by Kim Dare
He looked as ready to kill as Liam had ever seen any man. Liam helplessly followed the vampire’s gaze. A man appeared in the hallway in a flurry of paisley dressing gown and bedroom slippers, brass fire-poker in hand.
Liam stared. Very slowly, he caught hints of familiarity in the guy’s face. It was hard to imagine that the wild gray hair or furious expression could belong to the same man who’d turned up at the hospital looking as if he’d just stepped straight out of an old fashioned guide to formal etiquette.
Jenson looked from Marcus to Liam and back again. “Good evening, sir,” he said. Only the fact he was slightly out of breath betrayed that they weren’t actually meeting under entirely normal circumstances. He lowered the poker to his side and corrected his stance.
“Good evening,” Marcus replied. Straightening his spine, he once more pushed his hair back from his face. The glossy black strands were tossed and wild after his tumble through the door. All important considerations aside, Liam’s fingers itched to reach out and stroke through Marcus’ hair.
Gradually, Liam managed to take in details other than the fact that Marcus was right there in his room. The vampire’s chest was bare. Black pajama bottoms covered the lower half of his body, but the material appeared to be thinner and softer than any Liam had ever worn. They clung to far more than they concealed, clearly outlining the vampire’s cock.
Liam swallowed rapidly as he finally managed to tear his gaze away from the vampire. Being in a coma hadn’t done Marcus’ muscle definition any harm at all. He looked far more like he’d just stepped out of a gym, or perhaps off a runway, than as if he’d just left the hospital.
For the first time in his life, Liam realized just how fascinating the pale and interesting look could be on the right man. He risked another glance at Marcus’ face just in time to see the vampire raise one eyebrow at his butler. His lips twitched, but didn’t quite give into any temptation they might feel to smile. “Nice poker.”
“Thank you, sir. It is indeed a very fine example of its type,” Jenson replied, not missing a single beat. “Is there something you require my assistance with?”
Marcus shook his head. “Everything’s fine.”
Suddenly Liam found himself the subject of the butler’s intense scrutiny. “Do you agree that is the case, Mr. Bates?”
All Liam could do was peer at the butler in confusion.
“Liam had a nightmare,” Marcus said. “I came crashing in here because I heard a scream, he didn’t scream because I burst in on him, desperate for his blood.”
Jenson’s eyes never wavered from Liam’s face. It was as if he really didn’t care what Marcus had to say about it.
Finally, Liam managed to make his lips move. “I’m fine. I…I’m sorry, Mr. Jenson. I didn’t mean to disturb anyone.”
“Very good, sir,” Jenson said with a curt little half nod, half bow. He turned to Marcus. “Shall I show Mr. Bates to another room for the remainder of the night, sir?”
Marcus shook his head. “No. Go back to bed. We’re both fine.”
“Just as you wish, sir.” The older man turned back to Liam. “If you require anything, just pull the bell, sir.”
He spun on his heel and walked away with complete composure, poker swinging at his side like a high class walking stick.
Marcus seemed to listen to his butler’s footsteps retreat all the way to the base of the stairs before he finally turned back to Liam. For just the briefest moment, he hesitated. “Was I right—are you okay?”
Liam nodded, pulling his knees up in front of him and wrapping his arms around his legs over the blankets.
Marcus stepped closer. “May I sit?” he waved a hand to the unoccupied side of the huge bed Liam lay in.
Liam managed another nod. Taking a deep breath, he tried very hard to look completely at ease. He was pretty sure he failed spectacularly.
“I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Liam blinked at Marcus. It took a long time for the words to sink in and make sense inside his head—as much sense as it was possible for those words to make at any rate.
“I should be the one apologizing,” Liam whispered, staring down at his entwined fingers.
“For having a nightmare?” Marcus asked. “I didn’t realize you had it on purpose.”
Liam managed a slight smile in response to the other man’s teasing, but his heart wasn’t in it.
Once more, Marcus hesitated, just for a second. “Do you want to tell me what it was about?”
The grip Liam’s right hand had on his left, turned white knuckled. Marcus’ gaze flicked down to his hands and Liam was left in no doubt that the other man had noticed his moment of panic.
“You only need to talk about it if you want to,” Marcus said, very gently.
Liam shook his head.
“That’s fine.”
Staring at the blanket between them, Liam tried to wait for the other man to speak again, but it wasn’t long before he had to break the silence. It was that, or lose his mind completely.
“Do you need to feed?”
Marcus didn’t speak, he didn’t move. He didn’t even seem to breathe for what felt like a very long time. Finally, his chest began to rise and fall again. “I didn’t bring you here because I wanted to turn you into a blood whore, Liam.”
Heat rushed to Liam’s cheeks. He tightened his grip on his fingers until he was half sure the digits would break under his grip, just as they had last year, beneath Ralph’s shoe. “I’m sorry. I mean, I know you’ve probably got other arrangements now that you’re out of the hospital. You don’t have to settle for someone like me—”
Marcus leaned forward and put his fingertip gently against Liam’s lips. Every muscle in Liam’s body tensed.
Even after he’d silenced Liam, Marcus seemed to struggle to find any words he wanted to say himself. “In time, perhaps we will each want more from each other, but right now, all I wish you to do is stay in my house until you’ve healed.” He met Liam’s gaze. “Both physically, and in any other ways necessary.”
Liam parted his lips.
Marcus didn’t immediately take his finger away. Liam’s tongue brushed against the tip of the digits as he tried to speak. Quickly shutting his mouth again, Liam turned his face away.
When he looked back, his attention went straight to the other man’s body, to his bare chest and the lines of his abs. His hands once more begged Liam for permission to touch.
“I’m fine,” Liam whispered, praying that Marcus couldn’t guess what he was thinking.
“Do you want to try going back to sleep?”
Liam shook his head so quickly, dizziness took over. The room threatened to start spinning uncontrollably around him. “You don’t have to stay or anything,” Liam said. “I’ll just…” He looked around the room for inspiration but found none. Apparently, vampires weren’t big readers. There wasn’t even a book he could feign interest in.
“We’ve shared a bed before,” Marcus reminded him, his voice strangely soft and intimate.
Liam met his eyes.
“You slept well on those nights,” the vampire added.
Liam couldn’t deny it.
“I can just as easily sleep here as anywhere else.”
As relief rushed through Liam, words weren’t an option. His throat had closed up so tightly, all he could do was nod his gratitude.
Marcus didn’t say anything more; he simply pulled back the blankets and lay down next to Liam, adjusting his pillow to ensure a comfortable night’s rest. The bed had to be at least twice the width of the one in the hospital. Somehow Liam found himself lying just as close to Marcus as he had the previous night. His head soon rested on the other man’s shoulder, his hand settling against the vampire’s chest as Marcus wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
“Everything will be fine,” Marcus whispered as he turned out the light and let darkness flood the room. “I’ll see to that.”
Liam closed his eyes and tried to believe the
other man, but he knew it was a lie. He was curled up with a half naked and completely stunning man, and the only thing Marcus’ body meant to him was warmth and security. There wasn’t even the slightest tingle of physical desire in his body. The guy might as well have been a teddy bear as an embodiment of every one of Liam’s sexual fantasies.
In that moment, Liam had no doubt that Ralph’s threats had been genuine. A wave of fresh pain tore through him at the idea of never wanting to do anything more than sleep next to Marcus.
Ralph had been right. That night had broken something inside him. Without the bite sending pleasure racing around his body, there was nothing there at all, not even a flicker of lust. Liam’s cock remained soft. His muscles remained tense.
Liam closed his eyes very tight and curled a little more closely into Marcus’ side, begging sleep to claim him quickly, if only so he could escape his waking thoughts.
* * * *
A fingertip brushed back and forth against Liam’s lips, teasing him and tempting him, only to pull away every time he tried to lean forward and take it properly between his lips. The smooth skin called to him, so did the restrained strength he sensed beneath the other man’s touch.
Whimpering his frustration, Liam tried to reach up and catch hold of the hand hovering before his face but his fingers closed around nothing more than empty air. The darkness hid everything except that hand. That didn’t matter. Liam was still sure everything else about the other man would be just as perfect as the long, graceful fingers were.
Suddenly, another hand encircled Liam’s wrist, holding him still, holding him down, preventing any attempt to make another grab for the teasing fingers.
Panic spiking inside him, Liam tried to pull away but the arm that wrapped itself around him was immovable. Liam gasped as his squirming caused his cock to rub against something warm and hard. So much pleasure rushed through his veins, he forgot to be frightened. He forgot why he was trying to get away. Rocking his hips, Liam pushed his crotch forward instead.
Very slowly, different senses nudged at Liam’s brain, begging him to respond. Piece by piece, his body came alive, making him writhe and press his skin against the form in front of him.
Another wave of bliss rewarded his efforts. Purring his pleasure, Liam arched his back and thrust forward again. He tried to drop his hand down and wrap his fingers around his shaft. It had been so long since he came. He wasn’t even sure he could remember the last time he really enjoyed feeling anyone’s hand against his cock, even his own. But now, a few strokes would be all he needed.
Warmth surrounded Liam, cocooning him, letting him know that he was safe and the whole world was perfect. Liam felt his breathing change as his movements sped up and he helpless rubbed himself against the nameless object before him.
He needed to come, needed it in a way that he couldn’t remember needing anything in his life. His cock throbbed, aching for release in a way it never had before. His head spun, his heart raced, and still Liam’s hips kept moving, maintaining a rhythm far steadier than his heartbeat.
Possibilities flashed through Liam’s mind, but they were fleeting half formed things that he couldn’t catch hold of. Sensations overruled anything that might have been able to pass for a thought process.
One more thrust, and pleasure exploded through Liam. Shock waves rolled out from the epicenter of his cock, along his spine and to every part of his body. Tightening his hold on whatever was within his reach, Liam tried to maintain some connection with reality but the ecstasy was so pure, so perfect it was impossible and—
* * * *
Liam’s eyes snapped open. Quickly turning his head, he desperately tried to work out where the hell he was.
Ralph hated it when he curled up against him as they slept. Liam couldn’t take it if the other man was pissed off with him now. He hadn’t had long enough to heal from their last argument and…
And he wasn’t in the bedroom his sleep fogged mind expected him to wake up in. And it wasn’t Ralph he was curled up next to. And there was cum slowly drying on the inside of his pajamas.
Liam stared at Marcus in horror as details lined up inside his head and patiently waited their turn to present themselves for his consideration. His left leg was hooked over Marcus’ lower body, his crotch pressed up against the other man’s hip. His hand had a white knuckle grip on the blankets. Marcus’ arm was wrapped around him. The vampire’s hand rested on Liam’s wrist, just as it had in his dream and, Liam sent silent thanks up to a deity he wasn’t even sure he believed in, the most important fact of all—Marcus was still asleep.
As if he heard that last item on the list and decided that, out of all of them, that was the one detail that needed to change as soon as possible, Marcus gently stirred. He opened his eyes.
“Good morning,”
Liam held his breath as Marcus stretched, his leg rubbing against Liam’s still softening cock with the motion.
“Sleep well?” Marcus asked.
Liam nodded, trying not to let his groin come in contact with Marcus as he pulled away.
“So did I.”
Liam nibbled at his bottom lip, looking everywhere in the room but at the other man’s face.
“I’d better go back to my room and get dressed,” Marcus murmured, sitting up and rubbing at his eyes as if in an apparent effort to wake himself up properly. “Mrs. Jenson is going to give me hell for making a mess of that door. No point putting off the inevitable.”
The vampire pushed back the blankets, levered himself up from the bed and stretched again. Liam watched him, unable to make a single word come to his lips as he studied the way the muscles in Marcus’ back moved around to let others stretch in their turn.
“I’ll meet you downstairs for breakfast?” Marcus said, looking over his shoulder and smiling sleepily down at him.
Liam swallowed rapidly. He managed another nod. He was pretty sure if he hadn’t just come, he’d have climaxed just from the look on the other man’s face.
Suddenly, the fact that he’d never want to have sex with another man, was the last thing Liam needed to worry about…
Chapter Eight
“Is there something I can do to help you, Mr. Bates?”
Liam’s trainers actually left the rough flagstone floor. Spinning around, he looked guiltily along the corridor at the bottom of the stairs leading into Marcus’ basement and what Liam guessed was some sort of servants’ area. Mr. Jenson stood at the other end of the corridor. He was once more dressed in his butlering suit. Any trace of the mad man with a poker was long gone.
“I, um…that’s what I was coming to ask you,” Liam stuttered out, cheeks flaming bright red at the memory of the previous night.
Marcus had told him not to worry about it, before disappearing into his study to make some phone calls, but it wasn’t turning out to be an easy order to obey. Vampires might be used to their servants walking into their bedrooms at unexpected moments, but Liam was pretty sure he’d never be able to look the butler in the eye again.
Mr. Jenson said nothing.
Liam pushed his hands deep into his pockets and tried not to feel a complete fool. “I just…after everything you and Marcus have done for me, I thought, if there was anything I could do to help out around the house. Sort of pay my way a bit, or…”
Mr. Jenson’s expression didn’t change as Liam’s words trailed off, dying a slow and not entirely painless death. The butler’s impassive gaze sucked the life out of the syllables one by one, just as easily as any vampire could drain the blood from a person.
“No repayment is required, Mr. Bates. Mr. Corrigan has made it clear that you are here as an honored guest. It would hardly be appropriate for you to be put to work scrubbing the floors.”
“I wouldn’t mind.” Liam forced himself to lift his gaze and hold the older man’s eyes. “I’m not afraid of hard work. I know what you must think of me, that I’m just—”
“Harold? Don’t keep the boy standing around out there all
day.” A small female form appeared behind Mr. Jenson. “There’s tea on, if you want some, love.”
“I, um…” Liam looked from the white curls framing a face full of laughter lines, to Mr. Jenson’s somber expression and back again.
“Come along.” The mildly chiding tone slipped straight past Liam’s conscious brain and into that part that had been carefully molded by his mother, his grandmothers and a succession of female school teachers, to respond to a maternal voice of authority. Liam made his way cautiously past the butler into the large old fashioned kitchen set at the very back of Marcus’ house.
From there, he was led by the strings of a flowered apron into the room on the far side of the high, cavernous space. Peeking into what appeared to be a quaint if rather crowded little sitting room, Liam hesitated on the threshold.
“Take a seat, love. The tea won’t be a minute.”
Liam obediently sat down upon one end of an overstuffed chintz sofa. He wasn’t sure what to do with his hands. He folded his arms, realized that looked far too defensive and moved his palms to rest on his knees.
The woman had her back to him as she bustled about, china rattling as she worked. The silence may well have been easy and companionable, if Liam hadn’t been so on edge. As it was, he couldn’t stand it for more than a few moments.
“I’m sorry about my bedroom door,” he blurted out.
“You weren’t the one who broke it,” Mrs. Jenson pointed out as she turned to him, set the teapot down on the table and took a seat on the other end of the sofa.
“It was still my fault,” Liam said, already feeling the heat rushing back to his cheeks at having to admit such a thing. “I—”
Mrs. Jenson made a skeptical noise in the back of her throat, stopping Liam short. “Young Master Marcus would do well to learn some self control. He always has been far too rough with his toys.”
Liam’s blush threatened to trigger spontaneous human combustion. He wasn’t sure if it would be even more embarrassing to tell her he’d had a childish nightmare, or to leave her thinking Marcus had been that enthusiastic about screwing him.