Eventually she opened her eyes again and he lifted his head. The gazed into each other’s eyes a long moment, each alone with their own thoughts. She wondered what he was thinking, but she didn’t want to be one of those women who tried to pry into her lover’s thought every five seconds. If he wanted to share his thoughts with her he would. He had certainly proven himself to be outspoken enough.
“What are you thinking?” he asked her.
She laughed at him and he grinned. “What? What’d I say?” he asked.
“It’s nothing. I was just wondering what you were thinking.”
“It’s obvious we have some things to discuss,” he said.
“Perhaps. But not right now. Not tonight. Tonight I just want to live in the moment.”
“Very well,” he said. “I can go along with that…quite easily in fact.
He moved off of her, rolling to her side. He propped his head with one arm and began to trace his fingers over the expanse of her midriff. They sat in silence for a long minute before he said, “I’ve never felt anything quite like that before,” he said.
She looked at him without surprise. She knew something different and special had passed between them. She just didn’t know if she was ready to acknowledge it. She didn’t know what it meant. However, she did know she wanted to feel it again. Soon. Very soon.
“Certainly you’ve done the exchange before,” she said.
“Of course. It’s one of the first things a sexually active vampire tries. It is, however, the most intense experience of foreplay. As you know not every vampire chooses to get that intimate with their partner. I wonder at myself for so easily indulging in it with you. Then again, there was nothing easy about it. I was so overwhelmed with craving for you in that moment.” He added in a whisper, “Nothing but everything would do.”
She knew exactly what he meant. She had felt the same way. But she wasn't used to putting all of her feelings on the table all at once and with such exposure. She wondered that he was so willing to do so. She had mistaken him for being more like her, more reserved.
“You didn’t strike me as the sort of man who examines his feelings out in the open,” she said.
“I am not afraid of what I feel. Emotions are one of the treasures that make our long lives worth living. Besides, this isn’t the open. It’s just you and me here.”
“I…I am not used to…sharing my feelings with…with…”
“Strangers?” he supplied. Then a corner of his mouth curled into a smile and she knew exactly what he was thinking.
“Yes. I realize we can’t call each other strangers any longer,” she said with a sigh. “Just give me a moment to adjust. A lot has happened in a very short time.”
Now it was a frown tugging at the corners of his mouth. “You don’t regret what we’ve done, do you?”
“No! Not at all,” she reassured him quickly. “In fact I embrace it. Like you, I enjoy the unique pleasures life has to offer. I don’t wish to live in a vacuum and I don’t want to deny myself the things that make me feel good.”
“I’m very happy to hear that,” he said, leaning in a moment to kiss her at the corner of her eye. “I couldn’t bring myself to regret something so unique. So pleasurable. In fact,” he said slyly, “I’m thinking of repeating the performance…just to check and make certain it wasn't a fluke.”
“Ah. So it’s an experiment,” she said, amusement radiating from her expression.
“Purely scientific,” he assured her as he began to chain kisses down along the side of her face and, eventually, onto the side of her neck. He stopped suddenly and drew back as if something had bit him. “Jesus Christ. Look what I did to you,” he ground out. He touched her on the side of her neck where he had bitten her. She could feel the soreness and the bruising there. It was more than the expected. They had gotten carried away.
“It’s no different than what I've done to you,” she sad softly as she trailed her fingers over the bruised and bloodied punctures on his neck. When a vampire was preparing to feed, both upper and lower canines extended, but in truth all of the teeth became engaged when they drank overenthusiastically. This had definitely been an overenthusiastic application. The imprint of her full bite was on his shoulder…and several runnels of blood had dripped down his skin from the four fang punctures after she had disengaged. She knew her neck looked no different. “It was worth a few bruises.”
“Still, I should have had more care,” he said. He then reached to stroke a pair of fingers along her hairline. “I’ll take better care of you next time.”
“I liked what we did. Very much. I don’t want you to hold back. It would take something away from the experience.”
He gave her a grim smile. “I think we can have an equally good experience without me practically ripping your throat out.”
“Let’s not worry about it. The future will take care of itself. And remember, this will have healed completely in twenty-four hours.”
“In the meantime I think you ought to wear a scarf…otherwise everyone will know what you’ve been up to,” he said with renewed amusement.
“I had already planned on it. What has happened here is no one’s business but our own.”
“I agree. Now, you said something about another attempt?” he asked lasciviously as he bent his head and kissed her on the side of her neck near her wound.
“Did I?” she said.
“You did. You’ve made the future look all too appealing.”
“So have you,” she said as she stroked her fingers through his hair. “Come. Kiss me. Let’s see if the first time was just a matter of fortune.”
He kissed her lips with lingering need. She raked her fingers through his hair and heat flared in his eyes. His hands began to travel her body.
“I’m going to lose myself inside of you tonight. Perhaps every night for a while…if you’ll allow me,” he said.
“We’ll let the future take care of itself,” she reminded him. He reacted to her lack of commitment with a barely raised brow, but he let it slide otherwise. He knew he shouldn’t push her, and she was glad of it. She would take this one day at a time. It was new territory for her, to get involved with someone so close to her. She would have to be very careful.
She could only hope that this man, this veritable stranger, could manage the relationship maturely. She hoped that he could.
Otherwise, this would be over just as quickly as it had begun.
Chapter Ten
Marcus rolled over in bed and threw an arm over his eyes to block out the sun radiating on the other side of his lids. He could feel the energy of the sun radiating along his body and it immediately struck him as strange. It was on the wrong side.
HE opened his eyes and found himself looking out at a strange city. A new city.
That was when he remembered where he was and how much his life had changed in just a few short days.
Even so, this was not his new bed. It was even stranger than the new bed he'd been sleeping in the past few days.
That was when he truly realized where he was. He remembered the night before. He quickly looked to his left to see an empty bed.
She was gone. Where? Why hadn’t she woken him?
He should not have spent the entire night. He had meant to be out of there before Darcy woke up so they wouldn’t run into each other. OF course, she was going to find out eventually, depending on how public they made their association, but he was bound to think Simone would prefer to keep affection in the bedroom and hints of her relationships limited to very few moments of possible exposure.
He wasn't sure if he was going to behave quite that maturely. After being in her arms and in her body for the majority of the night, he couldn’t see himself being able to keep his hands off of her delectable body.
Marcus got out of bed, throwing back the covers. The cold of the room struck his warm body and he suppressed a shiver. She really did keep it far too cold in this place. He would think he would be used to th
e cold, coming from London. It was a place with terrible weather and frosty winters, but he had managed to remain warm in spite of the dreary weather of London.
Now it was an icy New York City, the expanse of Manhattan chilled through, the streets piled with slushy, dirty snow. It was still quite a few months before he could expect it to melt away.
He found his clothes and got dressed quickly, partly because of the chill and partly because he was hoping he could escape the apartment unseen still. He didn’t know whether or not to be perturbed with Simone for not waking him. She shouldn’t want to incite gossip any more than he did.
He ran his hands quickly through his hair, settling the mussed waves. He remembered the dozens of times she had raked her fingers through the strands, her nails stimulating his scalp, and he immediately grew hard thinking of it. Mainly because she had done it most when he had been engaged in a particularly sensual act. It was hard to avoid the sensory memory and the images that went with it.
He regained control over his thoughts and his body quickly and slipped through her bedroom suite and into the hall. He crept toward the living area and heard activity to his left in the kitchen. He would hardly be able to make it to the door unseen. Perhaps he would get lucky and the person would be deep enough in the kitchen for him to get by unnoticed.
That was when he remembered his coat. He glanced into the living room. Yep. There it was. Right where he had left it in a haphazard toss across the arm of a chair. Simone’s fur was also draped over the chair.
Thee was no way he was going to be able to retrieve it. Not without exposing himself to whoever was in the kitchen. He listened to the activity of the person and waited until he was certain they were far enough into the kitchen. He then stepped quickly across the room, heading for the foyer. He was just coming into the spot where he would risk the most exposure when suddenly he heard, “Marcus.”
He stopped in his tracks and looked back toward the person who had paged him. It was Simone. She was seated at the breakfast bar with a plate of food in front of her and a cup of what he assumed was coffee in her hand. He looked at her, trying to escape the naughty school boy caught doing bad things feeling he had creeping over him. He tried to dismiss the feeling. He had done nothing wrong.
Or had he? He had slept with the boss. It’s probably didn’t get more wrong than that.
“Good morning,” she said softly, her eyes drifting over him in a head to toe assessment that felt like a burning physical caress it was so hot. “Would you like something to eat? Some coffee perhaps?”
Now that he had been caught, it would be rude of him to rush out as if there were plague in the room. Besides, he was following her lead in this. He would let her decide how much exposure they were going to get.
He headed toward her and the second seat at the bar.
“I wouldn’t mind some coffee,” he said, coming to sit on the barstool. He glanced in the kitchen to see Darcy puttering about. She immediately fetched a cup and filled it with hot, freshly brewed coffee. She put the cup in front of him with a smile.
“Good morning,” she said with a shy sort of smile.
“Morning,” he returned. He picked up the cup and went to have a sip.
“There's cream and sugar right here,” she offered, pointing to the small pitcher of milk and a caddy that held all kinds of sweeteners.
“Thanks. I like it black,” he said.
She smiled and gave him a brief nod. “Are you certain I can’t get you something to eat?” she asked.
“I’m fine. But thanks.”
Again she nodded, then moved back into the kitchen where she was tidying up from having made Simone’s breakfast of omelet and bacon. He was bemused by this. Most vampires ate only one meal a day…if that. They didn’t need food, didn’t derive energy from it as humans did. So, most only ate dinner. He didn’t know if this was all she would eat that day, but he suspected she would be having dinner as well.
“Hungry?” he asked, knowing she wasn't. They were both very sated as far as energy consumption and exchange was concerned. He did notice she was wearing a pretty shimmering purple scarf around her neck, effectively hiding all signs of his brutal passions from the night before. His markings would be much easier to hide, as they were on his shoulder and would be under his shirt.
“Yes. Sit down a minute,” she said with a smile.
“I really should get home…take a shower. Change clothes.” He glanced at Darcy. “As it is the guards watching your apartment are going to know I spent the entire night here. I’d like to keep gossip down to a minimum.”
“Does gossip bother you?” she asked, arching one delicate brow.
“No. I thought it might bother you though.”
“Not at all. I learned to stop caring about people’s judgments of my personal life a long time ago. I’m not looking to hide the fact that we are lovers.”
Again he glanced at Darcy, who had a small smile curving over her lips. She was a very young looking woman…and she was young by vampire standard at only sixty-six years of age. He knew this because he had researched everyone who had contact with Simone on a daily basis. It was his job to know.
Well, maybe he did care about gossip a little, he realized. It said something about him that he had ended up in the boss’s bed after only one night on the job. It was hard to explain it even to himself. He had allowed himself to be swept up and swept away…showing a surprising lack of discipline. Since he thrived on discipline, it felt strange to have allowed himself such weakness of character.
“I guess I am a little self-conscious,” he said. “I’ve never done something like this before. I don’t usually make love to coworkers.”
“Then who do you usually make love with?” she asked with amusement.
“Not coworkers.” he said dryly.
“How do you ever meet anyone who isn’t related to you by business. You no doubt lead as busy a life as I do. I find it very difficult to meet anyone I’m not working with or cultivating as a source of food.”
She was right of course. It was difficult to cross paths with someone who had nothing to do with his work. It was possible for any vampire to become lawless or be called up n front of the committee. It would make a personal relationship uncomfortable and biased. He had limited himself to vampires that were not hunters or authoritarians. Well mannered vampires. Lawful vampires. Vampires he had little risk of coming across in his daily work. Of course it was hard to meet such vampires because, as she had said, he was a very busy man, but he managed.
“I tend to be a loner anyway,” he said, speaking with bald honesty. “I can’t remember the last time I was this intimate with someone. I spent practically every waking moment watching over Leo. I plan to do the same to you. But…this isn’t for convenience sake,” he added firmly. “Ease of access has nothing to do with it.”
“I didn’t think it did,” she said. “Although you have to admit it is very convenient. Follow me around all day; sleep in my bed at night. I’ll feel very safe.”
Again, she surprised him. She was making an assumption…that he would want to be in her bed every night. All based on a single sexual encounter. Granted, it had been quite an encounter and he wasn't likely to keep his distance any time soon, but they hadn’t discussed their feelings on the subject. They had been busy indulging in other things.
“Well, I’ll be happy to help,” he said with a sly grin. He reached out and pushed back her hair behind her ear. She was wearing it down today, the mass of copper penny waves aiding in hiding the bruises on her throat. By pushing her hair back he was exposing the scarf, allowing him a chance to study the damage as best he could. Even with the scarf she was significantly bruised. He had bitten her more than once, although subsequent bites had not been as savage as the first had been.
“Are you sore?” he asked softly.
“In all kinds of places,” she said with a smile dancing in her eyes. “But I don’t mind.”
He couldn’t say he min
ded either. They’d made love vigorously and savagely and he also had more than one sore place on his body. But he reveled in the reminders of their passion. Apparently she did as well. There was a certain intimacy to that knowledge. He leaned in and kissed the side of her neck, just above the line of her scarf, against the discoloration he found there.
“I’m sorry if I was too rough,” he whispered, ever conscious of Darcy. Of course, she was a vampire and they had extraordinary hearing, but at least he was making an attempt at preserving her privacy.
“I liked it fine just the way it was,” she whispered back, nuzzling his cheek for a moment. Then she frowned and reached up to scratch at his jaw. “You need a shave. You’re prickly.”
“I’ve gone more than a day. Practically two. Isn’t it funny how, even though we are aliens, we are so identical to humans that we grow facial hair and body hair just the same way as they do? What are the odds of that?”
“Many life-forms evolve from ape-like creatures. I’ve met a few. There are differences, like our enhanced senses and our tremendous reflexes and the fact that we never gain weight or age. Not the way humans do in any event.”
“And we were like that before the lightning strike?” he asked. “All of it?”
“Yes. All of it. We were born this way. The only artificial genetic mutation was from that lightning strike. When we were electrified our alien DNA was rewritten and now we even give birth to future generations of vampires. In the beginning we had wondered if that was going to happen…if it would be just the original vampires who would have to feed on energy or if it would be passed on. It was a question that was quickly answered. Fortunately, nature provided us with the way to nurse and feed our children. Our children are born with a full set of fangs and they bite at the mother’s breast in order to suckle the energy they need. We cannot feed them in public, nor would we want to. Raising children and nourishing them is a very private business for us…as you know. Perhaps more so than humans who have no compunctions about feeding their children in public. It’s another way in which we differ vastly from humans. Also, I believe that if we weren't so alien we might not have been so susceptible to that electrocution.”
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