The Vampire Pendant (5 page)

“Yes, and I’m grateful that Nicholas and I have been able to remain close.”

They entered the master suite, preparing to unpack. He said, “You haven’t mentioned your family.”

“I’m an only child. I was raised by a single mother, but she’s gone now.” Tessa was alone in the world.

“I’m sorry.”

A lump formed in her throat. She missed her mom. She felt the loss every day of her life. “It happened three years ago. She was in a car accident. The other driver was texting behind the wheel and swerved into her lane.”

Anthony reached out, wrapping her in hug. She put her head on his shoulder, allowing herself to be comforted. When her mom first died, Tessa had been inconsolable, and since then, she’d gone into even deeper isolation. “She wasn’t just my mom, she was my best friend. She was devastated by what happened to me. She was the one who’d baked my cake, who’d planned the party. Afterward, I used to hear her crying for me in her room. She couldn’t bear to see me hurt. But she was still my rock. The person I went to when I needed to cry.”

Anthony kissed her cheek. “I’m sorry I won’t always be there to catch your tears.”

“At least you’re here now.” Before her eyes turned watery, she forced herself to smile, to continue appreciating everything he’d done for her. “I don’t want to be sad today. Or any day that I’m with you.”

He squeezed her hand. “Then let’s put our things away, and I’ll tell you what I have planned.”

“Okay.” She was anxious to spend more time with him.

He hung up the shirts and pants he’d conjured for himself. Tessa put her store-bought clothes on the other side of the walk-in closet. They shared a tall wood dresser, too.

After placing their toiletries in the master bath, they returned to the cream-colored bedroom. Light spilled in from a sliding glass door, creating sun-sparked effects.

He said, “Here’s my plan: first you’re going to dine on our patio. I think that you should try the Japanese Wagyu Beef from the room service menu.”

The finest beef in the world, she thought. The most expensive, too. Anthony obviously intended to spoil her.

He continued, “Then after you finish your meal, we’ll be going ballroom dancing at a swanky cocktail club in the area.”

Oh, my word. “I don’t know how to ballroom dance.”

“I’ll teach you the basics.” He grinned, like an old-movie rogue. “Besides, I’ll be leading you. You’ll be floating on air with me as your partner.”

She laughed. “You’re full of yourself, Mr. Dumont.”

“I’m a magic man, Ms. Clarins.”

She smiled. He most definitely was.

He said, “You’re going to need a ball gown. I noticed that you didn’t bring one.”

“I hadn’t planned on waltzing.”

“We can go shopping or I can create a gown for you. What would you prefer?”

“For you to create something.” She was enthralled with his ability to do that. “I’d like something soft and shimmery. Something that will show off the pendant, too.”

“How about this?” He waved his hand and an exquisite silver gown, trimmed in silver jewels, appeared in the closet.

Tessa made a beeline for it. The strapless garment was absolutely gorgeous, flowing and feminine, but with a sensual flair.

“Now the shoes and purse.”

Another wave, and presto, there they were. Shiny red heels and a matching evening bag. Perfect with the necklace. Outstanding with the dress. Leaving no fashion stone unturned, he also created sexy lingerie, with a garter belt and vintage-style stockings.

She could hardly breathe. He’d given her an ensemble worthy of walking a red carpet. Tessa had no doubt that everything would fit beautifully, flattering her in every way. “If I were famous, I’d be on the best-dressed list.”

“I’m glad it pleases you.” He took her in his arms and swung her into a mock tango, kissing her hard and quick.

Tessa squealed. Everything he did pleased her.

Absolutely everything.

Later, they got ready for the evening. She donned the gorgeous gown, and he wore a 1940s-style suit with a red silk handkerchief in his front pocket.

Room service arrived, and they sat across from each other on the patio. While he toyed with his empty wine glass, she ate the most delicious meal imaginable.

“Heaven on a fork,” she said.

He smiled. “The way your blood is heaven in a vein to me?”

She got warm in all the right places. “When are you going to feed?”

“When we return from the club.”

“You still have to give me dance lessons.”

And so he did. After dinner, he provided the appropriate music, making it play out of thin air. Then he swept her around the patio, teaching her with ease.

Lights twinkled in the trees, enhancing the romantic ambience. Tessa caught on quickly, but it was part of the moment, the magic he’d manifested.

The wonderment continued. He gave her a delicate red rose wrist corsage. Then they took a white limo, a vintage Rolls Royce, to the club, which she discovered was a majestic place, decorated with retro furnishings and a stunning oak dance floor.

Anthony guided her to a cozy table, and they listened to the music. The band was playing
At Last
, made famous by the late Etta James.

The waiter came by, and they ordered cocktails. She went for a martini because the classic drink fit her mood, and he chose a whiskey sour.

After the waiter departed, Tessa asked Anthony, “Why did you order that?” It was the same drink he’d used as a prop at the hotel bar.

“I used to favor these when I was mortal. I guess it reminds me of who I used to be.”

“Even though you’re happy with who you are now?”

“There’s still some of the old me left inside.”

Tessa adored all of him. It didn’t matter that she’d only spent two days with him so far. She was smitten.

After their cocktails arrived, he toasted her. “To the most elegant woman here.”

“And the most dashing man.” She clinked his glass.

“We’re quite the couple.”

They were. Simply radiant. “I feel like Cinderella at the ball.”

“Only you won’t lose your shoe at midnight.”

No, but she was going to lose her pretty face in twelve days. But she knew better than to start counting down. She was here to enjoy herself.

He continued their conversation. “Tell me more about your mother. What did she do for a living?”

“She was a teacher.”

“That’s an honorable profession.”

“After the fire, she home-schooled me. I couldn’t stand to be around my peers looking the way I did.”

“When this is over, I don’t want you to go back to sequestering yourself. I want you to celebrate life.”

She took another sip of her cocktail, wishing this was her permanent life. This club. This man. Being beautiful in a glitzy world. “I thought we came here to waltz.” Not talk about her post-wish reclusiveness.

He reached for her hand. “Then let’s dance. I remember this song when it first came out.”

By now, the band was playing an instrumental of
Blue Moon
. She smiled, envisioning him in his era. “Most of this music is from your day.”

“I know. Isn’t it wonderful?”

He escorted her onto the dance floor, and she swayed in his arms. In between songs, he kissed her, his lips cool and sleek against hers.

“I can taste traces of your martini,” he said.

“Next time, I’ll have a whiskey sour.”

“That’s nice of you. But I would rather taste your blood. Of course, I’ll be doing that when we return to the hotel. And in the manner you suggested.”

The oral sex fantasy? She started, nearly stumbling in his embrace.

He caught her, helping her with her footing. “Careful, Tessa.”

“Will you be able to contain your hunger while it’s happening?”

“It will take willpower, but I believe that I can.” He paused. “You still want to do it, don’t you?”

She got shivery. “Yes.”

“Then we will.” He released a pin from her upswept hair do, making a little piece of it fall.

Tessa shivered again, and he led her back into a waltz. She glanced at the velvet-soft flowers on her wrist and caught her breath, deep in the throes of his blood-and-roses affection.

Blood and roses
. It was all she could think about on the ride back to the hotel.

She said, “I’m going to keep my corsage on during the feeding.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s the first corsage anyone has ever given me.” And that made her feel even closer to Anthony. “I never went on any prom-type dates.”

He smiled. “Now you have.”

“I learned to waltz tonight and when we get back to the bungalow I’m going to learn to—” She lowered her voice, even if the chauffer was blocked by a privacy screen and couldn’t hear her. “—you know.”

Anthony kept his voice low, too. “Suck cock?”

She faked a gasp. “You shock me, sir.”

He indulged her game. “It’s what you requested, madam.”

“So it is.” She twined the fallen piece of her hair, wrapping it around her finger, playing coy. “How bohemian of me.”

“The innocent bohemian. It’s enough to drive a man wild.”

He kissed her, their tongues meeting and mating. He raised the hem of her gown, too, scratching his nails along her leg and putting a deliberate run in her old-fashioned stockings.

Soon the limo dropped them off at the hotel, and as they exited the car, Tessa felt like a delightfully promiscuous woman.

They entered the bungalow, and he stripped down to his pants.

“Your turn,” he said.

She removed everything but her lingerie.

“You have a lovely figure, Tessa.”

After the fire, she hadn’t taken much stock in anything about herself, much less her figure. “I’ve always been lean.”

“It suits you. Small, high round breasts, nicely curved hips.”

“I’m enamored of your body, too.” She ached to touch him, to caress his ridges and planes, the flesh, bone, and naturally formed muscle. But mostly she wanted to put her mouth where it counted.

They finished undressing, the remainder of their clothes falling by the wayside. She kept the corsage in place, just as she’d said she would.

Once they were in bed, they climbed into the sixty-nine position, and she experimented, running her tongue around the head of his cock. Instant electricity. He bucked on contact, and she smiled like a siren.

She played with her new toy, fondling the balls, gripping the base, and using the roses on her wrist to tease him.

Finally, she took him in her mouth. She wasn’t able to take him all the way, but it was fun trying. He was fully erect.

He moaned, and she tasted pre-cum at the tip. She almost forgot that he was going to feed from her.

Until he moved closer to her thigh and breathed anxiously against her skin.

She tensed, her legs going taut. This had been her lustful idea, but that didn’t help her nerves from kicking in.

“Relax,” he said.

He’d told her that last night, too, when he’d drunk from the vein in her neck.

“I can’t help being a little scared.”

“It’s important for you to relax. Not only for you, but for me. When muscles are relaxed, the valves in your veins close, keeping the blood in place.”

To distract herself, she went back to nursing his cock. Besides, once the euphoria of being fed upon overcame her, she wouldn’t know what hit her. She would be happily drugged.

Too drugged to know if he drank too much?

Zap.

He pierced her thigh, his fangs razor sharp. Twin blades of pain. Twin blades of excitement. Tessa couldn’t see his face, but she envisioned his transformation, imagining the red of his eyes, the vampire hunger coursing through him.

Anthony went after her femoral artery, drinking from a vein that provided blood to her thigh. He’d never fed from this spot on anyone before, and it was dangerously lewd.

Especially with her giving him a blow job. The pressure. The motion. The sinful joy. But he’d vowed not to take too much, and he wouldn’t. Somehow, someway, he would stop himself from overindulging.

But saint’s alive, he couldn’t imagine anything better. She pleasured him with ladylike suction.

She gave incredible head.

Yes, he thought, she was a natural. Of course by now, the feeding was starting to affect her senses.

His senses were affected, too. Tessa’s blood tasted like the richest, full-bodied, most flavorful wine. It was easy to get drunk on her.

She paused long enough to whisper, “Drink, Anthony, drink.”

Her words rippled across his cock, and he took the offering. He drank and drank.

And drank some more.

She had a lush little mouth, and he was fucking it, matching her rhythm to heighten the feeling.

All he wanted was to come.

And drink.

And come.

But if he didn’t come soon, he would leave her weak and depleted.

Tessa mewled. She lifted her hips, too, thrusting her cunt forward.

On the verge of taking too much, too fast, Anthony forced himself to stop drinking.

“More,” she said, obviously too dizzy to know that she was making his hunger worse.

“In a second.”

“More now.”

“No.”

“Please.”

Her begging was almost too much to bear. He grasped her hair and tugged her down, keeping her quiet.

She used her hands and her mouth, and when he was on the edge of orgasm, he finished drinking, spilling his seed at the same time.

The climax of all climaxes.

He moved away from her and sat back on his haunches. He’d yet to retract his fangs. In fact, he was running his tongue over them, savoring the flavor.

Tessa leaned against the headboard, her limbs akimbo, rose petals scattered on the bed. Somewhere in the midst of their naughty escapade, her corsage had lost some of its life.

He glanced at her thigh. “That’s probably going to bruise.”

She smiled, shrugged, still stoned, apparently. “Sometimes I bruise after getting blood tests.”

This was no test. This was the real deal. He finally put his fangs back where they belonged. He had the urge to feed again, which would be unthinkable.