by Folsom, Tina
He’d long ago mastered the art of moving food around his plate without anybody noticing that he never actually ate any of it. He distracted those who watched him with conversation and by cutting the food into smaller pieces, then rearranging it on his plate so that it looked as if he’d eaten some of it.
Not that he would even make a pretense of it today. He had, after all, more important things to do: he had to seduce his wife.
“Yes, very well. And you, did you sleep well?”
Her voice was a soft trickle, and he wondered how she would sound when she lay in his arms, panting in ecstasy. Would her voice be even more breathless? Even huskier? Or would she still pretend that he didn’t affect her?
“I slept terribly, my sweet wife, and I hope to remedy this situation very soon.”
When he lifted his lids and looked straight at her, he noticed a pink blush spread over her cheeks, but she didn’t raise her eyes to meet his gaze and instead stared at her empty plate.
Then she removed the napkin from her lap and folded it, placing it neatly next to her plate. “If you’ll excuse me. I have things to attend to.”
She rose swiftly, but he was faster. Before she could make two steps away from the table, he had her cornered between it and the paneled wall.
“Signore! If you’d please let me pass,” she requested, her voice tight.
“My name is Nico.” He took another step closer, bringing his body flush with hers.
“Signore . . . ”
He shook his head.
Finally she seemed to understand. “Nico, please, would you let me pass?”
“If that’s what you truly want, Oriana.” He closed the distance between their heads, allowing his lips to hover mere centimeters above her mouth. His action had caused her to press herself against the wall behind her, leaving her nowhere else to go.
“Y-yes,” she stammered.
Nico leaned in closer. “How can you know what you truly want, my sweet, when you don’t know what options you have? Why don’t I show you some of them? Maybe then you can choose what you like best.”
And he hoped her taste was similar to his.
His lips met hers, pressing softly against them. He wasn’t going to behave like a barbarian and force himself on her. No, he’d rather tease her with his touch and coax a reaction from her. Sliding his lips gently across her mouth, he slanted his head a little to the side. Without haste, he inhaled her scent and tasted her skin.
She was rigid beneath him, not moving at all: neither to push him away nor to pull him closer. But he knew how to elicit reactions from women, even from a woman who believed sex to be a painful and dirty undertaking—she wouldn’t remain frozen like this for long.
Slowly, Nico brought his hand to her neck, sliding it to her nape. His fingers pushed up into her hair, while his thumb caressed the soft skin below her ear. Her pulse beat against his thumb as loudly as a drum. He sensed her tremble under his touch, yet she didn’t turn her head to sever the contact.
“Oriana,” he whispered against her mouth, before he parted his lips and licked his tongue against the seam of her lips.
A gasp escaped her.
Combing his hand through her hair and in the process disturbing some of the pins that held her coiffure up, he slanted his lips over her mouth, licking over it again. Under light pressure, she parted her lips. She finally understood what he wanted. Or had she simply wanted to take a breath? It didn’t matter, because all he could think of was the warm and moist cavern he now explored. With gentle and measured strokes, he delved into her mouth, ever so softly licking over her teeth, before touching her tongue.
A bolt of lightning charged through him, turning his insides into an inferno in an instant. A groan came over his lips before he could stop it. Just like he couldn’t stop another bodily reaction: after having been semi-erect ever since entering the room, his cock swelled to its full size, the blood pumping into it bringing it near bursting. His eager appendage pushed against the flap of his trousers, pressing into the buttons. He could only hope that the thread with which the buttons were sewn was strong enough, or he would burst from his trousers and make a fool of himself.
Trying to push away those thoughts, he captured her mouth more fiercely now, kissing her with more passion and determination. To his surprise there was no resistance. This was easier than he’d imagined.
Sighing, he allowed his hands to roam her body. As one of them reached the round swell of her breast and cupped it, Oriana ripped her mouth from his.
A split-second later, a sharp pain in his foot made him jump back. Shocked, he stared at her. Oriana had driven the heel of her slipper into his foot.
“How dare you?!” she cried out.
Anger charged through him.
7
Oriana saw the fury blazing from Nico’s eyes and instinctively shrunk back. His eyes darkened and his jaw clenched.
To her utter shock and dismay, she’d enjoyed his kiss. Or maybe she’d been so surprised by it, that she’d been unable to react the way a lady would—with indifference. But when she’d felt his hand on her breast, her brain had suddenly started working again, and she’d done the only thing she could: defend herself.
Narrowing his eyes, Nico approached. “Oh, I dare even more, my sweet wife!”
Suddenly afraid, she froze. She’d unleashed a wild beast in him. Now he would truly hurt her! Before, he would have simply taken her dignity, now he would do much worse. Her heart beating into her throat, she squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see what was coming.
A moment later, she felt herself lifted up, then she heard dishes and cutlery crash onto the floor. When he deposited her on the table, she steeled herself for her fate: he would take her right here on the table. She wouldn’t even get a bed to cushion her back, instead he’d use her like a common whore. Oh, the indignity!
“No!” she cried out, but Nico didn’t stop.
He pushed her skirts up to her waist. Then she felt his hand on her drawers. He ripped them, laying her bare to his view. Shame flooded her. Nobody had ever seen her like this.
“Oh God, you’re beautiful.” His voice sounded anything but angry—it sounded reverent.
Her eyes flew open. She’d expected to see him opening his trousers to take out his manhood so he could do what men did, but instead she saw him look at the place between her legs, legs he now spread wider.
“And I’m sure you taste as beautiful.”
Before she understood what he meant by his words, he sank his head between her legs and brought his lips to her sex. For a long moment, she was frozen in disbelief. What he was doing was impossible. Maybe she had fainted so she wouldn’t have to face what was happening to her.
She sensed him inhale sharply, pressing his face into the triangle of hair that guarded her woman’s place. It was really happening. She hadn’t fainted.
When she felt warm air blow against her, she realized that he was kissing her there. Kissing a place that was unthinkable. Forbidden. Her friend Ilaria had never mentioned her husband doing anything of the sort. Surely, this was not done!
Oriana was about to protest, trying to lift herself up from her lying position, when his fingers parted her female folds and something warm and moist swiped against them.
“Ohhhhh!” she sighed.
Nico was licking her with his tongue! It was outrageous, but she couldn’t gather the strength to push him away, despite the fact that his hands weren’t holding her down. He was using no force on her, his fingers too busy caressing her instead. She could easily push him off her and free herself. So why didn’t she? Why was she allowing him to do this to her? To kiss her in such a scandalous way?
As if it had been turned off, her mind gave no answer to her questions. Instead her body dictated her reaction. Like a wanton woman, she moaned, her body writhing against his mouth and tongue, her pelvis tilting toward him to achieve a closer connection.
Her body was aflame, burning from the inside out. At
the same time, her nipples were chafing against her corset, begging to be freed, yet there was no way of doing so. But she needed relief. Without thinking, she rubbed her palms over the breasts, cupping and squeezing them as much as was possible through the fabric. It wasn’t enough to give her any sense of relief, so she allowed her fingers to trail higher, ignoring the little voice in her head that called her “wanton” and instead touched the part of her skin that was exposed. Then she hooked her thumbs underneath the corset and pushed it farther down. Another pull, and her nipples popped over the rim of the corset. Cool air blew against them, making the hard tips even harder.
She moaned in response. At the same time, Nico licked with more intensity and pressed harder against her exposed flesh. She felt liquid pool there. With it, embarrassment swept through her. What was she doing? How could she allow him to see her like this, to touch her like this?
And on the dining table of all places! That thought sent a shockwave through her body. What if one of the servants entered and saw them?
“We can’t . . . “ she stammered.
Instead of an answer, Nico moved his position and licked higher up, reaching a spot where her heartbeat pulsed violently. He licked over it, sending a charge through her body as if she’d been hit by lightning.
“Ohhh!” she cried out, pleasure racing through her.
No, she didn’t want him to stop now. She wanted more of this, more of what he was doing right now. Whatever he was doing. She had no words for it. But it didn’t stop her from begging, “More. Oh God, more!”
She knew there had to be more of this kind of sensation, this joy that traveled through her body and made her toss her inhibitions out the window and into the canals below. There was something she couldn’t put a name to that was just beyond her reach. Something wonderful, something pleasurable. Her body knew it as if it was a primal instinct. And her body now drove her toward it, ignoring all manners and decorum.
Nico was doing this to her. Her husband was giving her something she’d never experienced. Was this what married couples really did? Then why had Ilaria made it sound like it was all pain and shame? The shame she could understand, because even now she felt ashamed at her lusty behavior, like that of a common trollop and not the lady she was. But there was no pain. Nico’s fingers stroked her gently as if he knew what she needed, where she wanted to be touched. Indeed he seemed to know better than she did, because his caresses reached places before she even knew she needed his touch there.
Just like he now stroked along her folds while his tongue licked over the small bundle of nerves that was so sensitive she felt she might explode any moment. But whenever she thought it would happen, Nico pulled back and decreased the pressure. Over and over he did this, varying the intensity with which he licked and stroked her, as if he wanted to hold off the inevitable.
Oriana felt one finger probe at the entrance to her body, sliding between the moist folds. Instinctively, she spread her legs wider and pulled her knees up so they pointed toward the ceiling. She didn’t care that no lady would ever expose herself like this—all she cared about was that she gave him better access to her sex.
Nico’s next groan reverberated through her, and at the same time his finger slid into her. The invasion was foreign at first, her muscles clamping around him instantly. Before she could decide whether she liked what he did, the pressure on her center of pleasure intensified and she let out an involuntary moan.
She barely noticed how Nico’s finger moved in and out of her, because the pleasure from him licking and sucking her drove every sane thought out of her mind.
Her hands went back to her breasts, strumming her nipples while her hips bucked against Nico’s mouth, encouraging him to go faster. Her chest heaved, and small beads of sweat built on her face and neck. She ignored them and instead squeezed her breasts harder.
“Yes, yes, yes,” she chanted without thinking.
Who was this lusty woman who’d taken over her body? Who was controlling her now? Because for certain it wasn’t the studious young woman who’d never shown any interest in men.
A grumble came from Nico. “Yes, my wanton wife!”
Then everything changed. Nico sucked her sensitive flesh into his mouth and pressed his lips together. At the same time, his finger drove deep and hard into her. With a cry, she exploded. Waves of pleasure raced through her body, threatening to incinerate her. But no flames consumed her body, instead she felt as if floating on a cloud. Weightless. Without any thoughts, without any worries in the world.
Her vision blurred, and she realized that tears were running down her cheeks.
When she finally floated down back, her limbs felt boneless. She was overcome with emotions, but of one thing she was certain: she wanted more of this, and more of Nico.
Nico’s head lifted and he looked at her. Concern spread over his face when he noticed her tears. His hand reached to wipe one off her cheek.
Then, with a pained expression, he turned on his heels and stormed out of the room.
“Nico!” But he was already gone.
8
After receiving a missive from Marcello in the late afternoon, Nico grabbed his hooded cloak and left the house in his closed gondola. Marcello’s note had sounded urgent, and it gave Nico the perfect excuse to leave the house and not face his wife.
He’d made her cry! Even though she’d climaxed under his lips. He’d felt it; there had been no mistaking the shudders that had made her body tremble. Her interior muscles had spasmed around his finger, squeezing him so tightly that he’d nearly come in his smalls.
Had he not been so close to his own climax, he would have stayed and tried to find out why she was crying, but male pride had made him flee so he wouldn’t embarrass himself in front of her like a green kid who’d never had a woman.
Still, the moment he’d reached his bedchamber and opened the flap of his trousers, he’d spilled into his own hand with only one single thrust into his fist. So much for his legendary control! One day of marriage, and he had turned into a complete and utter fool. What had made him think even for one minute that taking his wife on the dining table was a good idea? It was the way he took a whore, not a lady like her! But when she’d defied him by driving her heel into his foot, he’d seen red. That he hadn’t taken out his aching cock and fucked her with it, was a miracle in itself. But what would happen next time? Would he rape her? No, he couldn’t allow that to happen.
There was no way to mend what he’d done already, he was sure. And he didn’t want to face this now, so he was glad that he had other things to think about right now.
Nico reached Marcello’s house after negotiating several corners and tied the gondola to the covered dock. Then he dashed inside, not wanting to remain outside any longer, even though the rays of the late afternoon sun were already dipping behind the neighboring houses.
Marcello’s house was more a palace than a house. Bordering on a small canal on one side, it stood four stories tall. It was flanked by smaller houses on each side, and its front opened to a small piazza. Marcello employed a number of servants to maintain the house. All of them were humans. However, they came from families who’d worked for him for generations, their loyalty beyond question. In exchange, they lived privileged lives—no servant in Venice received better food, better clothing, or better accommodations than Marcello’s.
Nico allowed the footman to take his cloak and followed him as he ushered him upstairs. Surprised, Nico raised an eyebrow. Normally Marcello received his visitors downstairs, rather than in his private rooms.
“Ah, there you are, always the last,” Marcello’s deep voice boomed from the open door to his private study as Nico stepped over the threshold. “Even though today you have a good excuse: I’m sure it wasn’t easy to pull your prick out from between the clenching thighs of your blushing bride.”
Raucous laughter followed. Everybody was assembled: Silvano, Francesco, the brothers Dante and Raphael, Lorenzo, Andrea, Carlo, Paolo,
Enrico, and of course Marcello himself. And not an eye remained dry as all of them laughed about Marcello’s raunchy comment.
Not wanting to give his friends any reason to believe that his wedding night hadn’t gone according to plan and that his marriage was already in shambles, Nico shut the door behind him and added, “What if it wasn’t her cunny I was having trouble disentangling myself from? What if her lips were so tightly sealed around my prick that I couldn’t pull out for fear she would bite me if I left her?”
He should be so lucky, he thought, as his friends erupted in yet another round of laughter. A woman like her would never suck his cock. She’d never debase herself like that. After all, she was a well-bred woman, and he was as debauched as they came. He couldn’t even get her to accept marital relations; teaching her to enjoy other diversions such as sucking his insatiable cock would be an impossible feat. It was best to accept the inevitable and admit that his wife was disgusted with him.
“But enough of the fun and games,” he heard Marcello cut through his thoughts. “We have a serious matter to discuss.”
Everybody looked expectantly at Marcello. Nico leaned against the door and crossed his arms over his chest, curious why Marcello had demanded this meeting, which after all, was taking place in broad daylight.
“My spies have heard of a vicious rumor. Apparently somebody in this city has come up with a contraption, some sort of device that makes it possible to identify vampires.”
Nico dropped his arms to the side, his body hardening and straightening instantly. Air rushed from his lungs, and he took another breath. He noticed the same sort of reaction in his fellow vampires. Shock rippled through them.
“How can that be?” Dante asked.
“Are you sure?” Raphael added.
Marcello nodded gravely. “You all know that my spies are reliable. I bloody well pay them enough. I believe it to be true. This rumor has been circulating over the past week and only just came to my spies’ ears. And if we know about this, then it’s safe to assume the Guardians know about it too.”