“No, I don’t think you do.” He pressed the stop button and blocked the panel when she tried to push the button for her floor. “Not yet, love.”
Devi glowered at him. “Don’t patronize me.”
Mal blinked. “How am I doing that?”
Anger was making it difficult to think, and she took several cleansing breaths. “Look, I really do understand what happened,” she said in a much more reasonable tone. “You did what was necessary to save your father.”
He nodded, still not letting her press the button when she tried. Instead, he took her hand, holding firmly when she tried to snatch it away. “That’s right. When I cast the spell, my only interest was in the closest latent vampire. I didn’t care who or what you were. Hell, I would have seduced anyone, even a man, if that had been necessary.”
“Yeah, I got that.” She took another deep breath, finding it less effective for controlling her emotions when he stated the situation so bluntly. “Thanks for clearing it up, just in case I hadn’t.” It was all she could do to keep from rolling her eyes.
“I didn’t expect to find you, Devi.” He stroked her hand with his fingers, making her skin tingle with warmth. “You are passionate and caring, warm and vibrant. Even though I had betrayed your trust, you still helped me save my father. With your beautiful body and amazing sexual appetite, how could I ask for more?”
Devi wanted to believe him, but couldn’t allow herself to be hurt again. She stiffened her spine. “This really isn’t necessary. You don’t owe me anything, least of all one last pity-fuck, or whatever you’re here for.”
“That’s absurd.” A hint of anger darkened his eyes. “Why are you being so damned cold to me? I’m trying to tell you how I feel.”
“No.” Her tenuous control snapped, and she poked him in the chest. “You’re trying to tell me what you think I want to hear. You don’t have to feel guilty for fucking me, or nearly getting me killed. Slimy as some of your actions were, I understand why you did what you did. I’m even grateful that you helped me discover a key part of my physiology. All I want from you now is for you to leave me alone.”
In her tirade, she had driven him against the elevator panel and was standing much too close for her comfort. Coming to her senses, she started to take a step back, but his arms enfolded her. With her new level of strength, she could have thrown him off easily, but his proximity made her freeze, muff ling the voice of logic and encouraging the madness of surrendering to Mal. What could it hurt to pretend he really desired her just one more time?
“I can’t do that, love.”
Devi licked her dry lips. “Why not?”
“’Cause I’m crazy in love with you, Devi. If you tell me to leave, I will, but I’d rather you just ask me to rip my own heart out and stomp on it. That’ll be less painful.” His eyes shone with sincerity.
“Don’t be so melodramatic.” Despite her flippant words, she weakened, not sure what to believe. Her body melted against his, but she tried to resist. “I just can’t believe that.”
Mal shook his head, his expression one of confusion. “Why not?”
“It’s too convenient. What would you have found so appealing about me, Mal? Until Master Shol transformed me, I wasn’t even average. A man like you couldn’t have found me attractive.”
“What do you mean, a man like me?” he asked with narrowed eyes.
She shrugged. “You’re a musician, and you’re gorgeous. There’s a different woman for you every night, and you can have your pick of any of them. So why me?”
His mouth opened and closed a couple of times, as if he was formulating and rejecting different responses. Finally, he said, “I don’t know. I can’t explain why I feel the way I do. I just feel it. There hasn’t been a woman, ever, who made me feel the way you do. I want to spend the rest of my life exploring every inch of your body. I want to get to know everything about you. Just being with you, even right now when you are so angry and rejecting me, makes me happy.” Mal shrugged. “I don’t know what else you want me to say. How can I convince you?”
“Make love to me.” The words surprised her, but resounded with an echo of rightness. Only in the heat of passion would she be able to discern the facts. If he was telling the truth, she would know it. If he wasn’t, at least she would have one more blissful moment in his arms. She ignored the voice whispering to her that she already knew the truth. Why would he go through such an elaborate charade if he didn’t feel something? Did she really believe he would go so far with the pretense as to confess his love if he was just here out of a sense of obligation?
I don’t know.
Yes, you do, whispered that annoying voice. Tell him you believe him and enjoy each other for the right reasons.
He deserves to suffer a little uncertainty after everything he put me through without mercy. I don’t care what his reasons were. Ruthlessly, she refused to listen to her conscience. Devi closed her eyes, silenced the voice, and lifted her head to accept his kiss.
His lips were hot and moist against hers, and she opened her mouth, welcoming his tongue. She rubbed and stroked it with her own, matching his caresses as their tongues parried and thrust in imitation of the way their bodies would soon move. She gasped at the slight sting caused by him nibbling her lower lip, finding it more pleasurable than painful by far. As he swept the roof of her mouth, he hissed and recoiled. The taste of blood on her tongue had her checking her teeth, which had become fangs. Instinctively, she cupped her hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry,” she said, voice muff led.
Mal dabbed at a place on his tongue, and his fingers bore a trace of crimson when he withdrew them from his mouth. With a crooked grin, he reached for her again. “One of the hazards of making love with a vampire.”
Fear of hurting him had her resisting his attempts to embrace her again, and she tried to pull away. Her strength should have exceeded his, but perhaps his determination helped him keep her in the circle of his arms. She stared up at him, certain he could read the worry in her eyes. “I can’t control this thing yet. I don’t want to bite you.” The words were difficult to discern with her hand blocking her mouth, but she was superstitiously frightened to drop her arm, as if she would suddenly attack him if her mouth wasn’t covered.
He cupped her face in his palms, his expression serious. “I don’t care if you do. Really. I’d prefer you feed from me than some random stranger. If that’s part of our lovemaking from now on, I can accept that.”
She swallowed, finally dropping her hand from her mouth. “You’re awfully confident there will be more sex between us in the future.”
A full smile bloomed on his lips. “I’m going to spend every day of our first fifty years together learning everything there is to know about your body. When I know it all, I’m going to start over and relearn every curve, mound and niche again.”
Devi allowed herself to relax against him again, tentatively returning his kiss. Sealing her lips didn’t keep his determined tongue from squirming between them to plumb the moist recess beyond. Her fangs remained extended, but he deftly maneuvered around them this time. Soon, the passion overrode her hesitation, and she enthusiastically returned his kisses once more.
Devi wanted his bare skin against hers, so she grasped his shirt and tore it open. He chuckled as she stripped the ruined fabric from his arms and let it fall to the floor of the elevator. Primal need ruled her actions, lust directing her to drag her nails down his chest and stomach. He grunted, but didn’t withdraw. Her eyes widened when she broke the kiss to examine the result. Red scratches marred his perfect skin, and remorse needled her. She dipped her head to trace her tongue down the marks, soothing the sting. Mal shifted restlessly, clearly enjoying her tongue on him, and she went lower.
Her fingers were nimbler than ever, and she unfastened his jeans in seconds, peeling them down to his knees, along with the scrap of red he wore as a pair of briefs. Very briefs, she thought with a hint of amusement as she dropped to her knees. Devi looked up at him from her subs
ervient position, never having felt more control in her life. “Have I told you how much I like your cock?” She stroked the length as she asked the question.
“Devi, this is supposed to be about you. You don’t have to—”
“I know.” Devi licked the head of his shaft, thrilled by the way his body stiffened in response. “I want to.” She needed to. Not only did she want to taste his cock, to swallow his length again, she had to see if she could without losing control.
Devi opened her mouth wider and slid her hot mouth down his erection, taking him completely inside. At first, she bobbed her head slowly, enjoying the taste and texture of him inside her mouth. Gradually, she increased her pace, bobbing and sucking with more enthusiasm. Every few seconds, a spasm ran the length of his cock and transmitted to his body. He sagged against the wall, his ragged breathing the only sound in the cab, aside from her licking and sucking.
When he stiffened, she prepared for his orgasm. Mal’s cock convulsed, and she continued sucking, lapping up every pearly drop of his release. Her own control was tenuous, and her fangs were out, but she managed not to bite or nick him. Relief surged through her, and she released his erection when the last twitch finished. He was still semihard, and she grasped his shaft, meeting his gaze. The naked love in his eyes took her breath away, and she couldn’t doubt his words any longer.
With slow, gentle strokes and light squeezes, Devi coaxed his erection forth again. A light kiss on the tip of his head made his cock jerk in her hands, and she looked up. “Save the next round for inside me, Mal.”
“And the next, and the one after that, too,” he agreed as he took her arms and lifted her to her feet. Mal slammed his mouth over hers in a heated kiss, his tongue not at all shy about entering her mouth. Liquid heat ran down Devi’s thighs, and she reached between them to push aside the panties chafing her so unbearably. Grateful she’d worn a short minidress that evening, she pushed it up to her hips and plunged a finger into her pussy to stroke her neglected core. She whimpered when he pulled her hand from her heated flesh. “That’s my job, love.” Mal licked her finger thoroughly before releasing her hand.
“Take off your dress.” His commanding tone excited her, and she grasped the hem of the indigo denim sheath, peeling the garment over her head and discarding it near his shirt. The black bra she wore pushed her breasts together and up, maximizing her cleavage. “Come here.” She stepped toward him, and Mal bent his head to lick the valley between her breasts. She trembled at the sensations his tongue evoked, and he steadied her with a hand on her back. The other busied itself with unfastening the front clasp of her bra. They sighed in unison when the closure yielded and her breasts spilled forth.
Mal traced a path with his tongue to one of her hard nipples. The bud pulsed with anticipation as his tongue neared, and she cried out at the first stroke over her nipple. He circled the nub in slow, maddening circles, gradually tightening his focus until he was flicking just the very tip. She arched against him, needing more. Mal complied by sucking her nipple into his mouth. He inhaled, sending ripples of pleasure through her breast, and then sucked again. She buried her hands in his hair, wanting to hold him at her breast forever.
The ignored breast was hard and full, anxious for its share of attention, and Devi stroked her nipple, squeezing and pinching it as Mal sucked more vigorously on the other. Her clit twitched in time with her heartbeat, and her lower body rocked against his in desperate need of his cock to fill her empty slit. She gritted her teeth to hold in a scream of frustration when he abruptly lifted his head, leaving her in that revved-up state without a chance of release without the stimulation from his mouth. “Don’t stop.”
“I’m not, love. We’re just shifting gears.” He urged her backward to lie down on the floor of the elevator after he fashioned a makeshift bed from her dress and his shirt. Devi let him direct her, aching for completion and willing to do just about anything he asked of her. Mal took time to shed the remainder of his pants before kneeling between her spread legs. “Have I told you how much I love your pussy? I enjoyed it completely bald, but this—” he ran his fingers through the new growth of soft pubic hair that now shielded her folds “—is nice.” Dipping a finger inside her, he rubbed her clit in a circular motion. “So is this. Your clit is very, very nice. Not as nice as your pussy, of course.” He lowered his hand to push two fingers into her opening. “Nothing compares to the wet heat of your tight pussy around my cock.”
“Stop torturing me.” She arched her hips. “Fuck me, Mal. Please!”
He had the nerve to laugh. “I will. Be patient. First, I want another taste of your sweet cream, love.” Mal parted her thighs wider to make room between them. She closed her eyes and balled her hands into fists with anticipation. His breath wafted across her hot cleft before his tongue breached her. Devi whimpered, her body shaking just from the light contact of his tongue on her clit. When he drew the bud into his mouth to suck gently, she cried out. “Easy, love,” he said against her pussy, triggering more convulsions.
Mal twisted and circled his tongue around her clit, often straying downward to sweep inside her opening. Lost in the sensations, she grasped his hair and held on to him. He was her only anchor in the passionate maelstrom. When Mal sucked her clit into his mouth and feathered the tip as one finger entered her opening, and another probed her anus, even her anchor couldn’t keep her centered. A scream of pure primal arousal escaped Devi as she came. Her pussy clenched around his hand and mouth as spasms racked her body.
The last traces of the orgasm hadn’t yet dispelled when Mal shifted positions and plunged his cock deeply into her quaking pussy. Devi tightened her legs around his waist and drove her buttocks upward, taking in as much of his length as she could get. He grasped her cheeks in his hands, kneading her ass as he thrust into her. Their eyes locked, and his spoke volumes. Love shone from his eyes, and he seemed to make no attempt to shield his vulnerability. The last of her anger melted, and she crumbled. “I love you, Mal.”
“I know, love, but it sure is good to hear you say it.” He pistoned his lower body again, sinking into her heat and withdrawing slightly before adding, “You believe I love you now, don’t you?”
Devi nodded, letting her eyes close again as ecstasy overtook her. A dragging sensation in her stomach told her release was close, and she concentrated solely on meeting each of his thrusts and matching his pace.
Dimly, the sound of the doors opening penetrated her hedonistic fog, and she blinked open her eyes, wondering who had overridden the emergency stop. Two men in the dark suits commonly worn by the casino’s security team stood there, eyes wide. She knew she should stop Mal, but was in the moment, too close to orgasm to say anything. Instead, she closed her eyes again and continued to make love with Mal.
One of the men laughed softly, and as the doors shut again, she heard him say, “This happens a lot around here, Evan. It’s best to just let them finish.”
At that moment, she climaxed, her pussy tightening around Mal’s cock. He bucked his hips, grunting as he came. Her eyes opened and collided with his gaze. Spellbound, Devi let the green in his eyes suck her in, binding her to him in a way completely different from the artificial binding spell he had imposed upon her before. This time, it was as though their souls merged, and she voluntarily gave herself to him, never wanting to part from Mal again. Whatever their future held, she had no doubt they would be together.
THE PROMISE
Anya Bast
The Promise is a prequel to The Deal, which appeared in the first What Happens in Vegas… anthology, and occurs about one year before Cassidy’s story.
For James. As ever, thank you
for your support and your love.
Chapter One
“Come on, man. You’re going to be late for your own wedding.” Tom slumped down in a chair in Damian’s bedroom and stared at his friend.
Damian glanced at Tom in the mirror he faced. “I’m hurrying, I’m hurrying.” He knotted his ti
e, unknotted it and knotted it again for the twentieth time. “Damn it.” The only person who could ever get it right was Cassidy, his fiancée…his soon-to-be-wife.
Fuck. He fumbled his tie again.
The thought that he’d be married in the next hour still made his hands tremble and created the sensation of a noose being slowly tightened around his neck until he couldn’t breathe. “Just like this fucking tie,” he growled, pulling the offending fabric off and throwing it to the floor of his bedroom.
Tom shifted in the chair. “What?”
“Nothing. Screw the tie.”
“You can’t screw the tie. You can’t get married without a tie.” He motioned with his hands in his agitation. “Don’t be such an asshole, Damian. Cassidy is the best thing that ever happened to you.”
Damian fought the urge to snarl at his friend.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that something huge besides the wedding was about to happen—something bad. Something that would change his life forever. He’d dismiss the feeling as only fear about getting married, but he’d been having other “feelings” about things lately that later had come true. Damian was about ready to sign himself as one of the precog acts in the casinos. Maybe he could make some cash on the side, predicting events.
“Listen, we gotta go,” said Tom, standing. “Stop talking to your clothing and let’s get out of here. It’s still a fifteen minute drive across town and you should be walking down the aisle right now.”
Yes, he should be walking down the aisle of the White Wishes Chapel on Hamilton Street right now. Tom was right. Gee, could it be he was procrastinating about getting married? Damian studied his ref lection in the mirror. No doubt on that score. His feet weren’t just cold, they were blocks of ice.
But he’d made a promise. A promise to Cassidy to see this through.
Truth was, he should have broken up with her long ago. But how do you break up with the most perfect woman in the world? Damian didn’t have any solid reason to do it, that was for sure. He loved her, maybe not as much as Cassidy loved him…but he loved her enough. And what was the alternative to marrying Cassidy? Just loneliness, that’s what.
What Happens in Vegas…After Dark Page 23