by Laura Lee
“Have you already spoken to Kendra about this?” Kendra is the other Head Bartender who works when I don’t. “She’s there Sundays through Wednesdays.”
“Yes, I’ve made arrangements to meet with her in my suite before her shift on Sunday afternoon. I’ll make sure that she follows the same protocol.”
Why did he invite her to his room? More importantly, why am I so jealous? Leo smirked, as if he were reading my mind. Could he do that? Damn, I really needed to find a Vampires for Dummies book!
“Do you have any other questions?” He asked.
“No, not that I can think of.” I replied.
He stood up and gestured for me to follow. He walked me out to the elevator and pressed the call button. When the doors opened, I offered to return the key fob. “No that’s okay,” he said. “You keep it. It opens the door to my suite as well. Feel free to visit at any time.”
Blushing again, or maybe still, I couldn’t keep track anymore, I stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the casino level. When the doors closed, I let out a breath that I didn’t realize I was holding. Oh God, what the hell am I getting myself into?
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I got to work as everyone was buzzing around, getting ready to open. “Everyone, could I have your attention please?” I asked. Once they were gathered, I continued. “I wanted to let you know that our new boss, Leo Markos will be here during the evenings until further notice. He is taking the events from the other night very seriously and wants to ensure our safety. I’ve reserved table twenty for him so please make sure it is always available. He will have a security detail in place that will include four rotating guards who will pose as customers. Mr. Markos wants us to conduct ourselves in a business as usual manner. If you notice anything out of place, please alert me or Kendra and we will share that information with them. Does anyone have any questions?”
Jordyn, one of the dancers asked, “Do the police know what killed Leslie?”
“They know it was a demon, but they don’t know what kind yet. I don’t want you guys to worry about any of that though. Mr. Markos has assured me that we are his top priority and he will take any necessary actions to keep us safe.”
“I’d like to show him some necessary action.” Jordyn teased. The other gals giggled. “I heard he was the super sexy vampire from table twenty the other night. Is that true?”
“Yes, that was him.” I snapped. Jordyn made no secret about preferring the company of vampires. I’m pretty sure she was the one who started the rumor about orgasmic bites.
“Now, unless anyone else has anything relevant to add,” I continued, “ Let’s finish our prep because the gate is going up in twenty minutes.”
Leo arrived shortly after eight and sat down in the corner booth. He had several reports fanned out across the table and kept to himself for the most part. He appeared immersed in his paperwork but I could tell his senses were on high alert. Every once in a while, I would catch him scanning the bar or making eye contact with one of the guards.
Surprisingly, the night went off without a hitch. We were busier than normal because people had a morbid interest in the details of Leslie’s murder, but nothing out of the ordinary happened. When the gates were closed, everyone busied themselves with clean up and prep work. Leo was gathering his paperwork when Jordyn came out, wearing nothing but a short, white satin robe. Smiling, she sat down at his table. I tried not to eavesdrop but my curiosity got the best of me.
“Hi there,” she said, totally exaggerating her southern accent, “I’m Jordyn, the gal behind screen number one. You’re Leo, right?”
“That’s correct.” He replied. “It’s very nice to meet you Jordyn. I enjoyed watching your performance this evening. It was very….ah, titillating.”
“Well I aim to please sugar!” She said, clearly excited by his compliment. Was she exposing her neck to him? Oh Christ, could she be more obvious? “You know, I’d be more than happy to give you a private performance sometime.” She continued. “I hear you’re staying upstairs for a while. You just say when honey and I’ll be sure to come right up.” Oh please don’t tell me he’s falling for this!
“That’s very kind of you to offer.” He said with a fangy grin. “I’ll most certainly keep that in mind. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to wrap up a few things with Karli before I go.” He grabbed her hand and kissed the tips of her fingers as she stood.
“Oh, of course darlin’. Business before pleasure! I guess I’ll step in back to put my clothes on. I can’t exactly go out to my car dressed like this!” She winked at him as she walked away.
Leo glanced towards the bar and caught me spying on them. Dammit! He walked up to me and said, “It looks like things went well tonight. Would you agree?”
“Yeah, it was pretty busy. We did really well with tips. Enough so that it should make up for being closed last night.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” He said. “Are you just about finished up here?”
“Yes, I am. I just need to close the credit card machine and divvy up the tips. It looks like we should be ready to go in maybe five minutes or so.”
“Great, I’ll just finish gathering my things then.” He lowered his voice before continuing, “Would you care to join me upstairs for a nightcap?”
His rumbling voice gave me goose pimples as warmth radiated between my thighs. Yeah, that was the last thing I should be doing after seeing his perfect ass earlier. I don’t think I could be held responsible for my actions with the way I’m feeling right now. “Um, I appreciate the offer but I really think I should just head home. I’m pretty tired.”
“I understand.” He said, not trying to hide his disappointment. “Perhaps some other time.”
I nodded as he walked back over to his table. I gathered everyone to dole out their tips and escorted them to the gate. Once the last person had walked away, Leo joined me.
“If you change your mind, my dear, you know where to find me.”
“Um, thanks.” I said while I was locking the gate.
We parted ways and headed in separate directions. Oh boy, I needed to get far away from that man before I did something stupid. I picked up my pace and headed towards the parking garage. I ran into Erica in the atrium.
“So, how’d it go last night?” She asked.
“Last night?”
“Oh, don’t play dumb with me K. How was your little rendezvous with the detective? I was planning to call you before work, but I was tied up….quite literally.” She said with a mischievous grin.
“Oh that.” I replied. “Um, it was….fine.”
“Oh no, I’m not letting you off the hook that easily! I want details lady!”
I gave Erica all the sordid details about my experience at Voyeur-Gasm, including the fact that Leo had witnessed the whole thing.
“Oh man, I’m so sorry I missed that.” She laughed. “I would have loved to be a fly on that wall!”
“There’s one more thing I didn’t mention Eri.… When Vance came to pick me up, I may have accidentally sprinkled some fairy dust on him.”
“What?!?! Omigod, does he know what it was?” She shrieked.
“Yeah, he definitely knows. I think I dodged the bullet for now though.”
“What are you going to do?” She asked.
“I have no idea. So far complete denial is working pretty well for me.”
As we were getting in our cars, she said, “Well good luck baby. Let me know if you need any magical assistance.”
“Thanks sweetie, I will.”
Chapter 9
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I got up the next day around eleven after a fitful night’s sleep. I shuffled my feet down the hall into the kitchen and made some coffee. I checked my phone and saw that Vance had left me a voicemail about an hour ago.
I pressed play. “Karli, it’s Vance. We need to talk. Call me.”
I ignored his message and decided that I needed some ret
ail therapy. I called Erica to invite her along and she agreed to meet me at the mall in an hour.
“Hey Eri!” I shouted as soon as I saw her in the parking lot.
“Hey K! You ready to go buy some slutty lingerie and hooker shoes?” Erica was always ready to buy slutty lingerie and hooker shoes. Oh well, I figured. Why the hell not? This could be fun.
While we were trying on some lacy things she asked, “Have you figured out what you’re going to do about Vance?”
“No, not yet.” I answered. “ I really don’t want to think about it though. I just want to shop.”
“Sounds good to me!” She said. “ Hey doesn’t this bra make my boobs look great? I think I’m going to buy it!”
Two hours, four new bras, and a pair of shoes later, Erica and I said our goodbyes while standing next to her car. “Make sure you say hello to that big beautiful vampire for me tonight!” She yelled out the window of her yellow Camero as she was pulling away.
“I will.” I called. “Have a good night off!”
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I arrived to work about ten minutes before six. Leo was already set up at his table. I was relieving Kendra so I went to check in with her. “How’s business?” I asked.
“Pretty steady.” She replied. She pulled me down low, pretending like she was getting her purse. “You’re never going to believe what happened earlier!”
“What?” I whispered.
“Well, the new boss, Leo, invited me up to his room to go over all the security details before I came in today. He’s staying in the penthouse, which is amazing by the way! Anyway, Mr. Gorgeous over there was flirting with me shamelessly the whole time!”
“I think you may have misinterpreted his intentions Kendra. I think he’s just a flirty guy in general.”
“I’d hate to burst your bubble Karli, but he invited me up to his suite for lunch tomorrow. Can you believe it? Omigod, I have to go buy new lingerie!”
“Oh. Well I hope you two have a great time then. That’s really exciting.” I said. Really exciting my ass! Why would he invite her out to lunch? Why am I so upset by this? Who cares if he’s dating one of the girls? I checked my phone really quick before stowing my purse away. Shit! Two more voicemails from Vance. He’s persistent, you’ve gotta give him that.
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Thankfully, we were swamped all night so my shift went by really fast. I let everyone except Leo out through the gate and locked it behind them. “It’ll be just a few minutes before I’m ready to go.” I called out to him.
“Take your time.” He said. “Hey, would you mind grabbing me a scotch while I wait?”
“Sure, no prob.” I said as I was grabbing a rocks glass from the shelf. I turned around to place it on the bar but tripped over a mat and dropped it instead. “Shit!” I screamed.
“Is everything okay?” Leo asked.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me.” The glass shattered into several large pieces. While I was picking them up, I accidentally sliced my hand. “Fuck!” I yelled as blood was squirting up from my palm. Damn, that hurt! I grabbed a towel and applied pressure as Leo ran over to see what happened. It was pretty hard to ignore the fact that his fangs were in full effect.
“Let me see it.” He reached for my hand but I resisted. He grabbed it forcefully and loosened the towel. Another shot of blood came out. Oh God! This is so not good! “It looks like you nicked an artery. This isn’t good Karli.” No shit Sherlock! Ya think? I’m alone with a vampire while a bloody geyser is coming out of my hand!
“Look, you have two options.” He said. “I can take you to the hospital to get stitches. It will probably take a while to heal though which will make doing your job very difficult.”
“What’s my other option?” I asked.
“I can seal it shut with my saliva.” He answered.
“What?”
“My saliva can heal your wound. There are enzymes in it that can instantly repair any damage to your hand as if it never happened.”
“Um, I think I’ll take the first option.” I’ll get Erica to perform a healing spell later to speed up my recovery.
“Karli, don’t be ridiculous. I can heal you. What’s the big deal? I’m a vampire, I drink blood. So what? I would have never thought you’d be so squeamish.”
“I’m not. It’s just---”
“It’s just what?” He asked. “Why won’t you let me heal you?” Oh I don’t know, maybe because I’m afraid you’ll drain me dry?
“Leo, I’ll be fine.” As soon as I get away from your gigantic fangs.
“Give me your hand Karli.” He demanded. When I didn’t comply he grabbed it anyway. He leaned forward and I immediately tensed up. “Relax, Karli. Look at me. There’s nothing to be afraid of.” I looked into his eyes and felt an instant calmness wash over me. Hmm, that’s weird. “That’s a good girl.” He cooed. “Keep looking at me.”
I sat there in silence, as I watched him slowly lick the blood from my hand. “Ooh.” I said, surprising myself. This felt really good.
He gave me a knowing grin as he finished. He pulled back and said, “Look, good as new.”
I inspected my hand. “Wow. That’s it? You’re done? That was pretty uh…amazing.”
He licked his lips and gave me a big smile. “Yes, it was pretty amazing.” He agreed. “Your blood is like nothing I’ve ever tasted before. It’s sweet, very different from what I expected. What an exquisite elixir.” Oh crap! Now I really screwed up. I tried pulling my hand away but he turned it over and placed a kiss in the center of my palm before letting go.
“Why don’t you let me finish cleaning up this mess?” He offered. “We can leave as soon as I’m through.”
“Okay.”
Leo swept up the glass while I gathered my things. He lifted the gate and gestured for me to pass while he locked up. “It’s late.” He said. “I should probably walk you to your car since everyone else left.”
“Um, no that’s okay. I’ll be fine.”
“No Karli, I insist.”
He offered his arm and I accepted it out of courtesy. I started fumbling for my keys as soon as we got to my car. I don’t know what the hell just happened back at the bar, but I knew that I needed to get out of here fast.
“Thanks for uh, fixing my hand back there.” I said.
“Trust me, the pleasure was all mine.” I started turning away but he stopped me. He leaned into me and cupped my cheek with his right hand. He then dipped his head and gave me the softest, most sensual kiss on the lips. Dazed, I said nothing as he pulled back with a smile. “Good night, Karli.” He said, as I stood there speechless.
He stepped back and watched me while I got into my car and started the ignition. He gave me a little wave as I pulled out of my parking spot. I returned the gesture and hit the gas pedal. I looked for him in my rear view mirror and saw him laughing as I drove away. What the hell am I doing? Oh this is bad. Really, really bad!
Chapter 10
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I woke up the next morning in a great mood. I was so thankful to have the next three days off; I really needed some time to myself to figure my life out. My phone rang, disrupting my solitude. It was Vance calling, again. I let it go to voicemail and got into the shower. After some coffee, I decided to listen to it, even though I already knew it would say something to the effect of, ‘Karli, we need to talk. Blah, blah, blah.’
I pressed play. “Karli. It’s Vance. Again. I’m going to come over there if you don’t call me back. Call me.” Yeah, too bad I won’t buzz you in if you do!
Putting Vance in the back of my mind, I decided to go lay by the pool. After squeezing into my teeniest white string bikini, I headed out to the small, fenced in area on the West end of my apartment complex. I covered my skin with tanning oil, put my ear buds in, and pressed play on my iPod, hoping Jack Johnson could sing my worries away. I was just about to flip over about an hour later when someone rudely blocked my su
n. I opened my eyes to glare at the offender only to find Vance standing over me, wearing a white t-shirt and dark blue board shorts. He sat down on the lounge chair next to me and pulled out my ear buds.
“Hey, what the hell? What are you doing here?” I asked.
“You know why I’m here.” He replied sharply. “You won’t return my calls, so I decided to come over. It’s a lot harder to ignore me in person.”
“Watch me.” I said as I flipped over.