A Vampire Bundle

by Alexandra Ivy

  She nodded as his words eased the worst of her fears. She knew in her heart he spoke the truth. “I’ve always felt that way about human beings. I don’t know why I was so willing to believe so differently about vampires.”

  “It’s easy to fall victim to prejudice.”

  “But not me! My best friend is a Chinese American. I never assumed he’d act a certain way because he’s Asian. My boss is African American but I don’t even see the color of his skin anymore.” She sighed and crossed her arms over herself. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. You’re dealing with things that are new and frightening, and yes, extremely dangerous. It’s natural for you to react as you have, to question your instincts and fear everyone, including the ones you should trust. Your life is in peril and you must determine who is the real danger—me or the Ancient One. Did he tell you his name?”

  “No. He refused.”

  “He is wise.”

  Suddenly weary, Sophie flopped onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. “I don’t understand why he wants me. Why you want me. I’ve been alone for so long. No human male has wanted me. Why am I so irresistible to you vampy types?”

  “Most human men are blind to true beauty. They wouldn’t see it if it was standing before their eyes. Wissenschaft, Ancient Ones, we all see you the same way. We see your heart, your soul, your spirit. That is where your true beauty lies. Humans can only see your outside.”

  She felt her face flushing red hot. She lifted her hands up to cool her burning cheeks. “I wish I could see the insides of people too, like you. To see their hearts, their souls. Then I would always know whom to trust and whom to fear.”

  “There is a way, however—”

  “Don’t tell me I’d have to become a bloodsucker too because I’m not willing to give up my Ben & Jerry’s to read people’s hearts and minds. Ice cream wins, hands down.”

  Ric shrugged and sat next to her. “The choice is yours. And I am perfectly content with it.”

  Her body warmed at his nearness. Her brain confused or not, her body knew which vampire it liked. “Thanks, but no thanks. I’m not sure living four hundred years sounds all that great.”

  “Immortality has its benefits as well as its drawbacks.”

  “Will you tell me? What’s it like to live for centuries?”

  “Both pleasant and difficult, like life is for all beings, mortal included.”

  “But isn’t it exciting? Seeing so many changes, so many advances, right? Cars. Spaceships. Computers. Medicine.”

  “Things only began to change quickly in the last couple of centuries. Before that, they stayed very much the same. Quite honestly, I preferred life the way it was back then. There are more creature comforts in this day, with air-conditioning and central heat, vehicles that carry one from place to place with little effort, medicines to ease most kinds of sickness and pain. But it’s also a time of great gluttony. Young humans have very little drive, especially in this country. So many of them have no regard for education, for hard work, for progress.”

  “That’s very sad.”

  “I long to return to my time, a time when a man’s work had purpose. He toiled for his home, his family, his king. His work gave his life meaning. It’s not the same in this day.”

  “I guess we’re all a product of our times. You, the seventeenth-century Europe; me, present-day America. Yet, I feel like we are so alike.”

  His gaze met hers, warmed her insides. “Me too.”

  She felt herself smiling as her gaze wandered over his adorable face. His stubborn chin, and straight, aristocratic nose, his slightly mussed hair. She saw no hint of his true age on his face. He looked young and full of life. “It’s hard to wrap my mind around the fact that you’re that old, that you lived back when Elizabeth the First was queen—she was, wasn’t she?—and people talked with all those thous and thines, like characters in Shakespeare. I’ve always adored Shakespeare, by the way. And I’ve always sought to live a simple life, strove to live by my principles.”

  “And now you see the beauty that I see in you.” He rested his palm against her cheek and gazed into her eyes. His eyes were now a soft golden brown. Warm and rich and comforting. “And sometimes it’s hard to believe I haven’t known you since I took my first breath. In so many ways you feel like a part of me that’s been missing. A part that I’ve been seeking.”

  Sophie searched his face, wanting to believe what he said so bad it burned her up inside. She’d never in a million years expected to find a man who would love her, let alone adore her with the intensity she saw even now in Ric’s gaze, after such a short time. He literally looked like he’d move mountains for her. She had to admit it was a smidge overwhelming. “I…I…don’t know what to say.”

  “Do not speak with your mind. Speak with your heart and I will hear you.” He pressed his mouth to hers. At the instant of contact, she felt wave upon wave of warmth rush through her body. And as his tongue slipped into her mouth, twisting around and stroking hers, she sent him all the wonderful thoughts and feelings pulsing through her body, both the physical sensations and the emotions.

  She felt his body stiffen against hers. He groaned into their joined mouths. The sound fueled the fire blazing through her body. At that moment, all she could think about was giving back to him. Giving the happiness she found in his arms, the warmth she found in his embrace, the passion she found in his kiss.

  She reached around and slipped her hands under his shirt, letting them slide up the silky skin of his back. She relaxed into his arms as he slowly crawled on top of her. The mattress groaned as their combined weight shifted.

  His mouth continued to torment her, his tongue, teeth, and lips stirring such intense need for completion that she shook. Her fingernails raked down his back. Her pelvis tipped until the parts that ached the most for his touch ground into his hip. She wrapped her legs around him and clung to him.

  “Make love to me,” she whispered.

  Chapter 10

  “I thought you said you didn’t want this,” Ric said between delightful, goose bump–producing nibbles along her collarbone.

  Sophie didn’t respond—mostly because at the moment the coordination of brain, tongue, and diaphragm required to produce speech was impossible.

  “Hmmm?” he said just before he ran that extremely lithe tongue of his up the column of her neck. “Remember what you said about not needing me?” His naughty tongue dipped into her ear, and she shivered. “Remember?” He caught her earlobe between his teeth and bit oh so gently. His hands slid down the sides of her body until his thumbs teased the outermost parts of her breasts through her clothes. Her spine arched, pushing her chest up against his and she groaned when their bodies made contact.

  “I…I…ohhhh,” she said on a moan when his kisses trailed lower, into the valley between her breasts, exposed by the deep vee of her blouse. One of his hands wedged between their bodies and cupped her breasts and she let loose with another moan. Her nipples were tight, sensitive peaks, pressing against the lace cups of her bra. The friction of his touch through the layers of fabric was about to cause her demise. She was sure of it. She’d die right there. In bed. With him on top of her. “Pleasssse,” she begged.

  “Please, what?” Ric said, laughter in his voice. He shifted his position to free both hands and asked, “Are you particularly fond of this blouse?”

  “No, not really. Why?”

  Eight tiny buttons sprayed in eight different directions when he ripped the front of her shirt open. She gasped in surprise, then went ahead and gasped again when she caught the hungry look in Ric’s eyes as they took in the sight of her almost bare torso. Her tiny demibra barely covered her nipples and the lower half of her breasts. Obviously displeased with any bit of flesh hidden, he shoved his hands under her back, clearly going for the hooks. She shook her head, reached between her bosoms, and unfastened the front clasp, keeping her gaze locked to his face as she let the cups fall away.

  Blazing hu
nger flashed across his golden eyes as his gaze traveled over her body like a smooth caress. The heat she saw simmering in his gaze seeped into her body and sank to her groin, where it swirled round and round like a whirlpool. Already she needed to feel him inside, his glorious rod sliding in and out of her slick folds, filling her, completing her. She lifted her hands to her breasts, and smiling against the hunger threatening to put an end to all vital functions, she caught her nipples between her fingers and thumbs, and pinched.

  Ric bit his lower lip and his neck turned the shade of beets. “Dammit, woman.” He knocked her hands away and closed his warm mouth over one taut peak, stirring a groan from deep in her chest. His velvet tongue laved the sensitive bud until she trembled all over; then he turned his attention to the other one, giving it equal treatment.

  While he drove her crazy, torturing her with tongue, lips, and teeth, she strove to do the same to him—well, as best she could considering her current state. She traced the taut points of his nipples through his shirt until his breathing grew ragged in her ear. Then she slid her hands down, down, down to the bulge front and center in his pants.

  He stopped his onslaught on her breasts only long enough to give her a growl of satisfaction. “You said—”

  “I don’t care what I said.” She grabbed his hand and set it between her legs.

  “But I don’t want to make you—”

  “That was a long time ago. At least ten minutes. This is now.” She fumbled with the snap of his pants, plunged her hand inside to stroke his warm rod when she got it unfastened. “I’m telling you I want this, I want you. I…need you.”

  She stared into his eyes and pulled her hand free of his pants, lifting both hands to cover her mouth. Had she just said that? Admitted she needed him? Oh God!

  Needing him was definitely more serious than wanting to be his casual lover, like she’d agreed to be. Needing involved deep feelings, vulnerability…risk. Like she needed more of that right now! Heck, she was facing risk even in her sleep these days!

  Ric stopped tormenting her, gave her a look she couldn’t exactly read, and pulled her into a tight hug. He tenderly palmed her face like it was made of the most delicate crystal and kissed her forehead, both cheeks, eyelids too. She felt special, cherished, reassured. “I need you too,” he said.

  With oh so much tenderness, he brushed his mouth over hers, teasing her with soft kisses that made her squirm, sigh, moan. His hands remained on her face but hers wandered down over the lumpy terrain of cotton-covered chest. When he slipped his tongue into her mouth and stroked hers, she dug her fingernails into the hard bulk of his shoulders.

  “Oh, God,” she murmured into their joined mouths. Burning need coiled tight, low in her stomach, when he deepened the kiss. His tongue thrust in and out in time to the throb pulsing between her legs. She rocked her hips back and forth, anxious to rub away the ache, ready to cry out and beg him to fill her. She slid her hand into his pants again and fisted his erection, stroking the ridge circling the head with her thumb.

  He sucked in a surprised gasp and broke the kiss. He looked sad, troubled as he sat back and looked down at her. “I…I…Forgive me.”

  “Forgive you?” Dizzy, barely able to see, Sophie propped herself up on her elbows.

  “Can you trust me?” Ric tipped his head, stroked her cheek with his knuckles.

  She captured his hand and twined her fingers through his. “Ye—yes? I believe so. I want to.”

  His smile filled her soul and spirit with so much happiness she thought she might cry. He unfastened her pants and pushed them down her legs, tugging them off when they reached her feet. Lying there in only her panties, in the bright light of several lamps, she felt exposed, vulnerable again. She reached for the coverlet but he caught her wrist before she could pull it over herself.

  “No. Please don’t.” He released her wrist. “Don’t hide from me. I know we haven’t known each other long but I want you to trust me. There isn’t a more beautiful woman in the world. In all humanity.”

  “But I’m not skinny.”

  “You’re perfect.” He covered her soft belly with tickly kisses.

  “And I have cellulite.” Giggling, she motioned toward her hips.

  “You’re perfect.” He kissed a path lower, over her hip and down one thigh.

  “My rear end looks like cottage cheese.”

  “You’re perfect.” Without warning, he flipped her over onto her belly and ran his palms over her lace-covered buttocks. “This is perfect.” He squeezed and she gulped. He stroked and she sighed. He pulled down her panties and kissed the small of her back, just above her bottom, and she shook. Her empty sex clenched and unclenched, hot, pulsing.

  “Oh.”

  Off came the panties and there she was, lying there with her rear end exposed, in the glaring light. Yet Ric continued like he wasn’t looking at the most grotesque thing on earth. He kneaded her bottom, gently parted her ample cheeks, and ran a probing finger up and down her crack until it found her wet slit. Then he pushed that finger inside.

  Sophie dropped her head onto the bed, buried her face in the pillows. Still his words reached her ears, promises of pleasure, rewards for her trust. Reassurances that she was beautiful to him. His fingers slowly plunging in and out, almost but not quite rubbing away the ache deep inside her, he positioned his other hand lower, under her mound, where it could rub against her sensitive nub.

  She was in heaven! And hell. Her body had marched itself right up to the point of completion but was refusing to budge from its spot just shy of the pinnacle, despite Ric’s very thorough touches to her most sensitive parts. “Ric.” She groaned, hardly able to breathe. “Please. Now. It’s been long enough.”

  “Okay.” He stopped stroking and, while she struggled to inflate her lungs, removed the final pieces of clothing acting as a barrier between them. Then he caught her hips in his hands and pulled until she was propped up on her knees, her rear end high in the air. His penis probed at her crack, sliding up and down from anus to vagina, and spreading cool, slick juices with it. “Can you trust me?” The head of his erection pressed against the delicate tissues between her anus and slit. They burned as he increased the pressure.

  “I…I want to.”

  “Do you like to be screwed in the bottom?”

  “Never tried it. But it sounds terribly painful.” His penis pushed again, this time moving up, closer to her anus rather than back toward her sex. “Oh…is that what you want to do? Now?”

  “I was thinking about it.”

  “I…I really want you inside the other part.”

  “Where?” His penis slid lower again, prodding at the proper opening, and she let out a sigh of relief. “Here?” With a single, smooth stroke, he buried his rod to the hilt, filling her at last, and she shouted out his name, so grateful, so overwhelmed by the pleasure their joining brought. He held her hips still for a handful of seconds, allowing her to really relish the fullness.

  She opened her mind to him again, shared the waves of bliss that crashed through her body, one after the other, faster, faster, until she couldn’t tell when one ended and the next began.

  Ric pushed on her hips until only the very tip of his member breached her opening, then swiftly pulled back, meeting her backward thrust with a forward thrust of his hips, over and over. Her buttocks struck his thighs when their bodies met, adding an erotic slap-slap to the already overwhelming horde of sensations swirling around her. The scents of their arousal, the sound of his groans, the swirls of colors behind her tightly clamped eyelids. The sensation of tight, trembling need building, building until it drove her every move, every breath, every thought.

  And then she felt her chest heating, her breathing quicken. Her legs trembled. Her arms shook with the effort of holding herself up. She rocked backward, eager to feel him deep inside, when that first delightful spasm gripped her.

  He shouted her name as she came, her sex rhythmically milking him. He slowed his pace, which amp
lified her pleasure a hundred times. The orgasm lasted, and lasted, and lasted. It had a grip on her, wouldn’t let her go. It was wonderful. It was horrible. She wanted it to last forever but wanted it to stop too.

  “Oh my God!” she cried out.

  He withdrew from her, teased her anus while she still spasmed. “Trust me.”

  “Stop it, please!”

  “Trust me.”

  “Yes.”

  He pushed slowly, allowing her tight hole time to stretch. The burn didn’t stop her orgasm but only intensified it until tears streamed down her cheeks. He stopped moving the second he was deep inside, shouted out with his release, and dug his blunt-tipped fingernails into her hips.

  His thoughts swirled around in her head. His emotions—the kind of joy she only knew with him and the soul-shattering sorrow of hundreds of years of loneliness—filled her heart, pummeling her spirit. She felt every emotion, good and bad. Triumph and defeat. Hope and despair. They gripped her like an iron fist, squeezing the life from her spirit.

  And only when he’d spilled his seed deep within her bottom was she finally released from his thoughts, feelings. Peace at last. But also a distance she hated. Their connection was so intense it almost drove her mad, but when it was gone, she felt so empty and lost she ached from head to toe.

  Moments later, he pulled out, eased her onto her back, and cradled her in his arms. One finger ran up and down her arm, from shoulder to wrist and back again. With the other hand, he rubbed away the last of the tears clinging to her eyelashes, her cheeks.

  “You trusted me.”

  She tipped her head to glance at him and her heart swelled at the look she saw on his face. So sweet, tender. His mouth curled into a warm smile, his eyes the shade of golden oak. “Yeah.”

  “You know what this means?” He kissed her forehead, brushed away a strand of hair that had worked itself over her eyes.

  “No.”