by Dara Nelson
“Well, I don’t know for sure, Stacy. The only vampire I’ve been with is Matthew, but since your reaction is the same as my reaction was after the first time I slept with him, then I’m thinking yeah, it probably is.”
“It was this way for you with Matt?” she said. “How did you function? How did you keep your hands off him? How did you stop yourself from always wanting more?”
I smiled as I buttered her toast, “I barely functioned, I couldn’t keep my hands off him and I’ve never stopped wanting more. Even the day I woke up after being changed I wanted more.”
“Really?” she said as she bit into her toast. “Wow,” she mumbled.
“Don’t worry,” I grinned. “There’ll be plenty of vampires where we’re going so you can test out your theory.”
I saw the shiver run through her body. “Awesome,” she said.
She finished her toast and gulped some orange juice while I tossed the remaining food and took the trash out to the can. I was heading back in when I saw the limo round the corner. “The car’s here,” I said when I walked in.
We piled our bags into the trunk and I pulled Stacy onto the seat next to me. As the guys climbed in, I gestured to the seat across from us, “You two, over there.” During the ride Stacy never took her eyes off of Carlos. And I kept having to push her back in her seat, like he was a magnet that was pulling her to him. It got old after about a dozen times, and I wanted to tell him to knock it off. But I knew he couldn’t. It wasn’t his fault… it was just a vampire thing.
We had the limo drop us at the wrong end of the airport – we had two tickets in our names taking us to Anchorage. The four we were actually using were in fake names, except for Stacy’s. We hopped onto the tram with all of our luggage and checked in for the short flight to Miami. From airport to plane to taxi I kept Stacy by my side. We didn’t need them drawing attention to us by breaking a bathroom or something. We took a cab to the dock. Luckily we found a minivan so we didn’t have to cram in side by side. I sighed as I thought about how the long boat ride to Paradise Island was going to be.
I was right. As soon as we boarded the boat, she pulled him down to the state room and they were making all sorts of noise. I stood behind Matt as he drove, my arms wrapped around him, my head resting on his shoulder, trying to concentrate on the engine noise instead of the noises downstairs but not having much luck. Off and on for hours it went. I noticed Matthew shifting in the seat a lot more, he had been driving much too long. It was way past time for Carlos to relieve him. “I don’t suppose you want to break into his mind and tell him to get his butt up here?” I said.
Matt shook his head emphatically. “Uh-uh,” he said. “Not a chance, not when he could be…”
I nodded my head, “Yeah, I know,” I said. “That’s why I didn’t want to try either.” I unwrapped my arms and turned around, “When he gets up here, come down and get some sleep.” I said as Matt smiled at me with his eyebrow raised.
He shook his head. “You are one brave, crazy woman Sarah Pearl,” he said as I descended the stairs.
I raised my hand and pounded on the side of the door. “Yo Carlos!” I yelled. “It’s your turn to drive, get your butt out here and relieve Matt.” I heard Matt laughing behind me as I dropped my hand. I waited thirty seconds then pounded again. “NOW CARLOS!” I shouted and the door opened.
Carlos gave me a sheepish grin and whispered, “Sorry, she wouldn’t let me leave,” then he headed up the stairs. I walked in and saw Stacy sound asleep on the bed, naked of course. I gently pulled the sheet across her then climbed into the bed next to her. I scooted over close to her so I could leave enough room for Matt when he came in. I heard him laughing with Carlos then he came down the stairs too. He hesitated for a second, but I patted the bed next to me and he came and lay down. I wrapped my arm around him and pressed myself close to him. I was just starting to drift off when Stacy rolled over and laid her arm across me, pressing her body into my back.
“Mmmmm Sarah?” she mumbled as her hand started to reach around towards my breasts.
“What Stacy?” I said.
“I don’t suppose you feel like showing me that sex with a female vampire is better than sex with a female human, do you?” she said.
“Maybe another time Stacy, but not tonight,” I said as I felt Matt’s body shaking as he quietly laughed. “Go back to sleep.”
“Mmmm, okay. Soon, I hope,” she mumbled then she softly started snoring.
I woke when I heard the engines stop. Matt was already gone, but Stacy was still sound asleep. I headed up the stairs and found both of them in the cabin. They both turned around and grinned at me. I stopped, looked at Carlos for a second then squinted at Matt, “You told him what she asked, didn’t you?”
Matt smiled and shrugged his shoulders, “Of course honey. How could I not?”
“Well?” Carlos asked.
“Well what?” I shot back.
“Are you gonna show her?” he said, trying not to laugh.
I had them both when I replied, “Maybe.” I smiled and thought ‘that ought to shut ‘em up for a while.’ I was right. Both their mouths fell open as they stared at me, trying to figure out if I was serious.
“So, why’d we stop?” I said as I tried not to laugh. I walked over and wrapped my arms around Matt who was still staring at me. I could tell he was dying to ask me but he didn’t.
He shook his head slightly then said, “Ummm, we’re at Paradise Island. I have to go ashore to find Aduviri and bring him back here.”
“Give me ten minutes first?” I said as they both stared at me with questioning eyes. I pointed to the market just up the street. “I’m gonna go grab some food for the trip. Aduviri will need it, and Stacy, until she’s changed, and maybe a few others.”
They both nodded their heads, “Oh, that makes sense,” Matt said as I grabbed my wallet from my bag. I kissed him on the cheek then jumped onto the dock. I smiled as I heard him mutter “Man, I love watching her move.”
“Me, too,” Carlos said, which got him a smack on the back of the head from Matt, followed by the two of them laughing.
I emerged from the store ten minutes later with two bags of groceries and a new bikini from the boutique next door. I smiled as I thought about what Matt’s reaction to it might be but stopped when I noticed the worried murmurs moving through the crowds.
“In the pool?” someone said.
“Face down,” another replied.
“And blood in the water,” said another.
I glanced toward the boat and saw Matt and Carlos listening too. I met Matt’s eyes and flicked my head to the right. “Go,” I said. “Find him.” They both jumped onto the dock and began moving quickly through the crowd. I climbed onto the boat, muttering, “Please, don’t let it be him,” and headed to the galley to put away the food. I heard Stacy in the shower and smiled as she started singing. Her voice definitely didn’t match the beauty of her body. She couldn’t carry a tune to save her life.
She emerged a minute later towel drying her hair, “Hi Sarah.”
“Morning, Stacy,” I said as I grabbed the bikini and went to tuck it into my bag. “There’s bread, bagels, eggs, orange juice and coffee if you’re interested,” I called over my shoulder.
“Excellent,” she said. “I’m starving. Hey, could you bring me the blue bikini off the bed please?”
“Sure,” I said, searching the bed. “Blue bikini? What blue biki—” I saw a tiny blue string sticking out of the corner of the sheet. I folded back the corner and picked it up with two fingers, there wasn’t much more material than the blue string. I smiled and shook my head as I brought it to her. As she put on the suit, she gave me a once over, frowning at my sundress. “What?” I said, looking down at my dress.
She didn’t say a word as she moved past me and went to her suitcase. She rummaged around and finally pulled out a silky, colorful halter top and tossed it to me. “Here,” she said, “put this on.”
“Ummm
,” I began, “don’t I need some shorts or a skirt or something too?”
She smiled and shook her head. “Sarah,” she said, “that’s a dress.”
“This?” I stared at the tiny thing. “This is a dress?”
She rolled her eyes. “Please, Sarah. Just put it on. Feel sexy and have some fun, okay?” She stared at me with her hands on her hips, waiting.
“Okay,” I said hesitantly, thinking ‘There’s no way this is going to cover everything.’
I started to turn around, but she huffed behind me. “Geez Sarah, just get over it. I’m not going to bite,” she grinned.
“Easy for you to say when you look like that,” I muttered as I stood and faced her.
I dropped the sundress off my shoulders and let it fall to the floor, then blushed when she said, “Mmmm, very nice. Sarah, you are hot. You really should show off your body more. Be proud of your beauty.” I slid the halter-top/dress over my head and went to tie it behind my neck, but she was already there. She carefully moved my hair to the side and tied the straps, then turned my shoulders to face me to the mirror. She rearranged my hair around my face and said, “Much better.”
“Much better?” I said, meeting her eyes in the mirror. “This thing barely reaches my thighs. If I have reach for something up high, my butt will be hanging out.” There went the roll of her eyes again. I sighed. “Okay, okay,” I said. “I’ll wear it, for a while.”
“Good girl,” she said then she seductively ran her finger down my arm and kissed my neck. “I meant what I said last night, Sarah. The two of us could have some amazing sex, I can tell. You really turn me on.” Her hand moved to the front and reached under the dress. “See? You’re already wet. You want this.”
I gently pulled her hand away. “Maybe I do or maybe I don’t, but now is not the time or the place to find out, Stacy,” I said.
She looked sad for a moment then she smiled slightly when a shiver ran down my spine. “Okay. I can wait,” she said as she returned to the galley. She quickly made a fried egg sandwich and carried it, a towel and her sunscreen topside to the deck. I followed her up and waited for the others to return. It wasn’t long before I heard footsteps on the dock. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath (‘please let it be three of them, please let it be three of them’). I turned to look and saw Matt and Carlos. My heart skipped a beat, panic seeped in, but then Carlos took a slight step to the side and I saw the other behind him. ‘Of course you idiot,’ I thought as I inhaled deeply. ‘The dock isn’t wide enough for three to be side by side.’ I started fidgeting with the dress. My eyes darted downstairs as I wondered if I should dash down there and change back into mine.
The voice behind me stopped me, “Don’t do it, Sarah. You look fine,” Stacy said from her spot in the sun.
I heard Matt talking to Aduviri as he reached the edge first. “Please, you first, Aduviri,” he said. “Right this…” he stopped short as he glanced over and saw me standing there. He was as frozen as a statue with his mouth hanging open.
Aduviri paused and stared at him, but Carlos urged him from behind, “Go ahead, Aduviri,” he said as he smiled at me and winked. “Matt gets stupid sometimes when his wife’s around. Awesome dress, Sarah.”
I pointed my finger at Stacy. “She made me wear it,” I said, as I started to panic slightly. What if it was too much? What if he was mad that I was wearing it?
My panic vanished when I saw Matt blink, break into a huge leering grin and say, “Thank you, Stacy,” as he came and wrapped his arms around me.
“Anytime,” she mumbled as she was dozing in the sun.
Matt moved to make introductions. “Aduviri, meet my wife, Sarah. Sarah this is Aduviri.”
I stuck my hand out and shook his. “Nice to meet you Aduviri,” I said.
“Honored to meet you,” he replied. His accent was strong.
“Please, have a seat,” Matt said as he gestured to the benches behind us.
“Gracias,” replied Aduviri as he sat.
Matt went to sit at the helm, but Carlos stuck his arm out. “No you don’t. I’ll take first shift,” he said. “You two are pretty exhausted, you should go below and take a nap.” He winked at us as he sat down and turned the key. The engine roared to life. The incredibly loud engine. The engine that would keep a human’s ears from hearing anything else. You didn’t have to tell us twice. We turned and felt we couldn’t get to the stateroom fast enough.
Chapter Eleven
I held the tattered shreds of silk up above my face as I lay in his arms. “I’m going to have to buy her a new dress,” I said. “This is going to be embarrassing when I tell her.”
He smiled and kissed my forehead. “Sorry,” he said, “I just couldn’t help myself. God, I couldn’t believe how wet you were from the moment we got down here. You must have been fantasizing about this all afternoon.”
Yeah, I thought, that was it. It wasn’t that a woman had made me that wet, it was thinking about sex with Matt. “I was,” I whispered.
I smiled as I remembered him growling, his teeth sinking into me, tearing the dress as he pulled away and went to bite down again. “It’s okay. And, God, it was so worth it,” I said. “I just hope it’s not a one of a kind dress.”
He chuckled, “I hope not,” then he groaned.
“What?” I said.
“I have to go relieve Carlos,” he said. “It’s way past my time, but I really don’t want to move.”
“I don’t either, but you’re right,” I said as I climbed off the end of the bed. I tucked the shredded dress into my bag and pulled on my sundress, then held out my hand to Matt.
We headed topside and Carlos smirked at us. “It’s about time,” he said.
“Sorry,” Matt mumbled as he and Carlos switched spots. I turned and smiled at Stacy and Aduviri, who were both behind us on the couch, deep in conversation.
She smiled at me as I frowned when she didn’t seem surprised to see me back in my own dress, then I blushed as Carlos whispered in my ear, “I already told her that her dress met an early demise.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “You heard us?” I whispered. “Did they?”
“Of course, I did,” he smirked. “But, no, they didn’t, although I can’t see how they didn’t, the amount of noise you were making.”
I bumped my shoulder into him. “Shhhhh,” I said. I turned to Stacy and Aduviri, happy to end my current embarrassing conversation with Carlos. “You two hungry?” I asked. “Would you like some dinner?”
“You know me,” Stacy said as she climbed off the couch, “I’m always starving.”
Aduviri nodded his head, “Something to eat would be nice,” he said.
Stacy grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the stairs. “You stay here, Adu,” she called over her shoulder. “We’ll fix something and bring it right up.” She dragged me down the steps and started pulling things out of the cupboard. “Mmm, spaghetti sounds good,” she said. “That should work and it’s easy to fix. So, is Adu one of you?”
I shook my head, “No, he’s not.”
“Darn,” she replied. “He’s sweet,” she continued on as she placed a pot of water on the stove. “So he tore the dress right off you huh? Sexy. He must have strong hands though, it’s pretty thick, strong silk.”
“He didn’t use his hands,” I mumbled, then quickly closed my eyes (why did I just tell her that?).
She stopped and turned around to face me, confusion clouding her face as she studied me, then her eyes flew open as she realized. “His teeth?” she asked and I nodded. “That’s so hot!” then she cocked her head to the side. “You bite each other during sex?” she asked. “Doesn’t that hurt?”
I couldn’t stop the shiver that rocked my body. “No, it most definitely does not hurt,” I said.
“Wow,” she said. “I wonder…”
“No!” I said. “This is not something Carlos can do while you’re human, so don’t even ask, okay?”
She shrugged her shoulders. �
��Okay,” she said as she turned back to the stove and added the noodles to the boiling water. “Bummer.”
I shook my head and laughed as I went and opened the jar of spaghetti sauce and poured into the pan. We emerged a little while later with spaghetti, salad, bread and a bottled water for Aduviri. The two of them sat on the couch and ate while Carlos, Matt and I talked. I whispered to them, “Do you think we could each sneak down for a quick bite? We haven’t eaten in a few days.”
Matt turned around to look at them, “They’re busy eating, so now would probably be a good time,” he said. “You two go first,” and he kissed my forehead. I nodded and grabbed Carlos’ arm and gently pushed him down the stairs.
“Interesting conversation you had with Stacy earlier,” Carlos playfully whispered.
I stared at him for a second then my embarrassment turned to anger, “Would you stay out of my head, please?”
“Are you kidding? And miss stuff like this? No way. So how tempted were you, Sarah?”
“I wasn’t.”
“Bullshit, Sarah. I could feel you. You can’t lie to me.”
“Do I really have to have this conversation with you Carlos?”
“Well, would you rather have it with Matt?”
“Hell no. I’d rather not have it at all.”
“Nope. Not happening. We already swept the back rub incident under the rug. I’m not doing that anymore. Apparently you’re a female version of me, complete with a turbo-charged sex drive. You’re not hiding anymore.”
“But is it really appropriate for us to be talking like this?” I said.
“We’re not doing anything, Sarah. We’re just two friends sharing our sexual adventures. Guys talk like that all the time.”
I thought about that as I grabbed two pints out of the fridge drawer. I was just opening my mouth to respond, when I heard Stacy say, “I’ll be right back Adu. I need some more napkins.” I quickly closed the drawer and stood up. “Hey guys,” she said as she came down stairs. “I want to watch.”
I looked at Carlos. “Watch?” I said. “We’re not doing anything, there’s nothing to watch.”