He stepped back. Could she already know what he was? Did her father? “A gentleman never enters a lady’s home without a proper invitation.”
“Maybe I don’t want someone who only enters after a proper invitation.” She stared intently into his eyes. “Maybe I don’t want a gentleman.”
Sebastian felt his erection spring back to life. He stepped over the threshold and leered down at her. “I can be anything you desire.”
Diana’s face lit up as he took another step in. She turned and, swaying her hips provocatively, led him into the kitchen. “I’m making a salad. The pizza’s already here.”
Watching those hips, heeding their call, he was surprised to discover he’d crossed the entire living room and entered the kitchen without moving his feet. He could only imagine how Diana would have reacted if she turned around and seen his feet floating above the floor.
Once again in control, he leaned against the chipped white Formica counter beside the sink and watched her rinse the lettuce. When she moved closer and began to rotate the handle on the salad spinner, her hips slightly bucked into the counter again and again, faster and faster. Forcing down the need to grab those hips and turn them toward the painful erection straining against his jeans, he grabbed one of the tomatoes on the windowsill over the sink, rinsed it, then cut it into small perfect wedges. “You have any onions?”
“No, but I have mushrooms.”
“Even better.”
She opened the refrigerator. The cool air met her wet shirt and bra. Sebastian was amazed by his connection to her. He felt the chill go through her as she bent over and grabbed the package of mushrooms and when she turned around and she found Sebastian standing directly behind her, he felt the sudden leap in her arousal.
Their gazes met, held.
The sound of a cow mooing broke the spell. “You own a cow?”
Diana frowned. “A cow? Oh, no, that’s the moose in our cuckoo clock.” She rolled her eyes. “Don’t ask.”
Taking the package of mushrooms from her hand, he tossed it onto the counter, then grabbed her hips. His thumbs slid under the waistband of her jeans as he glanced down at the peaks pushing against her nearly transparent tank top. “Do you have any idea what that wet shirt is doing to me?”
Hooking her fingers into the loops of his jeans she beamed. “I was hoping you’d like it. Damn!” She winced, then scratched furiously at her neck.
Sebastian understood how she felt. His own vein pulsed in anticipation of her teeth sinking into his neck each time they touched, each time he merely thought about touching her. “What’s wrong? The twitch bothering you again?” He dipped his head and brushed his lips over the throbbing vein. “Where, here,” he murmured against her neck. “You scratched yourself.” One fang slid into the tiny scratch and opened it enough to release her blood.
Diana winced. “I did?” She glanced down at her short nails.
Gently drawing her flesh into his mouth, Sebastian nearly moaned out loud as her sweet taste flowed over his tongue and down his throat.
The room tilted. He gingerly sucked on her neck, soothing the twitch until the thumping under his lips all but vanished. He merged their minds and felt Diana focus on the flutter of pleasure that took its place, that slid over her breasts and down her stomach.
She tilted her head to one side. Oh yes.
Sebastian stilled. Would he ever grow used to her voice flowing into his mind? When her fingers sank into the front of his jeans and she pulled his hips closer to hers, his cock jumped, straining to rise up and touch the tips of her fingers.
Grinding his teeth, he regained control and took his time licking the cut. When he was sure that no more blood would escape, he reluctantly pulled away. He raised his head and turned away. Licking her blood from his lips, he grabbed the mushrooms. “I’ll rinse these.”
What the hell just happened? Diana’s dazed voice slipped into his mind as she crossed the kitchen to stand beside him.
Out of the corner of his eye, he watched her empty an entire box of croutons into the salad bowl. Leaning over, he murmured in her ear, “Yup, I do know how to kiss neck.” He lifted a crouton from the mound covering the lettuce and popped it into his mouth.
Diana bumped him with her hip. “I wouldn’t be so smug, wise guy. You’re tossing the mushrooms caps in the garbage and the stem bottoms in the salad.”
* * * * *
Later, sitting on the deck overlooking the small pond in her yard, Diana watched Sebastian sink his teeth into his fourth slice of pizza. She couldn’t stop herself from inwardly tacking his hunger onto the list of reasons why he couldn’t possibly be a vampire. Ordering the pizza with extra, extra garlic had done nothing but given her a good dose of guilt and a sore throat. He’d obviously needed no invitation into her home; although, if she wanted to be a stickler, she’d invited him the moment she opened the door.
Shadows cast by the citronella torches surrounding them slashed across his face and sharpened the outline of the muscles flexing along his jaw as he chewed. A nightingale sang a melancholy song from a nearby maple tree. A light breeze threatened to extinguish the votives covering the table. Slivers of moonlight floated across the pond, merging with each other for brief moments before going their separate ways.
Other than kissing her neck, Sebastian had been a perfect gentleman. Too perfect for her taste. Reaching down into the cooler beside the table for another soda, she wondered how she could loosen things up a little.
“Smells like it might rain,” he said, waving a moth away from the candle.
Diana nodded and continued to rummage through the ice for a diet coke. Her hand wrapped around the can, then froze. Biting her lip, she jiggled the can. Letting out a long sigh, she brought the can to the table, aimed it in his direction and lifted the tab.
Soda shot out, drowning the votives, the pizza and Sebastian. Diana gasped in shock. She’d expected a slight spray. “Oh, I’m so—” A bark of laughter escaped. “I’m so sorry!”
Soda dripped from Sebastian’s chin as he stared at his drenched shirt. A low growl rumbled from his side of the table. She leapt up from her chair. When Sebastian raised his head, then blinked as a drop fell from his eyebrow into his eye, she clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle the giggles tickling her throat.
“You don’t look sorry,” he said, rising slowly from his chair and revealing just how much soda had landed in his lap.
She pressed both hands over her mouth, but the giggles burst free.
“No. You don’t look a bit sorry.” Sebastian started to inch his way around the table towards the cooler.
“You wouldn’t!” Diana took a step back. She nearly bolted when he leaned over the cooler and once again growled, sounding uncannily like a tiger. “Sebastian, don’t you dare! Drop that can. Sebastian!”
Diana’s eyes widened when he straightened and shook a can of Sprite in each hand.
“No. I wouldn’t say you look the least bit sorry.” He shook the cans more vigorously as he stared at her exposed stomach.
With a flick of his thumbs, a thin stream of ice-cold soda shot out from each can directly at her bare skin. Shrieking, Diana ran down the steps. His impeccable aim had her screaming all the way down to the slope leading to the pond.
Sebastian grasped her hips with hands still cold from the cans. She sucked in a sharp breath, then, with a swipe of her foot, knocked his feet out from under him and burst free. She could hear his startled laughter and grinned as she turned back towards the house. Sure that she had enough of a lead to get away, she yelped in surprise when his arms snaking around her waist halted her progress. This time, when she unsettled him, he held on tight and took her down with him. They rolled across dew-covered grass, then down the muddy slope into the shallow water at the pond’s bank.
A strand of muddy hair clung to Diana’s lips. Her hands were useless trapped between their stomachs. She tried blowing the hair away but only succeeded in giving it a chance to slide deeper into her mouth.
&nbs
p; “You’ve got a killer leg there, goddess,” he said, grinning. “I—”
Diana shoved against his chest with all her might and sent him tumbling further into the pond.
“Oh, now you’re going to be really sorry!” he said, swiping dripping hair from his eyes.
He stood in the knee-deep water chuckling. Diana giggled at the sight before clambering up the slippery slope. She lost her footing and slid on her belly back down to the water’s edge. Realizing she’d landed at his feet, she rolled onto her back as he approached and swung her leg at his ankles, then gasped when he easily avoided contact.
The twinkle in his eyes clashed with the predatory stance he took just before he rushed her. Diana dug in her heels and tried to shove herself back up the slope, but only succeeded in digging herself deeper into the mud.
The muddy hem of her short tank top had risen during her struggles, exposing her wet lace-clad breasts to the cool evening air. Feeling her nipples pebble in response, she covered them with her hands and, with a chuckle glanced up at Sebastian. He stared down at her chest, and although she had every intention of keeping her hands where they were, she felt them slide away. Sebastian licked his lips. His burning eyes seemed to devour the sight and Diana couldn’t help but moan in response.
Her moans turned to a squeal of glee when she felt his arms glide beneath her back and knees and lift her from the ground. “Sebastian,” she pled, giggling, when he slung her over his shoulder and started to carry her back to the house, “put me down!”
Sebastian’s laughter filled her ears as he carried her into the house and up the long flight of stairs to the second floor. Halting on the landing, he asked, “Which way to a full length mirror?”
“What? Why would— Hey!” she twisted her head and giggled from the tender smack he’d just delivered to her bottom. “Okay, it’s at the end of the hall.”
Once inside her room, she pointed him to the bathroom where he carefully set her on her feet in front of the mirror before turning on the light.
“Oh, no.” Diana’s hands flew to her face. Mud and grass covered her. Pulling down her shirt, she turned away from the mirror and found Sebastian still chuckling as he leaned against the sink. “I wouldn’t look so smug. You don’t look so hot yourself.”
“Men like being dirty. Haven’t you heard?” He glanced meaningfully down towards her hips. “You’ve got a clump of grass stuck in your jeans. You know, it’s amazing how many tiny,, creatures live in the mud around ponds.”
“Ew. My father uses that pond to breed bait.” Unzipping her jeans, Diana turned her back on him and frantically tried to scoop out as much mud as possible.
“Bait?”
She glanced over her shoulder, shocked by his serious tone. Sebastian’s eyes caught the light and glowed, sending a chill down her spine.
“What kind of bait,” he asked, his voice cold.
“Bait worms. For fishing.” She looked at her reflection. Her shoulders slumped. Some sexy vixen. Seeing the reflection of Sebastian standing behind her, she tacked his reflection onto her list of…
A glob of mud slid down her stomach.
She’d had such high hopes for the evening. While she loved the sound of his deep laughter reverberating in her bathroom as he plucked mud-covered grass from her hair, her cheeks burned. “I look like shit.”
“You could never look anything but beautiful. Even with this long, fat worm trapped in your hair.”
“Very funny,” she muttered. Something splashed into the toilet behind her. “Please tell me that wasn’t a long, fat worm.” She squeezed her eyes shut.
“Okay, it wasn’t a long, fat worm.”
Diana glanced over her shoulder, then spun around and jumped back when she caught him lifting another worm from her hair.
Within seconds she stood fully dressed in the shower as hot water washed over her. When a worm dropped to the bottom of the tub, she screamed, leapt back, lost her balance then screamed again.
Sebastian appeared beside her and, wrapping his arms around her waist, brought her descent to a halt. “Okay, just relax, Diana. They don’t bite.”
“Oh yes they do. Just get them out. Please.” Seeing her reflection, she rued the day she installed the mirrors over the tiles surrounding the tub. While most of the mud streamed from her hair, the hot water pouring over her face melted her mascara. It blackened her face from her eyes to her jaw. Alice Cooper in the flesh. “I’m so embarrassed. Some first date.”
Sebastian turned her to face him and hooked her chin with his finger. “I have never, and I mean never, had so much fun.” He brought his lips to hers for a brief, tender kiss, then slid her tank top over her head. “Don’t look anywhere but at me. Okay?”
Something slid from her bra as he removed it and landed with a tiny plop at her feet. Whimpering, she wished she’d bothered to put on shoes and curled her toes to avoid touching whatever slithered past on its way to the drain. “Was that another worm?”
“Trust me, Diana, you don’t want to know.”
“There’s more. I can feel them,” she whispered.
“You don’t have to whisper. I don’t think they understand English.”
“I’d laugh if I wasn’t so disgusted.”
Her eyes widened as the force of the shower uncovered one in Sebastian’s hair. Raising a trembling hand, she plucked it out and dropped it to the water rising at their feet. Tiny, slimy bodies bumped against her ankles. She tried to ignore it, but when the water reached her calves, she shuddered.
“The drain’s clogged,” she said in a small voice she barely recognized as her own and turned to steal a glance down at the drain. Before she could see anything, Sebastian caught her cheek in the palm of his hand and forced her to return her gaze to his.
“No, it’s not,” he stated in a hushed voice.
“But I can—” The water whooshed down the drain.
She bit her lip and lifted her hand to retrieve another squirming worm from his hair.
His fingers wrapped around her wrist and brought her hand back down to her side. “Don’t worry about me.”
“But—”
“I’m fine. Close your eyes, Diana,” he softly ordered.
She did and felt his hands push her jeans and the thong she had so hoped would entice him over her hips and down her legs. He took her hands and placed them on his shoulders, then lifted first one foot and then the other to remove her pants completely. She heard her clothes smack onto the tile floor outside the tub.
Still keeping her eyes closed she whined, “This isn’t how I envisioned the first time you saw me naked.”
“Hmmm. Tell me more.”
Her nerves tingled as his clothes brushed across her skin when he straightened. “Well, you dressed and me not, might give you a clue,” she murmured, amazed that her voice sounded so husky.
“I like the way you think. Turn around. I’ll wash your hair.” He grasped her hips and nudged her to move.
Turning, Diana peeked through her lashes at their reflection in the mirrors. She couldn’t have drawn a more decadent picture of the two of them if she tried. Suds flowed from her hair over her breasts, slid down her belly and gathered on the cropped curls covering her mound. Sebastian, fully clothed, stood behind her, his eyes filled with lust as he gazed at the reflection of her body.
For years she’d easily held men off, making them wait weeks before they could so much as touch her breasts over her shirt, months before they could lay their eyes upon her naked body. By the time she’d run out of various types of foreplay to satisfy their and her needs, her body had been screaming for release. But her mind, her very soul, had had no problem taking control and maintaining her virginity.
Not so tonight. She prayed Sebastian was her soul mate. If not, if she’d picked the wrong man at Cabana’s, her grandmother was going to be very disappointed. She looked at the mirror beside her. Heat pooled in her pussy at the sight of the bulge in his jeans.
When she saw him slide
his hand between the buttons of his shirt and pull out a long writhing worm, she started to turn around. “This isn’t fair. You must be dying to get out of your clothes.”
“I will,” he said, turning her back around and pushing her head under the hot spray of water.
He finished rinsing her hair, then looked at her face in the mirror. She smiled and, holding out a loofa already covered with shower gel, raised her trembling hand over her shoulder and held her breath.
“Tell me you’ve never done this before,” he demanded.
“Only in my fantasies.”
“Then watch closely. Someday, I promise, you’ll do the same for me.”
His hand drew the loofa over her shoulder, down her arms, back and legs. Diana followed his progression with her eyes, bit her lip and held her breath until the rough sponge skimmed over her ribs. An ache that shocked her with its intensity filled her breasts as the loofa slid higher.
Her eyelids fluttered as it swirled around a taut peak then slid down into the narrow valley between her breasts and rose up to torture the other peak. When the loofa grazed over her stomach, the twitch in her neck returned. Heat radiated all the way down her legs. She let out a soft cry and closed her eyes when Sebastian sent the loofa lower and delved between her trembling thighs.
“Watch,” he demanded, his voice deeper than before, vibrating through her body and echoing in her mind.
Her eyes flew open. Her knees nearly buckled.
She leaned back, not caring what lay beneath his clothes other than the amazing heat that always seemed to rise from his body. His arm encircled her waist and pinned her against him as his other hand moved lower, rubbing the loofa over her throbbing pussy again and again. No matter how many times she had imagined this as she’d washed and done to herself exactly what he did now, her body had never grown so enflamed. Never had her knees given out, never had she bucked uncontrollably.
She watched him lower his mouth to her neck and the vein that seemed to jump from one electric jolt after another. When he drew it in, the scratch there pinched for just a second before all hell broke loose in her body. Fire surged through her veins, a vast void convulsed deep within her. Her clit strummed, her labia flared then clenched. She let out a soft cry and flung her head back onto his shoulder. His mouth covered hers with a possessive kiss that took her breath away.
Undeniable Page 13
