Exposure: Bloodlust Series Book 1

by L. L. Ash

  “You’re supposed to roast that over the fire, silly,” I nudged his shoulder with mine.

  “And how am I supposed to do that? I see no cooking utensils.”

  “It’s called a good old-fashioned stick. You should be familiar.”

  The confusion in his face was adorable. I picked up one of the long thin sticks sitting on the ground near the table and shoved a marshmallow on the tip.

  Clarence grimaced.

  “Good God. You're all animals!” he said loud enough for the others to hear.

  The circle of people around the fire erupted into laughs as Clarence looked at me in horror.

  “You didn’t even burn the tip first, Addie,” he said frantically.

  “Oh, c’mon. A little dirt ain’t going to hurt us. As my mom always says, ‘God made dirt and dirt don’t hurt’.”

  “And I thought we were animals in the victorian era...” Clarence whispered under his breath as I took off the charcoaled marshmallow and shoved the entire thing in my mouth.

  We ate a few more, Clarence refusing to eat off the stick until I burned the tip to sanitize it, and got fat off marshmallows, two hot dogs and a couple melty starbursts.

  “I need a drink,” I told him eventually, giving up my stick to another girl at the food table.

  “Would you like me to get you one?” he asked, but I started heading for the line where the woods started.

  “It’s the gentlemanly thing to get a lady her drink,” he said in a low, amused voice.

  “We don’t live in the stone age anymore, Clee,” I laughed at him. “I appreciate you being willing, but I want to see what they have for myself.”

  “Do you intend to imbibe?”

  “Beer? Yeah,” I nodded, finally seeing the outline of the silver keg up ahead.

  A bigger group of kids were hanging out near the alcohol, and it took Clarence shoving his way through to retrieve a couple drinks for us before joining me on the outer ring of spectators.

  “When was the last time you drank?”

  “Alcohol?” he asked, sipping the beer from his clear plastic cup. “A week, maybe.”

  “What?” I asked in shock.

  “We can drink alcohol,” he shrugged. “We could eat food if we wanted too, technically. But the flavor is rancid on our taste buds, and it goes sour in the stomach within minutes. It always leads to violent vomiting. It’s not worth it.”

  “And alcohol?”

  “Because our bodies regenerate so quickly the buzz it lends is quickly gone. But there is still a little, for a very short time. And it being a simple liquid, it doesn’t irritate the stomach.”

  “Wow, the things you learn every day,” I shrugged.

  “This, though,” he blinked rapidly. “This is hitting hard and fast. This is just beer? I thought the alcohol content is very small.”

  “They might have thrown something heavier into the mix. But beer can get a lightweight drunk pretty fast. You might as well be a virgin too, your body is all new.”

  He let out one short, loud gust of a laugh. His grin was contagious.

  “Should we test the water?” he asked me, his brows raised and his eyes twinkling with mischief.

  “Hell to the YES!” I agreed, chugging the last of my beer before breaking into a run for the water.

  Other kids were playing in the shallows, some making out and some even skinny dipping in the distance.

  I shrugged off my tank top, feeling a faint cool breeze running across the water. Slipping out of my jeans I looked over and saw Clarence doing the same. His shirt lay in a heap by his jacket and shoes, and his jeans were quickly joining the party, leaving him in just lean cotton boxer briefs and a smile.

  My mouth went dry, and my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. He was absolutely beautiful. PERFECT. Perfect pecs led to defined abs that dipped below his boxers, forming that handsome V where his hips met his…

  Oh shit I was in trouble.

  “Ready?” he asked me, holding out a strong hand, sprouting from a shapely arm and heavily muscled shoulders.

  “Yeah,” I breathed, soaking him in.

  I didn’t get long to enjoy the vision of a moonlit Clarence because the moment our feet hit the water I shrieked at the cold that sliced through me.

  “Just jump in,” he grinned. “We did this when I was a child in Poland. When the lakes would crack open after the winter we would swim in the water to prove how tough we were.”

  “Y-y-y-you guys were i-i-i-idiots,” I shivered.

  “Come,” he took me close to his chest, moving us further out.

  I screamed as the cold water hit my stomach, but the moment my body was under the water, I suddenly wasn’t as cold.

  “It’s not so bad,” Clarence said, dipping his head into the water. “It feels amazing to be alive!”

  I laughed at him, then felt his arms tighten around me.

  “Shall I warm you,” he whispered into my ear, cold little droplets from his hair falling onto my shoulder and cheek.

  All I gave him was a little nod before he started kissing up my neck. His teeth dragged down my earlobe a moment before he pulled his head back, his hooded eyes meeting mine before he dipped his head back down, kissing me.

  A whole new type of shiver went through me as his teeth grazed my lips, nibbling before opening my mouth for his to devour me. He went from hugging me to hefting me up, hands under my thighs as he pulled me up, wrapping my legs around his hips. His solid erection pressed into my butt cheek as I stayed there, burning from the inside out for him.

  Clarence took a few steps inland before dropping to his knees and pressing me back into the sand as he continued to overwhelm me with his kisses. Water lapped over our legs as we laid there, but as wonderful as the kisses where, I began to shiver again, this time from cold.

  “I’m sorry, I’m freezing,” I whispered after hesitantly peeling my mouth away from his.

  “Of course,” he agreed, as if coming out of a fog.

  We stood from the shallows, grabbed our clothes and shoes from their piles on the sand and looked around. The fire was warm, but it was surrounded. Catching sight of a few cars lined up on the sand, I started running for Genie.

  “Did you drive?” I asked her, pulling her out of her makeout session with Bobby.

  “No,” she mumbled and started kissing Bobby again.

  “We’re freezing. We need a heater.”

  “I drove,” Bobby pulled keys out of his pocket, tossing them over at us as Genie attacked his neck. “Give ‘em back before you go!”

  “You have my word,” Clarence called and we took off toward the cars.

  Clarence hit the lock button over and over again until we found the car that flashed its lights with the familiar locking ‘click’ sound. He unlocked it for us and we climbed into the front of a huge, double wide cab of a truck.

  “Fancy!” I said as I looked around, Clarence shoving the key into the ignition to get the heat going.

  He moved the dials to full blast heat and we sat as at first cold air came out, then slowly it warmed as the engine worked.

  I groaned as the warm jet of air hit my prickling skin.

  “Warmth...” he groaned himself, putting his hands to the jet.

  We looked at each other and grinned, the simple pleasure of the hot air on our icy skin making us giddy.

  “Shall I continue to warm you?” Clarence asked finally, his bare back pressed to the premium leather seat behind him.

  He looked like a king on a throne.

  “I don’t know,” I shrugged, trying to decide if this was what I wanted. “If you want to warm me up, you’ll have to be hotter than the heater itself. Can you manage?”

  The devil danced in his eyes at that moment.

  “You’d have to decide that for yourself,” he parried and I knew I was done for.

  “There’s a bench in the back,” I told him breathlessly, nervously.

  He nodded and I climbed into the back first, feeling a
set of three air jets shooting hot air all over my body. It felt amazing.

  Clarence came back next, squeezing between the chairs with more difficulty than I had. His body laid out against mine, over mine on the seat, his knee pressed between my thighs. The pressure was intensley satisfying.

  “You look suddenly nervous, Darling,” he said in a low, gentle voice.

  “I’m fine,” I lied.

  I wasn’t ready yet.

  Clarence seemed to sense it, because he said quietly, “No matter how it looks, or feels, Addie Harper, I will not take your maidenhood today.”

  A sense of disappointment swept through me momentarily, followed by a wave of relief.

  “What do you plan on doing then?” I asked stupidly.

  “I plan to tease your lips until they are swollen with the proof of my love for you. And then, I intend to feast on your breasts until you either cry out in pleasure or beg me to stop. Whichever comes first.”

  His chest pressed against mine in rapid movements, our breaths heaving in anticipation.

  “And what should I do?” I asked breathlessly.

  “Lie back and come for me,” was his simple but erotic answer, punctuated by his tongue sweeping up between the swells of my breasts and up to my neck.

  He brushed his lips down my jaw before taking my lips with his again.

  It didn’t take too long before my mouth was swollen and chafed with his day’s worth of beard growth. He observed his work with a look of such appreciation and lust, I gasped in a tiny breath with surprise.

  Clarence took his time working his way down my neck and shoulder, taking time to lick and kiss and savor the pillowy tops of each breast until I was wriggling unmercifully beneath him. He seemed pleased with my discomfort, however, and only took another moment to scoop his hand inside the wet foam of my navy bra, pulling it down to reveal one dark red, puckered nipple.

  I felt his intake of breath, as if he too was shocked with the revelation, but it only lasted a second before his mouth dipped and he took it into his mouth, rolling his tongue over the pebbled tip.

  It was my turn to gasp. My hand shot down and dug through his hair, pressing his face down further so the pleasure would never end. I never wanted it to end.

  His hand slipped behind my back and he somehow managed to get my bra unhooked in the awkward position. The foam cups fell away and it left the feast Clarence desired, open for the taking.

  My legs curled in, one dropping off the seat to give him room to support himself above me. His hips slipped between mine and that stone hard erection was pushing at my panty-clad center. Pressure burned through me, between my legs and the sensation was overwhelming. My stomach clenched up and he bit gently down on one nipple before trading hand and mouth to devour the other, his hand massaging the abandoned breast and thumb brushing the tip.

  Moaning and arching my back, his hips moved, removing the pressure from my core, before he pushed forward again, pressing himself against me.

  “Shit...” I breathed, the warmth in my belly threatening to leave me breathless.

  Another nibble, another thrust, his back tightening with each movement, muscles rolling with the effort.

  Minutes, it took. Mere minutes until I was bucking against him, the fire raging through my belly and my body contracting against nothing. The feeling was so delicious, and so empty at the same time.

  “Clee,” I choked, a tear slipping past as I squeezed my eyelids closed.

  “Hush, I have you,” he moved up, taking my head in his arms, holding me close to his chest.

  When my eyes opened again, the fluttering waves receding, I looked into his eyes and found exactly what I’d been looking for all my life. What I’d only found with one other person.

  Love. Real and true love.

  “You’re ok,” he said softly, wiping at the tear streak with his thumb.

  “That was beautiful,” I whispered.

  “You are beautiful.”

  “How did you do that? I didn’t know it was possible.”

  “It doesn’t take so much effort when you have the right partner.”

  I stared hazily into his eyes.

  “Never let me go, Clarence.”

  “I don’t intend to,” he admitted, wrapping himself around me again. “Now that I’m human, I intend to be wholly and only yours, Miss Madeleine Harper.”

  “You’re such a cheeseball,” I teased, feeling relaxation flood my body.

  “Cheeseball? I’d like to try one,” he said eagerly, tucking his face into my shoulder.

  I laughed and he laughed, and every ounce of tension drifted away.

  “I’m going to take you on the date of your dreams tomorrow,” he told me, pushing off of me to give me room to move.

  “How would you know the date of my dreams?”

  “Because I know you. And you and I have very similar taste and preference.”

  “Except in water temperature.”

  Clarence burst out laughing, shoving back into the corner of the truck as I moved to sit up in the other, hands moving to cover my bare breasts.

  “Here,” he said, holding up the not-so-wet bra.

  “Thanks,” I gave him a grateful smile before adjusting it around myself and hooking it back into place.

  “We’re staying overnight in Seattle?” I asked him to distract myself.

  “I reserved a room for us at a hotel near the Space Needle. I think you’re going to like it.”

  “One room?” I asked hesitantly.

  “One room,” he nodded firmly.

  I knew what that meant. And for once. I was looking forward to it. Very, very forward to it.

  Chapter Twelve

  We gave the keys back and headed home, fully dressed again, by dawn. Clarence watched me go inside before heading back out, telling me he’d pick me up around noon.

  I managed to get a bit of a nap in and a long shower before packing an overnight bag with my best matching underwear set.

  Standing in front of the mirror, I looked at myself in my black, lacy underwear. My bra was a short, sheer demi-cup and panties a low-slung sheath of lace. This was how Clarence would see me tonight, at the hotel. Lightly tanned skin made paler by the black lace, and straight, black hair down to the middle of my back. My hips curved out against what I considered thick thighs, and narrowed into a tiny waist. I was neither skinny nor chubby, but somewhere in between, with c-cup breasts that sat rather perkily, if I did say so myself. I was pretty lucky in terms of my body shape. Mom said I looked just like her when she was my age, and after seeing pictures I agreed with her that she was a knockout. But instead of narrow eyes and wide lips, I inherited Dad’s very European features including his sharp bone structure with high cheekbones and strong brow, supported by my straight nose. My eyes were a mix of mom’s narrow ones and Dad’s wide ones, and they sat at a normal distance apart, thank God.

  Generally pleasing, I imagined. But the classic beauty that Clarence held… that Eastern European sharpness in his features, shaggy blond hair, full pouty lips and a severe brow that always looked angry unless he was smiling. It didn’t surprise me that people left him alone. Because his natural expression was one of irritation and arrogance. Not exactly approachable, nor did he try to be.

  I wondered silently what it was about me that had caught his attention. I was only an 18 year old girl, so unsure about life in general still… My family was broken, my mom was sick, and I still had a lot to learn. Clarence had lived 300 years, lived multiple lifetimes, had incomprehensible knowledge and experience in that time… and yet he chose to be with me? What was so special about me? Why did I deserve his love?

  There was a knock on the door.

  I hurried to the door since Dad wasn’t home and unlocked it. I got back upstairs to my room before calling for Clarence to come in. I saw the door open as I closed mine, diving for the black, flowy knee length dress I’d chosen for the day.

  “Where are you, Darling?” Clarence called and I grin
ned.

  “I’m upstairs,” I called and heard his footsteps on the spiral stairs.

  A knock on my door indicated his arrival, but he waited there until I was dressed, packed, and I opened the door to him.

  “Let’s go,” I told him, taking in his combed, honey waves and recently shaved face.

  Taking my hand we both went back down the stairs and out the door, Clarence taking my small overnight bag from off my shoulder.

  “I hope you don’t mind, but I decided to bring Mason’s car.”

  The dark silver muscle car gleamed in the gravel driveway, looking wholly out of place.

  “Wow, she’s beautiful...” I gasped, seeing the rearing horse on the back emblem.

  “We like her,” Clarence chuckled at my awe.

  He opened the passenger door, placed my bag behind the seat then moved out of the way for me to get in.

  “This is officially the first time you’ve driven me anywhere,” I commented as I sank into the buttery leather seats.

  Closing the door, Clarence walked around the car and lowered himself into his own seat.

  “Long overdue, I think,” he finally answered.

  “Do you think an old man like you can drive without killing us?” I asked with a laugh.

  Clarence raised his eyebrow with a piqued expression before gently putting the key in the ignition, pressing his thumb down on the starter button.

  “I’ve been driving cars since Benz first made them, Darling. We knew they’d be a sensation. That’s why we invested in Mr. Ford. Smart business venture, I’d say.”

  I choked on my own tongue.

  “Invested? In Ford?”

  “Sure. You don’t live hundreds of years and not make investments. You don’t suppose we’ve lived off squirrel blood and magic dust all this time?”

  The thought made me laugh out loud.

  “I never really thought about it.”

  “I was lucky to start up with an already 100 year old vamp, Mason had riches long before I met him. And together with my hunches and his reasoning, we did well for ourselves. We’re all cached up in the bank now. We lost a lot in the 20’s but we’ve built it back up just fine.”

  “In the depression?”

  He nodded.