That’s how this group made me feel, as if I were wading into an unseen undertow, too strong for me to resist, but not quite safe enough for me to wade through. Devin was a refuge, maybe even Elizabet and Marco, but with everyone else, I had my doubts.
The women had all taken seats at the head or foot of the two smaller tables while the men sat in between, leaving the other end of Elizabet’s table empty. The tables weren’t full by any means, but they were full enough. As servants cleared off used dishes and replaced them with new courses, light conversation flowed through the room as it had earlier, before the meal. I tried to chase the subtly shifting currents swirling under the veneer of civility, and finally gave up when it became too complicated for me to follow.
Social gatherings had never been my strong suit, anyway.
The main course was a fragrant roast served so close to rare I thought I heard it moo. I couldn’t eat it like that. Sure, my parents had grown up on farms and I knew very well where my meat came from, but I liked it to at least be warm all the way through, maybe not bleeding like this slab was.
Marco caught my gaze with his and flicked them to Elizabet’s plate. Her utensils for this course lay beside her plate while she talked to the young man on my left, a golden-haired Adonis who looked to be about my age. Marco’s eyes shifted again. He placed his hands on the handles of his own fork and knife, and I finally took his meaning.
When a break occurred in Elizabet’s conversation, I butted in as subtly as I could. “May I cut your meat for you?”
Her laugh tinkled out, a quiet peal, and she grazed the sleeve of my jacket with her fingers. “Devin found a treasure in you. However shall I thank him?”
I had no clue and no idea how to answer.
“Of course, you may, sweet boy.” Her smile turned coy. “Would you be so kind as to feed me? I confess, it’s a treat in which I rarely indulge. A few bites shouldn’t hurt.”
She said this to me, but her eyes found Marco’s, as if seeking his permission. He nodded solemnly and placed his hand on the table so that she could grasp it. Her knuckles whitened with the grip and an unreasonable glimmer of uneasiness shot through me. I hesitated before pushing my plate away and pulling hers closer. With my own fork and knife, I cut off a sliver of the roast and offered it to her.
She looked at it for long moments, so long I thought I’d done something wrong. Color rose in her cheeks and I pulled the meat away. Her hand shot out to stop me, grasping my wrist. Her fingers dug into my skin through the fabric of my coat, pinching hard enough to leave bruises, and I winced. Even after she let go, the marks throbbed.
“Would you offer it to me from your own hand?” she said in an almost whisper that rang clearly through the air between us. An odd glow shone from her eyes, giving her a feral look, if a woman so beautiful and obviously civilized could be called wild. “I should very much like that.”
I slid my gaze to Marco, who stayed stubbornly silent on the point. Since he’d nudged me into this, I figured it was ok. In for a penny, right? I dropped my knife and pulled the tiny piece of meat off of the fork. It was warmer than I’d thought, deep red and still barely cooked. I held it out for her, allowing my hand to hover over the edge of her plate to keep the juices from dripping onto her dress. Her eyes met mine and she leaned forward, opening her mouth just enough to take the meat from me. Her lips brushed against the tips of my fingers. For a moment, I thought I felt the flicker of her tongue there, too. Those tiny touches shot straight down to my dick, and it swelled beneath the fly of my slacks.
Elizabet closed her eyes, savoring the taste while she chewed. When she was finished, she opened her glowing eyes and said, “More,” in a voice that was inches away from being a growl.
I cut another slice and offered it in the same way, and she took it, sucking my fingers into her mouth with the meat. Her tongue swirled around the tips before she released them, and my dick went fully erect, tenting my slacks.
I would’ve been embarrassed if this hadn’t been the single most erotic experience of my life.
That I knew had happened.
Three more bites went the same way, with my fingers drawn deeper into her mouth each time, sending a heavy heat of desire through me with every rasp of her tongue on my skin. I wanted her mouth on my cock, sucking the same way until I came. If it weren’t for Marco sitting there, holding her hand while her fingers grew more and more stiff, I would’ve yanked my pants down and begged her to wrap that fabulous mouth around me.
On the fourth bite, she drew my thumb all the way into her mouth with the meat. Her breath came in rapid pants through her nose and she made this noise in the back of her throat halfway between the purr of a kitten and the moan of a woman finding the deepest pleasure. A sharp prick on my thumb jolted me out of the sensual haze I was under. Elizabet’s eyes met mine as she sucked my thumb. Her gaze was possessive, hungry, and it scared me more than I was willing to admit. I pulled gently on my thumb trying to release her grip and her eyes went completely black.
“Enough,” Marco said.
Elizabet immediately let go. I took my thumb back gratefully, checked it for cuts, and was relieved to find it all in one piece. She lifted her napkin and dabbed daintily at her mouth. The blackness faded from her eyes, though they were still wild and glowing. After a moment her breathing calmed and her color returned to a pale creaminess. Marco brought the hand he gripped to his mouth and she stroked his cheek with her other hand.
“Thank you, Eric, love,” Elizabet said, though she never took her gaze from Marco’s.
Devin appeared silently on my right. “It’s time,” he said, and I rose to follow him out of the room.
Chapter Three
We went up, using the wide marble staircase in the foyer of the main entrance and taking the steps curving to the right at the first landing. Then came a twisting series of carpeted hallways lit by more wall sconces interspersed with paintings, some sedate and traditional, others whimsical and modern. We’d only been walking a few minutes and already I was lost.
“Er, where are we going?” I asked.
“To Elizabet’s chambers.”
I tried to quell my excitement. Being twenty-one and as randy as any other red-blooded man didn’t make me a horn dog. “You mean her bedroom?”
“Yes. One of them, anyway.” Devin’s eyes cut toward me and a half smile played across his mouth. “Problem?”
“Ah, no.” That wasn’t quite true, so I tried again. “Actually, yes. Why are we going to Elizabet’s bedroom?”
Devin’s smile widened until his white, even teeth flashed. “Why do you think?”
“Sex.” A flush heated my cheeks and I cringed from it. Geez, Eric, way to control the mouth there, buddy.
“Nothing to be ashamed of,” Devin said. “Elizabet wants to be with you, but if you don’t want to have sex, you don’t have to.”
“Right.” Like any man in his right mind would turn down a goddess like her, principles or not. “What about Marco? I mean, they seem to have a thing going.”
We paused in front of a heavy, wooden door. Devin put his hand on the glass doorknob. “You’re more observant than I gave you credit for.”
“Oh, well.” Was that a backhanded compliment or an out-and-out insult? “It seemed kind of obvious.”
“Yes, if you know what to look for.” He turned the handle and pushed the door open. “Here we are.”
The room we entered was square, perhaps twenty by twenty. A massive four-poster bed sat along one wall, topped by an honest to God velvet canopy with sheer crimson curtains hanging from the tops of each post that draped in folds all the way to the floor, where they pooled in a mass of red. Broad nightstands in a matching finish graced each side of the bed. Low chaise lounges were scattered along the other three walls, even the far one, which had an inset bay window with a cushioned seat. A door on the left wall, situated near the head of the bed, opened into a bathroom.
There were no closets that I could find in a q
uick visual perusal, but it otherwise seemed like an ordinary bedroom, except for the walls. They were painted in swirls of red and black that seemed to move as I watched them. I shook my head, tried again to follow a pattern, and my head went light.
Devin shut the door and took off his coat, dropping it on one of the chaises. His tie followed, and then his fingers made quick work of the buttons on his shirt.
“What are you doing?” I cleared my throat at my own stupidity. “I mean, why are you undressing?”
“Elizabet likes to play.”
He placed his shirt on top of his coat, pulled off his t-shirt and folded it, and unfastened his slacks.
I turned my back on him and tried not to stare at the shifting walls. Being dizzy would’ve been better than the vision implanted in my head of Devin half-naked, his golden skin gleaming softly in the dimly lit room, the muscles defined by the shadows falling across them.
Man, I needed to ramp up my workout. Devin’ s toned muscles put mine to shame.
And I really needed to work on my sex life, too, if a semi-nude man was all it took to get me revved.
The snick of a zipper being pulled down raked across my dick, making it throb with every beat of my pulse. I pinched the bridge of my nose to try to block out the sounds of Devin slowly undressing behind me.
The cushioned thud of feet hitting the floor sounded, drawing near, then warm hands fell on my shoulders, tugging at my jacket.
“You never answered my question,” I blurted.
His hands moved to the lapels and I let him slide the jacket off my shoulders, down my arms. “Which one?”
“About Marco and Elizabet.” His body was warm behind mine as his hands found my tie, loosened it. “Won’t he get all bent out of shape about her having sex with me?”
With us, I amended silently, since Devin seemed to be as naked as the day he was born. The tip of his erection kept brushing my ass through my slacks, making me jump.
“No. He likes you.”
“I’m not like that,” I said, appalled, and he chuckled.
“We know. It’s ok.” Nimble fingers unbuttoned my shirt, pulled it away. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”
I caught his hands on the hem of my undershirt, and held them there against my stomach. “Then why are you undressing me?”
“So you’ll be ready.”
“I haven’t decided if I’ll do it or not.”
His laugh brushed across my neck and my skin came alive. “Yes, you have.”
He was right. I had decided, not when he’d told me Elizabet wanted to have sex with me or when my dick went fully erect on entering the room. No, the sight of his chest, the lean, flat planes of muscle encased in warm, smooth skin; that’s what had done me in.
I breathed a silent prayer and went through all the times I’d been with a woman, the mad craving to sink into soft flesh, to bring a woman to release and hear her soft moans in my ear, and the rushing urgency to come, hard, in that sweet, wet embrace. Maybe all those times had been a fluke. Maybe I wasn’t really hetero.
Shit. Mom would die when she found out. All her hopes that I’d marry a nice Catholic girl and settle down close to home to raise a small brood of children, lost.
Maybe I could adopt.
I turned, still half dressed, and pinned my gaze somewhere over Devin’s left shoulder, studiously avoiding the broad expanse of tanned flesh.
“You’re not gay.”
“Er, I’m not?” I said with enough relief that he laughed.
“No. It’s this room. It’s…special.” His hands found the fastening of my slacks and I let him help me out of them. “You’ll have urges in here that you’ll never have anywhere else, but you don’t have to act on them.”
“So, if I wanted to, say, kiss you, I could?”
“If I wanted you to, yes.” He smacked my bottom through my briefs, as if we were playing baseball instead of standing around talking about sex with a multi-person bed nearby and a gorgeous woman on her way. “Come on. She’ll be here soon.”
I stripped down, put my clothes away on another chaise, and walked to the bed. Devin had already yanked back the top covers and made himself comfortable by the time I finished. I leaned against one of the posts at the foot of the bed as casually as I could, not wanting to hurt his feelings. He’d been pretty good to me since we’d met, and not just by bringing me here where I figured we were about to have a ménage.
What more could a guy ask for from a pal?
He’d sort of taken me under his wing over the past couple of months. Introduced me around, helped me find a new apartment when my old lease fell through. He was a nice guy and he deserved some respect, not a slap in the face. And let’s face it, there’s never an easy way to say, hey, I don’t want to sleep with you, no matter what the other person’s sex is.
And there’s especially no good way to say that when you suspect it’s not fully true.
So I stood there, leaning against the post with my eyes roaming anywhere but his naked body, the firm muscle, and the rigid erection.
I squeezed my eyes shut. Why had I looked? Now my own erection seemed tame by comparison. His had to be at least two inches longer, though not as thick. Irrational envy stabbed at me before I pushed it away. Jesus. This wasn’t a locker room. I tossed my brain for a distraction. “What about Cassie?”
“What about her?”
The casual tone had my eyes popping open. He’d rolled onto his stomach, hiding his erection, thankfully, but baring the toned, round cheeks of his ass. No tan lines. Hunh. How did a guy even do that?
“I thought y’all were serious.”
“We are.” He patted the mattress beside him. “She likes what I do here.”
I climbed up onto the bed and plopped down beside him on my stomach, leaving a decent space between us. “Do you do her with Elizabet?”
“No, never with Elizabet.” His expression turned darkly serious. “Never, ever bring a woman here unless you want her to…unless you want to lose her.”
“Oh.” I had no idea what he meant, but he looked so stern I let it drop. “So, why me?”
He shifted and curled up onto his side, propped his head on a hand and let the other drift down my back in a light, skimming touch that left a trail of heat in its path and an answering tug in my dick. “You’re intelligent, controlled. Interesting. Not nearly as socially awkward as you think.”
“Ah, well.” That wasn’t what I’d expected. “Hmm.”
He shifted closer and his voice dropped to a low, gravelly rumble that shivered across my skin. His hand trailed back up to brush against the lower ends of my hair. “Sexy as hell.”
“I thought you were straight,” I said, and cleared my throat to erase the breathiness.
“In here, anything goes. You’ll see.”
He moved until our faces were inches apart and my eyes fixed on his mouth, on the firm upper lip and the lower pouty one. Why not? Why not see what it was like to kiss a man? His lips met mine, a soft, feathering touch before he moved away. I shifted onto my side facing him, mesmerized by the glow of his amber eyes, and dragged a finger gently across his lower lip.
“Are you sure?” he said.
“It’s just a kiss, right? No harm there.”
“There’s always harm, usually not what we expect, though.”
He pressed me back against the bed, raised himself over me, with the lower half of his body angled away on the bed, and brought his lips to mine with a raging need that took my breath. His tongue pushed against my lips and I opened wide under his assault, taking him and giving back, sucking in his tongue and licking it. His hand tangled in my hair and mine in his, pulling tight, and my hips lifted off the bed, seeking something. I wanted to sink into him, let his warm heat surround me, pound into it over and over again while his hips pressed back against mine until…
The image jarred me out of the kiss and I broke away from him, panting. “Sorry,” I said. “Sorry. I’ve never
done that, never.” Jesus. What was I even saying?
“I should be the one apologizing.” He smoothed my hair back, pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead. “It’s my job to lead you, to protect and care for you while you’re here. I shouldn’t have pushed you into that.”
“No, man.” I took a deep, shuddering breath while reason clawed its way over sharp, pounding want, over the image etched in my mind of Devin with his ass in the air and me with my cock buried deep inside him, pumping my hips against his. I swallowed to stifle a moan. “Not your fault. I told you it was ok.”
“And I told you there would be consequences.”
The door knob rattled softly and turned, and Elizabet walked in. Her face lit up with pleasure. “Devin, you naughty boy. You’ve started without me.”
He pushed himself off the bed and joined her at the door, closing it behind her. His eyes met mine as he pulled her back against his chest, cradling her there with his hands on her hips. “We were just experimenting.”
“Well, I can hardly blame you.” She lifted her shoulders in an elegant shrug and curved a hand around Devin’s head when he bent to place light kisses along her neck. “He’s such a tasty morsel.”
“Mmm, he is.”
His hands slipped to the laces of her bodice and I, being no fool, moved from the bed to help undress her.
Chapter Four
Elizabet leaned against Devin as he unlaced her dress. I stood a few feet away, the momentum that had propelled me from the bed halted by shy reluctance. It seemed too bold to put my hands on her without asking first, and I’d never been that bold with women.
Devin finished unlacing the dress’ bodice, then ran his hands up the curves of Elizabet’s torso to knead her breasts through the thin fabric of her dress. I swallowed around the lump in my throat. Her breasts were perfect; round and firm, the skin smooth, creamy. What would they taste like if I ran my tongue across them?
The Vampire's Pet (The Vampyr Book 1) Page 2