Rosko, Mandy - Night and Day (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) (6 page)

Perhaps he really was the stupidest of all the creatures, because he believed him. “Good. For now, I wish to speak with you, calmly, and rationally.”

Knowing his parents wanted to kill Cedric meant lust would have to be put on hold.

Cedric seemed to see this as well. Finally, he spoke. “I’ll be fine, Ben.”

“Are you fucking
nuts
?”

Silus and Cedric hissed their shushes at him.

“Are you fucking nuts?” he said, quieter this time. “Ceddy, if I leave, you’re going to be stuck here either ’til sunup, or whenever I come back.”

“He shall be with me,” Silus stated. He would never let anything happen to him. “He will be able to summon you after …” After what? They spoke? Fucked? “After.”

“Cedric—”

“Ben, I’m good. I’m not going to stay the whole night, and I don’t expect you to stick around either. I get that it’s dangerous, but right now I don’t care.”

Something seemed to pass between the two men. Some sort of private knowledge that Silus wasn’t privy to, because Ben relented.

“I wouldn’t leave you stuck here to sneak out on foot. I’ll be back for you in half an hour.” Ben turned a glare onto Silus. “If he’s not in here by that time, I’m getting his family involved.”

“Understood.”

“Jesus, I’m not a woman, guys.”

Ben’s wide smile showed off his bright white teeth as he disappeared like the Cheshire cat. Silus thought he saw a hint of that smile remaining even after the man was gone.

It left the pool house quiet for a moment.

“Guess I was a little forward when I kissed you.”

Silus did not know what to say to that. Cedric sat in front of him, shamefaced and waiting.

He always thought the hard truth served better than anything softened. “I did not ask you to stay because I wanted to berate you, but, yes, considering our hate for each other, you could have chosen to be more careful.”

“Wow, you actually hate me?”

He did not seem hurt by it, but there was something amiss in his voice. “I suppose I do. Are we not supposed to hate each other?”

Cedric grinned, and his golden eyes softened to a lovely shade of amber. “We’re supposed to. People are supposed to do a lot of things. Doesn’t mean they have to.” Then he shook his head. “I just learned that last night.”

Silus didn’t think he wanted to know what Cedric referred to.

“And I’m still sorry about jumping on you. I just got—excited.”

“I already knew that,” Silus said. But then the truth behind Cedric’s apology dawned on him. Though last night had been very pleasurable, the two of them, alone in this little space, knew very little about each other aside from their species, and that did not make a good beginning.

Boundaries had not been set.

But Silus did not wish for boundaries. He was not even certain what this was. He was in his family pool house with a
sun sprite,
the most foul of all vampire enemies.

And yet… “Had that human not been present, I would have let you finish what you started.”

He had not intended for that to come from his mouth.

Cedric’s face remained pink, but this time, it was a pleasurable thing to behold.

Silus sighed and sat down. “Regardless of that, there is still the small matter of my family wishing to kill you.”

“It’s not so much them I’m concerned about ending my life as it is you.”

Silus could have snorted if it would not have been so crude. “Of course. I am a vampire.”

“No, I’m not talking about the whole vampire-sun sprite, love-to-hate-each-other thing.”

Silus lifted a brow, certain there was a jest in there he was not getting.

“I’m engaged to be married.”

A blood rage blinded him. That this sun sprite was already claimed, and belonged to another, yet came here to Silus, was the worst sort of insult.

Cedric jumped up and grabbed his arm, spinning him before he could leave. “It’s an arranged marriage.”

Everything in the little room returned to its proper color, no longer red and angry, but there was still a great deal of annoyance flowing in his blood. “Then you have no choice in that matter. Still, may I ask why you would then involve yourself with my kind?”

With me
was what he wanted to say, which was the epitome of stupidity.

“I’ve been engaged to my cousin since she was born,” Cedric said, “but I never found out about that until several months ago, right before she came of age. Today was actually supposed to be our wedding day, but she’s sick in bed, so it’s being postponed. Last night when you invited me back, I had no plans of returning.”

“But now that your cousin is ill, it leaves you free?” Silus’s anger continued to simmer. This horrible revelation from a relative stranger should not make his insides clench like they did. He did not enjoy the knowledge that he was being used.

Cedric’s face was sincere. “That’s not why I’m here. If you want me to go, I’ll go. It’s your choice, and I won’t beg to stay.”

Would the sprite actually consider begging?

“As for being free, it’s a yes and no sort of thing.”

Silus lifted a brow. “I would think marriage would be one way or the other.”

Cedric bit his bottom lip. “You’re right, but I want you to hear this. A few days ago, I spoke with my father, and he gave me
permission
to have my own private bachelor party, per se. Just me and Ben.”

Silus bristled. “That
human?
” He would kill the man when he saw him next.

“He’s my bodyguard. We weren’t going to sleep with each other. He needs to go where I go.”

Silus recalled Cedric ordering the man to return home after they had met last night, and his flaring temper calmed again.

“It was to hide from my mother and extended family that I was going to find a man to spend the night with. He had no idea I was looking for a vampire,” he quickly added at Silus’s shocked stare.

“He wanted me to get it out of my system. One last fuck before I settled down with a wife I didn’t choose.” Cedric’s muscles clenched and unclenched as he chewed on his bottom lip.

Silus felt a twinge of pity for him. He could never comprehend what it would be like to be forced to marry and Cedric seemed to truly be struggling with his words. “Right before I met you I kept thinking what it would be like if I said no. What could they really do to me except toss me out? After I left your room last night, I decided that whether I came back or not, I wasn’t going to do it.”

Cedric took a breath. “I talked to my father again today anyway, to try one last time to get him to see reason, and his answer was still no. He still fucking said no. He’ll always care about what others think of him more than me.”

Silus waited, but for what, he was not entirely sure. Of course there would be no tender feelings to be had between them. Cedric had just admitted he had only been searching for a night of fun, something meaningless to be had regardless of what his marital status would be the next day. This was an explanation of why Cedric was even here to begin with, not a declaration of feelings.

“I can see the wheels in your head turning,” Cedric said. “Whether you want me here or not, I’ve made up my mind. I’m not getting married.”

“You speak as though any of this were important.”

Cedric recoiled with shock. “Isn’t it?”

Silus stepped forth. “You came for one reason and one reason only, did you not?”

Cedric did not move or speak. He swallowed, and Silus watched the Adam’s apple of his neck bob.

Silus stepped closer again until their chests touched, tilting his neck up, he pressed his lips to Cedric’s, brushing and lingering on his mouth. “For a night of pleasure.”

He let his fangs loose to scrape along that plump bottom lip. Cedric shivered. “Well, yeah, but—”

Silus would listen to no more. He pressed his mouth firmly to those compliant lips and opened his mouth for his tongue to invade Cedric’s.

His golden sun sprite complied with no hint of protest, strong arms with light hairs winding around his shoulders, pulling their bodies closer.

But Silus decided he did not enjoy this type of kissing. He had to lift his face up, which was an oddity to him. Apparently, being tall for a vampire still made him short to sun sprites, and he pushed Cedric back so that he fell into the wicker love seat.

Cedric laughed at his forcefulness. “I was so disappointed we couldn’t finish last night.”

Silus put his hands on Cedric’s shoulders. “I mean to rectify that.” He pushed him again to lie back before getting on top of his new lover and stretching his body out until comfortable. Ah, much more satisfying now that they were on equal ground. He buried his face into Cedric’s neck and suckled there, scratching with his teeth occasionally.

What would happen if he were to take another taste?

Cedric made a little purring noise, but it was small compared to what Silus wanted to hear. Buttons flew everywhere as Silus ripped the man’s silk shirt open and attacked his nipples. He did the same to them as he’d done to Cedric’s neck, using his tongue, scraping with his teeth, and occasionally putting in a gentle bite. This time the sounds were a little deeper, a little louder. And much more dangerous.

He put his hand over Cedric’s mouth. “As much as I enjoy listening to you, these walls are far from soundproof.”

Cedric kissed his palm. “Sorry. Kind of hard though.”

He could have meant it both figuratively or literally, judging from the firm length pushing against Silus’s leg.

Still, there could be no risk. Not yet. Not until Silus had the chance to discover just how far he wished to take this. Safety must come first. Silus unclipped his belt and pulled it free from the loops in his pants. Folding it, he held it to Cedric’s face. “Any more noise, and I shall gag you with this.”

“Sounds exciting,” Cedric said before fisting his hand in Silus’s hair and forcing their lips together again.

While Silus busied himself with Cedric’s mouth, occasionally rocking their still clothed hips together for delicious friction, Cedric’s hands released him to move lower between them, fumbling with his own belt and fly. The eager sprite kicked off his shoes, letting them drop to the floor, and Silus had to extract himself for a few seconds so Cedric could throw off his dark jeans. But for the shirt, which had been ripped open and was now barely hanging onto his broad shoulders, he was completely naked.

“Should all of vampire society discover how eager to make love sun sprites are, it could end the cold war.”

Cedric smiled, his skin brightening at the comment.

Silus winced and raised his hand to his eyes.

The smile and the light vanished. “Sorry.”

“No, do not be sorry.” Silus stared at his hands, noting their lack of a red burn. “It did not hurt.”

Shouldn’t there have at least been a burn from when he stepped out into the twilight? But verily, there was nothing there at all. No rash. No redness.

“It happens sometimes when we get happy. The glowing.”

Silus grinned. “And, this makes you happy?” He thrust his cloth-clad erection against Cedric’s awaiting organ. Cedric hissed and bit his lips together, suppressing a moan.

“I–I want you. I want you to do to me whatever it was I did to you last night.”

Silus chuckled and wrapped his fingers around Cedric’s thick prick. It was uncut, swollen, and pulsed in time with his heartbeat. He gave it a firm stroke, and the head appeared from beneath the folds of skin. The bliss on Cedric’s face was admirable. “I doubt your drinking of my blood will have the same effect.”

The bliss disappeared in favor of a scowl. “You know what I mean.”

Silus abandoned Cedric’s cock to get his trousers off but paused when a devastating thought occurred to him. “We do not exactly keep lubrication in here.”

“Ten steps ahead of you.” Cedric reached down to the mound of clothes on the floor, fished around, and pulled out a fresh tube from the pile.

Silus snatched it like a greedy child taking an offered treat, and he completely divested himself of his clothing. He tossed the expensive articles away as though they were trash kept between him and the man below him. “I am going to finish what we started last night, and after that, you are mine.”

Silus froze. The words of possession left his lips without any thought going into them, but he didn’t attempt to take them back, nor did Cedric appear alarmed at being claimed.

Did the sprite even know what it meant that Silus had claimed him? He must not because Cedric shifted to accommodate himself and spread his legs wide apart, hiding nothing of his intimate areas, waiting, eager and still glowing.

He would have to panic over this new development later. Much later, when there was not a naked and willing man beneath him.

Silus made quick work of the preparation. He was never one for patience, especially when his bed partner began moaning and changing colors so prettily beneath him. He was torn between hating that he was not Cedric’s first, and loving that they could do this fast and hard like he wanted.