by Trim, Brenda
“Look,” she says as she pauses and glances back at me. “You don’t want to taste me. My blood is awful. I eat fast food and drink too much orange soda.”
“That’s the most pathetic excuse for not being bitten I’ve heard in over five hundred years,” I say with a smile. “Now keep moving.”
Her eyes narrow and her mouth purses. I’ve pissed her off and she doesn’t bother hiding that fact. She’s not submissive at all which turns me on like nothing else. I will enjoy breaking her in and teaching her how much pleasure can be derived from succumbing to me.
After centuries of living as a vampire I have experienced it all, which means that very little piques my interest. Harper is different. She’s an uncut diamond. I see her potential and can’t wait to see her come into her own and truly shine.
Harper thrusts her hands on her hips and leans toward me. It’s a brave attempt to stand up for herself. No human has ever talked back to me once they caught a glimpse of the demon within.
It’s completely absurd. She’s in over her head. And yet, her attitude only makes the light I’ve seen in her burn brighter. Her inner fire may burn me to ashes, and I can’t wait.
It’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than it is to be utterly boring. Harper is anything but boring. I move up a step, and snarl as I grind out, “Get. Your. Ass. Moving.”
“You don’t have to be rude about it. And, for the record I’ve never had so much as a single drink of alcohol,” she announces with a huff then turns and keeps climbing to the second floor.
“I hate to dampen that high and mighty opinion you have of yourself, but you drank tequila last night. I smelled it on you, plain as day.”
Her step falters as she reaches the landing of the next floor and I reach out to steady her. Her skin is hot when my hand lands on her arm, warming my cold skin. She burns hotter than Hellfire.
The contact goes straight to my head. I can feel her pulse beating in a frantic rhythm. The flow is music to my ears and pushes my need to feed above that for sexual release.
“I didn’t go anywhere last night, and I don’t have any alcohol in my house,” she denies then wrenches her arm from my grasp and walks away with her chin in the air. “I have no idea why my life is falling apart right now. Perhaps I shouldn’t have run away from what my parents wanted.”
I don’t give a fuck what her parents want. I regret wiping her memory now. It makes it much harder to explain the events of the evening. “Your memory of last night was erased, but I promise you that you went to Club Toxic with three of your girlfriends. First room on the left,” I instruct her.
She shakes her head and twists the knob then enters my playroom, but not before I notice the pinched expression on her face. Then she gasps. When I enter the room, I watch her take everything in.
I wonder what makes her face flush so prettily. Is it the massive four poster bed with handcuffs around the posts? Perhaps it’s the open cabinet with floggers, paddles, and ball gags. Or maybe it’s the spanking horse. In my experience humans balk when they see that, even though most enjoy being spanked.
“Do you like it?” I stroll to the armoire that contains my favorite toys.
“I don’t even know what I’m looking at,” she says as she follows my movements. I smell her arousal thick in the air.
“But you have an idea. I can smell how turned on you are by my playroom. Come,” I tell her. “I want to show you some of my favorite toys.”
She moves toward me while wringing her hands then stops several feet away. “What are you going to do?”
“I’ve already told you, kitten,” I reply then lean in to run my nose along the column of her injured throat. She sways toward me and her scent intensifies. Her nipples pebble and poke out of the nearly see though tank top she’s wearing. I imagine her panties are soaked beneath those pajama pants.
She shakes her head. “I’ve never…we can’t.”
“You’ve never what?” I ask, wondering how innocent my little kitten is.
“I’ve never anything,” she blurts. “Not with anyone. Especially not with one of those.” She points an accusatory finger at a sparkly pink dildo. I have to bite back a smile. She’s adorably horrified.
She’s a fucking virgin. The knowledge blows my mind and elicits a possessive streak I never knew I possessed. I knew she was innocent from the second I laid eyes on her, but I wouldn’t have guessed she’s never been touched. That changes how I plan on proceeding with Harper but doesn’t deter me.
No other male has entered her, and they never will. That certainty settles in my gut and blooms from there. I’m not ready to poke holes in my assertion that no one else will ever lay a finger on her. I’m enjoying this too much.
I shrug off my jacket and walk to my armoire. I run my hands over a cane, but pass it over. Using a cane will only terrify her. I pick up the strands of a cat o’ nine and let them fall through my splayed fingers. Each piece is braided and has a cone of leather at the end to enhance the experience. But, it’s not right for Harper’s first time, I decide. The bite is harsh, and she is untried.
I select a flogger with smooth, soft leather strands and run them over my palm. She watches my every move. Her heart pounds like the thundering hooves of a thousand wild stallions making me hungry for her blood and her body. But I’ve already decided I’m not going to fuck her tonight.
I doubt she’s aware how she moves and angles toward me. It’s clear she has no idea how to articulate what she wants, but her body does. Her bottom lip is between her teeth as her eyes dilate.
I walk behind her and stop with scant inches separating us. “You want to know what this feels like on your skin?”
Her head shakes side to side and her body stiffens. “No. That’s deviant. Why would I? That’s wrong.”
“Your body tells a different story, kitten. And there is nothing wrong with pleasure. Relax,” I soothe her with a gentle touch. I swing the flogger and allow the tails to tap her bare shoulders. “I will never force you to do anything, but I will not allow you to keep lying to yourself. You’re turned on. You want to know what I plan on doing to you.”
As I wait rather impatiently I watch Harper debate the merit of my words in her head. This delay would normally grate on my nerves and make me lose interest. Harper’s delay only makes me ravenous for her. That fact is utterly fucking foreign and I have no idea what to do with it but, I suddenly understand what motivated Lucius to mate his shifter.
Somehow during the chaotic events of the night, a bond snapped into place between Harper and me. There’s no way to deny it, and I don’t want to. I have to believe Selene shares a similar connection with my Sire. Otherwise, why bother investing time with anyone?
Sex is readily available nowadays. I remember the days when I was forced to be circumspect and discreet and had to spend a lot more time coaxing women to my bed. Now all I have to do is crook a finger and the women flock to my side. When I choose a woman at the club it’s never to have sex. Oh, I give her several orgasms before I take my dinner from her veins. But, it takes more than a willing participant to move the proverbial needle.
Harper is not precisely willing at the moment. She’s curious as fuck and wants to know what my flogger feels like, but she’s fighting it. I see her internal debate as we stand there. After several silent seconds I’m close to losing my patience. I want her like no woman before, but it’s been eons since I needed to coax a partner and I have no desire to do so now.
“I have no idea what to say to that,” she admits.
“That’s good because the first lesson in submitting is obeying everything I say and for the next hour you will not talk unless I give you permission.” I pause and hold up my hand to stall the objection I know she wants to yell at me. “Just enjoy what I am going to do to you. I can sense how much you want to let go. If at any time you want to stop use the safe word, tortas.”
Chapter 5
Harper
“Tortas? Why not just say stop?” I b
lurt as my mind reels. How does he know my curiosity is insatiable? Can he read my mind?
But he’s right. My body reacted the second I walked into the room. I have no experience with anything in this place, but knowing they are implements for sexual pleasure makes my core tingle with heat.
He smiles and my soaking wet panties melt. I don’t know if it’s this room or what he said. I shouldn’t be turned on by a guy who kidnapped me and is holding me in his house.
He’s not a man, my mind whispers and I brace myself for him to sink his fangs into my neck. Instead, he takes my hand and guides me to the bed. “I like tortas and the unique word choice ensures we are both aware you actually want me to stop.”
I roll my eyes at that. “If I say stop it’s because I don’t want you to do whatever it is you’re doing. In fact, let me just go ahead and say tortas now, so you can take me home.”
“Ah, kitten. That’s not going to happen,” he proclaims as he runs the soft whip over my shoulders. “Besides. I know you want this. I can smell how much. And, I promise I will not do anything tonight aside from show you the pleasure you can experience at my hand.” The leather straps are as soft as the seats in his car. It lures me in and makes me close my eyes for a brief second before I force them back open.
I don’t want to admit that I’m curious. I’m a religious woman and have been taught that the urges bombarding my body are the devil’s work. I literally have no idea how to convince myself it’s okay to indulge, and that doing so won’t earn me a place in the Underworld.
The reminder of why I left home pops into my mind. I want to discover what it is that I believe and want to do with my life. Do I want to follow the path my parents laid out for me?
The answer to that one is easy. Hell no. If I did then I’d be there planning an event I have no desire to take part in. I want to shed the suffocating cocoon of my childhood. The problem with moving forward and seeing what Liam has in mind, is that I can never go back.
My eyes slip closed and I take several deep breaths trying to center myself. The arousal makes it difficult to think straight.
Is he a nefarious man out to tempt me into sin? His piercing blue gaze cut through any shield I erect around myself. Everything about this gorgeous guy makes my entire body sing with fire and desire.
My eyes snap open. “Show me,” I blurt before I change my mind. Now that I’ve made my decision a peace settles over me. The fear is still there, but it’s shifted.
I’m no longer afraid for my safety, but now I’m terrified of what I don’t know. Of what is going to happen next. This will irrevocably change me. And I’m ready, I remind myself when my resolve wavers.
Liam closes the distance and plasters his body along my backside. All I feel behind me is him. He’s not hot like I expect. I’m on fire and so turned on I fear I’ll go up in flames any second. I feel his hard arousal, so I know he’s attracted to me.
I wonder if it’s because he’s a vampire. What is it that makes him a vampire? Did he die? Is he the living undead now? Those thoughts and questions scatter like leaves in the wind when his lips press on my rapid pulse.
My head falls to his shoulder and a moan leaves my mouth. I’m bombarded by so many sensations from the slightest touch of his lips. My breasts feel heavy and full. My nipples pebble, and my core tightens.
There is nothing about the way my body feels at the moment that makes me believe these acts are the devil’s work. Shouldn’t there be pain involved? From the looks of the objects in this room there will be pain.
I wait for the panic to flare, but all that happens is my body coming to life. His lips seem to reach across my skin, setting off sparks everywhere. His hands settle on my hips. Fire burns a path everywhere he touches and spreads.
My body has a mind of its own and moves sinuously against Liam, meanwhile my mind is whirling. He’s a vampire. Something I previously believed existed only in Hollywood and romance novels. What I did believe was that as an undead creature they were evil.
I should be flipping out right now like I started to in the parking lot of my apartment complex, but I can’t seem to muster the necessary thoughts, and my adrenaline is coursing for another reason entirely. Why am I not more upset by discovering lethal creatures are real?
Because he compelled me to calm down, my knowing supplies.
That’s explanation enough for me at the moment, apparently because there’s no denying that this vampire makes my body blossom with every one of his touches. This has never happened to me quite like this. Sure, when I kissed Steve, I got a bit tingly, but it was nowhere near this strong or all encompassing.
“It will be my pleasure,” he tells me as he walks around to face me. His blue eyes lock with mine and once again I feel as if he sees all the way to my soul. “You need to know, kitten, that I want you to submit to my will. Can you do that?”
His fingers trace over my arms before rising to tease my collar bone. It makes concentrating on what he said almost impossible. “I can’t agree to that because I have no idea exactly what you mean. The room tells me your kink includes whips and chains. And likely more than a little pain if you spank me,” I tell him, my voice far breathier than I want.
His nostrils flare and his eyes spark with tangible desire. It’s all I need to confirm my suspicions. My body does not react at all like I thought it would. I expected revulsion, but my clit throbs and wetness gushes to soak my panties.
This vampire kidnapped me and took me to his home. If it could even be called a home. This place is a mansion filled with furniture that no doubt cost a fortune. The brief glance I managed as he led me to this room didn’t show much, but I did catch a glimpse of a gorgeous Tiffany lamp.
“First lesson, kitten. You will address me appropriately.”
I tilt my head and consider what he’s saying. I know nothing about games of dominance and submission, but I recall the way he smiled when I called him sir. “Yes, sir?” My voice rises making the statement more a question.
He inclines his head. “I like that coming from your lips. Come,” he says and gestures to a bar hanging from the ceiling.
I balk and sputter but can’t manage to spit out an objection. The idea of being cuffed to the bar frightens me, but not at being at his mercy. “Are…are you going to chain me to that? Sir.”
He watches me closely and keeps running his fingers through the soft leather of the tails. “I am indeed. I assure you that you will enjoy this immensely.”
I snort to cover the way my body shudders from his promise. “You mean you will. Are you going to spank me too?”
“Oh, I will spank you eventually, kitten. And, you will love every second of it. Tonight, I’m going to introduce you to my favorite flogger. Take off your clothes,” he commands. And, there is no doubt in my mind of that fact.
A smile blooms across my face with the easy back and forth. It is erotically charged and much to my surprise doesn’t only entice a sexual response. It lightens my heart and makes me want to laugh.
Keeping my eyes trained on his, I lift the hem of my blue sleep tank slowly over my head. Cool air kisses my nipples making them even harder. His eyes immediately move from my face to my small breasts.
No one has ever seen me naked and I can’t stop the insecurity that is inbred so deep from flaring to life. My arms wrap around my chest, hiding my breasts from view.
“Ah, ah, kitten. You never hide from me,” Liam warns as he flicks his wrist and the flogger’s tails smack my stomach and arms harder than I expect. I yelp and jump from the surprise. “Lift your hands.”
I eye him for a second before complying. I debate if I should blurt tortas but pause and evaluate my body’s reaction. The same heat is coursing through my veins and pooling between my legs.
In fact, my cheeks heat as I realize I’m even wetter than before. Was it the sting that turned me on? Or how he took control of the situation. There’s no way I would ever be able to give myself over completely without being led through t
he experience.
I’m in my head too much. As he secures one wrist then the other to the bar above my head, I close my eyes and just feel.
He’s so close his chest brushes mine as he moves. The contact is delicious and titillating. After I am completely at his mercy, he takes a moment and runs his nose up the column of my neck.
A full body shiver wracks me and I find myself arching into him for more contact. He takes a step away and looks me over. I can guess by the way he licks his lips what he’s thinking.
I’m suddenly not sure I can handle what he intends. My heart takes off into a gallop and I can’t seem to catch my breath. Tilting my head back, I eye the contraption I am trapped in.
As if sensing my panic, Liam places his hands on my waist and lowers his lips to mine. Given the primal hunger I saw in his eyes I anticipate his kiss to be harsh. Instead, he presses his mouth to mine gently.
He licks my lower lip and takes advantage when I gasp to slide his tongue inside my mouth. The way he glides his tongue along mine has desire unfurling fully inside my body.
This time I take a step closer and try to press my mouth more firmly to his. My leg lifts and I try to wrap it around his waist. He breaks the kiss and wipes my lower lip with his thumb.
“Why’d you stop?” I ask. My body is a live wire and my hips have a mind of their own. I plant my feet firmly on the ground to stop them from rocking back and forth in an effort to rub against his big, strong body.
For several seconds he looks at me with a raised eyebrow. It’s not until the hand holding the flogger twitches that it dawns on me. “Why’d you stop, sir?”
The ghost of a smile graces his mouth and is gone in a flash. “I call the shots right now. You will do exactly what I tell you. Understand?”
“Yes, sir,” I reply and think it’s a good thing my hands are tethered at the moment. I doubt he’d appreciate me saluting him.