Soon she’d go back to painting. Her new vision shone through in the portrait of Stefan that she’d just completed yesterday. Hopefully she’d find a similar passion in all her art, though she doubted she’d ever surpass that one love-inspired masterpiece. A fleeting regret dulled her happiness when she considered she’d have to paint the matching portrait of herself from memory, or from photos taken when she’d been mortal.
A small disadvantage, knowing now she had a long lifetime to be seen only through others’ eyes. Through Stefan’s gorgeous green eyes, which she hoped he’d pass on to the children they both longed for.
The back room at Ristorante della Rubio had a festive look. Roses in every color except white decorated each table. Candles flickered in ornate standing sconces at each corner of the dance floor. Thrilled they’d chosen his club as the site for their wedding, Gus supervised a dozen waiters, pointing out which guests got the mortal menu and which ones drank only aperitifs made of fresh AB negative and French sparkling water. A string quartet made up of d’Argent vampires—friends of Stefan’s mother—played romantic pieces from centuries long past.
Noodles relaxed on a pillow at Stefan’s feet, enjoying the bone from Julie’s father’s steak. She’d join them on their honeymoon in New Orleans, where the wedding festivities would continue in Julie’s childhood home.
Stefan leaned over, whispered in Julie’s ear, “Are you happy, Madame d’Argent?”
“Deliriously happy. Anxious for you to meet the friends I grew up with in New Orleans and then to get my first look at our new home.”
“That may not be for a while, if Alina’s hunch is right. According to her spies, Reynard is still recuperating from his wounds, but he’s sent his clansmen on the move. They’re charged with going after Alina herself. We’ll have to fight them with all we’ve got.” He paused, and when she read his thoughts she knew he hated that their honeymoon would be cut short. “Let’s go home now. I want to make love with you, feed on you and have you feed on me. These things are best done in private.”
She squeezed his hand. “I want that too. Dare we take our leave?”
“Soon, my darling.” He slid a hand up her thigh and cupped her mound through her skimpy satin thong. Bending to her ear, he whispered, “I like your underwear. I like your bare skin more, though.”
“If we’re going to go, we need to say good-bye to my father.” As much as she wanted to be alone with her new husband, Julie couldn’t bear to hurt Sam. After all, he’d been the only one she could turn to with her problems since her mother’s death when she’d still been a little girl.
Stefan glanced around the room, obviously understanding what she hadn’t said. “There he is. Dancing with Alina.”
“Really?” Julie had liked Stefan’s regal cousin from the moment they met. It had surprised her that the vampire queen so closely resembled her, even though she should have expected it, considering that a crazed serial killer had singled her out for exactly that reason. Her father apparently liked Alina too, because he’d danced with her several times, seemed intent on staying close by when she chatted with Stefan’s mother and half a dozen of her friends.
Julie laid her hand on Stefan’s wrist. She couldn’t take a lot more of his teasing without ripping off her clothes and his, indulging in a frenzied vampire mating for all their guests to see. Vampire compulsion? She didn’t know, but she could barely maintain any decorum at all when he persisted in whispering erotic suggestions, strumming the erogenous zones of her body with the skill of a master. Maybe if they talked about mundane things . . .
“You know, this is the first time since Mother died that I’ve seen Sam pay any attention to a woman. Do you think—”
“I think I have to get you alone, and soon.” He slid his hand between her legs again and slowly thrust a finger in and out of her wet, swollen core as he whispered in her ear. “Imagine you’re taking me. Everywhere.” He lowered his whisper to where she thought she was imagining his words and gently massaged around her rear opening. “In your hot, wet sheath. Your mouth. Perhaps even here.”
“Stefan.”
“Oh, my darling, you’re inviting me to claim you here and now. That’s it. Squeeze me.” He went silent as she tightened her inner muscles around his finger. “You like the idea of me claiming that last bastion of your womanhood, don’t you?”
“No. This one is quite enough.” Determined to get him as hot as he was making her with words as much as foreplay, she squeezed his erection though his pants. “But perhaps . . .”
“Whatever my darling wants, I’ll give her, if only in her mind. Close your eyes. Let your mind drift.” As he spoke he withdrew his finger from her wet, swollen flesh. Then, in sensuous slow motion, he stood and drew her to her feet. Multicolored floodlights that lit the dance floor came into focus on them, the rich jewel tones swirling about, encompassing them in a surreal cocoon. Julie felt as if she were being transported to a world apart, a place where nothing mattered but the two of them. Their clothing fell away by vampire magic as they spun to the accelerating rhythm of the sensuous music.
Soon she was floating with Stefan in an alien world. Naked. Cloaked in her love’s warmth as they drifted up and away, seemingly weightless. Stefan held her firmly at her waist while he nibbled on her throbbing flesh and thrust his agile tongue deep into her core, at the same time working a finger gently up her ass. Preparing you to take my cock. So tight. So tempting. Relax now, and enjoy.
He hadn’t spoken, yet Julie heard him in her mind. Basked in his words of love, of sex . . . of sharing. Compelled by Stefan’s silent order, Julie reached out, brought his sex to her mouth and very gently ran her tongue over its tip. She measured his length with seeking fingers, eliciting a throaty groan from him.
As he fed lightly at her throat, he pressed his hands on Alex’s ass, encouraging her to swallow him, to feel the weight of his scrotum against her lips.
For what seemed a slice of eternity he petted her, stroked her, brought her to a fever pitch of need. She had to have him inside her, filling her. “Take me now,” she cried as soon as Stefan freed himself from her trembling lips, heedless of the wedding guests who had to have heard. Who must be watching her being fucked by her vampire mate.
She found the idea that eyes were watching them incredibly embarrassing. Even more, though, she found that thought titillating. Would the mortals gasp with righteous indignation? Would they all want to join in the erotic sensation that gripped her?
They moved in perfect synchrony, Stefan guiding her down on top of him, his long fingers plucking at her puckered nipples, his cock head hard as stone against her swollen flesh. He growled as he sank his fangs into her throat while he pressed his cock insistently at her rear entry.
When Julie whimpered, Stefan inserted his finger between her lips. Suck. Now. He flexed his hips and breached her anal sphincter muscle. It stretched her unbearably, hurt so much.
“I’m sorry, my love,” Stefan murmured. “Relax. Let me give you pleasure so incredible you’ll forget the pain.”
The pain gave way quickly to a sense of fullness. Of brilliant eroticism played in slow motion, in perfect rhythm that built inside her to a crescendo of pleasure more intense than any she’d ever known. So intense it could be endured once in a lifetime. Julie heard a primal scream, realized it was her own.
“Easy, my darling.” Stefan’s voice, deep and calming, penetrated the fog of her mind.
She looked down at him, found them both fully clothed in their wedding finery, not naked as they’d been moments earlier. What? How?
“Vampire magic, love. Don’t question its power. What do you say we make our farewells and fly away to our nuptial bed? The rest of these good people can make their way to New Orleans without us.”
Julie had no intention of doubting vampire mind play, not when the aftershocks of the most intense orgasm she’d ever had still racked her body. “Let’s. I’d like to experience some more of this vampire magic.” She had no doubt
it would be there waiting, in the bridal suite at the elegant Monteleone Hotel that Alex had booked for them as a wedding gift.
“All right. Your father and Alina just left the dance floor. Come on, we’ll tell them good-bye and be on our way.” Julie felt Stefan’s impatience in the abruptness of his movement as he strode from the dance floor, his hand almost painfully gripping hers as he dragged her along behind him. “Noodles! We can’t leave her behind.”
Stefan paused beside their table, bent and grabbed Noodles’ leash. “Sorry, girl,” he growled when the dog let out a yelp.
Before Julie could protest his unseemly haste, Stefan had maneuvered them through the dancers to her father’s side.
“We’re going to leave now, Sam.” Since her mother’s death when she was small, Julie had called her big, indulgent father by his first name. She met his gaze, read pride and love—and a bit of lingering concern about the abruptness of her decision to marry. Since she’d introduced the two males who meant most to her, Sam had mellowed—after all, Stefan had the persuasive abilities of an old, experienced vampire. Whatever reservations her father had were gone now.
No doubt, his lack of reservations about her choice of mate also had something to do with Alina. The vampire queen rested an elegantly manicured hand on Sam’s arm. “You take care of Julie now,” Sam told Stefan before covering Alina’s hand with his own. “We’ll see you in New Orleans.”
“Okay.” Julie turned to Stefan and whispered, “Let’s go.”
Stefan took Julie’s hand. “Hold on.” A strange feeling came over her, a sense of being invisible. Maybe they were, because they made their way from the reception without encountering any of their other guests. Once outside the restaurant, he lifted Noodles and deposited her in Julie’s arms. Then he lifted Julie herself, heedless of her protests that they’d forgotten their luggage.
“Forget clothes. I’ll buy you more. Unless I decide I want to keep you naked.” Stefan dropped a light kiss on her mouth then took to the air.
Moments later, they landed in the shadows of a New Orleans alley, near their hotel suite.
Stefan set Julie on her feet. “Put Noodles down. I can’t wait another moment to taste you.”
His fangs grew longer before her eyes. His green eyes glowed, the whites of them and his teeth glistening in the moonlight. She’d never seen him look so dangerous—or so irresistible. Setting her hands on his shoulders for balance, she arched her throat in invitation. One vampire lover offering sustenance to another. His expression fierce, he lowered his head.
Sank his fangs into her flesh. At the moment of penetration, a sense of contentment flowed between them. Julie slid her hands up, tunneled her fingers through Stefan’s glossy dark hair. “God, how I love you,” she whispered as he shuddered with his own completion. “My husband.”
“Let’s check in. I want more than a taste, Madame d’Argent.” They rounded the corner, arm in arm. In an opulent lobby reminiscent of an earlier, less harried age, they registered, Julie enjoying the indulgent smiles from people in the lobby when they noticed her and Stefan in their wedding finery.
In the elevator, he gathered her in his arms, nibbled at her neck. “Did you enjoy our trip?”
“Very much. So much quicker than an airplane. More private too.”
He slid his hands up her body, cupped her breasts. “This elevator’s private too. And it leaves me free to touch you like this.”
By the time the machine came to a halt on the top floor, Julie could barely wait to get inside their suite and take their erotic adventure to its natural conclusion. Noodles flopped on the cherry-red bath rug while Stefan eyed the huge four-poster bed with its heavy drapes and mosquito netting, no longer necessary now, as the hotel had been air conditioned for years, but perfect as a makeshift vampire lair. He regarded Julie with a hungry grin.
Julie looked around the luxurious room. Then she saw the basket. Approaching it, she fingered a large glass dildo that caught the light of a fat, fragrant candle. She’d never seen some of the sensual playthings before, but she felt herself grow damp when she imagined Stefan tickling her with the red ostrich plume, working the strange-shaped vibrator in her rear passage. She spied a black leather cock ring, imagined it strapped around the base of his penis.
“See anything you like, chérie?” She didn’t see him, but with that sometimes distracting vampire perception, she sensed he’d come up behind her. Close enough that the heat of his passion seared her buttocks. Close enough for him to skim his hands over her back, lowering the zipper of her wedding gown.
Tension sizzled between them. Julie stepped out of the gown then turned to face him, naked except for ivory stockings and a white satin thong. He threw off his tuxedo jacket and toed off his shoes.
“Let’s play.” His expression dark with vampire lust, he bent and nibbled her puckered nipples, first one and then the other.
Julie loved the suction, the heat of his mouth. The slight rasp of his teeth when he gave each hardened nub a playful nip. “Oh, yes.”
He glanced at the selection of sex toys and grinned. “We’ll try out some of these toys too.”
Julie loosened his suspenders and worked the studs from his shirt, then slid it off his shoulders. She laid her cheek on his chest, listened to the slow, barely perceptible beat of his heart. It accelerated in perfect accord with hers as he stroked her belly, her mound, her clit, which had already swollen and grown hard with anticipation.
The buttons on his pants gave her a moment’s pause, but seeing him magnificently naked, deliciously aroused, was worth the effort it had taken to unwrap her prize. She cupped his velvety scrotum with both hands and bent to lick the tip of his cock with her tongue.
“I love you, husband.”
“And I love you. Let’s go to bed.”
The sun was rising over the nearby Mississippi River, peeking through ancient oak trees festooned with Spanish moss, but the lovers didn’t notice. They lay in the heavily draped bridal bed, deliriously happy as they consummated their vows. Julie snuggled in Stefan’s arms. So happy she was eternally his.
On the Trail of Darkness
Don’t miss the first book in the
Hunting the Dark Lord series
by Ann Jacobs,
On the Trail of Darkness,
available now!
Marisa Delgado has always struggled to make a life for herself in the Cuban barrio of Miami, but the sultry beauty is driven to the edge of despair when her younger brother runs afoul of a drug lord’s enforcers, who demand that Marisa either pay off her brother’s debts—or watch him die. With time and hope running out, she meets the darkly handsome Claude d’Argent, a prince of the night who instantly captivates her and sets her heart and body on fire. Turning to him may be the only way to save her family and her life—it will also mean the ultimate sacrifice.
Claude d’Argent is the descendant of a long line of honorable vampires, but his clan is threatened by a dark and notorious vampire who is savagely attacking humans at every turn, inflaming mankind’s vengeance on all his kind. Claude vows to pursue and destroy this scourge at any cost, and the trail leads him to Marisa, a lusciously beautiful woman who stirs his blood in ways he’s never felt and fills him with a feverish sensual need. Indulging in Marisa’s dusky allure may free his heart—but endanger his quest, and his life.
Surrendering to their undeniable attraction, the two give themselves to each other fully in a burning haze of passion. And as unsurpassed pleasure turns to unconditional love, Marisa must decide whether to abandon her human life for an eternal one with Claude, and he must find a way to save Marisa and her brother so that he can also save himself and his people.
The Oil Barons Series
Be sure to check out all the books
in the Oil Barons series
by Ann Jacobs!
Capture Me
For Shana Green it’s true that everything really is bigger in Texas, including her erotic fantasies. Shana has always fant
asized about being taken by a wealthy sheikh as his harem love slave, something she never imagined could come true. Then she meets Dahoud “Bear” el Rashid. Instantly, she knows the ruggedly handsome Arab is a dream come true—until she realizes that following her dream may mean giving up the Texas home she loves so much.
Bear is entranced by the strikingly beautiful Shana, and when she reveals the fun private yearning that only he can satisfy, he’s thrilled to indulge in one hot final fling before he settles in Kuwait permanently to run his family’s oil business. But when desire turns to devotion, Bear has to choose between the woman he loves and a family that is sure to disown him.
As their passion burns and parting becomes impossible, Shana and Bear must struggle to bridge the gap between their two cultures and build a love that truly knows no borders.
The Closer We Get
Erin Winters has struggled ever since the accident that took her husband’s life and left her young son seriously injured. Desperate to get her son the surgery he needs, she agrees to become a surrogate mother. But when the wife dies unexpectedly, Erin is suddenly faced with the demands of the grieving husband and carrying a child she has come to think of as her own.
Blake Tanner had it all—marriage to a woman he adored, a successful career as a lawyer, and a child on the way. Now, tormented by his loss and overwhelmed by the prospect of single fatherhood, Blake comes up with a solution that might be his final undoing.
Shadowing the Beast Page 19
