He stopped mid stroke through my hair. “There’s no game. Can’t I be attracted to you? I know you’re interested in me.”
My mouth hung open, and I laughed, “Really? Because you’re all handsome and ride a motorcycle and own a company?”
His expression was thoughtful, and he paused a moment. “No, because I can smell your arousal.”
I looked away, feeling a mortified blush run up my chest and across my cheeks. Biting my top lip, I tried to gather my thoughts. “You, you can smell me?”
“I guess that’s one of the questions you didn’t ask. Moroi have a remarkable sense of smell. Most of us see scents as color. You leave a blue-green trail—with a hint of purple when you’re aroused, which you usually are around me.”
I turned away from him, completely horrified by this revelation. “Yeah, I don’t think I’m going to ask you any more questions about that.”
Ethan forced me to turn back toward him. I covered my heated face, but his fingers pulled my hands away. “Stop. I’m super embarrassed,” I told him, a nervous laugh escaping my lips.
“Don’t be. Do you know how difficult it’s been trying to act professional when I’m around you?”
Then gently, leaning down, he cupped my face, his fingers threading into my damp hair.
“Then who is MBS? All those beautiful people that come to your office every day?”
He breathed out a laugh. “Moroi Blood Services—they’re blood donors.”
“Nothing more?” I asked.
“No,” he whispered, closing the space between us. “Nothing compared to you.”
Ethan turned fully toward me then. His lips came down over my own. While one of his hands threaded through my hair, the other came around to grasp me closer to him. But I was too short, so he lifted me up onto the railing. I wrapped my legs around his body and rocked into him. He pushed back into me, creating a rocking motion that, along with the kiss, had me panting and filled with desire.
When he pulled away, our mouths made a smacking sound when our kiss broke apart.
I felt dizzy from what I’d just experienced.
Taking my hand, my vampire led me back into the house to the room where I’d slept.
Sitting on the crisp linens of his bed, he pulled off his shirt and threw it onto a nearby chair.
I stood before him unmoving, until he reached for me, pulling me into his body. The heat between us seemed to scorch my skin, but I wanted him, I wanted more.
I found myself on my back beneath him, falling under the spell of his kisses and his mouth on my body.
When he reached beneath the t-shirt I wore, I arched to his touch as his fingers slid over the lace of my underclothes.
His mouth trailed hot kisses across the skin of my sternum, and I gasped under his caress. Lost in a haze of lust and passion, I ignored it when he tugged at my leggings.
Then I seemed to understand what was happening.
I snapped out of my lust-filled daze and clutched my pants, stilling his movement.
His sleepy eyes and messy hair made me smile, but embarrassment and my need to confess kept me on task.
“I…uh…I…” I stammered, knowing I should stop him. Knowing I usually—no—I always stopped at this point.
“Don’t you want to? I smell your arousal.” He lowered his head and began a scorching trail down my breastbone to my navel. With anyone else, I would’ve stopped, but with him, I didn’t want to.
Besides, this has been one of my regrets. I needed to stop having regrets and start living.
I let Ethan pull my leggings off along with my thong, trailing more kisses down my hip.
Panic and fear built up in me, warning me to stop. But I couldn’t, I wanted this. When his fingers stroked me before dipping inside my body, fear gave way to excitement and heat. He bent his head and teased me with his mouth. I arched against him, but he held my thigh with one hand as the other made me see stars with his movements.
I panted and moaned and wriggled. Still, my vampire held me down and tormented me with his tongue and fingers until I neared the very edge of sanity. Then he’d stop and let me catch my breath. I lay there boneless until he’d begin again—stroking, then building up until finally, I thought I’d die if he didn’t let me finish.
“Don’t stop…don’t…” I whispered hoarsely as his wicked eyes met mine from between my legs. Then I shattered into a million pieces. Waves of ecstasy washed over me like waves on a beach, over and over again.
When I opened my eyes, Ethan lay next to me, watching me with his usual intensity.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked, feeling boneless as I pulled the blanket over to cover my exposed body.
“Why do you seem like you’ve never had an orgasm before?”
“I have. I’m just not really experienced.” A nervous smile crept over my lips.
“No, you aren’t, are you?” His eyes narrowed, and he traced a line with his finger down my arm. “No one has ever pleasured you like that before?”
I felt a blush spread over my cheeks. “No.”
“I am truly shocked by that, especially as sexy as you are.”
I twisted my grandmother’s ring around my finger.
“Is it because you’re religious?” He asked, taking my hand in his and threading his fingers through mine.
I laughed, knowing my face had to be bright red. “No, I’m just not very experienced.”
I looked up at him from beneath my lashes, not sure what else to say.
“Caroline, are you…are you a virgin?” He asked, his expression puzzled.
I scrunched my nose up and cringed. “Umm…technically. I was going to tell you. Is that weird? I feel like it’s weird.”
Ethan pulled me into his arms, “No. It’s not weird. It’s sexy. I like knowing that no other man has touched you.
I rolled my eyes and laughed.
He sat up and pulled his t-shirt over his head.
“Why are you getting dressed?”
“If I stay in this room with you, I’ll be too tempted.”
I sucked in a breath before answering, “What do you mean?” I hesitated, stepping off the bed and picking up my leggings. I felt vulnerable and needy.
“I don’t want to move too fast.” His accent colored his words.
My hair hung in my face, and Ethan leaned over and kissed my temple before getting up.
“Go to sleep, I can tell you’re tired,” he told me.
“What are you going to do?”
With that euro shrug, he said, “Work.”
7
I couldn't sleep. My brain was buzzing.
What on earth was I doing here? This man was my boss. My incredibly alluring, extremely sexy, vampire boss.
My entire body still tingled from what he'd done to me, and the thought of what he wanted to do, made my mouth dry and heart quicken.
Then there was Mel, who knew I'd been here. Was she a vampire like Ethan?
How could I look her in the face on Monday? She already didn't like me.
I wasn't a one-night stand type of woman, and I wasn't that girl who slept with her boss.
I was nerdy, gangly, and freckled. I wasn't sexy like my friend Aubrey.
But Ethan had called me sexy.
From any other man, this would've sounded rehearsed and lame, but on Ethan's lips, with those unearthly eyes on me, I believed him.
This was insane! I had no reason to believe him.
Should I leave?
Where even was I? Nothing but black greeted me out the windows.
Where had my vampire even gone?
Searching around the house, I found no phone, no T.V., no electronics other than the security system. Finally, I ended up in a spare room with smoking chairs and a wall of books. Running my fingers along the spines made me smile and forget my agitation.
The books were old, some weathered and cracked. I selected one at random and pulled it out. The leather-bound tomb was written in s
ome other language. Gingerly, I replaced it back on the shelf before picking out one I knew.
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” I opened Pride and Prejudice and smiled at the familiar line. My love of Jane Austin was simple and predictable, but her books were my happy place.
Then a thought occurred to me.
Ethan had been born around 200 years ago. That put him smack dab during Jane Austin's lifetime.
My mind wandered the what-ifs of everything this man had lived through, everything he'd seen. World Wars 1 and 2, and the changes of the past century.
I chewed my lip. I was a US history teacher, but unfortunately, I didn't know a lot about European history. Where exactly was Ethan from? Southern Belgium?
"Find anything interesting?" Came my vampire's voice from the doorway.
I pulled myself out of my contemplation and was overtaken by a yawn. Then I realized what my vampire had in his arms.
"Lucy!" I jumped up and took my pet into my arms. "Where did you find her?"
He stood there, hands in his pockets, watching me. "It wasn't too difficult. She had gone back to your car. How do you like my little library?"
"I was thinking about everything you've seen in your lifetime—if you're really 200 years old."
He laughed and sat down, "Ahh. It's not as exciting as you'd think."
"Still," I told him.
"I thought you'd be tired. It's hard for me to keep track of how much humans need to sleep," he told me, sitting down opposite me in a high-backed leather chair.
"I'm not tired," I told him as another yawn escaped my lips, betraying me.
"It's late. You should stay here for the night," Ethan took my hand in his, and I followed him back to the bedroom.
In the bedroom, I sat on the edge of the large white fluffy duvet and looked up at him. His eyes seemed to smolder down at me, burning with unspoken thoughts.
The feeling of being wanted was so alien, I wondered if I was making it up in my head.
When the corner of his mouth quirked up, he asked, "Why are you looking at me like that? What's going on in your head?"
I sighed, "I don't get it. Why are you being so nice to me? Does my virgin blood have some magical quality to it?"
His chest rumbled, and he laughed aloud. "No, no, that too is a myth." Then his face went sober. "I won't ever drink your blood or try to drink your blood."
He turned the lamp off.
"Why?"
"It's not safe. Most moroi know not to drink their partner's blood, it's dangerous." He told me as he closed the space between us in the dark.
"One more question."
"Anything," he said.
I felt the bed move and knew he climbed into it and lay with his head on the pillow next to me.
"Can you see in the dark?" I asked, crawling up toward him.
In a hushed voice, he answered, "For the most part, yes."
Then as I neared, he scooped me into his embrace and held me in his arms.
"Do you sleep?" I asked, my voice fragile like a thin thread of silk.
His chest rumbled, and I nestled into him, "Maybe I should charge you for this second question."
I turned, "Oh yeah? Charge me? Charge me what?"
"A kiss," he whispered, leaning over to press his mouth against mine, his lips slightly parted, his teeth nipping at my bottom lip.
When he pulled away, my eyes had adjusted enough to see the faint moonlight reflecting off his. "You never answered me."
"Do I sleep?" I could hear the cocky smile in his voice. "A few hours a night, but I can go without."
"I bet you miss sleeping." I turned away from him so that he could spoon me.
"Sleeping is a waste of time."
The next morning, when I returned to Aubrey's, I found her sitting on the couch, looking over papers from work. She held a finger to her lips. "Shhh…Chance is still sleeping."
She set the stack aside and motioned with her head for me to sit. "Sounds like you've had a rough couple of nights. Hopefully, I gave you enough clothes."
"Yeah, thank you for that," I said, pulling off my dirt-encrusted wedges and letting them drop to the floor.
Her gaze roamed my face after flicking to my dirty shoes. Then in a deadpan voice, she asked, "What happened? Where did you go? And why would Ethan make you work overnight?"
I examined my cuticles before finally meeting her eye.
What was I going to tell her?
My mind raced.
"Actually, it wasn't a work thing. Lucy got lost, and I went searching for her down in that forested area outside the office, you know the one?" She nodded. "There was a mountain lion and a close call, but Ethan was there. He saved me and took me back to his house…" I trailed off, my mind on the events of yesterday.
"Okay…" She drew the word out warily. "Then why do you look all loved up—as Chance would say?"
"Uhmm," I shook my head.
She slapped her papers down onto the coffee table. "Oh! Good grief Caro! You did not sleep with him, did you? Did you sleep with Ethan Dumont?" She bundled up her papers again and moved the stack on the end table.
"No…You know me better than that." I raised my eyebrows.
She held one hand to her chest, "I thought I did, but people change, you know?"
"But he did go…down town," I said meaningfully.
"Oh, you went to those cute antique shops…." She trailed off, understanding dawning. "Oh, OH! That downtown! Oh no! No. Ethan's not the type of guy you should get involved with."
I blew out a breath. "Well, I kind of figured that…" even before I realized he was a damn vampire!
"Caroline, no, he's a player. He kicked two girls out of his office when I showed up early for a meeting once." Her empathetic expression was meant to soften the blow but did little to ease my discomfort.
"I know. I know all this. But, there's something about him. I can't put my finger on it…I think he wants a relationship."
"A relationship?" She asked, using her lawyer's voice.
I cringed, "I think so…"
She cut me off, taking my hands into hers. "Yeah, he's hot as hell, and rich, and brilliant. But for you, he's deadly. You need a keeper, and Ethan isn't that."
Oh, how close to the truth she actually was.
"We have a connection," I told her, allowing a stupid dreamy smile to overtake my face. I was so tempted to tell her everything, but I needed support, not for her to think I was crazy. "It's like, he just gets me, you know? When I'm around him, he makes me feel so warm and wonderful."
"Oh, Caro…" She breathed out. "He makes everyone feel that way."
"Even you?" I asked.
Aubrey fluttered her eyelashes. "No, not me. I have Chance. But I know the type. He'll hurt you, and that's the last thing I want—for you. You've gone through enough recently. I'm so sorry for putting you in that office."
"Aubrey…" I twisted my grandmother's ring.
She sucked in a deep breath to lecture me with. "Pretend it never happened and keep your distance. Avoid being alone with him; avoid him. If he asks, just tell him it was a mistake, and it's not going to happen again."
I bit the inside of my cheek. "I don't know…"
"I know men like Ethan. Remember how I said buying that BMW was like a coffee to him? That's also how men like him see women…"
"I…"
"No! If you think you can change him—you can't. Trust me. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt."
I watched the goat, Pixy, as he chewed on something that suspiciously looked like couch cushion.
"I've never felt like this about a guy before," I argued.
She frowned and shook her head. "Honey, I love you. If I thought that this wouldn't end in horrible heartache, I'd tell you to go for it. But, I've been hurt, over and over again, and I don't want to see you go through what I have."
Nodding, I cleared my throat, "But that's you, A
ub."
Chance stumbled through the room, scratching his bare chest as he headed to the kitchen.
"Is he sleepwalking?" I asked.
Aubrey smiled as she watched her husband, "No, just getting coffee."
We sat there for a moment in silence before she spoke again. "Look, we can talk in circles all day long. I'm just trying to help you. There will be a Mr. Right who comes along and sweeps you off your feet, trust me." Her eyes glittered.
I reached over and squeezed her hand, "I'll think about what you said."
I sat there rooted in that couch long after Chance and Aubrey got dressed and left the house.
My entire being ached at the thought of rejecting Ethan—of never feeling his touch on my body again—of walking away from a real vampire.
But Aubrey was more spot-on than she could possibly know. Ethan was not only dangerous to my heart, which yes, he would probably break, but he was a danger to me physically.
The words Mel had said to him scared me. What had Ethan done to get in trouble with his own people?
A mysterious death.
Had he killed someone, more than one someone?
Ethan and I barely knew each other.
Maybe I should follow Aubrey's advice and stop this before it went any further. If I hurt this much thinking of ending it now, how much more would I hurt when our relationship ended for good?
Sunlight filtering through the windows woke me Monday morning. I stretched before getting up, excited to start my day. Then my heart seemed to skip a beat as I remembered my resolve to end what I had with Ethan.
I dressed but had no appetite. So, before leaving, I made sure Lucy had her litter box, food, and water before trapping her into my bedroom. I also stuck several warning notes on the door as a reminder to keep her locked up.
Thankfully, Aubrey had already left for work, so I didn't have to talk about my super inappropriate relationship with my boss.
I hated that she was right. Logically, I knew she was right.
But, I couldn't get Ethan out of my head.
His cocky little smile, the way he lifted one eyebrow when I said something that surprised him. And his other skills…gah!
He'd gone out and found my cat and brought her back to me.
Bloodthirsty Bastard: A Hero Club Novel Page 7