by Ever Coming
All the topics of conversation were light and it felt like a true, honest to goodness date. At least, the kind I dreamed of. I didn’t want the evening to end and found my bites slowing to a snail’s pace, hoping to keep the magic going.
“May I clear your plate, ma’am?” Stephen once again startled me. I was usually good about being aware of my surroundings, but tonight was so very different. I kept forgetting that we were in a public place and not nestled in his dining room. I was letting my guard down far too much.
“Thank you.” I probably would have picked on it longer hoping to extend the night, but the spell was broken with the interruption. Now all that was left were the nerves caused by what would happen next. More kissing, I hoped... and at the same time didn’t. I came to this town with one mission and yet now it was all jumbled up. I was all jumbled up.
“May I interest you in dessert this evening?”
“No thank you.” I was in all honesty beyond full. As yummy as I was sure the dessert would be, I needed to pass, even if it bought me another half hour to think and process what next.
“I would like to see your offerings, Stephen.” Jameson surprised me with his response. He didn’t eat. Not food anyways. Did he think I was still hungry? Was he too trying to delay the end of our evening? He had said as much earlier, but that was before our conversation. A conversation that left no room for conjecture, I had none of the life experiences he had.
“Yes, sir.” Stephen walked out with the dirty dishes in tow. He still seemed on edge from earlier, which surprised me a little bit since it wasn’t his actions that had upset my date. Date. There was that word again. I was officially on my first date and it was with my over three hundred year old potential boss. I guess I took go big or go home to a whole new level.
“Why?” I knew there were some vampires who could tolerate small amounts of food, but they were few and far between. Was Jameson one of them?
“Because you dismissed dessert too easily.” Something in his tone told me there was more to it so I just watched him hoping her would add on to his answer, which he did. “I’d like you to make an informed decision.”
“Or…” I let it hand there. He at least had the wherewithal to look shocked.
“What? You believe I have an ulterior motive?” He made an overly exaggerated motion to himself as he spoke and I held in my chuckle as best I could.
“Possibly.” My attempt at sounding coy failed miserably and I sounded more like a sex phone operator—or at least, what I imaged them sounding like, if they even have those anymore. In any case, I sounded like I was the one on the prowl and not the actual predator in the room.
“It’s all part of my plan.” He shrugged as he pulled me back onto his lap.
“The one to have me fall in love with you?” I was playing with fire and I knew it, but with Jameson, my filter was gone. Why? I had less than zero clues, not that it mattered at that moment because the second I settled on his lap my rational thoughts started to fly away.
“Madly in love and yes, that plan.” He was now whispering in my ear and the feel of his breath on my neck made shivers run down my spine and butterflies wreak havoc in my middle. This man was dangerous, and not in the suck all your blood way. “I figure the longer we’re here the better my odds.” He started a small procession of kisses down my neck. He wasn’t playing fair. Not that I wanted him to.
“You do realize—” I pulled out of his embrace, slightly knowing what I had to say needed to be said now or I would be completely lost to him. “Me saying goodnight after we eat has nothing to do with you.” It was true, too. As much as I wanted this to be more than right now, it couldn’t be. Not until my responsibilities were met. At least now I saw a light at the end of the tunnel.
“Because I would be your boss.”
I just nodded, fearing that if I opened my mouth I would find myself agreeing to pretend that it wasn’t mountain it actually was.
“What if you don’t get the job? What if you get a different one?”
“That’s sort of my plan after…” The confession fell from my lips. I was officially that girl trying to plan my life not only around a man, but one I had known for less than a freaking day.
“After we see the facility.” He finished my sentence as if I hadn’t just laid it all out there like some love struck school girl.
“Yeah, that.”
“You don’t technically work for me now.” He tipped my chin up so I was looking him in his gorgeous, mesmerizing eyes as he spoke. He wasn’t being harsh or silly. No, I daresay I heard a slight plea, blended with a bit of hope. He was feeling the pull between us as badly as I was and the hardness pressing into my belly only solidified that thought.
“No, but if I go home with you and the facility doesn’t work out, I will have slept with the boss.” Not that I would sleep with him... just make out a little more. No, that’s a lie. I totally would and that made this all the more difficult. If I was just going to have a goodnight first date kiss or slight make-out session, this really wouldn’t matter. As much anyways.
“It will work out, but your point is well made.” He leaned over and I thought he was going to grace me with his amazing lips again, but he stopped short, his eyes so close to mine that I could see mine reflecting in them. “Now riddle me this. Would sleeping with your boss be so bad?” I let out a giggle. He so parroted my phrase from earlier right back at me with amusement.
“Bad…? I highly doubt it.” I could feel the blush fill my cheeks. I hadn’t meant it like it sounded, even if it were one hundred percent true. “But inappropriate, yes, and while we are playing, riddle me this, would you be fine with me doing the job if we were sleeping together?” He pulled away, leaning onto the back of the chair, his eyes too serious. He wasn’t looking at this the same way I was. Suck. “Oh crap, you are just looking for the one time. I’m such a fool…”
“No.” His voice was stern, but not harsh. He meant his no.
“No?”
“No, I would not be fine with you doing the job.” He sounded almost surprised by his answer and as his hand reached for my face I let out a small smile. I was glad he didn’t want me to be someone else’s dinner. “And no, I wasn’t looking for a one-time thing.”
A throat cleared beside me. Stephen officially had the world’s worst timing.
“Stephen, would you be so kind as to wrap up one of everything and have it sent to my penthouse?” Once again, Jameson acted like it was no big deal that he was caught in such an intimate encounter.
“Yes, sir. Will that be all?”
“It will.”
Stephen left as quietly as he came. Man was probably part cat.
“So no dessert for me?”
“You’re simply adorable when you try to skip over the important things.”
It wasn’t the important things I was trying to skip over, it was embarrassing things. At least we were in a room with only one table, not that I would have been on his lap in a full dining room. Or at least I would hope I had more self-control there.
“Which are?”
“You. Me. Your employment.” That was an oversimplification of a very unsimple dilemma if I ever heard one.
“Yeah, all that.” I squirmed to get off of his lap and was met with resistance. He didn’t appear ready to let me go. “I believe we are at an impasse.”
“Do you know why I wouldn’t want you doing the job?”
“Because sometimes clients want more?”
“Oh, sweet one, you’re so innocent.” He pulled me in close, having no idea how true his words were. Or maybe he did. It didn’t seem like something Arabella would share, but if she thought she was protecting me, who knows. “Yes, clients want more, as you put it, but so do Courtesans.”
“So you think I would jump on the first vampire to … you know…” I couldn’t finish my sentence. Eat me sounded wrong with me sitting so up close and personal and suck my blood didn’t seem to fit either.
“You hard
ly seem the jump on type.”
“I’m on your lap,” I pointed out. I so very much was the type to jump. To him, at least.
“We’re different.”
I so wanted that to be true.
“You don’t look like you believe me.”
“I don’t think you're lying.” No, it wasn’t his honesty I distrusted. Arabella said to trust him and my gut said to trust him.
“But that’s not the same thing is it?”
I shook my head. It wasn’t. Me wanting it to be true and it really being true were two completely different stories.
“Come home with me and let me show you.” The shock must have shown on my face because he quickly jumped in, “Oh beautiful, not that, although I wouldn’t turn you down. Let me show you what it is like to share your life blood.”
“Isn’t it, you know, illegal?” There were rules. I wasn’t sure if it was technically illegal, but I did know it was considered far from alright and that it could lead to being barred from being a courtesan. Courtesans were safe, and going outside that to service a vampire’s other, shall we say, needs, was not at all. Although with Jameson, safety for myself wasn’t a worry. Pissing off Victoria and not keeping my maybe job was.
“You are one for rules, I see.”
He wasn’t wrong. Rules and I worked well together. I knew what was expected and did it. Done.
“Technically I would be splitting hairs, but no, not illegal on a few fronts. The first being I technically was asked to make sure you were trained so, if you desire it, you can be paid.”
That didn’t set well with me. Not. At. All. Being paid to do anything with him felt increasingly wrong. Being my potential boss was one thing. Being his donor and being paid, that was a completely different story.
“And if the thought of being paid to spend time with you revolts me more than I can begin to explain?”
He smiled at that, which made sense. Paying me to be with him in any intimate fashion turned me from date to whore in two point five seconds. It was one thing to go out as a courtesan, it was another to start as a date and turn into one.
“That would lead me to the second:” His lips found mine and I found myself wrapping my arms around his neck. Saying no to this man was nearly impossible. When he finally broke the kiss, leaving me out of breath he whispered in my ear, “You’re mine.” Before once again capturing my lips and stealing all of my rational thoughts.
7
Walking into his penthouse, I found myself second guessing everything that happened since he announced I was his. It wasn’t like I could really be his. He was over three hundred and I was twenty three. I still hadn’t found my place in life outside of caretaker. I still hadn’t followed my dreams. And by dreams, I meant finding happiness and a good life for Mary and having my own family. True, he helped me with one of them, but he could never help me with the other. This, whatever it was, had a shelf life and a fairly short one at that.
Not that I should be thinking that far ahead. I still had the work thing, although it felt less and less important with every moment, every kiss, every mumbling endearment since he proclaimed me his. I didn’t even fully grasp what he meant. It wasn’t like he was a shifter in one of my romance novels where mine was code for always and forever. For all I knew, mine meant for the night. No, that wasn’t fair. I knew he meant more, but how much we never discussed unless we were speaking a secret language spoken with lips and tongues and no sounds except a random moan of pleasure here and there.
“Have a seat, beautiful. I will return in a moment.” He kissed my cheek and left the sitting area we were currently in.
I took in the room for the first time. I knew that penthouse meant big and expensive, I just had no idea how big and expensive. Goodness, this room was bigger than anywhere I had ever lived. The building was not one of the fancy schmancy ones with all the celebrity sightings. No, this was an older building and held much more character from the outside. In here, you could feel Jameson. There was old fashioned trim work mixed with modern furniture that shouted “man” and was just as comfy as it looked.
True to his word, Jameson was back before I could fully take in the room. In his hand he had a tray of what looked like fruit and a carafe of wine accompanied by two small wine glasses. My heart sunk. He had fruit in the house. Fruit. Sure, the wine belonged here, but the fruit, well that meant that other humans came around, since vampires couldn’t eat food. I wasn’t the first one to this rodeo and as much as I cognitively accepted that, my heart pretty much hated it.
“You look so serious.”
“Sorry, I was just stuck in my head.”
“I see that. Maybe some fruit will help?” That was the last thing I wanted, but I didn’t want him to know I had turned jealous freak so I nodded. “It looks like they sent it over with the desserts. Stephen was always one for ass kissing.”
I felt an immediate rush of relief. Stephen sent the food, it wasn’t just sitting there waiting for his next conquest. I took a grape and popped it in my mouth.
“So tell me what was running through your head.”
“I’d rather not.” I grabbed another grape, this time biting it in half to give me a few moments to collect myself. “Just girl stuff.”
“And by girl stuff you mean…?” The way his lips quirked as he said stuff had my heart skipping a beat. Just a tiny little movement and I was right back to wanting to climb him like a tree, which of course I never would do. Or wouldn’t do now, anyways.
“I mean girls being in here.” I spoke softly as if it would make the green eyed monster I just unleashed in the room any less green.
“And you didn’t like that idea.”
Understatement. Of. The. Year.
“Not so much, no.”
His hand took mine and gave it a reassuring squeeze. He wasn’t mad. I still had no idea what he was, but the compassion that one small gesture gave had me looking up to have the conversation big girl style, face to face, not staring at my lap.
“What if I told you that you are the only woman I have brought here, save my housekeeper and the odd delivery person?”
“I’d say that meant you probably just moved in because no one looks like you and has to go home alone.” The penthouse didn’t smell like a new move all dusty mixed with new paint, but that didn’t mean anything. He could have moved in last week for all I knew.
“You’re right beautiful.” My heart sunk. “I don’t have to go home alone, I choose to.” He caressed my cheek with his other hand. This time I didn’t even pretend to not lean in. I leaned in with gusto, loving the feel of his skin on mine. “It’s been a long time since I have been on a date and far longer since I let a date see my home. It was long before I moved here.”
“I know that doesn’t mean you were alone alone.” I knew he was no innocent and wanted to let him off the hook before he decided he needed to share. Knowing was one thing. Hearing about it was quite another. “But that does make me feel better.”
“I wish I could say the same would be true if you told me the same.”
I leaned in and stole a kiss, although since he returned it with a vigor that left me needing a moment to recover, I’d hardly call it stolen.
He leaned his forehead on mine before continuing, “But alas, any man being with you would be too many, so please don’t share.”
“Nothing to share.” His closeness had me dropping the walls I had so effectively built up over the years. “I mean, okay.” I tilted my head, hoping to distract him with another kiss, but he tilted his head back before I could accomplish my task.
“No, you mean nothing to share.” His voice lifted as he said nothing. “You are untouched.” There was no subtle lift of the lips this time. No, he was all out smiling and for the first time I saw the actual depths of his dimples. If it weren’t for the panic filling me with his realization, I would have been climbing him like said tree I had only moments earlier vowed not to climb.
“Yes. Don’t tell Victoria. I
beg of you.” I knew he wouldn’t... except maybe he would if he truly didn’t want another to drink from me. He would be upfront about it, of course. It seemed his way.
“Why would it be her business?” He seemed legitimately confused by my request. Maybe Arabella had it wrong. Maybe experience wasn’t the fine line she had told me it was.
“Because she wouldn’t let me work.”
“You’ll have a job, beautiful, and it will pay what you need.” Relief filled me. I might not need the job, but if I did, throwing away because I had been a virgin would suck. “But your title will not be ‘Courtesan.’”
“Wait?! What?!” I was trying to wrap my head around what he just said. “I don’t… you're talking in circles. Not circles. You know what I mean.” I was so flustered I was making no sense even to myself. Had he just said I needed to get a new job?
“Let me make it simple.” His hand ran down my spine, settling on my ass. For a moment I thought he was going to pull me in closer, but he just let it set there. “You. Are. Mine. I don’t share.” His eye sparkled the tiniest of bits as he quirked an eyebrow. “Unless I am part of said sharing, of course.” My jaw dropped. Did he just say what I thought he said? Was he into sharing women?
“But you don’t even know me.” And would this sharing be with an extra man? My brain was so not going where it should be. I needed to figure out now, not letting a beyond kinky fantasy begin to build in my head. Especially not one I would have no intention of actually ever following through on. Well, probably wouldn’t follow through on. Not today anyways. Ugg what this man was doing to my insides.
“Nor you, me…” He punctuated each word with a peck. It was barely even that, yet my body was responding so. “But you feel it too.”
