Radclyffe & Stacia Seaman - Romantic Interludes 2 - Secrets

by Radclyffe;Stacia Seaman

  “Wow.”

  “I thought since we didn’t have time to pick up any lube, I’d let you provide that for me,” Jessica whispered in her ear, drawing her close. Their breasts brushed lightly, teasingly. Jessica pulled Skyler’s head down for a heated kiss and then nudged her foot to encourage her to widen her stance.

  Skyler felt the dildo, warm and firm, rubbing between her legs and across her still-hard clit. Her breath hitched. Her clitoris twitched at the contact. But before she was too far gone, Jessica knelt and secured the dildo against Skyler’s throbbing sex. When Skyler reached for her, Jessica stepped back.

  “Uh-uh, babe. You have to come to me.”

  When Jessica lay back on the bed and pulled her knees up, Skyler didn’t know if she was going to faint or orgasm at the sight. Lord, what had she done to deserve this woman? Whatever it was, she wanted to keep doing it. Forever. And ever.

  Jessica ran her fingers between her legs and then held them up for inspection. “This is what you do to me.”

  “My turn to show you what I can really do to you,” Skyler growled. She licked Jessica’s fingers clean before slipping her tongue deep into Jessica’s mouth. She massaged Jessica’s breast and maneuvered the slick cock between Jessica’s legs. When she slowly slid it in, they both moaned.

  They coupled face-to-face, breast to breast. Jessica’s cry from her first orgasm still echoed in the room when she flipped over onto her knees and demanded, “Again.”

  Skyler’s staccato grunts grew louder and her pace quickened. It was an erotic fantasy come to life as Jessica arched her back to meet her thrusts. The dildo’s base rubbed the length of Skyler’s clit with each stroke, making it feel as though it was, indeed, a part of her own body stretching her lover’s warm vagina.

  “Yes,” Jessica hissed when Skyler rose up to her knees, pulling Jessica’s hips upward to both increase and change the angle of penetration.

  The tingling began building in Skyler’s groin and she drove faster, deeper, flesh slapping against flesh. Her legs began to shake at the sight of the pliant prosthesis sliding in and out, filling and stretching, and she reached around to stroke Jessica’s engorged clitoris with the same rhythm.

  “Oh God, baby. Come with me, Sky,” Jessica urged.

  Crying out as one, they thrust together, riding out the last waves of their orgasms. Jessica finally collapsed onto the bed, exhausted. They lay together, their hearts pounding in synch. Jessica moaned when Skyler finally shifted her weight to pull the cock free.

  “Damn, babe. You are really good at this,” Jessica panted.

  Skyler’s chest puffed out at Jessica’s compliment. She quickly divested herself of the equipment and flopped onto her back to pull her lover close. She loved the way Jessica’s smaller body felt resting on top of hers. She ran her fingertips down the lightly muscled back and rested her hands on the firm buttocks. God, she loved Jessica’s ass. She loved all of this woman, this wonderful woman who had given her lost and drifting soul an anchor. What had she given in return?

  Skyler had only been at the bar to collect their drinks for a few minutes, but by the time she walked back to their table there was already a very attractive dark-haired stranger leaning close to Jessica, crowding Jessica’s personal space.

  “You seem to be conveniently alone.” The woman leaned closer than was necessary for Jessica to hear her speaking.

  “My partner is at the bar, getting us a drink.”

  The woman reached out, grabbed Jessica’s left hand, and held it up to look at it. “Must be a business partner, because I don’t see a ring on this finger. Or else this woman doesn’t think much of what she has.”

  She saw Jessica pull her hand back and frown. Time to step in.

  “Here you go, love. Are you about ready to hit the dance floor?”

  Jessica took the offered drink and rewarded Skyler with a quick kiss. Skyler wrapped a possessive arm around her and looked inquiringly at the other woman.

  “This is my partner, Skyler Reese,” Jessica said. “Sky, this is…” Jessica raised a questioning eyebrow at the woman, waiting her answer.

  The woman bowed slightly. “I can see it doesn’t matter. Pardon my intrusion.”

  Skyler scowled as the woman retreated. The ring remark bothered her. She needed to do something about that.

  “A penny for those heavy thoughts,” Jessica said.

  “Well, these thoughts are worth more than a few pennies.” Skyler wiggled out from under Jessica’s comfortable weight and padded across the room to retrieve her jeans. She really had planned to do this over a romantic dinner, not in the nude in a hotel room. But the moment seemed right just the same. It was the way she wanted to give herself to Jessica, exposed and vulnerable, emotionally as well as physically.

  So Skyler knelt beside the bed. Her eyes brimmed with tears. After a long minute, she choked out what was on her heart.

  “Jessica, will you marry me, be my partner for life?” She opened the jeweler’s box to reveal a brilliant sapphire flanked by a pair of diamonds in a warm gold setting.

  When Jessica pulled back in surprise, Skyler felt a surge of panic. That reaction wasn’t what she’d expected.

  “I’m not asking you to change your name or anything,” she blurted. “It’s just, if we’re going to raise children together…no, that didn’t sound right…” Damn it. She stared down at the bed. She could never seem to say what she meant.

  Jessica smiled at her partner’s consternation.

  “Oh, Sky, it’s so beautiful. Yes.”

  “Yes?” Skyler asked hopefully.

  “Yes, I’ll marry you…in front of the world, or in front of just a few friends. I could never love another like I love you, honey.”

  Skyler slid the ring onto Jessica’s finger, tears finally spilling over.

  “I love you, Jess. I would be so lost without you. I want to wake up next to you every morning for the rest of my life,” she said, her voice cracking with emotion. “I want to raise children with you…children who will grow up knowing they, too, belong.”

  “That’s exactly what I want, too,” Jessica replied, gently wiping away Skyler’s tears.

  Skyler climbed back into bed and they held each other close, talking of the future between kisses, bonding gently, soul deep.

  “You never told me you wanted to use…you know,” Skyler said after a while. “I’m never going to be able to drive past this hotel again without getting horny.”

  “Me neither.” Jessica blushed. “I wasn’t sure how to bring it up. I meant to ask, did you remember to push the plunger at the right time?”

  Uh-oh. “Was I supposed to do that?”

  “What’s the point if, when the time really comes, you forget to push the plunger?” Jessica laughed. “I think you’re going to need a lot more practice, stud.”

  Skyler grinned. “I think I’m going to like this baby-making business even more than I thought.”

  Nell Stark and Trinity Tam would like to blame Radclyffe for infecting them with vampirism. “Tenebrosidad” takes place one hundred years prior to the events of the novel everafter (October 2009). www.everafterseries.com.

  Tenebrosidad

  Nell Stark and Trinity Tam

  I had been sneaking out of Villa Carrizo since my adolescence, but whereas before I had been running away from the drudgery of chores, the monotonous pettiness of my sisters, and the oppressive henpecking of my mother, today I was running toward my future. Throwing open the windows that led out onto my small balcony, I allowed the rope in my hands to uncoil and secured one end to the railing. I nudged the other end with my toe, sending it sliding off the edge and down through the leaves that crowned the quebracho tree growing in the gap between the side of the house and the wall. Knotting my skirt, I expertly slid a few feet down the rope until my feet connected with a firm branch. I steadied myself against the thick trunk before looping the rope around the branch and edging cautiously toward the wall.

  Moments later,
I had dropped down over the barrier that separated the villa from the outside world and was walking briskly toward town. Toward the small white house that stood on its outskirts, overlooking a bend in the river. Toward her, and the peace that only her embrace could offer. She had sent word yesterday of her return to Argentina, and finally—months after her sudden and secret journey across the ocean—we would be reunited.

  Even in my memory, the beauty of her stirred me, jagged arrows of heat igniting beneath my skin. She had captivated me from the start…

  I stepped into the circle of light around the bonfire, silencing the rumbling murmur of masculine voices as effectively as if I had slit their throats. The heads of five families stood in a knot close to the fire, as though it would afford them protection against the Others—their masters—who formed their own group, silent and apart.

  Not their masters. Our. I took my rightful place among the mortals, tucking my arms beneath my breasts to hide the shaking of my hands. Some of the men regarded me with sneers of undisguised contempt. The others looked away.

  “Solana Carrizo, we welcome you among us.” The voice was smooth, confident in its softness. I hesitated before dipping into a formal curtsey. My father had neglected to instruct me on how to properly greet a vampire.

  The meeting commenced with no further introductions. While the men discussed cattle, I discreetly examined the vampires before me. There was one more of them than there was of us—seven to our six. They ranged in height and age, sharing only their distinctive porcelain skin, untouched by the rays of the sun for God only knew how long. They were beautiful, as if by stilling the hands of time they had also learned to transcend the mortal aesthetic. A flicker of motion caught my attention. The seventh vampire had moved a few feet away from the others, clearly distinguishing herself as an observer. I started. Herself. Her long, dark hair was the same hue as the fabric of her trousers and blouse, and her pale, angular face rose above her high collar like a three-quarters moon.

  She was stunning. As though I had spoken the words aloud, she turned to look directly at me. Clear blue eyes caught my own and held me. Legend had it that these creatures could bewitch with a glance, but I sensed no trace of devilish sorcery working within me—only the subtle force of her beauty. When her eyebrows arched and her lips twitched, I realized I was staring. Heat crept into my cheeks, and I quickly returned my attention to the meeting.

  My father had told me—no, warned me—of their dangerous allure. Barely a week ago, in a startling deathbed proclamation that overturned decades of precedent, he had named me his heir. With his last breath, he had whispered the existence of a letter, tucked away in the hidden compartment of his desk. My last moment of innocence.

  No. Not innocence—ignorance. My family name was steeped in blood, had been for generations. How, how had I lived for twenty years without perceiving the black bargain made between the landowning estancieros and the vampires of Buenos Aires? They gave us wealth and patronage, security in these tumultuous days at the dawn of a new century. In return, they asked for the blood of our people. Blood that was now my obligation to deliver.

  “The Incas knew the wisdom of this kind of sacrifice,” my father had written. “For generations, this family has provided for the needs of the one who calls himself Romero, and he has rewarded us for our faithfulness.” I burned the letter after I read it, just as my father had asked. Only one in each generation was allowed to know the secret. My father’s burden, and now mine.

  I stole another glance at the female vampire. Her dark lips glistened in the flickering light of the bonfire. Who fed her, I wondered. A prickle of jealousy crawled up my spine, surprising me. I thought of what it would be like to wrap strands of her hair around my fingers, tugging her closer as she slid her teeth into my skin. The flood of heat returned, and I shivered at its strength. It wouldn’t be a burden to feed her.

  The meeting ended just past midnight. There were a few quiet, terse conversations amongst the men as we mounted our horses. No one spoke to me. I would not have allowed their reticence to bother me regardless of the circumstances, but now, I barely even registered the silence. Her face remained imprinted on my mind’s eye, and as I wheeled my white mare in the direction of my estate, I could think of nothing else.

  So distracted was I that I didn’t perceive the oncoming surge of motion until the other rider was on top of me, seizing my horse’s bridle with one large fist and wrenching at my arm with the other. Surprise and terror conspired to turn my scream into a low, choking gasp.

  Diego Vargas, the leader of the estancieros.

  In that moment, the irony that my attacker was not one of the monsters, but rather a man I had called “uncle” as a child, was not lost on me. I had underestimated all of them. I should have known that the other families would never stand for a woman who knew the secret. And now I would pay the ultimate price for my lack of foresight.

  But just as I felt him gather the strength to throw me to the ground, I heard a sickly thud, and he slumped forward in his saddle with a loud cry. The movement almost pulled me under his horse’s hooves, and I clung desperately to the neck of my mare, weaving my fingers into the strands of her mane. Neighing shrilly, she shied away, easily breaking his now-loosened grip…and I found myself staring in relieved horror at the ornately gilded hilt of a knife sticking out just below his left shoulder.

  With no small effort, I reined my horse to a stop several yards in front of Vargas and sat trembling at the gruesome sight of him, now half dangling from his lathered mount, contorting himself in an effort to remove the weapon from his own body. When another horse and rider emerged from the dense foliage behind him, I gathered myself—whether to scream or to run, I did not know. But my mouth opened silently, and my hand on the reins was nerveless.

  Her.

  Again, our eyes met—hers brilliant blue and mesmerizing. Slowly, she raised a single, elegant finger to her lips, inclining her head in Vargas’s direction. I wanted to convey my assent—to assure her that this secret, too, would be safe in my keeping. But my limbs were heavy, weighed down by fear. She finally looked away, breaking the spell, and withdrew a pistol from her waistband. I started in horror, but rather than cocking it, she urged her horse alongside Vargas’s and dashed the gun against his head before he had even registered her presence. Grasping the collar of his shirt, she heaved his body backward. When the dead weight tumbled to the ground, the horse bolted. She let it go.

  A long shudder ran through me then, returning the strength to my fingertips. I could only guess what she planned to do, and jealousy seized me again.

  Jerking hard on the reins, I fled without looking back.

  *

  She preceded me into the bedroom and bent over the nightstand. Seconds later, a match flared, and I watched as she lit two candles. She raised her eyes to mine then, extinguishing the match by pinching it between her thumb and forefinger. The unquenchable flame at the heart of me surged in anticipation at the thought of her touch on my skin.

  If she heard the increase in my breathing, she gave no sign. She did not move. She did not speak. I felt her reticence for what it was—a gift. The temporary relinquishing of control. But my lingering doubts had been turned to ash in the crucible of our separation. I wanted her. I needed her, in my very soul.

  My hands trembled at the buttons of my blouse, but not out of fear. She sighed as I pushed the fabric down my shoulders, revealing the light silk camisole beneath. Without hesitation, I drew it over my head, and this time her breath caught in her throat.

  I smiled, feeling powerful as I first slipped off my sandals, then slowly slid my skirt down the length of my legs. I wore nothing beneath.

  “Solana.” My name on her lips was a prayer, charged with need.

  “Your turn,” I whispered.

  She undressed quickly, efficiently, laying bare her strong, thin arms and the nearly flat plane of her stomach before reaching back to unclasp her brassiere. Her breasts were smaller than mine, t
heir tips the color of coral. I wanted to kiss them.

  In another moment, she too was naked. I watched the contraction of her leg muscles as she stepped out of her linen trousers…and then I allowed my eyes to feast, following the lines and curves of her, feeling my mouth go dry as I took in the dark patch of hair between her legs.

  Desire propelled me forward—one step, then another. With only a few feet separating us, I paused, uncertain not about my choice but about what should come next. Sensing my confusion, she stretched out her hand, palm upturned, candlelight flickering off her pale skin.

  I reached out to take it…

  *

  I sat atop the wall that enclosed the villa, my location partially obscured by the gnarled tree that I had been using to reach this very spot since I was a child. It had been my first secret. I kept more now. Romero was a patient teacher and, I learned, a good master. He told me that he preferred to hunt and would rarely require my services to procure blood. However, the previous night he had come to me, face gaunt and eyes dark. I had known, without a word being uttered, that it was time for me to fulfill my end of the bargain. I led Romero down to the small stockade below the stables. We had caught a cattle thief three days before; he had tried to resist arrest and managed to break my foreman’s arm in two places before we subdued him. I conjured up that image now, of the white bone protruding jaggedly from my man’s bloodied arm while the thief pummeled him, foaming at the mouth like a rabid animal. Like an animal, I reminded myself as tears cascaded down my cheeks and I fumbled with the key to let Romero in.