My hand immediately went to the right side of my neck to the small tattoo Dorian had insisted my brother and I get years ago. It was a branding. He owned us.
Dorian hadn’t always exploited humans—or vampires. It was something he’d just started recently. I hadn’t realized the enterprise had gotten so expansive, or that he was dealing on such a large scale.
“Why do you look so surprised? You know Dorian supplies some of the best young men and women on this circuit for trade and sale.”
I nodded, but in truth, I hadn’t realized things had grown so much. I knew he exploited Julian and the occasional female prostitute, but nothing like what Malik had just described. I knew from various social gatherings and parties that I’d attended alongside Dorian that he was considered one of the most prominent and influential businessmen in San Francisco. But using that legitimate hotel business as a cover for his human trafficking scam seemed a bit risky, even for Dorian.
I was losing my nerve, but I needed to get out. As Malik bent over to place the tray on the small table by the wall, I stepped up behind him. “I’m sorry, Malik. I’ll be back soon.” I said, placing my hands on either side of his head and snapping his neck, rendering him helpless. He appeared to be dead. But I knew he would survive. He’d be super pissed off at me when he woke, but he would be fine. I knew he’d never voluntarily let me go out without permission, but I had to trust that he wouldn’t rat me out to Dorian. I thought Malik and I were close. We’d had each other’s backs on more than one occasion.
I shrugged into my coat and stepped out of the room, de-materializing outside the back door to The I.V. The first person I saw when I entered the bar brought an elated feeling to my soul. Preston looked up at me and greeted me with the most delicious smile I’d ever seen—a look I hadn’t even realized I needed. I looked around the room to make sure no one I knew was in there. Satisfied that I didn’t know any of the patrons I saw, I hurried to Press, and he caught me in his arms. He smelled delicious—like apples and honey mixed with hickory smoked wood.
I looked around the room again and then up at him. Swallowing the lump in my throat that the fear in my bones caused, I asked, “Can we go somewhere else? Somewhere warm?” I added, not wanting to be on top of the old lighthouse platform.
Without any question, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a twenty, threw it down on the bar, and took hold of my hand. He waved to the bartender and ushered me out the back door, then pulled me against him. “Hold on.”
We rematerialized inside what I assumed was his bedroom. I had no idea where he lived, but this room had just about everything anyone could ever want.
He strolled to the door and closed and locked it before flipping a switch on the wall, softly illuminating the entire room, the lights glowing with a soft blue ambiance.
“Make yourself at home.”
He didn’t need to ask me twice as I pulled off the very uncomfortable high-heeled boots I’d had on way too long and sank my toes into a plush, light tan area rug covering the dark wood flooring beneath a king-size bed. Preston headed to a small bar area and poured us a couple of drinks as I gave myself a quick tour.
On the other side of the room, directly in front of the bed, was a soft brown leather sofa facing a large screen TV that hung on a blue wall above a stone fireplace. The other door in the room was a bathroom, and I peeked in to see a wide spa tub encircled by a bed of small, round stones. It too was drenched in blue light, floating down from above it. The shower was wide and open with a rain-shower sprayer at each end and multiple other showerheads across the ceiling.
Press handed me a tumbler of something golden brown and I sniffed. Whiskey.
“I love this suite. Did you decorate it?”
He grinned. “Yes. And I hired someone. Come, let’s sit.”
I followed him to another sofa. This one was cream-colored and soft and plush, though it had no backing, just high, comfy-looking side arms graced with several small pillows of different shades of blue. I was beginning the get the distinct feeling that blue was Preston’s favorite color, or maybe it was just because it all went together so well. We sat facing a large picture window all drenched in blue light beaming down from the ceiling, giving way to a gorgeous view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the city lights of Tiburon across the bay. I couldn’t help but stare at the way the blue light changed the coloring of my hands and Preston’s face. It was very easy on the eyes, as well as romantic.
Press took a sip of his drink then set the glass down on the table beside him. “I was holding off asking what’s so important that you needed privacy, hoping you’d decide to start talking, but it seems you are either too wrapped up in my furnishings, or you’re scared to tell me. I’m guessing it’s the latter.”
He gently grabbed my hand, took the drink from my other one, and set it down, urging me closer to him. As I gazed into his dark eyes, a golden glow growing in them, I had a sad thought that this might be the last time I ever got a chance to be with him. Taking a chance like this was just too dangerous and I never knew when Dorian or his watchdogs would discover my whereabouts. But here we were now, alone in a bedroom made for romance and this was an opportunity I shouldn’t waste.
I’d spent too many years being afraid of the consequences of my actions and there was no one I’d rather defy Dorian with than Preston.
“I don’t want to talk,” I said and leaned in to kiss him. He didn’t miss a beat and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me closer. He took over, and as my lips parted, welcoming him, he slipped his tongue in. Taking me, possessing me the way I wanted to be possessed. With affection, desire, and an undertone of urgency neither of us could deny. I didn’t feel owned or branded as someone’s belonging with Preston. I didn’t feel as if I were with him out of obligation to protect someone else. I just enjoyed him . . . this to the fullest. Every touch, every kiss was new. The sensations he brought to life inside of me made me realize what it felt like to live. Preston made me feel alive again. The realization, the feeling of being fully desired took over completely, and I clenched my legs together as heat gathered at my core.
“Are you sure, Lily?” Preston broke the kiss to ask as he trailed small, quick kisses down my neck and over the tops of my breasts.
“Yes. I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life.”
“I’ve needed to touch you for so long. I’m not sure I could stop now.”
His mouth caressed mine again; his tongue sliding over my lips in a sensual glide before slipping into my mouth. His kiss sent scorching heat through my veins. His hand roamed my thigh and moved up. The beat of my heart quickened and pounded against my chest. Or was that his? Maybe it was both. Two hearts beating as one.
When his fingers slipped beneath my skirt and inside my panties, I gasped at the unexpected pleasure as his forefinger found my clit, and I bucked my hips a little toward him for more. I couldn’t get enough. I startled at the sensation of my fangs elongating. A sexual stimulation I’d never experienced before. I caught sight of Preston’s face. He smiled, showing me his fangs. We were instantly on our feet, and it was suddenly so warm.
“Too many clothes,” I huffed out as I struggled with his shirt, and he unzipped my skirt, letting it fall to the floor. He shrugged out of his shirt, and I splayed my hands over his taut chest. His muscles were so defined. He pulled my top over my head. I had no bra. I never wore one. Even though I was over a hundred years old, my breasts were exactly the same as they had been when I was twenty, the age I was when Dorian changed both my brother and me.
The frenzy stopped for a minute, and Preston gathered me in his arms, cradling me with tenderness as he walked us over to the large bed covered with a puffy, midnight-blue down comforter. When he laid me across the bed, I sank down several inches into the covers, and I felt like I was floating on a cloud. I laughed. He took hold of my hands and pulled me to stand once more at the edge of the bed as he squatted in front of me, tugging my panties down to the floor. Lifting
my foot up to his lips, he kissed the inside of my ankle and continued pressing little kisses all the way up the inside of my leg until he reached my core. Then his fingers dipped inside my folds.
“Lily, you’re so wet already.” He smiled and slid his tongue from my opening to my clit. Stopping at the very top, he sucked and flicked his tongue over my nub as his finger slipped inside, and his thumb took over pleasuring where his tongue had been. “And so tight.” He sank his fangs into my thigh very close to my opening, right at the crease of my leg and my folds. He suckled and drank and made little circles against my clit with his thumb as he sank another finger inside, pressing.
Releasing.
Squeezing.
Gently.
Hard.
Rubbing until I shuddered uncontrollably.
I let out a loud moan as my thoughts exploded inside my mind as he drank from me. I couldn’t wait to do the same thing to him. He switched from sucking at my thigh to my folds, licking the length of my core and sucking at the nub that throbbed for his attention. Giving me everything I needed, he alternated back and forth between my mound and the crease of my leg. I shuddered, delirious with excitement, and it got to the point where I couldn’t tell where his mouth was.
Preston took me to another world that I never wanted to return from. When he’d had his fill, he gently licked the small punctures closed. He shoved his pants down as I sat on the bed and watched him reveal himself, and then I leaned back on my elbows as he sauntered to me. He kissed his way up my stomach until he reached my neck, and I thought he would bite me again at that vein. Instead, he covered my mouth with his and urged me higher on the bed. My legs naturally accommodated his sexy frame as his weight pressed into me. And then, he sank into me. I gasped at the twinge of pain brought on by his thickness as he entered. The sudden discomfort took me by surprise. I hadn’t expected the pinch.
Then he stopped all movement. His eyes locked on mine.
“Lily. You were a virgin? You didn’t tell me. I’m sorry, I didn’t know. Are you okay?”
“Yes.” I could barely utter the word, my breath was so ragged with need. But he stayed still, waiting for an explanation. The guilt coating his eyes gave me pause and the strength to speak. “Don’t be sorry. How could you know? I’m sure it’s not often that you run across a hundred-and-twenty-year-old virgin. But an innocent no longer.” I smiled and raised my head to kiss him, brushing a few strands of my hair out of the way.
“What is this?” Preston asked, touching the small tattoo that Dorian had insisted Julian and I get.
“It’s nothing, just a silly tattoo I got years ago. It’s supposed to be a present, a gift,” I said, keeping the real meaning of the ink to myself. Though I hadn’t lied. It was a gift box with a D in the middle of it. Dorian had been so delighted about Julian and I having the tiny gift boxes with his initial inked at our veins since the origin of his name, Doron, was Greek meaning gift.
“A gift to your vein?” he asked and smiled as he placed a small kiss by the tattoo. And then he met my lips with an urgent yet tender kiss before turning his head and offering me his vein.
I didn’t hesitate and sank my fangs deeply into the side of his neck. The rush of his blood into my system set off an uncontrollable and pleasurable delirium deep within me. A tsunami of pleasure exploded within, and I cursed Dorian for putting so much fear in me all these years. The fear that he’d discover my disobedience if I ever lost my virginity.
Chapter Nine
Preston
I should have known the moment I sank my fangs into her delicious, soft skin next to her core that she was a virgin. Her blood was so rich, so potent, so much like a human’s . . . But I’d gotten high on the sensation so quickly, the notion had left my brain almost as soon as it entered. She was right, of course. Who would have ever thought she would be a virgin? Running across a vampire who was a virgin was unheard of.
As I sank deep into her tight sheath, her moans of pleasure grew louder, and she moved her hips under me. The pleasure of her draw on my vein made me frenzied, and I needed to go deeper, the tightness of her walls only making the sensation stronger. I’d never been with a virgin before.
I rolled us over so her body was on top of mine. She continued to suckle at my vein, the power of the rush almost too much. Pushing myself up, I grabbed on to her hips and positioned her on my lap as my cock sank deeper inside. She released her grip on my vein and licked the small wounds she’d created, sealing them with a delicate swipe of her tongue. Her head straightened. We locked eyes. Hers heavy-lidded and sultry, a golden glow in them I hadn’t noticed before. A color similar to mine when aroused—or so I’d been told. A color I hadn’t seen in years.
I lost that thought, consumed by the pleasure of her movements. Lily rode me, taking all of me inside. I helped her move with my hands, gyrating her, pumping her against my cock, her walls contracting around me. With each movement, I felt myself change. I would never be the same again. Not after experiencing this with Lily.
With my hands on her ass, she rocked on top of me. Riding me like she knew what she was doing. The motion was so tantalizing, I couldn’t hold back much longer. Her beautiful eyes found mine as her breath hitched and she came with a moan, just as I exploded into her sweetness.
I pulled Lily against me so that her head rested on my chest, our bodies stretched out side by side. I loved the feel of her skin against mine, so soft, like the petals of a rose. Or a lily. I’d always loved their soft, fragrant, trumpet-shaped petals. I snuggled her closer to me, wanting her to be a part of me. An extension. One where I ended and Lily began. As if our souls fused together as one.
I knew there was something troubling her, and I wanted her to tell me what it was. I also wanted to know how—and why—she had remained a virgin all these years. But I wouldn’t push.
I took a deep breath, and her head moved up with my chest and then down again when I exhaled. She giggled and lifted her head so she could look at my face. She was so beautiful with her hair all messed up from my fingers tangling in it while we made love.
When she lay back down, I sighed again, only not quite as prominently. She took my hand, twisting her fingers with mine.
“I’m sure you want answers,” she said as she traced her finger up and down the inside of my thigh all the way from my knee to my sack. It tickled, but felt amazing at the same time, and I never wanted her to stop.
“I do. But only if you want to tell me.” I wasn’t going to pry into her past or her present if she didn’t want me there. But I hoped she did. I wanted her to let me in and allow me to take her away from everything that tormented her. I had demons that plagued me, as well. I was sure most vampires did. So I knew that whatever was bothering her couldn’t be anything that would shock me.
“I want to tell you. But not tonight. Let’s just enjoy this moment and not taint it with unnecessary swill.”
“Swill?” I chuckled and frowned, giving her an I-don’t-believe-you-just-used-wet-pig-feed-to-describe-your-life look. “You didn’t by any chance grow up on a farm, did you?”
“I did.” She laughed.
“My little farm girl.” I kissed the top of her head.
“My father liked to joke that we had the largest farm of any twenty miles due west. We had the far west spread, and there wasn’t another plot of land like ours until the next town over, which was about twenty miles away.” Her laughter was music to my ears.
“Why did you leave the farm?” I asked.
Then she became somber, quiet even. I waited, hoping she’d tell me a little more about herself. Her voice was soft as she spoke.
“Both our parents were gone. Tuberculosis took my father. My mother had died several years earlier giving childbirth. Julian and I were the only ones left. We were young and naïve. I was only twenty and he was nineteen. We couldn’t work the farm on our own after our father’s passing, so we sold it and took what little money we got from the sale to go and live in the city where we th
ought life would be easier. Julian had his paper routes and helped out at the corner drug store sweeping, cleaning, and a variety of other duties. I tried to learn to sew to help bring in more money, but I had two thumbs when it came to directing a needle—or so my mother had said—so I sought work outside the home, cleaning others’ residences. When Julian and I returned home after our respective jobs that fateful day, we found our next door neighbor’s apartment open and the door torn from the hinges. Inside, we discovered her body. Her neck torn to shreds by some horrible monster. We thought the creature may have still been there. So we ran away.
“But he found you?”
“Not exactly. We returned home after hours of running with the thought that he surely had to have moved on by then.”
“But he hadn’t.”
“No. He turned my brother first. I don’t remember much about it.” She turned to snuggle tighter against me. “Where did you grow up?” she asked.
The abrupt change of subject startled me and I gave her a side-long glance. Her eyes glimmered with the soft blue light that trickled down from the ceiling. Was I ready to tell her my story? She’d given me a small glimpse of herself. I needed to give her a piece of me. The problem was, I wanted to give her all of me, and I wanted to take all of her. I wanted to know everything about her, but I knew she wasn’t ready. However, if I gave her as much of me as I could, maybe she would give me a bit of herself in return.
“My mother was a drug addict and died in my arms when I was five,” I supplied rather nonchalantly, even for me. I’d wanted the statement to come across as if the experience weren’t any big deal, but Lily’s body tensed against mine nonetheless. “I was born premature, though back then, they weren’t really sure. Since my mother was a prostitute, she had no idea who my father was, or even how long she’d been pregnant before she knew for sure. I had a very low birth weight, as well as breathing issues, and I was born with a deformed left leg and foot. I wore a leg brace my entire life. I couldn’t get across the room without the aid of a crutch.” Lily looked down at my feet, and I wiggled my now perfect toes. “Becoming a vampire healed all of my deformities,” I added. “With all those issues, no one wanted to take me in after my mother’s death, so I ended up in an orphanage until I was eighteen.”
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