Satisfaction

by Marie Rochelle

  “I think we should keep our dinner reservations,” Jace said, but even to his ears it sounded weak. He wanted to stay, and they both knew it.

  “Why are you nervous to be alone with me, Mr. Diamont?” Ashlynn teased, patting him in the center of the chest. “Do you think I’m going to take advantage of you?”

  Nothing was the furthest from the truth. Now, he wondered how Devin was able to win over Krishell. Did she fight him the way Ashlynn was trying to avoid being honest with him tonight? He was trying to romance her, but he might have to jump right on in and tell her the truth about everything first.

  His eyes narrowed as he wrapped his hands around Ashlynn’s smooth arms and pulled her fully against his body. The warmth of her soft flesh was intoxicating, making a spurt of hungry desire spiral through him.

  “Are you inviting me into your house?” he asked. “I have to warn you that I’m not nervous of you. In fact, I might have to control my urge to kiss you over dinner. I have been thinking about how your mouth tastes since I first laid eyes on you.”

  Easing back from his body, Ashlynn pushed the door open even farther. “Yes, I’m inviting you into my home, Jace. I want you to come in and have a good time.”

  The degree to which his mate responded to him spread a fire to his heart. As much as Jace wanted to back away from this, he couldn’t do it. His desire for Ashlynn overrode everything else he should’ve been thinking about.

  “I would love to have dinner here with you tonight. Thank you so much for inviting me.” He brushed past Ashlynn and walked into her home, knowing this one step just changed everything between them, and he hoped it was for the better, because before this date was over, Ashlynn was going to know who she was to him.

  Chapter Eight

  After wiping his mouth with the napkin, Jace laid it down next to his plate on the living room table. Instead of having dinner in the kitchen, Ashlynn talked him into eating on the couch so they could be close while they got to know each other better.

  Food had been the last thing on his mind when Ashlynn curled up next to him, smelling like an angel but dressed like the most sinful fantasy a man could fantasize about. He was about to yank Ashlynn across his lap and kiss the hell out of her if she touched his leg one more time.

  “You didn’t talk about yourself much over dinner,” Ashlynn said, placing her wine glass next to his on the table. “So, why don’t you tell me what makes Devin’s older brother tick? Why did you come to see him after all of these years?”

  “I have owned a nightclub in Atlanta for the past ten years. I really don’t get to do that much, because I spend most of my time there so it will run smoothly. If a mistake is made, I would rather it be made on my watch instead of Clark’s,” he answered.

  “Who is Clark?” she asked.

  “Clark Kent has been my business partner for the past four years, because I was burning the candle at both ends and needed a break from the ins and outs of my business.”

  “Are you serious? His name is really Clark Kent like from the Superman movies? God, I know he must have gotten teased a lot growing up.”

  “Clark is able to handle himself in any situation, so I’m pretty sure he didn’t get teased a lot growing up.” Jace made sure to leave out his buddy was built like a linebacker and no one in their right mind was crazy enough to bother him.

  “Well, you answered a part of my question. What about the other one?” Ashlynn questioned, sliding closer to him on the couch.

  His cock twitched inside of his slacks as his mate’s scent stirred up the beginning of satisfaction again. She really had to stop being so tempting or his fangs would be out before he had a chance to stop them.

  “Oh, I came to see Devin because I wanted to work on mending the fence to our strained relationship. The last time he came to me for help, I didn’t act like a loving brother. I shouldn’t have treated him like a stranger, and I feel like I should make up for it.”

  “No, that isn’t the question I was referring to. Tell me what makes you tick. What are your turn-ons and turn-offs when it comes to a woman?”

  Reaching out, Jace brushed his thumb over her cheek, and she almost purred from the instant pleasure his touch gave her. What was it about him that turned her into a puddle of sexual desire?

  “I’m turned on by a woman who is smart, sassy, and true to themselves. Unabashed confidence will keep me interested in her more than hanging on to my every word. I need for her to be her own woman while she’s with me. I need to be able to rely on her to stand at my side.”

  “What about a woman who makes the first move? Are you turned on by them as well?” Ashlynn asked, placing her hand on Jace’s thigh.

  One eyebrow arched as he glanced down at her hand, then back up into her eyes. “What red-blooded man isn’t turned on by a gorgeous woman who knows what she wants?”

  Not needing another sign of encouragement, Ashlynn moved toward him, impelled involuntarily by her own passion. She leaned closer and kissed Jace the second their mouths met, a delicious shudder heating her body.

  Gathering her into his arms, he pulled her roughly to him, but Ashlynn didn’t care, because she felt drugged by Jace’s clean and manly scent. One of his wide hands slid down her back and pressed her breasts farther into his chest. She loved how her soft curves molded perfectly to the contours of his strong, hard body, as if they were built for only each other.

  The tip of Jace’s tongue traced the corner of her lips, begging for entrance, and she didn’t make him wait any longer. Ashlynn opened her mouth, giving herself freely to the passion of the kiss and the heat Jace was creating inside of her body.

  “Ashlynn, you taste so good,” he whispered against her swollen lips. “Like a warm peach.”

  She smiled against his mouth. “It’s my lip gloss. You don’t taste bad yourself. How about we get more comfortable and take this into the bedroom? I know there is no way you can fit out here on my couch. It’s too small for the both of us.”

  Minutes rolled by while she waited for an answer, and then Jace’s body eased back from her. His large hand took her face and held it gently as he stared down into her eyes. She could see the desire in his, along with something else she couldn’t quite put her finger on, but she wasn’t getting a good feeling about Jace making love to her tonight.

  “Baby, I can’t make love to you. It wouldn’t be right. There is something you need to know about me first.”

  Ashlynn slapped Jace’s hand off her face. “You’re married, aren’t you?” She jumped up off the couch and hurried around the table, going straight for the front door. “You need to leave. God, I should have listened to Krishell when she told me to stay away from you.”

  “I’m not married,” Jace said and got up from the couch, grabbing her by the arm. He spun her back around to face him. “Will you calm down and let me tell you why I backed off?”

  “No, I don’t want to hear anything,” she hollered, jerking her arm away, ignoring the pain that shot through it. “I should have known you were too good to be true. So, if you don’t have a wife, what do you have, a girlfriend or a fiancée? Does she know that you are cheating on her?”

  “I’m not involved with anyone. I want to be with you tonight more than anything, but I can’t until you know the truth about me. You have to accept me before I can make love to you.”

  “Great, I can’t wait to hear what you are going to come up with for turning me down. Most men would love to have a one-night stand with no attachment or promise of tomorrow from the woman. You aren’t making any sense. Why can’t you do it, and what do I have to accept?”

  “Ashlynn, I’m a vampire, and you’re my mate,” Jace said with a straight face.

  Chapter Nine

  Ashlynn stared at Jace, and then she burst out laughing at the craziness of the situation. In the past couple of months, she had men break up with her for countless reasons. Some men even told her that she was too ambitious for them to even start up a relationship with her, b
ut none of them ever lied about being a supernatural being to get out of having sex with her.

  Raising her hand, she wiped the tears from her eyes. Well, at least after Jace was gone out of her life, she would never forget him because of this reason right here. This hands down was the best lie she had ever heard of in her twenty-eight years.

  “Okay…sure you are.” She chuckled after she had gotten control of herself better. “Jace, you didn’t have to lie to me. All you had to do was tell me you weren’t interested in more than dinner, and I would have understood, but lying about being a vampire is a little over the top.”

  His blond eyebrows drew downward into a frown. “I’m not a liar, and I don’t appreciate you calling me one. I’m telling you the truth. You are the only woman destined to be with me for the rest of your life. You weren’t able to commit to those other men because your body’s instinct knew they weren’t right for you.”

  Her smile faded a little when Jace looked at her straight in the eye, as if he believed the words coming out of his mouth. How in the hell did she end up alone in her living room with a crazy person? The next time Krishell warned her to stay away from someone, she would listen better, but first she would play along to get Jace out of her home.

  “Okay, if you are a vampire, why didn’t you burn up in the sunlight today? Is that supposed to be the worst thing to hurt you?”

  “You are talking about things from folklore.” Jace sighed, running his fingers through his hair. “I can be out in sunlight just as long as you. I don’t sleep in a wooden box or run away from a crucifix. None of those things can hurt me. I swear that I’m telling you the truth, but if you don’t believe me, I will continue to suffer from satisfaction.”

  Jace wanted Ashlynn’s first time with him to be filled with pleasure, and he couldn’t promise it would be if they made love during satisfaction, which without a doubt was the most intense time during a vampire’s life. He had to tell her everything sooner than he wanted to, but she was feeling the pull of their bond hotter than he could ever envision possible.

  “All right, let’s say that I believe everything you are telling me, and that is a big if,” she said, looking at him. “I want you to prove to me that you are a real vampire. Not like the character Barnabas Collins Jonathan Frid used to play on the old Dark Shadows re-runs I would watch with my mother.

  “Do you have superhuman strength, hypnotic power to make me do anything you want me to against my will? Or what about those heightened senses that you can smell something from miles away?”

  He wanted to be mad at Ashlynn for the way she was mixing up fiction with reality, but he couldn’t, because so many American television shows had been made about vampires that he stopped watching them after a while, but they started getting on his nerves too badly.

  “How can I prove to you that I’m telling you the truth?” he asked.

  “Don’t ask, just do it,” Ashlynn told him.

  “All right, I will.”

  Without even thinking about it, Jace vanished from right in front of Ashlynn. “Was that good enough proof for you?” he whispered against the back of her neck.

  “Shit,” Ashlynn screamed as she spun around, almost tripping over the chair right behind her, but Jace’s hands shot out and caught her before she hit the carpet.

  “You really are a vampire,” she whispered, shaking slightly as she took a nervous step back from him. “This can’t be real. I can’t wrap my mind around all of this. It’s too much. I only wanted to have a hot one-night stand with your fine ass, and now you’re telling me I’m your mate. Doesn’t that mean I’m supposed to be with you forever? I remember that from all of the vampire movies I used to watch, or was that wrong too?”

  “No, baby, you’re right about that part. If you accept me and allow me to turn you, then you will be with me forever. You won’t ever age a day older than you are right now, and you won’t ever get sick,” Jace told her.

  “What’s satisfaction?”

  “It’s when a vampire’s body burns to be with his mate. He can’t handle being around her for a long period of time, because it makes the need to turn her more intense, and if he takes his mate during that moment, it may not be very pleasant for her.”

  “I can’t handle this,” Ashlynn whispered to herself as she started pacing around the room. “Maybe you’re wrong about me. Could your mate be someone else?”

  “No, it’s you. I have been carrying around a picture of you for almost two hundred years.”

  Ashlynn stumbled over her own two feet as she pivoted and faced Jace again. He was still standing in the same spot she left him. “Are you fucking telling me that you’re hundreds of years old? How did you even get a picture of me? I wasn’t around that long ago.”

  “My father is one of the oldest-living vampires, and he had pictures of Devin’s and my mate locked away. I found mine and went in search of you, but I didn’t know it would take this long to find you.”

  Jace took a step toward Ashlynn, but she held up her hand, holding him off. “You’re telling me that Devin is a vampire and now my best friend is one too?”

  “Yes,” he answered after a few moments. “Devin probably turned Krishell the first night they made love to keep her safe. That’s why I couldn’t make love to you until you knew all of this. I want you with everything in me, but for more than just a quick fling. Forever is like second nature to a vampire when it comes to his mate. He won’t just fuck her and then leave her.”

  “I’m honestly not ready for this,” Ashlynn mumbled, shaking her head. “I…”

  “Darling, please listen to me. It isn’t as bad as you think. Let me help walk you through the entire process. I love you, and I swear I will make everything as painless as possible, but I need…no have to be with you for more than one stupid night.”

  * * * * *

  She jumped when Jace’s hands touched her shoulders and began pulling her toward his body. Damn…she hadn’t even felt him come across the room to her. She couldn’t let him trick her into doing this with some soft-spoken words and a gentle touch. This was the rest of her life he was talking about, and none of this sounded sane to her.

  “You need to leave. I want you to go.”

  “Ashlynn, I know you’re frightened, but don’t send me away. I can’t handle being apart from you. Please, baby.”

  “No,” she shouted, glaring at Jace as fear began to completely take over her mind. “Leave now.”

  His bright blue eyes went a shade dimmer as Jace let go of her shoulders and stepped away from her. “I’m not giving up on you or us. I will get you to accept what we are supposed to have with each other,” he swore before he vanished again right before her eyes.

  How could she accept it when she was still having a hard time believing any of this was real? What was she going to do? Once again, she wished she had listened to Krishell’s warning and just left Jace Diamont the hell alone.

  Chapter Ten

  Five days later…

  “I can’t believe Ashlynn hasn’t come to me,” Jace complained, staring at Devin across the kitchen table. “I mean I laid everything out on the line for her when we had dinner, and nothing has happened since then, and I’m thoroughly pissed. How can she keep running from me like this? I need her; satisfaction is getting harder to fight off. My body knows she’s so close but untouchable.”

  “Krishell ran from me too when she realized what she had gotten herself into, but she came back to me, and look at how happy the two of us are now,” his brother pointed out.

  “Our two situations aren’t the same at all. Your mate had already accepted you and let you change her the same damn night, but mine is in hiding from me. Don’t you know she isn’t answering her phone and she hasn’t even been to work? She has another choreographer teaching her classes. I should just vanish right into her house and shake some sense into that beautiful head of hers.”

  “You know you can’t force her into accepting you, but you can give Ashlynn wha
t she wants.”

  Leaning across the table, Jace glared at his brother. “You can’t be talking about what I think you are. It will go against everything a true vampire believes in. We are supposed to honor our mate, not use them just for our sexual pleasure. What is wrong with you? Why would you tell me to do that?”

  “For you to be almost three hundred years old, you haven’t learned anything in all of those years.” Devin sighed. “Only give Ashlynn a taste of what she wants and then back off at the very last minute. Make her see how it would be each and every day between the two of you when she decides to become your mate and wife. It will dawn on her that love, commitment, and mutual respect mingled with some mind-blowing sex is every single thing she had been looking for in her life.”

  “Fuck, little brother. You have really grown a pair over the last hundred years. I never believed you could think of something so brilliant. You’re right. I will give her a little taste of paradise and then walk away. I know her better than she knows herself. She might have spent the last five days in hiding, but I know she’s at the dance studio right now. I’m going to get my woman.”

  “I wish you luck,” Devin said.

  “I don’t need luck. I’m a Diamont, and I always get what I want, no matter how much Ashlynn might be putting up a fight. I already have half of her heart; all I have to do is grab the rest before she knows whatever happened.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Music played softly in the background as Ashlynn danced around in front of the wall in her studio. She cancelled the rest of her classes for today and told her new assistant to take the rest of the day off. She needed to unwind, and the best way she knew how was through her dancing. Sweat poured down her body as her high heels clicked against the tile on the floor and her hips swayed to the beat of the melody.