was starting to falter.
“It’s like sex,” Xander added. “You have had sex before, Ms. Tuesday?”
Toni sighed.
“Don’t call me that!” Jessi flushed, cursing him under her breath. She tried to look towards Gerry and silently beg him to help her.
“Don’t move your upper body,” the assistant ordered.
“You can tell she’s never done a shoot before,” Toni said.
“Spread ‘em, fan-girl,” Xander said again. He shifted forward, gripping her forearms in a way that brought their faces inches apart. Her breath caught, and she hated herself for it. His chest rested against hers, and he nudged her thighs a part with a knee.
Aware he was trying to make her uncomfortable, Jessi refused to meet his gaze as he settled between her legs. The intimacy of the pose made her body hot from the inside out. He was heavy, though most of his weight was on the hips squeezed between her thighs. With him on top of her, she was able to feel just how strong and wide he was. His grip on her forearms was loose but firm. His skin was hot, working its way through her thin dress in a way that did nothing to lessen the warmth racing through her blood.
“Best day of my life,” she said through clenched teeth.
“You’re not fooling anyone,” he told her calmly.
Play along. It wasn’t working. He knew it. She wasn’t certain she could pretend, with the heat in her blood. She might just melt at his feet like Toni did.
Of course the control freak would choose a pose where he was holding her down with the sheer size of his body, her hands pinned by her head. Agitated by him and the fire he caused, she was also awed by how small and delicate his muscular frame made her feel. She was trying hard to ignore the sensations in her body.
“Hold that pose, Xander,” the man on top of her whispered.
“Hold that pose, Xander,” Laurencio directed.
Jessi looked at him, perplexed as to how Laurencio heard him from the ten feet separating them.
“Wanna see it again?” Xander asked.
“See what?”
“Break out those fangs, Xander.”
Laurencio repeated the words.
“So he does what you say,” Jessi said.
“They all do. It’s one of my special talents,” he said. “I can manipulate minds.”
“And you’re a vampire. I get it. You’re messing with me.”
“Watch,” he directed. He lowered his head until his hot breath tickled her ear. She shivered at the sensation of his roughened jaw against her cheek and the heat of his bare chest. “Pretend it hasn’t been five years since you’ve gotten laid, Jessi, and relax.” His whisper was barely audible, even as his lips moved against her ear.
“Hey, pretend it hasn’t been five years since you’ve gotten laid, Jessi, and relax,” Toni taunted.
“You son of a bitch!” Jessi hissed at Xander. “It’s been four, and now everyone knows it!”
Xander eased away from her, satisfied. “Ready for the fangs?”
“Secrets of a Vampire,” she recalled suddenly. “What total fan girl doesn’t want to be bitten by her idol.”
“Fan request granted.”
The photographer’s assistant yelped suddenly, and she turned her head, needing the distraction from the infuriating wall of pure male lying on top of her. She saw the camera in the sand, one of the tripod legs two feet shorter than the other two. Laurencio rushed towards it, snatching it from his assistant and cradling it to check for sand. Gerry was covering up a laugh while Toni appeared startled.
“This might hurt a little.”
Jessi’s focus returned to Xander. His face six inches away, he was gazing at her with a strange light in his eyes, but it wasn’t the glow that caught her attention.
“Omigod. Those look so real!” she breathed, staring at the four inch fangs.
Xander was silent for a long moment, holding her gaze. She couldn’t see any signs that the fangs were a prosthetic. They were the same shade of white as the rest of his teeth and seemed a natural extension from his gums. He’d been holding her down when he put them on, puzzling her as to how he did put them on. They were even with the teeth around them, as if his incisors had just …grown.
Like Jonny’s.
“It wasn’t an invitation!” she blurted out. “You are not going to bite me. I don’t care what you make Laurencio say.”
“You sure?” His half-smile was back. He squeezed her forearms in reminder she wasn’t able to do anything about it if he did decide to bite her.
“If you ever want another cup of coffee, you won’t do it,” she replied. “Promise me you won’t bite me.”
“Would it bother you if I did?”
Her head dropped back, and she swallowed hard. The moment s
tretched on as the others worked on the camera and tripod. Jessi felt Xander’s heartbeat against her chest. His breathing synced with hers, until they breathed the same air at the same pace. The heat and size of his body, the erotic pose, his direct gaze … all fed the desire burning within her.
“It’s not gonna work,” she whispered. “I won’t be Tuesday.”
“I’ve got a week.”
“I’m going to lunch with Gerry tomorrow.”
“He knows his place in this mess,” he mused. “I’ll make you a deal. Be Tuesday, and I won’t bite you.”
“No to both!” she said, hearing her own uneven breathing. “I don’t want to sleep with some sadistic man-whore, and I don’t want rabies.”
“I think they’re called gigolos, and I am gonna bite you.” His decisive whisper was husky.
Her eyes went to the fangs the size of paring knives. A bite with those things would kill her. There was no way he was serious.
“Fine you win. I believe you’re a vampire now. But I’m not sleeping with you,” she relented.
“Wrong answer.”
“We’re set, Xander,” Laurencio sounded relieved. “Nothing wrong with my camera.”
The assistant straightened her hair once more then stepped back.
“Love the fangs,” Laurencio said.
“Give her a bite, Xander,” Xander whispered.
“Give her a bite, Xander.”
“I will drop you and your cat off at the humane society!” she said, starting to believe he was serious.
“Just don’t move,” Xander told her. “It won’t hurt. If you do … no guarantees you make it out of this one alive. Your choice.” He lowered his head to the side of her neck away from the camera and nuzzled her neck in a way that made her heart race faster.
“You won’t bite me,” she said. A small part of her hoped he did or at least, he turned that nuzzling into a hot kiss.
“Don’t move,” he warned.
His grip on her forearms tightened, and he pressed them into the sand. It was the second sign he was serious. The third: a pinch in her neck. She jerked at her arms, unable to dislodge them from his grip.
Jessi felt his teeth sink into her neck, confused when there was no pain beyond the initial puncture. She heard the sound of the camera snapping pictures and began to think she’d entered some sort of surreal world. Utterly still, she forced herself to breathe, or she’d pass out.
“Good!” Laurencio called. “You need to look scared, not ambivalent.”
Another sensation rose up within her fast and hard. Not quite panic, not quite desire.
Hunger. Need.
She gasped at the intensity that turned her lower belly into a furnace and swept through her, making her achingly aware of his scent, the heat and smoothness of his skin, the size of his body and the hot mouth pressed against her neck. Her skin grew so sensitive, the scrape of sand and heat of his hands were almost orgasmic. The tension building within her wasn’t something she’d felt in years. Her eyes drifted closed.
“Scared, not sleepy!”
Laurencio’s voice reminded her they weren’t alone. Jessi fought back whatever spell was trying to engulf her. It swallowed her senses, but she wasn’t about to lose complete control to someone like Xander. On a beach. With a ton of people watching. Whatever he was doing to her, he made her want to beg him to finish.
“Xander, head up. Look at each other as if you’re in love.”
Xander withdrew from her neck, but not before his tongue flickered out to trace the sensitive spot. She shuddered, his spell retreating. He lifted his head and met her gaze. A drop of something warm fell onto her face.
Blood. His fangs were red from blood. Her blood. The realization helped her push back the trance she’d been about to fall into.
“You did bite me!” she said in a breathless voice. “What kind of psycho are you?”
“You’re a smart girl. You can put two and two together,” Xander said.
The fangs, the eyes, the ability to manipulate the minds of others. It struck her that the red eyes weren’t contacts and the four inch incisors weren’t implants. Her blood was on them. He tried to tell her he was a vampire. She didn’t believe in them, until Jonny. She hadn’t wanted to believe she might be caught at the mercy of not one, but two reallive vampires!
“There you go. You got it,” he said, his look turning cunning. “Vamp got your tongue?”
Jessi’s lips parted, but the words she wanted to say were stuck in her throat.
“Excellent emotion! Perfect!” Laurencio exclaimed.
Chapter Seven
Xander loved the look on her face. Raw, unguarded, a mix of desire and surprise that caused her cheeks to flush and her body to yield beneath him. Her lips were parted as if for kisses, her eyes large enough, he saw himself reflected in their depths. She appeared sweet and alluring in that vulnerable moment. She’d almost crossed the threshold where she was his; he felt her body start to arch under the sensations.
Drinking blood was a necessity, and he took his pleasure from it and the bodies of the women in his bed.
Drinking her blood was a different kind of experience. With his teeth in her neck, he’d been granted partial access to her he was otherwise denied. He wasn’t able to hear her thoughts, but he felt what she did. Her emotions were crisp and clear. Yet the idea he had to be inside her to feel her was intoxicating. Erotic. That level of intimacy wasn’t something he ever experienced with others. He heard the thoughts of others but never experienced their emotions, aside from the pain of hurting the innocent.
These emotions were different. They were her, as if he’d been given access to her at the deepest levels. Why did he find the connection appealing? He preferred his solitary life.
He was growing more uneasy, despite the pleasure of her blood. She enticed him in a way he wasn’t expecting and lived through handling the gem at his neck. The key to absolute power had been in her hands, as docile as it was in his.
It wasn’t a good sign.
Her guardedness returned too soon. Her shapely, feminine body went rigid beneath his.
“Get off me,” she whispered.
“When Laurencio says we’re done.”
“We’re done!”
“Good effects with the blood. It’s getting messy. Clean it up?” Laurencio called.
Xander licked his fangs and lips clean, enjoying her taste while she stared at him with far too much emotion for him to determine what she’d do: freak out or melt. Already, he wanted another sip of her, enough to tide him over until he was able to make a meal out of her.
“I quit,” she hissed.
“No, you don’t.” He ducked his head to kiss away the ensnaring blood that dripped onto her cheek. He savored the wayward drops. “You want something from me.”
“Not anymore!”
He’d guessed right. She didn’t have the patience or interest to be a real personal assistant. Gerry was doing a good job of playing along, but Jessi was too outspoken, too unpolished. Unyielding, even with his attempts to breach her mind and influence her. He was manipulating Laurencio and Toni like puppets, but Jessi was beyond him. He was able to count the number of people beyond his ability to manipulate on one hand: the Gods. Even them, he was able to read, if he was willing to expend the effort needed to do so.
None of them were able to move in stealth mode, like Jessi-the-Natural lying breathless and furious beneath him. She stirred his intense curiosity, like only the unknown could.
A surrender from someone like this was the kind of challenge he needed. She’d responded to him when his fangs were in her neck, and his power was in direct contact with her, but she still hadn’t broken down into a mewling mess like every other woman did when first he touched them. Jessi wasn’t just prey; she was sentient prey, someone for him to win her mind in addition to overpowering.
She stirred more than his interest. For the first time since landing in the human world, he had the intense urge to tra
ck, hunt and bring down something capable of eluding him. He felt need. He never experienced this sensation with women. Desire and hunger, yes, but never the compulsion to be inside a particular woman. It was almost as arresting as her sweet scent and the shocked look on her face that made him want to laugh.
If only the Black God wasn’t using her somehow …
“Excellent!” Laurencio said. “I think we’re done.”
Jessi pulled at her arms again and squirmed beneath him. Xander smiled, enjoying the sensation of her wriggling body beneath him. He held her for a few seconds longer to emphasize that he only let her go because he wanted to. He waited for her flush, then released her and sat up, straddling her again.
“You are such an asshole,” she exclaimed, voice trembling. Her hand went to her neck, where the two punctures were healed. “I can’t believe you bit me!”
Xander laughed.
“He really bit you?” Gerry asked, nearing.
The Guardian irritated Xander, more so because Jessi had smiled and laughed with him earlier. Gerry knew his place, though his gaze was sharp right now. Xander shook his head at the questioning look the Guardian gave him, the silent inquiry as to whether he tried to turn her.
Jessi pulled her legs out from between Xander’s thighs and stood, refusing to look at him.
“I’m throwing out all your precious coffee,” she said and marched away.
He watched her, admiring her body. Toni crossed his vision. She was five minutes from throwing herself at his feet. He was hungry after the stimulation of Jessi’s refusal to bend to his will.
No, he was starving. He hadn’t felt this alive since long before the Schism, when a certain Original Human bound his magic.
Jessi wasn’t about to cave to his appetite, but Toni was almost begging. Xander stood and swept her up into his arms. She melted.
“Jessi, have lunch with Gerry today,” he said without looking up.
Jessi didn’t acknowledge him at all.
If Xander didn’t feed now, he was going to go on a rampage and slaughter half the apartment building to slake his hunger. While appealing, it would ruin his chances to figure out what Jessi was hiding. Not to mention, Ingrid wouldn’t approve. Xander was enjoying his newfound status too much to sacrifice it now, especially when he had a line of women ready to please him. If Toni wasn’t enough to distract him, all he had to do was walk outside his door for another snack.
Lizzy Ford Page 12
