Caro tried to say something innocuous like, “Oh wow” or “Hey, interesting idea.” But she couldn’t manage it. A feeble moan of air came out of her mouth, like she’d just taken a pratfall on her ass. “Unh.”
Later, when her brain could once again perform multifunction tasks, she’d let herself weep at the situation’s miserable irony. But right now all she could do was stand very, very still and try to remember the basics. Blinking. Breathing. Standing upright.
Jack was beaming, obviously waiting for an enthusiastic response to his brilliant idea. Alex still wore the same bemused smirk-smile. Sherene looked smug. Caro desperately tried to remember a piece of well-rehearsed sexysmart banter—something, anything to regain her footing.
The doors to the lounge opened and a team of tuxedoed waiters entered with booze and hors d’oeuvre-laden carts. “Excellent,” Jack said. He waved at a group of executives who straggled in after the waiters. “I think the party’s about to begin.”
Chapter Two
Caro managed to schmooze with two party guests without thinking about Alex. Woo-hoo. That was like…what? Twelve whole minutes?
She’d also managed to slam two martinis in the same amount of time. Her head was reeling and her nerves were revving. At this rate, booze was going to beat out schmooze in a very ugly fashion. Time for a breather. She was on her way to the restroom when Jack stopped her.
“Hey there, how’s it going so far?”
“Good, good. I’m just gonna make quick use of your facilities.”
He flashed her his fine, flirtatious smile. “Come find me later and we’ll make plans for the rest of the evening.” He opened one of the gargantuan lounge doors for her. “It’s right across the hall,” he whispered with a knowing wink.
“Thanks,” she whispered back. She knew Jack was hinting at the rendezvous they’d had in another restroom about four months ago. Caro’s company had been hosting a VIP party at a personal products convention in Vegas. Impressed, Jack had invited her to hand-deliver her company’s portfolio to his Caesars Palace suite. The evening had ended quite satisfactorily in the suite’s kick-ass Jacuzzi, Caro facedown over the side of the tub and Jack’s seriously jazzed cock stroking in and out of her until she screamed.
She’d been psyched about a replay with Jack tonight but now all she could think about was Alex.
Oh God. She was such a loser.
Ignore him, Caro. Ignore him on a personal level and just be super professional about working together. She could do that, right? She was a much stronger person than she’d been ten years ago.
Stoked’s large, multi-stalled bathroom was luxuriously appointed in, what else? Shiny, black lacquer and polished chrome. Caro quickly made her way into one of the stalls, her ears buzzing in the sudden silence and her brain blipping over the events of the last hour. She was rabidly curious about how the evening was going to unfold. And what Lenny was going to say when he found out they were going to have to work with Alex and a passel of vampires.
She flushed the toilet and began putting herself back together when she realized there was somebody standing outside the stall door. Somebody wearing zillion-dollar custom-made wingtips with tiny rubies embedded in the vamps.
Alex.
She opened the door and there he stood. Looking all brooding and dangerous and delectable.
“Goddamn it, Alex. You’d better need to use the toilet because if you’re following me, I’m gonna—”
She didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence because he started coming at her with that look in his eyes. That lean and hungry vampire prince look he reserved only for…special occasions.
The gray-green of his irises paled and then sparkled brilliant silver. He looked borderline scary and overwhelmingly sexy. She tried to take a step back but there was nowhere to go.
“Caroline.” Her name rumbled up from his chest, a deep, whispery purr. He leaned against the wall just inside the door of the stall. “I saw you leave and I had this strange compulsion,” he crossed his arms and his muscles rippled alarmingly under the fine fabric of his suit, “to come tell you about these visions I’m having.”
“What?” she asked warily. “Can’t it wait ‘til I get out of here?”
“The first vision is one you and Jack just planted.” He closed his eyes and tapped his temple with his forefinger, the overhead light glinting off the huge cabochon ruby of his ring. “I see your eyes closed. Your teeth biting down on your lip. A pink flush rising across your breasts. I smell the fresh, sea-spray scent of your arousal. I hear you moan as Jack drives his long, thick cock into your body.”
His disarmingly conversational tone made the words sound even more provocative. When his eyes opened, her stomach dipped.
“Yeah. Jack told me all about the hot time he’d had with a party-planner he’d met at that convention in Vegas a few months ago. I didn’t realize it was you until I saw you two looking at each other tonight. I’ll make you pay for those visions later.”
Uncrossing his arms, he came closer. The skin under her tattoo went numb briefly and then came blaring to life, burning and stinging like she’d been seared by a flame. She put her hands behind her back.
“But this other vision just came to me a few moments ago. And it’s so strong I have to let it out. Since you won’t let me into your pretty mind anymore, I’ll have to tell you about it the human way.” His eyes went back to green, glittering like star-shot emeralds, the color they turned when he was having sex. He manipulated her so damn easily—he looked at her with those verdant green eyes and her body bloomed, dewing and ripening in preparation for his touch.
“I’m thinking about us, ten years ago,” he continued. Now his voice was soft and compelling, like a good dream. “You were nineteen. So innocent…but so ripe. We had just become lovers. Bloodmates. And we couldn’t get enough of each other. I couldn’t bear to let you out of my bed, but we had to find something else to do just to give your poor, sweet pussy a break. So we went to the movies. We only lasted through the first half hour before we had to have each other again. I dragged you into the restroom, braced you against the wall of the nearest stall and went after you with my hands, my mouth, my cock. Like I could never get enough. Because I couldn’t, you see…I was in love with you inside and out. And you whispered my name over and over as you came…” His voice trailed off in a whisper.
Closing her eyes, Caro spread her fingers against the cool, smooth wall, barely able to stand against the forceful sensations his words inspired. She might be able to come up with a defense against Alex in the here and now, but she knew there was no defense against her memories of loving him.
He moved his shoulder forward, shifting her farther into the corner of the stall. It was a strange torment to have him stand so close and still not touch her. She wanted to feel his heat again so badly, yet she was terrified about her ability to survive the conflagration. She tried to take a fortifying breath and then regretted it. Her nostrils filled with the richly erotic scent of his skin and she abruptly wanted to tear his shirt and nuzzle his bare flesh.
What was it about him that made her senses go wild? Like he was king of the lion pride and she was one of his females. A creature who lived to be licked, bit, sucked and mounted by the dominant male in the pack…
She tried to speak but her mouth was so dry she had to work to unstick her tongue from the roof of her mouth.
“Cat got your tongue, Caroline?” He bent down to whisper in her ear. A silky swath of his long, raven-black hair brushed her cheek. She moaned. “Let me help.” He dipped his head and covered her mouth with his.
Oh. God. Yes. This is what she wanted. His tongue sought hers and she thought about biting him for doing this to her, but then decided biting would best be saved for later.
Later, when she would gain access to more sensitive parts.
Right now she was lost in the feeling of kissing Alex. Remembering his flavor, his texture. It was like getting injected with a drug she’d been t
rying to kick for the last five years. He was a drug to her. The chemicals in his blood had infected her own until she was physically linked to him. Distance provided the only relief. But now he was here. Re-juicing their connection, filling her mind and her body with his vigor. And she was absorbing his essence like a sex-starved love junkie.
God, she could come just from kissing him. She’d started to get wet from the moment she saw that hot look in his eyes. She was going crazy with need…and she wanted to make him crazy too. She ran her tongue over those sexy canines and reveled in the sound of his groan.
She wanted to feel his skin, the satiny ridges of his torso, the hard planes of his pecs, but there was too damn much in the way. Jackets, buttons, ties. She groaned against his lips, frustrated, freaked-out. His fingers were tangled in her hair, holding her head still for the increasingly urgent thrusts of his tongue. She pulled away, teetering on the edge of control.
“No. Let me help you,” she murmured, unzipping his pants, exhaling slowly as she parted the fabric to feel the rigid column of flesh that had once ruled her desires. She didn’t look down. She was trying not to involve all her senses, trying to contain her reaction to his power. She licked her palm, watching him as he watched her through heavy, half-closed lids.
“Mmm…” Alex expelled a long, low breath when she rubbed the sleekly contoured head of his cock with her moist palm. She smoothed her fingers down the length of the shaft, flicking her fingernails gently along its curves and ridges.
She unbuckled his belt and tugged at his pants and briefs to gain full access. When she dropped to her knees she barely noticed the cold marble floor. Grasping the base of his shaft with both hands, she pulled him closer to her mouth.
Her fingers were trembling. She closed her eyes, trying to steady herself, wanting to be matter-of-fact about this act and prove she could get him off without getting emotionally involved. But as she ran her cheek over the moist, ruby-hard head of his cock, as she licked the salty-sweet bead of pre-cum from its tip, she felt herself sink effortlessly into the old rituals of loving Alex.
Once all this heat and power had been hers—hers to pleasure as she wished, hers to pleasure herself with. She adored the intensely arousing feeling of loving him with her mouth. He was big and bold, but she knew what she was doing. She was an expert at giving head because of him. Alex—who had taught her just how to do it all those years ago.
She pressed tiny, tongue-flicking kisses against the flare of the gem-smooth head, delighting in her ability to make this—the biggest symbol of his machismo—quiver and quake. She heard his gasp and then his moan as she took him into her mouth, using her tongue and her cheeks to create gentle suction.
He spread his legs wider and shifted his weight to lean back against the stall. “Oh yeah…that’s so good,” he whispered. “Your mouth was made for this, princess.” His fingers were in her hair, pulling her closer as she began to move up and down on all the length she could take.
Performing sweet torture on all his favorite spots, she cradled his tightening sac with one hand and moved her other hand around his ass to play with the sensitive skin along his perineum. When each breath became a gasp, she knew he was on the edge.
“Take all of me now.” His command was half plea. “Hard.”
She softened her lips, cheeks and tongue and let him hit the back of her throat. Then she tightened her hands on his ass and sucked. He began to piston in and out of her mouth, bucking his hips in the smooth but urgent rhythm she remembered too well. She felt her vulva throb in response, heavy with the pleasure of pleasuring him.
His fingertips pressed hotly against her scalp. “Ahh…yes. There. Now!”
His whispered exclamation dispelled her reverie, reminding her she was performing an incredibly intimate act with a vampire she couldn’t afford to be intimate with. She quickly pulled his straining cock from her mouth and he deftly shifted his body to the side. His groan echoed up to the cavernous ceiling.
Caro watched his release, watched those beautiful eyes close, watched those gorgeous lips strain over his canines, watched the liquid version of his virility splash against the shiny black wall of the stall…
She reached up under her skirt and in between her legs, trembling fingers meeting hot, needy flesh aching to be stroked, filled and satiated. She rubbed her thong forward through the wet cleft, riding the nubby lace hard against her clitoris. Her climax surged immediately, her body totally hot and ready after the rush of servicing Alex.
He looked down at her, emerald eyes glowing, elongated fangs gleaming. She closed her eyes and eased her ass down to the floor. He laughed softly. “Why didn’t you let me return the favor?” he asked.
Her eyes fluttered open when he took her hands and gently pulled her up. “And give you the satisfaction?” She batted his hands away. Readjusted her thong and pulled her skirt straight. “I don’t think so.”
In their past relationship he’d always taken it as a personal challenge to bring her to orgasm in as many ways as his very active imagination could conjure. Vampires used orgasm to achieve power—pleasurable, painful and otherwise—over their human partners. And she was definitely done with Alex having power over her.
“You’ve got the satisfaction part right,” he said as he reached behind her to grab some toilet paper off the roll. He deftly wiped his semen off the wall. “Because making you come has always been the most satisfying experience I’ve ever had.”
Caro grabbed the wad of paper from his hand and threw it in the toilet. “Oh come on, Alex.” She tried to keep her tone light as she watched the automatic flushing sensor blink. “I bet you say that to all the girls.” The bowl emptied with a swish and a gurgle. “And vampires and faeries and nymphs…” She was dismayed to feel tears welling up in her eyes. She might as well be flushing her willpower down the john too.
After being close to him for one evening, just one lousy evening, she ended up sucking him off like a ravenous fiend. In a toilet stall, for God’s sake.
Where were her trusty repulsive thoughts? Ha! More like Alex equals ice cream cone on hot, sunny day.
She turned away, fumbling for the door handle.
He snaked his arm around her waist, holding her back firmly to his chest as he bent to whisper in her ear. “I’ve said it only to you, sweet Caroline. Only to you.”
He brushed the hair off the nape of her neck, stroking the sensitive skin along her hairline before trailing his fingertips over the curve of her collarbone. He reached inside her jacket to free one of her breasts from its lace perch. Holding its weight in his palm, he ran the rough edge of his thumb over the fully erect nipple. She clenched her teeth together, trying to stifle a moan, trying not to react like the sex-frenzied freak he always turned her into.
He began kissing the side of her neck, gently scraping his canines along the tendon there. The sensation made her feel dizzy—dazed, drunk and dumbly wanting more. She trusted him not to bite her but she didn’t trust him not to make her come. It wouldn’t take much. Just a few more strokes against her ultra-sensitized nipple then all he’d have to do is spread that big hand down between her legs and she’d be spiraling into heaven.
But she didn’t want Alex to take her up to the clouds. She preferred to be earthbound, thank you very much. She brushed his hand away.
“You’re such a liar.” She’d wanted to holler the words, but her voice came out as a whisper.
“Let me take you back to my place and I’ll prove it to you all night.” His raspy whisper abraded her hyped-up nerve endings. He put his hands on her hips and snuggled the crease of her ass against his freshly juiced cock, obviously ready for round two. And three. And four. And five….
Yep, she knew for a fact he was capable of proving it to her all night. But what would that get her in the morning?
Caro forcefully pushed her way out of the stall, knowing that if she was going to do any thinking at all, she had to get away from Alex’s hands.
Her heels echoed l
oudly on the marble floor as she walked up to the mirrored wall of sinks. After shifting her bra back into place, she put her hands up to her flushed cheeks and looked at Alex’s reflection. She’d once thought his reflected image was a sign of his humanity. But none of the full-blooded vamps she knew had trouble with mirrors either. Alex said it was a myth.
He had a few of the other vamp myths going on though. The suave, sophisticated, wielder-of-sexual-allure thing? He had that one down pat.
“Don’t you already have a date tonight, Alex? I know I do.”
He walked up to the pedestal sink, smiling as he leaned his shoulder against the mirrored wall. “Well, now. That certainly brings some interesting thoughts to mind.”
“What kind of thoughts?” Caro asked warily. She examined her face, looking for any telltale signs of carnal activities that might prove embarrassing later. Her knees weren’t working right and she braced herself against the sink, turning the faucet on full blast.
Alex dipped a long, elegant finger into the cool water and dribbled a few drops in the crevice between her breasts.
“Thoughts about your fabulous breasts. Thoughts about Jack’s tremendous cock.” His voice was husky, hypnotic.
“What do you know about Jack’s cock?” she whispered hoarsely.
He chuckled, raising an eyebrow in an expression of mock innocence.
She watched in the mirror as he dipped another fingertip in the water. When he traced a moist line along the deep vee of her jacket’s collar, she inhaled slowly, anticipating the stroke of his cool fingers over her swollen nipples.
He dropped his hand, his smart-assed smile telling her that he knew what she wanted but he wasn’t going to give it to her. Yet.
“Thoughts of beautiful things coming together. I do so love to look at beautiful things…” He leaned toward her, bringing his mouth achingly close to hers. “I think our new boss would be very pleased with our initiative in getting our partnership off to a…smooth start. What do you think, princess?” he whispered. “Cat got your tongue again?” He licked at her lower lip.
Party Vamps Page 2