by Ivy Banks
It was a clear, moonless night, and even the bright city lights twinkling below could not drown out the stars shining above.
“How do you know Erik?” Pearl asked as they perched hidden in the lower deck, outside the walk-out basement. Music flowed down to meet them in slow, rhythmic beats and for the first time since she had arrived at Erik’s house that day, Pearl found herself completely relaxed.
If only it could always be like this, without me having to constantly worry the others will be checking in on me at any minute, Pearl thought, relishing the solitude of their hidden spot.
“I don’t…well, not really,” Lincoln replied. “He’s a friend of my producer and we were just finishing up a meeting so he suggested I come along. Of course, everyone knows who Erik Hanover is, though, don’t they?”
Pearl smiled faintly.
“I imagine that is true,” she said lightly, sitting back against a wooden potter holding a mass of intricate bonsai trees.
Lincoln leaned casually beside her, his arm brushing against hers as if by mistake, but Pearl could tell there was a design to his posture.
“But I do not know much about his obscure family member, Pearl,” the musician continued.
Pearl giggled nervously, suddenly unsure of how to act. It was obvious that Lincoln was hitting on her, but it had been so long since a man had been that close to her in a romantic way. Any hint of intimacy had been quickly sensed and quashed by Erik or one of the others. As a result, Pearl had learned to dismiss men as they approached, knowing it would only be a matter of time before they were run off.
Tonight, I will allow myself to feel normal, she decided. Just this one time.
“There is not much to tell,” she replied quickly, her eyes darting back as if she was afraid they would be seen, though they were perfectly shielded among the shrubbery.
Did I plan it this way? Pearl wondered, blinking at the ingenuity of where they sat. She turned her attention back to Lincoln who continued to stare at her in rapt interest.
“I am the owner of a software design company,” she told him quickly. “I live in Venice – California, not Italy.”
“Impressive,” Lincoln smiled, “glad to hear its California and not Italy, makes it much easier for me to see you again after tonight.”
She liked his sincerity and directness, but looked away, embarrassed, nonetheless. Unable to think of what to say in response, she looked back to him, and when their eyes met, she knew enough had been said: the inevitable was unstoppable.
When Pearl tasted his lips on hers, she felt as if a soulful loneliness she had carried in her bones for half a century had suddenly evaporated into nothingness. She savored the salty but sweet flavor of his mouth on hers, closing her eyes.
Is this what I have been looking for? Pearl wondered as Lincoln pulled her closer and the two continued to embrace with more daring.
His tongue peeked through their joint lips, and she allowed him to explore as she wrapped her hands in his glorious dark mane of hair.
Inhaling his spicy cologne, she sighed and Lincoln seized the opportunity to delve into the contours of her throat.
His fingers traced the skin up her arms to her shoulders, and slowly slid the straps of her low-cut red dress down, exposing her full, heaving bosom. He leaned her back and began kissing from her clavicle down her chest until his lips reached her taut dark nipples. They grew even harder as he licked and kissed each of them, cupping the weight of her large breasts in his hands.
The combination of his hot touch and steaming breath caused Pearl’s center to dampen.
“You are so beautiful,” he murmured. “So soft and sexy.”
With his mouth still teasing her erect nipples, he reached his right hand down to her inner thigh, and slowly slid it towards her dripping middle. His finger caressed the delicate wet folds, exploring but not penetrating.
Pearl closed her eyes. The hem of her dress was bunched together with the straps atop her tight stomach. She pressed herself back on her elbows as Lincoln’s face journeyed down to join his fingers.
“Oh,” she breathed as his tongue pressed into her center, licking her gently. His hands gripped her waist, pulling her toward him as they fell in sync with gentle rocking. The fire of joy between her legs made her limbs go so weak she struggled to hold herself up.
She moaned quietly, Lincoln’s tongue growing harder and faster, feeling her tense dramatically beneath him and almost without warning, she exploded in ribbons against his eager face while he lapped every drop.
His head rose slowly and they stared at each other while Pearl shakily tried to compose herself.
She wanted him inside her. Right now.
Pearl reached to pull him toward her, hungrily reaching to unzip his pants . . . but suddenly there was a peal of raucous laughter and loud voices directly behind the bushes.
“Larry, don’t!” a woman screamed followed by another round of obnoxious giggling.
Quickly, Lincoln and Pearl assembled themselves, staying hidden from view, crouched against the square planters.
“Next time,” he said reluctantly, leaning his forehead against hers, and then kissing her softly and slowly on the lips.
You fool, she told herself. You almost gave up your virginity to a musician behind a planter at Erik’s house. Have you lost your mind? Do you know what would happen if Erik had caught you?
Yet as Pearl returned his kisses, she knew that she would do it again if she had the chance. She knew she must never see Lincoln Pembroke again.
Chapter 2
He looked at the house and smiled.
I would have known this was Pearl’s house even if I had to guess, he thought. Something about the four-million-dollar beach house did not fit in with the rest on the street. It had its own unique style and an almost antiquated feeling despite being built during the housing boom of the eighties.
He checked out his reflection in the rear-view mirror of his Ferrari and exhaled slowly.
I hope I am not freaking her out by showing up like this.
Showing up unannounced to the door of a woman he had only met once was not something Lincoln Pembroke could ever recall doing in the history of his young life, but he did not care.
He had never known a woman like Pearl Hanover. It was not merely that she was beautiful and sophisticated. Lincoln had known hundreds of women in his life, especially since moving to Los Angeles. He was rich and famous, so finding women was not his issue. But Pearl Hanover was not just any woman. He had sensed that from the first moment he laid eyes upon her.
No, Pearl had captured something in him, as if she could read into his soul with her beryl eyes and gentle mouth.
She tastes so sweet, he thought as he wrenched his eyes from the mirror and exited the car, a bouquet of long stemmed red roses in arms.
The two had spent hours on the phone, and texted each other incessantly since Erik’s party the previous weekend. Lincoln was consumed with thoughts of her.
“Can I take you to dinner?” he had asked that very next night, but she had refused, citing a busy work schedule throughout the week.
Unable to see her, Lincoln grew increasingly impatient to have her lips on his again.
His work was suffering and he knew that he would not rest until he saw Pearl again, face-to-face. As he stood at the front door, his heart began to pound in thunderous tones and he suddenly felt ridiculous.
Is this crazy? I feel like I’m stalking her. Is she going to be mad I looked up her address without asking? I shouldn’t be here without her permission. He glanced back at his car and then at the front door again. Before he could stop himself, he rang the doorbell.
If she seems the least bit put off, I will apologize and run for the hills, he vowed, one foot poised away from the house as the door swung inward.
When their eyes met, Lincoln knew that he had done no wrong. The light in Pearl’s eye reflected exactly what he was feeling.
“Lincoln!” she cried. “What are
you–?”
She was not able to finish the question as he grabbed her by the torso, pulling her toward him and their mouths met. The passion he had been storing for a week could no longer be contained, and the two tangoed backward into the house, leaving the door ajar.
He lowered her backwards onto the stairs.
“God, I’ve missed you,” he whispered. “I can’t stop thinking about you.”
“Lincoln,” she moaned weakly. “We can’t—”
His mouth was on hers again and each tore at the others’ clothes until the two were a mass of naked skin, pressed against one another. Lincoln’s tongue trailed down Pearl’s smooth skin, finding each salty spot beneath her breasts and on her stomach.
Pearl’s moans escalated, her hands exploring his broad toned shoulders and muscular back as Lincoln continued his journey from top to bottom and up again until the two were locking eyes.
“Lincoln,” Pearl whispered as the tip of his swollen head teased her dripping core. “I’m a virgin.”
The confession turned him into a madman of desire, but he held back his fervor, stroking her cheek sweetly and kissing her lips.
“I won’t hurt you,” he promised and waited until she nodded, biting her lower lip. He had never noticed how sharp and white her teeth were before that moment.
Slowly, he pressed the tip of his erection to her opening, feeling her desire as she arched her hips upwards, welcoming him into her. Her tight entrance hugged his throbbing cock as he slowly pressed inwards, inch by inch. She gasped, but didn’t pull away.
“Please stop teasing me,” cried Pearl. She reached down and grabbed the still exposed portion of his hard shaft, holding him in place, her eyes wide. She breathed deeply, and slowly slid him the rest of the way inside her trembling body.
He began to slowly thrust, but she cried out, her fingers squeezing at him while her facial expressions teetered between furious pleasure and pain.
He immediately stopped, not wanting to hurt her, but she pulled him closer.
“No,” she insisted. “More.”
Obligingly, he began to rock her firm rear against the hard wood of the stairwell, feeling her thighs tighten against him as he found himself deep inside her warm essence.
“Oh, Pearl,” he murmured. “You are so sweet. So pure.”
Each time he pressed into her, she arched her back in ecstasy further still, pushing her beautiful supple breasts higher in the air, as they slid back and forth atop her chest in rhythm with his movements. He took as much of each one as he could in his hands, squeezing gently but firmly, caressing her diamond-hard nipples with his fingers.
He could already sense her juices spilling against him, and his testicles began to contract as his body prepared to erupt inside her. She was so tight, it was unlike anything he had ever experienced, and he knew he would not be able to hold on much longer.
“Cum for me, Pearl,” he begged her, his face buried in her ear. “Please cum for—”
Suddenly Lincoln was ripped away and suspended in the air, his fully erect penis extending out perpendicularly from his body as his hands grasped at the vice-like claw around his neck.
An otherworldly shriek filled the air and initially he thought it was Pearl, but he soon realized it was Erik Hanover’s voice reverberating through the house.
“Erik, no!” Pearl joined in the chaos as Lincoln slowly lost consciousness, his tall naked body dangling effortlessly from Erik’s incensed fingers.
Erik’s face had taken on an unrecognizable expression, something subhuman and terrifying, but Lincoln was finding it increasingly difficult to see as black spots danced before his eyes.
“Let him go!”
In his peripheral vision, Lincoln saw Pearl’s glistening nude body rise and begin to pound at Erik with ineffectual fists, each punch sending her beautiful breasts swinging heavily from side to side. Lincoln instinctively reached for her, wanting nothing more than to feel that body against his once more, but the world was losing its natural light, and while their words filtered through his ears, they made no sense to him as the life began to slip from his body.
“…not one of us, Pearl! How could you let this happen?”
“I love him! Erik, please! Let him go! Let him go! Let him…”
And as he lost consciousness, Lincoln felt a strange sense of serenity come over him.
She loves me.
She shed no tears, though she desperately wanted to cry, her body heaving violently over the body of her lover, who was slowly turning blue.
“Get out!” she screamed at Erik. “Get out and never come back!”
“Pearl—”
For the first time, Pearl allowed her darkest shape to overtake her and she flew menacingly into Erik’s face.
“Get out,” she hissed, her voice a compilation of all the ancients. She could see the fear in Erik’s eyes and he turned to escape her wrath.
He paused to look at her from the doorway, his face filled with pleading.
“I was only trying to protect you,” he gasped before disappearing into the afternoon sun.
Pearl dropped to her knees again, picking up Lincoln’s slowly cooling hand.
“I knew this would happen,” she murmured. “That is why I kept you away. I am so sorry. This is my doing.”
She had to make it right, but Pearl was not sure if she knew how.
“Please forgive me if this does not work,” she begged him, her incisors growing from within her mouth.
She gnashed her teeth and slashed at her own pale wrists, placing the steady but slow stream of thick, sluggish blood into Lincoln’s mouth.
“Drink,” she told him. “Lincoln, drink it!”
Yet as the liquid poured into his mouth, it spilled down around the corners and Pearl knew she was not doing what she had intended to do.
“Drink!” she pleaded, beating her wrists against his chest. “Drink, dammit! Drink!”
She lowered her face into his naked body, trembling and defeated. She had finally found something to make her feel wanted and welcomed in the world. After decades of searching for her place, Lincoln had shown her the way to filling the void that had followed her, and now he was gone.
Gone because of Erik.
I will avenge him, she vowed, her fury mounting. She raised her head and stared at the still open doorway.
He will rue the day he ever decided to follow me. I will make him pay, Lincoln. I swear it.
“Pearl…” Lincoln groaned in a voice barely above a whisper.
Pearl’s eyes traveled toward Lincoln in disbelief as he peered up at her with his vivid green eyes. His face was still waxen but she could see faint, shallow breaths coming from his chest.
“You…you’re here,” she gasped, touching his face. She ran her fingertips along his pale lips and grasped his cheeks.
“I am here,” he assured her. “I am not going anywhere now that I have found you.”
She sat back, an overwhelming dizziness hitting her, but her eyes immediately began to focus again.
“Can you sit up?” she whispered.
To her shock, he reached over and pulled her onto him.
“No,” he replied. “Because I would like to finish what we started before we were so rudely interrupted.”
As he nuzzled her neck, Pearl caught a glimpse of the tattoo on his forearm, her heart pounding as she remembered his words at the party.
“I suppose everyone wants to be immortal,” Lincoln had said.
Pearl wondered if he would regret what he wished for.
I will spend eternity ensuring he does not, she promised herself, as she laid down on top of him, slowly sliding her body down his until his thick hard member was back where it belonged: inside her.
THE END
Did you enjoy Book 9 in the Royal Vampire Kingdom Series?
Jump into Book 10 now…
The Starlet’s Bodyguard
Foreplay isn’t for everyone…
If you just can’t take
the book-by-book suspense, sink your teeth into The Complete Royal Vampire Kingdom Collection (Books 1-15)
Also By Ivy Banks
Vampire Kingdom Series
The Complete Royal Vampire Kingdom Collection (Books 1-15)
(Each is a stand-alone story)
The Hitman’s Weakness (Book 1)
Private Lesson (Book 2)
Taming The Billionaire (Book 3)
Billionaire Boss’ Obsession (Book 4)
Cowboy Crush (Book 5)
House Call (Book 6)
Double The Fun (Book 7)
Waves of Pleasure (Book 8)
Rock Hard (Book 9)
The Starlet’s Bodyguard (Book 10)
Billionaire Blackmail (Book 11)
Mountain Mayhem (Book 12)
Nurse On Duty (Book 13)
Trouble In Paradise (Book 14)
Dancer’s Delight (Book 15)
About the Author
Ivy Banks is a respectable lady by day…well, for the most part. But being a loving wife and upstanding citizen doesn’t mean you have to lose your racy side! Ivy writes hot contemporary romance stories. She likes to create a world and then play in it for awhile, letting her imagination run wild and her fingers type without inhibition.
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