Loving Two Vampires
Darkisle 2

4 CUPS: "Dead and sexy are two very good words to describe the vampires in this erotic short story. The tenderness between them is obvious, if not well explained and the passion is breathtaking. All in all a good read." --Virginia, Coffee Time Romance

He folded his arms and stared at her until she found herself getting lightheaded again. “This is your first time here.”

It hadn’t been a question, and she saw no point in denying it. “Yes.”

“Name?”

“Lindsay Tanner.” She hadn’t meant to reveal her last name, or at least not her real one. Somehow, it rose to her lips as if she had no control over her own speech. The assault must have shaken her more than she’d realized. “Uh…yours?”

“Caine Waldram.” He reached out and grasped her hand. The coldness of his skin sent a shiver up her arm and straight to her nipples. Her own face suffused with heat as the front of her skimpy outfit stretched outward to form twin points. Caine’s smile expanded along with the garment.

“An interesting name,” she said in an effort to distract him.

He shrugged. “People took Biblical names seriously when and where I was born. Either my parents had a strange sense of humor or they had a premonition about the sort of man I would become.”

“The Biblical Caine was cursed, you mean.”

“He also murdered his brother. Fortunately, I remained an only child.”

Though he was no longer touching her, she shivered again. “Well, you seem like a fine man to me. After all, you just saved me from that disgusting man…and from myself, I suppose.”

“I did what was necessary. I’ll speak to management later and get our ill-mannered friend barred.” He shrugged again, distracted. His gaze swept the room behind her. She was tempted to turn around, but resisted the urge. For some reason, she couldn’t tear her attention away from him. He captivated her in a way the objective researcher in her found unsettling.

“Good idea.”

His smoldering gaze swung around again and pinned her. Whether a trick of the lighting or not, his eyes still appeared entirely black—perhaps like those of his Old Testament namesake. “And aside from that, are you enjoying yourself tonight? Do you like Purgatory?”

No doubt he expected her to comment on the pun, so she ignored it. “It’s…interesting.”

“I can see why you would say that. You didn’t come here looking for companionship, like most everyone else. Nevertheless, you look lonely. I’m not sure you even realize it.”

In fact, Lindsay didn’t consider herself lonely, even though her determination to earn a series of academic degrees and soon, hopefully, start a career, had made her personal life unsatisfactory at times. “There’s a difference between being alone and lonely,” she protested.

“I didn’t just mean tonight.” He lifted his hand and turned it palm upward to indicate a spot across the room. This time, she pivoted on her heel and looked in the direction he indicated.

“Now there’s a man who needs companionship,” Caine went on, his arm still raised. “Gabriel Blackstone is another very old acquaintance of mine, but he happens to be one you can trust. And I know as well as I know my own name that he’s lonely. So go.”

His hand dropped to her shoulder, and he nudged her so subtly that Lindsay was moving forward before she even realized it. She didn’t need to glance back to know Caine had vanished again.

A tall blond man stood in the spot Caine had directed her toward, holding a tall metal goblet to his chest. His chin tilted up, and his gaze remained vacant, as though he were trying to lose himself in the strobe lights and music.

Even though he scared her a little, she found Caine Waldram handsome. She couldn’t deny that.

But Gabriel Blackstone was, simply, the most beautiful man she had ever seen.

ADULT EXCERPT

Lindsay stepped out of the shower and pulled on the crimson robe. Something about its shade made her feel adventurous. At the same time, the knowledge of her hypocrisy struck her with such force that she paused, her hand on the knob.

She could try to convince herself she’d accompanied Gabriel here for the sake of her research. She could pretend that what would soon take place on the other side of the door was nothing more than an experiment, reflecting her desire for thoroughness and an inside perspective. The right jargon could make this reckless interlude sound so professional, even clinical.

The truth was that she wanted him in a way she’d never wanted any man she’d ever met over the course of her entire life. The fury of her desire both frightened and exhilarated her.

Did she really want to prove something? Normally, she would have answered “no,” and felt perfectly confident in her answer. In this place, among these people, the truth seemed far more elusive.

The time had come for her to find out. Lindsay took a deep breath, steeled herself for whatever weird adventure lay ahead, and pushed open the bathroom door. A cloud of hot steam billowed out around her as she stepped forward.

Her gaze, along with her bare feet, instinctively moved to the enormous bed in the corner. Lindsay stopped to suck in her breath when she saw what awaited her there.

Gabriel lay stretched out naked on top of the covers, his fingers clasped behind his head, one leg casually crossed over the other. Only the slightest flush tinted the flat of his stomach and accented the curves of his thighs, but an aggressive, ruddy erection rose from the patch of gold hair nestled between them. The stark beauty of his pale body dazzled her, robbing her of both coherent thought and speech.

“Come closer,” he ordered. With his chiseled features, pallid skin, and long flaxen mane splayed across the pillow, he resembled some haughty medieval lord, waiting for his mistress to serve him. Not for a moment did she consider doing anything else.

Lindsay complied, moving to stand at the edge of the bed. Gabriel brought his hands forward, using the left one to brace himself and sliding the right around her wrist. As he shifted his weight, his hips rolled against the blankets. His stiff cock bobbed toward her and brushed the hem of her robe, parting the front. His skin smelled fresh and cool, like newly fallen snow.

A single tug of his arm drew her onto the bed. She balanced on her knees between his open legs as he expertly relieved her of the robe. After he had tossed it to the floor, he pushed both hands up under her breasts and kneaded them with a murmur of admiration. The frostiness of his skin shocked her at first. Gradually, though, the contrast in their body temperatures seemed to lessen, as if he were drawing heat from her.

“You are soft,” he whispered, bending his head and rubbing the fleshy side of her left breast over his cheek. “Warm. Your blood is filled with life.”

“Y-yes,” she stammered, finding her voice at last. “Of course it is. I am alive.” More alive than she’d ever been before, she thought wildly.

A faint rosy blush gathered in the hollow of his throat and spread outward, filling his cheeks and chest with color. “Now you will share that life with me,” he said, his voice dropping to a near growl.

His hands moved lower, too. One cupped her buttocks while the other reached between her legs. Parting her cleft with his thumb, he slid his index finger over her sensitive pearl. He smiled against her nipple when her hips bucked involuntarily and her moist folds spasmed around his fingertip.

“You’re ripe and wet, like a fruit. It’s been a long time since I enjoyed a fruit.” His fingers probed lower, then deeper, tickling her entrance before slipping inside. Lindsay gasped with need, already teetering on the edge of orgasm. “I yearn to taste you. But not yet.”