Deathless Love (10 page)

He watched as she timidly complied, moving her hips slightly as she worked her sex with her fingers.

“Now,” he drawled. The spanking won't stop until you come. But there's no faking. If you fake it, you're going to find out what my belt feels like.”

Kate orgasmed. He laughed. It was so easy to wind her up. “That one doesn't count. Now, let's begin.”

He started slowly, using the spatula to swat her sweet little buns. She flinched and jumped and ground her hips into her hand. The sight of her wriggling, her head turned to the side, mouth open, eyes closed, had him rock hard. As her undulations grew in intensity, he picked up the pace of his spanks, but that seemed to throw her off her game completely, probably because the pain had outbalanced the pleasure. He stopped and rubbed her hot flesh and she moaned, starting to wriggle again. He aimed the spatula low, where the buttocks meet the thighs, and in the center, directly over her pussy. He went slowly and watched as her writhing picked up. He picked up pace with her, but this time lightened the force considerably, trying to guess at a good balance. She bucked and tightened her legs and butt, crying out, and he gave her several hard smacks until the orgasm was over.

When he rolled her over, she was limp with satisfaction. Her face was flushed and her eyes looked a little glazed. She gave him a happy sigh and a slow grin. He lifted her knees to her chest and licked into her hot core, making her groan with pleasure. He coaxed her toward a climax again until she was moaning and pleading with him and then he quickly pulled off his pants and entered her.

He wouldn't last long—he was ready to come before he even started. He drove into her and struck her neck at the moment of orgasm, causing the most intense explosion of sensation he had ever felt. It was like a completed circuit of energy—semen out/blood in—and the effect was mind-blowing. Kate had wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck and she clung to him through it, gasping.

He licked her wounds closed and was struck suddenly by his conscience. “God, I shouldn't have bitten you again. Is your neck getting sore?”

She reached up and felt her neck and then made a cute snorting sound. “Why are you worried about my neck? How about my butt? You've spanked me three times in the past twenty-four hours!”

“No no,” he said gently, rolling her onto her belly and stroking the offended cheeks. “There's no sulking. Didn't I tell you that?”

She tried to roll back to the safety of her back, but he held her in place, which made her clench her bottom in fear. He laughed and kissed one of her cheeks and released her.

“Now it's your fault I'm not working on my paper,” she said, still sulky.

“Listen, I have an idea about that.”

She sat up to listen.

“Do you believe in the power of the mind?”

“Of course.”

“And you know I can give you hypnotic suggestions?”

She looked interested, catching on.

“So I'm thinking we could try some out to see if changing your mindset might help you focus. Are you game?”

“Yeah. Absolutely.”

“Okay, I'll say them out loud, so you know what I'm planting, all right? You can repeat them for yourself if you want, but it's not necessary. Look at me.”

He caught her eyes with his gaze, instantly opening the door to suggestion. Then he just improvised, planting the first things that came to mind.

“I am in the zone. Writing my proposal is easy.”

She repeated it after him.

“All my ideas are flowing in and coming together perfectly. I have all the focus and discipline I need to finish my proposal this weekend. I am relaxed and confident in my ability to write a perfect thesis.”

Then he released the figurative door to her mind and said, “As soon as I finish my proposal, I'm going to blow Dom.”

She made a sound of outrage and punched him in the arm and he laughed. “I didn't plant that last one,” he assured her. “I promise I would never mess with you like that.”

She tackled him so that he fell back on the bed and she nipped at his neck with her teeth. “I wish I could bite,” she said.

“No you don't,” he said lightly, rolling over to deposit her neatly on her feet at the side of the bed. “Do you feel like working?”

She considered. “Actually, I do!” she said with a look of wonder. “If this works, I will most certainly blow you.”

He laughed and followed her up the stairs. “All right, get busy. And don't forget the rules.”

She rubbed her bottom. “How could I?” she said with a rueful grin.

The suggestions worked almost too well. Kate did not move from her place in front of her laptop for a solid four hours. She probably would've stayed longer, but he insisted she take a break. He ordered Chinese food to be delivered and sent her to open the door and pay for it, since it was still light out.

They sat at the table eating with chopsticks, and Kate bubbled over with enthusiasm, sharing her ideas for her thesis. She had starting planning research methods to test the children's aptitudes in math before and after music lessons. She 'd contacted several elementary school principals to find out if they'd be willing to have her as a guest teacher in exchange for gathering research from their students. She 'd written most of her introduction and background for the proposal and was halfway through the methodology.

As she spoke, Dom just watched, entranced. He loved seeing her so unselfconscious. This was the real Kate. Not shy Kate, not the brilliant performer Kate, but the real woman underneath all those exteriors. He loved it.

After a while she rerouted the conversation. “What is Philosophy of the Mind?”

“Ah. You saw my diploma? It's sort of a shared branch of psychology and philosophy. A study of consciousness.”

“And you really have a Ph.D. in it?”

He nodded. “The advent of online studies changed my life.”

“I'll bet,” she said softly.

“So is that why you're so good at hypnosis?”

“No. Any vampire can do it. It's a defense mechanism you learn pretty quickly after being turned. But it might be why I'm interested in how it can be applied to improve lives.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean the mind is capable of controlling more than we fathom. The power of belief is incredible. And I know firsthand how malleable belief can be.”

Stella and Fox would usually roll their eyes at him at this point, but Kate was sitting forward in her chair, drinking it up. He decided to show her his cheap parlor trick. “Okay, here's a super simple example of how much your mind controls.” He rummaged through the drawer in the kitchen that held the miscellaneous things until he found a safety pin and a lighter. He held the pointed tip of the pin under the flame of the lighter for a few seconds to sterilize it.

“Look at me.”

She complied.

“I'm going to prick you with this pin, but you will feel no pain.” He pricked the back of her hand in two places and she didn't flinch at all. “Now Kate, please close this hole off so no blood comes out. Now send one and only one drop of blood out of this other hole.” They both watched as a single drop came out of one hole, while nothing happened with the other.

“You see? I didn't make you bleed that way—you did. Your brain somehow knew how to control your blood to follow my directions. There are thousands of applications for this. Many of them people are already using—like hypnosis for pain-free childbirth, or to have surgery without anesthesia. There's no limit to what could happen when you start playing with your brain.” He shrugged. “Anyway, that's what I'm interested in.”

“It's fascinating,” Kate said, and he felt gratified.

“Well,
piccolina mia,
I think this has been enough of a break,” he said, standing up and starting to clean up the dishes. She jumped to join him.

“What does
piccolina
mean?”

“Pretty little one. You're playing at Congress tonight?”

She nodded.

He checked his watch. “So that gives you two more hours to work, if you have it in you.” He wasn't sure at this point how much to enforce, but she nodded.

“Sounds good. Thanks for helping me with this, Dom.” She beamed a smile at him that melted him in his place. He kissed the top of her head and left her to her studies. Two hours later, she was still typing away intently when he interrupted her so she could get ready for her gig at Club Congress.

“The trouble is, I'm not really in the zone for performing now,” she said after they'd both changed for the evening. “Can you give me a new suggestion?”

He looked at her beautiful face. It was hard to refuse her anything. But depending on him was not in her best interest. “Why don't you try it for yourself? Just set your intent to be in the perfect zone for performing, and it will happen for you.”

She looked at him doubtfully.

“Well, you have to believe for it work. You trust in what I've shown you so far, right?”

She nodded.

“Then trust me when I say that your intent is enough. You don't need me to do it for you.”

“Okay.” She looked flustered and he could feel a mild impression of hurt and disappointment coming from her.

“I'll go catch a ride with Fox. Should I come to the club after closing? Or meet you here? Or… should I just take my stuff now?” She had faltered completely now.

He couldn't seem to turn on the disciplinarian voice to tell her sternly that she was still under house arrest until her paper was finished. He should have, because it would've relieved the tension and made her laugh.

Instead, he just kissed her cheek. “Meet me at No Return.”

She avoided his eye as she picked up her bag. “Okay, I'll see you there.”

When she left, he sighed. As if he'd needed one more example of why he was bad news for Kate Strand.

* * *

Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Why was it so easy for her to feel rejected? She tried to shake off the feeling she'd had leaving Dom and get into the right head space to perform. She took his advice and set her intent to be in the right zone for it.

She was using Fox's keyboard since hers had been destroyed in the crash. He'd said she could use it indefinitely, which took the pressure off her to buy a new one. As she started to play, she found that Dom had been right. She was able to summon the right energy to perform, just by setting her intent to do so. It was a smooth and easy night and rather than wait for Fox, since he was getting his game on with some boys, she took off to walk the four blocks to No Return as soon as they were finished. Fox could put the keyboard back in his car.

Customers were still being herded out of No Return when she got there, and there was a new bouncer standing at the front gate who crossed his arms and blocked her way when she tried to pass him to go in. “Club's closed,” he grunted.

“I know, I work here. Remember? I played in the band last night?”

“Well you're not working here tonight, are you?” he demanded.

She stood on her tiptoes to try to look past him to see Stella or Dom or anyone else who would vouch for her. Not seeing anyone, she pulled out her cell phone and tried Dom's number. He didn't answer. Of course, he probably couldn't hear it with the end of night bustle. “Just let me go grab Dom and he'll vouch for me, okay? He's my ride,” she wheedled.

The bouncer looked unsure at that, like he didn't know whether to believe her. She didn't blame him. Every customer at No Return claimed to be a personal friend of Dom's to try to get out of paying cover, or get a free drink, or be able to stay past closing. She probably just seemed like another one of them.

“Dom!” she called out, spotting him as the doors opened and more customers filed out. She saw his head jerk up before the doors closed, and a moment later he plowed through them with a purpose.

“Matt!” he snapped. Matt—the bouncer—turned around and stood at attention. Dom held out his hand toward Kate and Matt stood back so she could walk past him and take it. “This is Kate. She's my girl. I should have introduced you last night. I want you to take very good care of her. If she says 'jump', you say 'how high?' Got it?”

Matt nodded. “Sorry, Kate,” he said to her.

Still reeling from the fact that Dom had just called her his girl, she beamed at him. “It's okay, you didn't know. Thanks.”

Dom wrapped an arm around her and led her into the club. “How did it go?”

The happiness he'd just given her completely washed away the remains of the hurt she'd felt earlier. “It went well. You were right,” she admitted.

He stopped and took her into his arms. “I don't care about being right,” he said, looking at her with that wistful sadness she'd seen before. “I just want you to know your own power.”

She stared up at him, arrested. Whatever she'd thought he might say, it wasn't that. “I don't have any power,” she mumbled. “You're the you-know-what.” She was reluctant to say the word
vampire
out loud in case anyone happened to hear.

“It is your mind that knows what to do with a suggestion. And knowing you can control your own mind is more power than you’ll ever need.” He looked around the club. “Do you want a drink, or are you ready to head out?”

“I'm ready.”

“Okay, let me just tell Stella. Give me one sec.”

She leaned against the stairwell wall and waited for him.

“Hey Kate. What's happening?” A drunken customer wasted no time in moving in on her. Standing alone after closing was an invitation to every boy who hadn't found a girl to leave with yet.

“Just waiting for my man,” she said with a little smile.

The guy scowled at her as if she'd just insulted him and moved off out the door.

Dom reappeared. “You're getting good at that,” he observed.

“Well… I don't know if it counts when I give you as my excuse?” She scuffed her toes a little and then peeked up at him and he laughed.

“Maybe not, but it's your attitude toward it that's changed. You didn't look the least bit uncomfortable.”

She was surprised. She considered his words and realized that he was right. And it wasn't because she knew Dom would return any moment and could rescue her if she needed him to. It was because she had confidence that her words would send the fellow away. And she was surprised to realize that she hadn't cared if they hurt his feelings—even after he'd looked like she had.