Tall, Dark and Paranormal: 10 Thrilling Tales of Sexy Alpha Bad Boys

by Opal Carew

  “Grampa.” Ollie looked at Henrietta.

  Anxiety bloomed throughout the room. Samantha could not know it, of course, but she was asking them to delve into parts of their existence they mostly tried to avoid. Of course, her recent pain was as significant as our own. She didn’t ask so much more of us than she’d done herself.

  After a moment, Henrietta simply replied, “For Robert, Robby, and Lucretia.”

  “For Joseph and Thomas,” Jed said quietly.

  “For our parents and brother,” Catherine said. Rebecca nodded.

  “Maggie.” William looked to Griffin.

  “Charlotte and the children,” he said.

  “I would like to remember my parents,” Anna said shyly.

  It had come around to me. Samantha squeezed my hand under the table. Catherine braced for the onslaught. “For Lena, Isabetta, and Joe.”

  Two waves of surprise hit me. First, from Catherine, who was surprised because my saying their names hadn’t been accompanied by the wave of pain she expected. Second, from Samantha, because I had included her father among my loved ones. A tear stole down her cheek closest to me. I wiped it away.

  I picked up my wine glass, which Henrietta had already filled. “To our loved ones.” Everyone raised and clinked glasses with those nearest them, repeating my toast in a chorus before bringing their glass to their lips.

  “Please, everyone, dig in,” Griffin said ceremoniously. A chuckle went around the table.

  I handed the bowls to Samantha first, who fixed her and Ollie’s plates. Ollie studied Henrietta with interest as she filled her plate with food. Henrietta looked at me. I shrugged.

  Everyone kept an eye on what and how much Samantha was putting on her plate. Before long, the turkey, gravy, dressing, potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, and corn bread had circled the table.

  This much food went back to the old days of our food dares. I knew the men were thinking of that as well.

  The good news was Samantha was hungry. She seemed to have more of an appetite tonight than I’d seen in months. The bad news was Samantha was hungry. People kept making alternately funny, annoyed, and incredulous faces at me when Samantha wasn’t looking.

  The conversation was great. Samantha told animated stories about Ollie’s antics, which Ollie added to by narrating her own versions of the stories. Ollie also entertained everyone by telling jokes. She was so earnest in her telling everyone laughed at them. Catherine regaled us with stories of her travels. Samantha mentioned our trip to see Phantom of the Opera and unintentionally set off a fifteen-minute debate about which was the best Broadway musical. Since they lived relatively close to New York City, they availed themselves of the theater frequently and all had strong opinions. Samantha laughed at how passionate they were in defending their choices.

  As Samantha finished, Anna abruptly excused herself from the table. I didn’t know exactly where she went, but it was close enough for the vampires to hear her lose her dinner. Everyone laughed. Samantha looked at me questioningly. I distracted her with a kiss.

  As everyone rose from the table to help clean up, William went to check on Anna. No one was surprised she was the first one out. She was the youngest and therefore the least used to ingesting human food.

  Once we’d cleared the table, several of us congregated in the kitchen to wash the dishes and put everything away. Ollie performed Christmas carols for the others in the great room and every so often we’d hear them clap or join in. She was the life of the party.

  When we were done in the kitchen, Samantha pulled a package out of the bags in the foyer and took it into the great room. “Would you like to open one present tonight, Ollie?”

  “Yeah!” She grabbed the snowman-covered box and tore the paper off. She pulled the box apart and found a pair of Christmas princess pajamas. “Yay! Princesses! Thanks, Mommy.” She tossed them aside. “Can I open another one? Please?”

  “Nope. Santa will bring the rest late tonight…if you go to sleep in time. Come on.”

  “Lucien,” Henrietta called, “put Ollie in your room. You and Sam can have the guest suite.”

  I nodded, then headed to the hallway to grab our bags and led Samantha and Ollie upstairs to my old room. A number of picture frames were gone from the dresser; they’d put away all of the photographs and other things throughout the house that would’ve been out of place chronologically for any of us.

  Ollie jumped up on the mission-style queen bed and stretched out her arms and legs. “Wow! This is big!”

  While Samantha got Ollie changed into her new pajamas, I walked our bags down to the guest suite. When I returned, we kissed Ollie good night and went back downstairs.

  At the bottom of the steps, we retrieved three bags of packages and lugged them into the great room. Samantha knelt on the ground and spread the packages out under the tree. Most were for Ollie, but she also had presents for all of the rest of us there, too. I went out to the truck to grab my presents and added them to the piles she had started.

  Everyone was gathered on the leather couches except…”Where are Rebecca and Jed?” I asked.

  Catherine smirked. “They’ll be right back. Rebecca wasn’t feeling well and went…to take some medicine. Nothing serious.” That made two.

  Griffin and Henrietta walked out of the room and returned several moments later with their own gifts. Samantha gasped when she saw the purple princess bike with training wheels and ribbons hanging from the handlebars. “Griffin, that’s too much.”

  “Please, Samantha. It’s not. She’s the only child here for Christmas. Please let us splurge on her.” I knew Griffin had to restrain Henrietta. If she’d had her way she would’ve bought the whole toy store for Ollie.

  Samantha relented. She knew Ollie would absolutely love a bike. “Thank you, guys, so much. She’s going to flip when she sees that.” Before long, a literal mountain of wrapped packages appeared underneath the tree.

  When Jed and Rebecca returned, she nonchalantly proposed watching It’s a Wonderful Life. Everyone agreed and piled on the couches. Samantha cuddled into me. Griffin and Henrietta smiled.

  I never imagined in a hundred years I could have all of this happiness at one time.

  For the first time in an impossibly long time, I wasn’t alone. I wasn’t the odd man out. I was no longer a one. Instead, for the first time, I was one of two—one of three, actually. And I was finally free from the sense of guilt and betrayal that once plagued any effort I made for happiness.

  In that moment, I belonged like never before. My family surrounded me, supported me, loved me. And Samantha and Ollie were fundamentally a part of that now.

  I was home.

  ***

  Everyone retired to their rooms around midnight. Samantha and I were sleeping in the guest suite, which was in the newer section of the house and featured a huge king-size poster bed and an adjoining bathroom with a Jacuzzi tub.

  I threw my clothes over the back of a chair and walked into the bathroom in a pair of gray boxers and a white beater. I closed the door to give Samantha privacy to change and made a show of flushing the toilet. I returned to the bed and froze.

  Samantha was sprawled across it wearing nothing but dark red lace lingerie that sat off her shoulders and closed with satin ribbons. Her golden hair cascaded around her neck and splayed out on the hunter green comforter around her. She looked exquisite. Pure and decadent at the same time.

  She held one finger up and beckoned me to her. I crawled up her body and held myself above her. I had no idea how I was going to be able to resist her when she looked like this and looked at me like that. For months, the depth of her grief had put any progression of our physical relationship on hold. She’d never before tempted me like this.

  “Merry Christmas, Lucien.”

  “It is, because of you. Merry Christmas.”

  She stroked her fingers from my cheeks, down my neck, and across my collar bones to my chest. Then she dropped her hands to her own chest and slowl
y untied the two satin ribbons that held the lace bodice together. The confidence she exuded was seductive, and the heat of her hunger coursed through my abdomen and groin.

  I rested my forehead against hers and closed my eyes. This is impossible.

  “Lucien?”

  I opened my eyes and met hers. “If I look at you when you look this incredible, dolcezza, I won’t be able to control myself.”

  “That’s sorta the point. I don’t want you to control yourself. We’ve been about as controlled as two adults should be. I was aiming for a lack of control tonight.” She pulled the lace completely off the sides of her chest just to make her point. “You’re what I want for Christmas. Please? I want you so much.”

  The way she offered herself to me was so appealing. She looked beyond beautiful, flushed with her desire and literally glowing. And I loved her more than my life.

  I lowered my weight onto her and found her mouth with mine, then ran my left hand down her arm, along the side of her breast to her hip, and back up. I stroked her tongue with mine and relished her taste. When I licked and nipped down her neck, I paused to suck gently over her carotid artery. You’re safe with me, Samantha. And I knew it was true. Her existence was fundamental to my own. I could never do anything to harm her.

  She rolled her hips up into mine, and we both groaned when she pressed herself against my erection. I slid down and kissed and licked between her breasts. She was so perfectly formed. I shifted to the side and licked over her nipple, then pulled it into my mouth with my lips. Her flesh pebbled harder as I sucked and tugged at her.

  “Oh, God.”

  I caressed her other breast in my hand and rolled her nipple between my fingers. She moaned and arched herself up into my mouth. The smell of her arousal was intoxicating. I had to focus to keep my fangs retracted.

  “Dio, you’re beautiful. So beautiful.”

  I moved my mouth to her other breast. She wound her fingers into my hair. Then I ran open-mouthed kisses down her stomach as she gasped and squirmed. Her skin was savory and sweet, pure and clean. I stroked my tongue down her side to her hip bone, where the thin red strap of her lace panties sat. She moaned as I licked my way across the edge of her panties from one hip bone to the other.

  “Off, please, Lucien.” She raised her head and our eyes met.

  I swallowed thickly as I hooked my fingers under the lacy material on each side of her hips and slowly slid them down and off her legs. She was completely naked before me, laid out like a sacred offering. I couldn’t keep my eyes from admiring the glistening pink skin between her legs. “You’re perfect,” I praised.

  Unclothed, her scent was much stronger and set my mouth to watering. I kissed up the inside of her right leg and paused to extend my tongue into the sensitive skin under her knee I knew pleased her. I nipped at the tender flesh along the inside of her thigh where her femoral artery pulsed under my mouth. A shiver passed through me, and I pressed my tongue hard against my canines to provide some of the counter-pressure they so badly wanted.

  I pushed her thighs open wide, allowing space to situate my shoulders between them. She whimpered and let out a shuddering breath. “I want to taste you, Sam. I’ve wanted to for so long.”

  “Oh, yes.” She used one arm to support her head as she looked down at me.

  I licked my lips as I met her eyes, then pressed a firm kiss directly on her wetness.

  She arched her back and sighed. “Oh, my God,” she rasped as I explored her sensitive flesh.

  “Cosí dolce,” I murmured, tasting the exquisite sweetness I’d expected. Slowly at first, I laved her with my tongue. I was mesmerized by her smell and her responsiveness to me as I lapped at her slick folds.

  “Please,” she whimpered as her hands found my hair.

  I groaned at her goodness as I stroked her with my tongue, alternating between hard and quick and deep and penetrating. Her taste was sweet and salty. I wanted to drink her down.

  She moaned and writhed and attempted to thrust herself into my mouth. I placed my hands on her hip bones to hold her still. I had to control this for both our sakes.

  “Oh. More, Lucien.”

  I sucked harder against her and slid a finger into her wet heat. I thrilled at being inside her as I always did. Samantha groaned. Her hands tightened in my hair as she tried to pull me closer. I added a second finger. She gasped and pushed harder. I worked my fingers in and out and curled them within her while I sucked at her tender flesh.

  The sounds she was making—for me, because of me—were among the most beautiful and erotic I’d heard in my entire existence. I groaned in pleasure and need.

  “Lucien. I’m… God…please…Unnhh…”

  The breathy sound of my name out of her mouth was enthralling.

  “You look so beautiful like this, Samantha. I want you to lose yourself. Lose yourself to me,” I commanded as I continued to stroke her with my fingers, my thumb finding the center of her need.

  “Mmm…oh God!” Her muscles constricted around me.

  “That’s right. Come on.” I sucked her swollen flesh into my mouth once again and fought the stinging demands of my fangs.

  She screamed and clenched around me, her body convulsing in pleasure, a pleasure that blazed through my entire being. I lapped at her offering and grunted in satisfaction as I swallowed greedily against her.

  When she stilled, I pulled my fingers free and sat up between her legs. I held her gaze as I sucked my fingers clean of her sweet essence. Cristo, she tastes phenomenal. I was thrilled she allowed me the privilege of pleasing her this way and couldn’t wait to do it again.

  She licked her lips as she watched me through heavy-lidded eyes. Then she surprised me by wrapping her feet around my back and pulling me down on top of her. I allowed her to move me and groaned when she rocked her hips against my erection, still restrained by my boxers.

  I took a deep breath, knowing I had things to tell her before we took this any further. I opened my mouth…

  And she pressed three fingers against my lips. “I can feel you holding back. I know you think there are things about your past I need to know. But please believe me, there’s nothing else about you I need to know before I make this decision. I know what I want. And I want you. Right now. Inside me. Please.”

  I knew I should say something, but my voice failed as her unwavering honesty and guileless need shot through me. I kissed her fingers before she dropped them.

  Determined, she tugged at my shirt. I helped her pull it over my head, still torn. She smoothed her hands over my chest, and I sucked in a breath through clenched teeth when she traced my Blood Mark. Then she hooked one of her toes into the waistband of my boxers and pushed it down.

  I let her, giving in with each passing second. The desire and need radiating from her fueled my own, and I finally resolved to let her take the lead and have what she wanted. Hell, what I wanted too.

  She managed to get my boxers down to my knees with her hands and feet, then I kicked them the rest of the way off. I had elevated myself above her in the process, enough for her to reach between us and grab my engorged length.

  “Ah, Dio.”

  She worked her warm hand up and down my heavy shaft. I was dying a slow, sweet death. She pushed at my chest and forced me upright, then wiggled her body between my legs so that— Dio!... when I realized what she was planning, I thought I would lose my mind—she could take me into her mouth as I straddled her. She licked up my length and moaned. Her satisfaction warmed me. A low growl rumbled in my chest. I was fascinated to smell how much my sounds heightened her arousal.

  “God, you taste good, Lucien.” She rested her head back against the bed and, with her hands on my rear, pulled me down to her waiting mouth.

  I grunted. She gripped my hips harder. I closed my eyes as I let her guide me.

  It had been years—decades—since someone had pleasured me this way, since someone had been so focused on taking care of me. I swallowed against the thickness that
suddenly gripped my throat. Forcing myself to stop thinking, I opened my eyes to find Samantha looking up at me as she swallowed my rigid length.

  I groaned at the visual. “Feels…so fucking good.”

  She moaned and the vibration stimulated me everywhere. The hot suction of Samantha’s mouth around me was insanely good. When she dragged her teeth down my length, I growled louder, and she moaned and bucked underneath me, her nails digging into my clenching muscles.

  The tingling around my canine teeth and the stinging in my eyes became painful. My instincts screamed for release. I could easily imagine the relief of my fangs stretching out and finding purchase against her skin. I clenched my eyes tight in concentration.

  Samantha pushed at my hips, urging me off of her and onto my back. I whimpered at the loss of her talented mouth. She quirked a devious little smile at me as she crawled up and straddled me. Again and again, she slid her wetness against my achingly engorged length. I grabbed her hips and ground us together harder to heighten the friction.

  She reached her arm across my face to the night stand. As she did, I caught her breast in my mouth and suckled. She groaned and paused while I worked my mouth over her, taking in as much of her as I could and fantasizing about drinking from her there.

  She pulled back and held up a square silver packet. “Do you mind? I mean, I know you can’t... um…but I…” For the first time since I joined her in the bed, she blushed.

  I reached up and cupped her face in my hand, grateful I wouldn’t have to broach the issue. “Of course not, love.” I would never deny her the ability to protect herself and, given the trace blood in my semen, she needed to.

  She turned her face and pressed a kiss against my palm, then ripped open the silver wrapper and deftly rolled the condom down over me.