Her Wanton Ways [Notorious Nephilim 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (2 page)

“You still find those kind in New York City. They’re charming.”

“I agree.” He ushered her inside and pushed the button for the fifth floor. “But our guests demand the latest technologies.”

“I see.”

“How did you hear about this place? I’m always curious how our guests found us.”

Joelle’s heart beat so loudly she was certain he could hear it. She breathed in his scent, wondering why she could still smell it now that they were no longer in the lobby. It was as if it emanated from his skin. As she scanned his face again, erotic images danced in her head, decadent and dark. Heat rose up her neck, and she averted her gaze to try and form a rational thought. He’d asked her a question, hadn’t he?

“Here we are.” The door opened, and she stepped out into a hallway covered in thick carpeting. Damask paper adorned the walls. The place was as quiet as a tomb.

“Forgive me, I didn’t answer your question. My roommate and I came across an advertisement in a magazine for this resort.”

“Really? Which one? We don’t advertise much.”

He would ask. Peggy had brought back the magazine from a recent trip to London with her parents and fiancé, but she couldn’t tell him they’d been reading a European nudie magazine. Joelle’s palms grew damp, and she clutched her handbag tighter. “Um, it wasn’t actually an advertisement. It was an article someone had written, and former guests gave testimonials as part of it.”

He stopped in front of a door with the number 5A engraved on a brass plate. After he opened it, he allowed her to step inside first. “Oh…” Joelle walked to the middle of the room and gaped at the décor. Lush and expensive, the navy blue, gold, and maroon colors reminded her of exhibits she’d seen at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

“Do you like it?” Blade’s smile was as bright as the sunshine streaming in through the expanse of windows. Pride shone in his eyes. “This is one of my favorite suites. I love the colors.”

“It’s breathtaking.”

He sighed and placed her bags on the floor. “Yes, it is.” The look he gave her was molten, penetrating, as though he were trying to see into her very soul. Joelle was no stranger to men, but she’d never met one who’d captivated her with no more than a glance. “Let me show you around.”

She followed him into a cozy kitchenette, boasting the latest appliances. “It looks new,” she said.

“All the suites were recently updated, along with the elevators. New decade, new conveniences.”

She couldn’t help but smile at the slightly mocking tone of his voice. “Are you not a fan of modern convenience, Mister Fallon?”

“Please, call me Blade. Sure, I’m a fan. It’s just that I don’t see a need for some of these things, that’s all.”

“You prefer doing things the hard way.”

His grin sent a rush of heat to her face and a flood of wetness to her pussy. She sighed, but it came out as a gasp.

“Not always, but I do prefer using my hands instead of machines for certain tasks.”

“Oh…” As she stared into his eyes, they grew larger and began to glow, until they were the only clear things on his face. The air became heavy and charged. Joelle’s breathing grew shallow, and she felt like she was falling right into those luminous pools of deep blue. Every care she’d ever had began to fade, and she knew if she dived in there would be no need to resurface.

Blade brushed a lock of her hair off her cheek, and his touch burned like fire. She blinked a few times, suddenly unsure of where she was or what was going on. When she refocused her vision, his eyes didn’t look any different than they had when she’d first met him.

What the hell just happened?

“How about you, Joelle?” he asked. “Do you like to use your hands for certain tasks?” He glanced at her manicured fingernails.

“That depends on what the task is.” Why had she said that, and in such a seductive tone? She’d been around the block a few times, but she’d never been so forward with someone she’d met fifteen minutes earlier.

“Perhaps you’d like to join me for dinner, and we can discuss it further?”

Everything she and Peggy had read in
H&E
must be true. The idea of uninhibited no-strings-attached sex with a man who looked like Blade filled Joelle with a delicious tingling sensation. Her curiosity about this place had invaded her dreams, and now that the opportunity to experience it firsthand was standing right in front of her—literally—she might as well jump in with both feet. She gave him her best come-hither smile. “Thank you, Blade. I’d love to.”

He grinned again, and she let out another breathy sigh.

“Great. We serve dinner starting at six. Just ask at the desk where the main dining room is, and I’ll meet you there. But for now, the rest of the suite is this way.”

She followed him down a hallway where he showed her the half bath, then led her into the bedroom. There was indeed a fireplace and a four-poster bed large enough for three people, at least. The room was decorated in the same colors as the sitting room.

“There’s a full bath through that door and plenty of closet space.”

“It’s so opulent. Are all the suites this large?”

He nodded. “Yes. We like our guests to be very comfortable.”

Blade lifted her hand and kissed the back of it in a sweet old-fashioned gesture, but there was nothing sweet about the way the tip of his tongue grazed the skin or the smoldering look in his eyes. “I’m looking forward to having dinner with you, Joelle.”

“I’m looking forward to it as well, Blade.”

He gave the bed a long glance, and Joelle fought the urge to pull him over to it. She followed him back into the sitting room, where he asked if she needed help with her bags.

“No, that’s all right. They’re not that heavy.” He looked strong enough to carry her and the bags. His jacket couldn’t hide the muscles in his chest and arms.

“I’ll see you at dinner then.”

After he left, Joelle leaned against the door and clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle her scream of delight and excitement. This was going to be the best vacation of her entire life.

Cristian Neville glanced across the office at Zachary Neville, the man with whom he’d shared the accounting end of the business for the past nine years. Sixteen years earlier, Zach had taken over the personnel duties as well, and consequently he always had his nose buried in a spreadsheet or a stack of time cards.

“It’s going to snow this weekend,” said Cristian, leaning back in his chair and turning toward the window. He loved this office because it overlooked Pine Lake, the largest of the three lakes on the property. Cristian thought it was also the prettiest of the three, and secretly hoped their plans to build a second set of horseback riding trails around it fell through.

They’d had a lot of opposition recently from Chicago politicians who were becoming too curious about the resort, so the owners had been thinking of abandoning the project. Drawing too much attention to this place from the wrong people was not good for business.

“Did you hear me, Zach? It’s going to snow.”

“I heard you.” Zach didn’t look up from his work. “What I’m wondering is why you think I give a shit?”

“I thought you loved winter?”

“I do. But it comes every year without fail, so it’s not like I’m worried I’ll miss it.”

Cristian chuckled. “Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed today. Or, is the real problem that you slept in someone else’s bed last night and wish you were still there?” Zach had become such a recluse over the past decade that, on the rare occasions when he did seduce a guest, the other owners teased him mercilessly about it.

“Not that I need to tell you this, but Ginny checked out yesterday afternoon.”

“Oh, so now it’s Ginny instead of Virginia?”

“I have work to do, Cristian.”

“You’re pathetic. A disgrace to our kind.”

Zach finally looked up to give Cristian a droll look. “Why? Because I don’t hop into the sack with every woman who walks through the front doors?”

“For starters, yes.”

“I’m bored.”

“Bored with sex?”

“Bored with the whole thing, Cristian. Let me get back to work.”

Cristian’s former office mate, Hugh Fallon, had been bad enough with his constant smoking indoors, which they’d all asked him not to do, and his perpetual foul mood, but at least he’d taken pride in seducing as many guests as possible. Until Caleigh had come along, that is. Hugh had fallen like a rock the moment he’d laid eyes on her. Zach, on the other hand, lived like a hermit, no matter how many pretty girls he met. “So, what are you going to do?”

“Work.”

“I mean about sex. What are you going to do? Turn celibate? Choose a mortal life like Leo, Andras, Hugh, and Sterling have done?”

Zach looked up again, a thoughtful look on his face. “Would it be so terrible to choose a mortal life?”

“Yes, of course it would be. Look at them. Leo and Andras are old now and stuck with one woman for the rest of their lives.”

Zach’s blue eyes grew dark. “I hardly think being in your late forties is old, and they certainly aren’t complaining about being with Blair. Don’t let them hear you talk that way about her.”

“She’s still a looker, but I prefer redheads.”

“Well then, maybe we should offer a special discount? Redheads get fifty percent off the rate. What do you think?”

“Don’t be such a square. You know what I mean.”

“I know there’s a lot of work to be done, and you aren’t pulling your weight.”

Cristian sighed and rose, stretching. “I’m going to get some dinner. Later, alligator.”

Zach didn’t answer. Cristian closed the door behind him and wandered into the lobby. The newscasters on the radio had predicted snow, but right now it was crisp and clear outside, with only wisps of puffy clouds dotting the gold-and-purple horizon. He loved this time of year, when everything hunkered down for the long winter. The air smelled clean, the days were cool, and he loved the oranges and reds of the leaves.

He’d once heard a guest talking about jumping into a pile of raked leaves as a child and had asked her to describe what it was like. She’d laughed and given him an odd look. Cristian was always slipping up like that, asking the mortals to describe activities that were so much a part of their daily lives, they found it strange that he didn’t know the answer.

It was exhausting pretending to be human, with the same collective memories and sense of camaraderie they all shared. Every decade they’d been imprisoned on Earth had brought with it unique challenges, changing attitudes, and new advances the owners had to learn and understand. Cristian found it nearly impossible to keep up.

But underneath it all, dolls were still dolls and always had been. They smelled like heaven, their bodies excited him, and he never grew tired of seeing that look in their eyes—the softening just before they surrendered to him in bed.

How four of them could have chosen to live mortal lives was beyond him. And even worse was the condition placed on their punishment. To lose their Nephilim status and become mortal, they had to share one woman among two of them, or the curse placed on the twelve of them in 1919, thirty-three years earlier, wouldn’t be broken.

It was now obvious to all the owners that the curse placed on them for their sins could indeed be broken. First Leo and Andras had proven it with Blair, and nine years ago Hugh and Sterling proved it once again when Caleigh chose to stay here with them. They all seemed blissfully happy, but Cristian didn’t want any part of it. He was having too much fun to make love to one woman for the rest of his life. To have to share her on top of that with one of the other owners was not something he would ever be willing to do.

The smell of roast beef and asparagus assaulted his senses, and he wandered into the dining room. As Nephilim they didn’t need to eat or drink in order to stay alive, but all of them took advantage of the fact that they could enjoy food and booze as much as they wanted to.

As he glanced around the room, he caught the eye of a stacked blonde with whom he’d had a raunchy make-out session in the stables last week. The gleam in her eye turned hopeful as his gaze lingered, but a flash of red distracted him, and he moved his gaze away from the blonde’s bright smile.

Cristian stared at the redhead sitting by the windows looking over a menu. The color of her hair reminded him of the maples out front, blazing with fire. She had it styled into a soft bob that framed her face, and one stray curl fell over her left cheek. Cristian was seized with a sudden urge to move that lock of hair aside and kiss her porcelain skin.

As if she sensed him staring at her, she lifted her gaze, and he nearly gasped. Her eyes were the color of emeralds, clear and intelligent. His dick grew rock hard. His shoes were rooted to the spot. He wanted to cross the room and join her, but he couldn’t seem to move.

“Cristian.” Blade’s voice, booming suddenly from behind him, startled him. “How’s it going tonight?”

Blade clapped him on the back then moved past him. When the redhead saw Blade, she smiled brightly.
Hellfire
. How had he missed this gorgeous girl, and why was she having dinner with Blade?

* * * *

As Blade crossed the room toward where Joelle sat, he ignored the lustful looks several women gave him. Tonight he only had eyes for one girl. His dick had been painfully hard since leaving her in her suite, and he’d nearly gone back as soon as she shut the door behind him. She’d been that ready—he knew it. He could always tell when they were.

The guests came here knowing exactly what to expect. He’d been intrigued when she told him she read about this place in a magazine. It had to be a piece in a nudie mag since they didn’t advertise, and the current journalistic culture would never print an article in a mainstream magazine about an exclusive club that offered their unique services.

“I’m glad you didn’t stand me up,” said Blade, pulling his chair around so he could straddle it backward. The scent of White Shoulders drifted toward him.
Nice
. He loved the smell of fine perfume on a beautiful woman. She’d changed her dress to something more suitable for evening, but Blade was more interested in what she looked like without her clothes. That fiery red hair would look stunning against the gold pillowcases on her bed.