“They your friends or nest-mates?” he asked Antonio.
“Neither. This is the first time I’ve seen them in here.”
“Where do you live?”
Antonio smiled, revealing pointed canines. “You asking as a cop or just another super wanting company?”
So Antonio knew his secret. “Just trying to work up some conversation.”
“Well, let me ask you a question. Why do you come in here three or four times a week? What’re you looking for?”
Antonio’s English was heavily accented with Spanish flavor. His dark eyes bored into Baine’s as he sent a strong mental probe his way. “I can’t be glamoured, vampire.”
“Then tell me why you’re here?”
“I’m looking into the disappearance of more than thirty women from the Seattle area. Two were last seen in your bar.” Baine flicked two photos out and laid them on the bar.
Antonio glanced at them and then went to serve a woman sitting by herself at the end of the bar. When he came back, he placed another bottle of beer in front of Baine. “I saw them. They came in on fetish nights.”
“What were they into?”
“Women. They both left with women.”
“What kind of women? Butch or femme?”
Antonio thought for a moment. “I think they liked butch-types.”
“Thanks, Tonio.” Baine slapped a twenty on the bar. That information changed everything.
“You take that Alexandra woman home?”
Baine smiled. “None of your business, but if she comes back in, let me know.”
Antonio laughed. “What? You didn’t get her number?”
Baine snarled. “I lost it.”
Chapter 4
Alex’s hands trembled as she dialed Baine’s number. She’d gotten it off a card she’d saved from when Jerry was arrested. Jerry had Ollie at his house tonight, and she was lonely. Two days had passed and Baine hadn’t called. She was tired of waiting. It was the twenty-first century; women ruled.
The phone rang once and he answered. “Baine here.”
“Hi, it’s me, Alex.”
“Alex, hey, how you been?”
“I’m fine. I was just wondering what you were doing tonight, you know, if you had any plans.”
“I’m kind of busy right now. Can you call me back in a couple of days?”
“What?”
“I’m in the middle of a really serious investigation. By the way, what were you doing out on the docks at Seabright today?”
“Did you follow me?”
“Uh, no, I was out there on some business. You need to stay away from the Russian, Alex. He’s bad news.”
“What kind of bad news?”
“Mafia, drugs, gunrunning. That kind of bad news.”
Alex moaned. “I have to see him, Baine. He hired my company to provide advertising for Seabright Coffee. It’s my account.”
“Well, hey, I gotta run. Just don’t go out there alone. Call me sometime.”
Alex slammed the phone down. It would be a cold day in hell before she ever called that jerk again. He might have the biggest dick she’d ever seen, but he was rude and insensitive.
She was about to make a cup of hot tea to go with a platter full of sugar cookies when the doorbell rang.
She flung it open and was greeted by a smiling delivery boy for Rudolph’s Flowers. “You Alexandra?”
“Yes.”
The young man handed her a slim white box. She thanked him and took it back in the house. Excitement and curiosity raced through her. Who could be sending her something from a florist? She hadn’t received flowers in years. Maybe Baine had changed his mind. But that couldn’t be; she’d just spoken to him.
When she opened the box, she gasped. A single, perfect, blood-red rose lay inside on a bed of white velvet. She opened the card, which read, “Come watch me dance.” Antonio.
Her heart jumped. Antonia Salazar was the most handsome man she’d ever seen. Should she go? She wanted to.
The tea no longer held any appeal. Her mouth was dry, and the cookies would taste like sawdust. Moving like she was in a dream, she automatically wandered up to her room and began pulling clothes out of the closet.
She brushed her long black hair until it shined, parted it in the middle, and secured it on top of her head. She decided on a short leather skirt that showed off her long legs, black boots with three-inch heels, and a silky black top with spaghetti straps. Black made her look like a cameo: white skin, pink cheeks, and black eyelashes framing her blue eyes.
Heart pounding, she locked up the house and climbed into her car. She couldn’t believe she was doing this, driving to a bar to meet a sexy, foreign flamenco dancer. Baine had told her he owned the bar. Thinking about Baine shot her with a momentary stab of guilt. The man blew you off, Alex. Forget him.
She arrived at Antonio’s bar right around nine and parked exactly where Baine had parked the other night. After checking her lipstick and hair in the rearview mirror, she climbed out and locked the doors. Her heart pounded. She’d never done anything like this before. But he’d invited her to watch him dance, and she couldn’t wait.
The clientele inside were more ordinary than the last time she’d been there. It must not be fetish night. Relieved and suddenly shy, she stood just inside the door as she scoped out the place. She spotted Antonio behind the bar mixing drinks. The bar-back was washing glasses, and Backstreet’s one cocktail waitress was delivering beers to a booth in the back.
Soft, classical guitar music tickled her ears. Two guitarists were perched atop stools on a raised platform at the rear of the bar. Each man had one foot cocked on a high rung of the stool as they watched the crowd and played. They looked like Antonio: dark-haired and handsome, just not as good looking.
Antonio saw her and waved. Wiping his hands on a towel, he came out from behind the bar to meet her.
“Alexandra.” He looked her up and down and took her hand. “You look encantador, ravishing.”
She felt her face warm and a lump form in her throat. “Thank you,” she croaked.
“Come, sit at the bar where we can talk and I can gaze on your so beautiful face.”
He led her to the bar, helped her out of her coat, and pulled a stool out for her. She climbed on, and he moved it closer to the bar, leaning over her shoulder to place a lingering kiss on her throat.
“You smell like…like magic,” he breathed.
She turned to ask him what magic smelled like, but he was gone, already behind the bar.
He brought her a glass of red wine. “This is Rioja, the best of the best from my home in Navarre.”
She sipped the wine, not caring what it tasted like, mesmerized by Antonio, his beauty, and the sound of his voice with its delightful accent.
He gathered his cape, a black satin number with a red lining, from behind the bar and donned his bolero jacket. He stopped behind her seat as the two guitarists hit the first notes of their flamenco number.
Antonio rested his hand on her shoulder and leaned close. “This is the music of the gypsies. We dance to show our passion and our joy.”
Goosebumps raced up and down Alex’s arms, caused, no doubt, by Antonio’s touch and the exciting music.
Antonio moved onto the floor, clicked his heels, whirled, and leaped impossibly high, landing lightly on his feet. Alex couldn’t take her eyes off him. He was so beautiful. He managed to dance and keep eye contact with her at the same time. He was dancing on the floor in front of a crowd of around twenty people, but he made her feel like they were somewhere alone, and he danced only for her.
When it was over, he came straight to her. His dark-brown eyes glowed with inner golden light. His alabaster skin contrasted wildly with the black velvet of his jacket. He took her hand and bent low. “Come home with me.”
She couldn’t stop herself; she nodded. At this moment, she would go anywhere with him.
“I’ll be right back.”
She turned on her s
tool to watch him instruct his employees and gather a leather jacket. He helped her into her coat and led her through the small kitchen and out the back door. A black BMW Hatchback was parked close to the privacy fence. Antonio hit a button on his keychain, and the passenger door opened. He tenderly tucked her inside. His hand lingered on hers for a second, and she felt the warmth all the way down to her quivering sex.
Antonio possessed such extreme sensuality that just looking at him turned her on. The merest touch of his fingers raised her temperature. He climbed behind the wheel and drove downtown.
Alex turned toward him as he drove down a dark street. “Where are you from?”
“Espana, Spain. I come from the old country. My parents were gypsies. They traveled the mountains of Spain in caravans. We are Gitanos, horse traders, fortune tellers, and my people are dancers.”
“You learned to dance from your parents?”
“Yes, many years ago.”
“Come on, Antonio, you can’t be that old.”
She saw his wide smile in the lights of the parking garage. “Older than you think, I imagine.”
The garage connected to a high-rise. Antonio took her hand and led her into an elevator and up to the top floor. When they got out, the opulence of the décor startled her. This place was expensive. There were only two apartments on the floor. He opened the door to the one in front of the elevator.
Her guts churned with fear and anticipation. What had she done? She knew almost nothing about this man, and she was alone with him in a condo that had to have cost more than a million dollars.
He stopped her at the threshold and swept her into his arms, carrying her into his home.
Alex’s hair had suddenly fallen over her eyes, so she failed to notice the hundreds of candles that suddenly sparked to life with a snap of his fingers. He waved his hand again and the curtains on a long bank of glass doors opened. In the flickering glow of the candles, the furniture was all white leather and dark wood. Candle sconces stood beside each couch and chair. Antonio walked to the white marble fireplace, snapped his fingers, and a fire ignited.
“Come, my dove, let me show you the city.” He helped the unassuming woman out of her coat and led her through the glass doors to the balcony.
The lights of Seattle sparkled all around her. She saw the Space Needle and the mountains that edged the city. The view took her breath away. “This is amazing.”
“I love the view. It’s why I bought the condo.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his chest. “But even this view cannot compare with what I see before me.” He lifted her chin with one finger. “Your eyes shine like the water of a mountain lake. Your skin is smooth as satin and smells as delicious as honey.”
He ran his hands over her bare arms, reached behind her head, and pulled her hair out of its clip. It fell around her shoulders like black silk.
When he kissed her, his lips gently tasted hers. Soft as a butterfly wing, his lips brushed her face. He pressed kisses on her eyes, her cheeks, and down her neck. She felt mesmerized.
Antonio forced himself to go slowly, to be gentle with Alexandra. He sensed her uncertainty and fear, which only heightened his desire.
When he bent his head and kissed her neck, he felt her blood flowing beneath his lips. His nostrils flared, and he inhaled her wonderful scent. How could he tell her she smelled like musk, sex, and blood? No wonder animals were attracted to her, especially the shifter, Baine. Antonio found her irresistible.
Smiling, he soothed away Alexandra’s fears with his lips and his clever fingers. He tried glamouring her, but it didn’t work. She fell under for a few moments and then snapped out of it. But she was already here, in his home, and he no longer needed spells to capture her.
“Come, my dove, let us go inside.”
He led her into his bedroom. He snapped his fingers and candles flared. The white satin bedspread was covered with rose petals.
Alexandra gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. “How do you do that?”
“The same way you entrance me, my dove. With magic.”
He drew her onto the bed and wrapped her in his arms. They kissed deeply, Antonio tasting her essence with his tongue. She tasted just like she smelled. He wondered what her sex would taste like and suddenly had to know.
Stroking her legs, he pushed up her skirt and began to slide her out of her hose and panties. She tried to sit up. “No, Antonio, you mustn’t.”
He hushed her with his hand. “Lie back while I pleasure you.”
He pulled her skirt off and stared at the juncture of her thighs. A thin strip of trimmed pubic hair pointed the way. He pushed her long legs open and inhaled the heated, musky fragrance. The pink interior of her sex glistened with moisture and her excitement. When she moaned, he felt himself straining against the tight confines of his pants but chose to leave them on, for now.
Using one finger, he chafed her swollen clitoris while he bent and thrust his tongue inside her, tasting the delicious flavors of her arousal. She writhed beneath his expert caresses, straining leg muscles tight. Her excitement fueled his desire.
In the next instant, his clothes were off. He stripped off Alexandra’s top and her strapless bra. Her raspberry-colored nipples swelled and lengthened when he pulled and pinched them and bent to suck each one deep into his mouth.
Though vampires could not reproduce, he slid on a condom, only because she would expect him to. When he entered her, she gasped. His organ swelled to fit her exactly, a skill learned over many years of practice. He could produce a hard ridge on the top of his penis to rub against a woman’s clitoris. He knew what it did, and the results always excited him even more.
Alexandra reached down and grabbed his ass, drawing him hard against her. Her nails clawed the flesh of his buttocks, driving him to a higher level. They kissed as he drove into her harder and harder. The points of her nipples raked his bare chest. When he felt her reaching her peak, he bent his head and bit her neck.
She screamed, but not with pain. He nursed on the tiny holes in her neck, sucking blood as her inner spasms clenched his engorged organ. He allowed his own orgasm and they bucked and writhed together, the pleasure unbelievably intense.
* * * *
Alex lay on Antonio’s white bed spread in a satiated fog. The man had the most wonderful dick she’d ever experienced. It was like a dildo fashioned just for her. It fit her perfectly, and there was a ridge on top of it that rubbed her in exactly the right spot.
She reached down and tentatively touched her clit. It was still swollen. Antonio caught the movement. “Tender, me paloma?”
“No, it’s still buzzing.”
He laughed, a deep sensuous sound that tingled up and down her spine. “You entrance me.”
“You’re not too bad yourself.”
“Would you like to bathe?”
She nodded. “A hot bath would be awesome.”
He led her into the bathroom. A large tub filled with steaming water was waiting. More rose petals floated on the surface. Antonio snapped his fingers, and curtains behind the tub opened, revealing a different view of the city below.
“I still don’t understand how you do that,” she said as she slid into the hot water.
He climbed into the tub behind her and pulled her between his legs. He lathered her breasts with creamy soap scented with a spicy rose fragrance, ran his soapy hands down her belly and between her legs. It didn’t take long for his clever fingers to have her heaving and moaning.
“Stop, Antonio. I’ll never get clean this way.”
He turned her in the water so she faced him and slid into her. “Clean only exists in your mind. I want you again.”
He stood in the tub, holding her butt in his hands. Swept away by his passion and the feel of his unreal dick inside her, she wrapped her legs around him.
He leaped out of the tub and slammed her down on the vanity. Her soapy, wet butt slid so he gripped the cheeks of her ass tightly as he bent his h
ead to kiss her. Planting his feet firmly on the tiles, he pounded into her. His slightest touch sent shivers of ecstasy into her sex. She felt like she came as soon as he’d grabbed her ass, but her sensations kept increasing in intensity until she screamed. Throwing her head back, she arched her neck and whipped her hair back and forth.
Antonio bent his head to her throat and sank his teeth into her neck. Even though logic told her this action was unconventional and unsettling, it only served to excite her even more. Inside her, his dick swelled and swelled until she thought it would tear her apart. Her entire body felt alive, her breasts super-sensitive, the tight points of her nipples rubbing Antonio’s chest, sending waves of excruciating pleasure to her already overloaded sex.
They came together. She felt Antonio’s release. He grabbed her butt and held it ratcheted tightly against his body while one wave of gratifying delight after another rushed through her.
He carried her into the bedroom and laid her on the bed, covered her with the satin sheet and held her tightly as she drifted into a deep sleep.
Chapter 5
Alex stuffed the completed set of contracts into her satchel along with her laptop. “I can’t believe you made an appointment for me to meet Rukovskya in a bar.”
“Well, girlfriend, that’s where he wanted to meet you. What was I supposed to do? From what I understand, he owns the place.” Lyle consulted Outlook on his computer. “Yep, I logged it in. Blue Oyster Bar, Rukovskya, owner.”
“A friend of mine told me he’s a criminal.”
Lyle rolled his eyes. “He’s a Russian. Aren’t they all connected to some kind of mafia thing? I saw Eastern Promises.”
“I did, too. Talk about scary.”
“Yeah, but Viggo Mortensen was hot. Did you see his cute little buns in the nude scene?”
Alex sighed. “All you think about is sex.”
Lyle lifted his eyebrows. “What else is there?”
“Lyle, for real, if I don’t come back, call the cops. No wait, call this guy.” She handed Baine’s card to Lyle.
The Secret, the Shifter and the Sex- Slave Shanghai Page 3