The Vampire Bracelet: Erotic Paranormal Romance ( # 2: Blood Genies series) (7 page)

“I’ll call you master if you want me to.”

“I’d rather we use something unique. Something just between us.”

“Tell me what to say and I’ll say it.”

“Do you speak Cherokee?”

“Darrin taught me some common words.”

“Do you know how to say husband?”

She flinched. “Yes, but—”

He exercised his power. “We can end this right here and now.”

“End it?” Her voice jumped. “No.”

“Then say what I want you to say.

She fought him. “I can’t.”

“Yes, you can,” he demanded. “A husband is just another word for master.”

“Not in this day and age.”

Details. Details. “Humor me and pretend that it is.”

She rattled her cuffs, making the metal hearts clank hopelessly against the bedposts. Nicholas thought it was wonderfully symbolic.

“
Asgayaaninela
,” she said.

“That’s husband?”

“Yes.”

“Say it again.”

She repeated it.

“Now imagine that we’re married and that you love me as you’ve loved no other.” That was the strongest subliminal message he could think of.

“Please, I don’t want to play this game.”

“Just do it.”

Silence slammed between them.

He had no way of knowing if she was following his mental orders, but he rewarded her as if she was. He ate her pussy from slit to clit and back again. The most intimate form of kissing in the most private of places. It made is cock throb, his balls tighten.

Her breathing escaped in choppy pants. But Nicholas didn’t miss a beat. He maintained a sleek and sexy rhythm, pushing her to the brink of frenzy. He knew she was close to coming.

Very, very close.

He went for the emotional kill. “Do you know how to say, ‘I love you’ in Cherokee?”

“Don’t make me do that.”

He withdrew his tongue. Oral sex was a highly effective weapon, and he was damned good at it. “I’m your master, your make-believe husband, and if you don’t tell me that you love me, I’m going to leave you here all night, chained-up and unfulfilled.”

“
Gvgeyuhi
,” she sputtered.

Nicholas smiled. He didn’t know Cherokee from Chinese, but he didn’t doubt that she’d just told him that she loved him. Warily, but she’d still said it.

He put his mouth back where it belonged and gave her the orgasm she’d been craving, making her shake and shudder and come all over him. But that wasn’t enough, not for either of them. He slid out from under her and tore the blindfold from her eyes.

Gypsy-wild and ready to be fucked, she stared at him in the mirror. He discarded his clothes, got behind her, planted his hands on his hips and thrust into her. She keened out a moan, and he rocked back and forth, her pussy welcoming him in creamy warmth.

“Say it again,” he said. “Tell me you love me.”

“No.”

“Say it or I’ll stop.”

She thrashed like a jungle cat. “You’re not being fair.”

“I want to hear it while I’m inside you.”

“Please, don’t make me do that.”

“Say it!” He persisted and drove himself deeper.

She finally conceded, repeating the Cherokee words.

It was compelling in her language. Exciting. Exotic. Erotic. He held her tighter. “Do you like being bound? Do you like being my captive?”

“Yes.” Her voice turned raspy. “But I don’t like the other part.”

“The
I love yous
? Too bad. I’m the master, the husband, and you’re supposed to love me. But it’s happening fast between us. We skipped the engagement and went right to the wedding night.”

“It’s morning.”

“You know what I mean.” He buried his face in her hair and fucked her the way an eager young groom would fuck his equally anxious bride. Desire tugged brutally at his loins. What a moment. What a feeling.

In the midst of it, he changed her room into a French-style boudoir. Gone was the Gothic dungeon and in its place he provided gold-leafed furniture, floral prints, and lacy curtains. He added pink and white candles. As they burned, they emitted a sugary scent, mimicking the frosting on a wedding cake.

Hot and sexy, she thrashed again, stubbornly drawn to the fairy tale ambience. Playing a knight to her maiden, Nicholas wielded his cock in sword-like fashion, piercing her with irresistible passion.

Deeper. Harder.

He watched in the now-gilded mirror. She looked so beautiful, so hedonic, joined with him, relinquishing control. His lady. His conquest. She climaxed in sublime surrender.

Triggering his soul-spinning orgasm, too.

Chapter Eight

Marie couldn’t believe what he’d done to her. What she’d
let
him do to her. But more dangerous were the things he’d conned her into saying.

“Unchain me.” In her post-orgasmic state, she desperately needed to be free. “Please,” she added.

Poof! The handcuffs disappeared and her ankle-binding panties were removed. Her room also went back to normal.

She took a minute to catch her breath and rolled over to look at him. “You tricked me.” She knew what he’d been trying to accomplish. She’d felt it, heard it, seen it, said it. “You did a number on me.”

“So what if I did? Can you blame me? I want out of that damned bracelet for good, and the only way out is to find love.”

“I understand. But I’m not the solution to your problem.”

“Why can’t you be? We have incredible chemistry.”

True. So wildly, wonderfully true. She’d never been laid like that. He’d dazzled the hell out of her, and she ached in all the right places. But she knew better. “Sex isn’t love.”

“It’s a start.” He climbed on top of her, pinning her beneath his domineering weight. He smiled, too. Boyish and sexy. Playful and charming. Handsome didn’t begin to describe him and neither did hypnotic. Scattered light enticed the angles of his face and rained diamond-like facets upon his hair. She dug her nails into his skin, fighting the feeling of wanting him again.

He released her. “You’re a feisty little thing. Just the type to fall madly in love with a guy like me.”

She was not, under any circumstances, going to fall in love with him. “You’d drive me nuts for the rest of my life.” Erotic nuts. Crazy nuts.

“Likewise. But I’m willing to sacrifice my sanity for love.”

“For becoming mortal, you mean.”

He shrugged. “Same thing.”

Not in her book. “You’re trying to make me your mortality ticket, and I haven’t even gotten over Keith yet. Every time I think of him taking Randi to bed, I feel sick.”

“So don’t think about it.”

“Easy for you to say. You’re not the one who had your heart broken.”

“You’ll probably break mine.”

“Somehow I doubt that.” She couldn’t fathom Nicholas falling for her, not for real. He was good at making it seem possible, though. He was a gifted salesman. She would do well to remember that every weak-kneed chance she got.

“Did Darrin tell you that it was a fairy who put the spell on my bracelet? And on Simone’s ring and my brother’s pendant, too?”

“No, he didn’t mention that. Why did the fairy want to save the three of you?”

“She didn’t, per se. The spell was placed before Mathieu enslaved us. She was thinking ahead, in case any gen-vamps were ever confined to those pieces.”

“Do you know her?”

“No. But Mathieu is aware of her identity and if he gets a hold of her, he’ll pluck her wings clean off.”

Marie shivered. “How likely is it that he’ll get a hold of her?”

“Not very. Fairies are clever escape artists.”

“Thank goodness.” She couldn’t bear the thought of a sparkling little fairy getting mangled by a big bad genie king. “Sometimes it’s weird, knowing all of this.”

“Knowing all of what?”

“The existence of the supernatural.”

“And here you are, naked beside one.”

“No kidding.”

He reached for her hand. “You know what we should do? Visit my brother and his lady. I can call him and tell that we’d like take them out to dinner. Or they can fix the food at their place, if they prefer.”

“Dinner?” She went smug. “What will you be eating at this meal?”

He rolled his emerald eyes. He’d forgotten to change them back to their regular color. Or maybe he’d kept them that way on purpose. Whatever the case, he didn’t reply to her silly comment. They both knew that he would drink from her either before or after the meal. She still owed him a full two weeks of blood.

He said, “It would be nice for us to hang out with Anthony and Tessa.”

Actually Marie thought it sounded nice, too, except for it seeming couple-ish. “Okay, but it’s not a double date. So don’t act as if you’re courting me when we’re there.”

“I won’t.” He pulled her into his arms. “Not too much.”

“Why can’t you ever listen?” She did her damnedest not to breathe in his sexy nearness, not to melt, not to let him affect her.

“Let a guy have a little fun.”

“Not at my expense.”

He nuzzled her neck. “Let’s mess around again.”

It was strange being nuzzled by a blood drinker. Strangely compelling. She was getting used to it, and she shouldn’t be. “With or without restraints?”

“Without.”

“I didn’t know you had regular sex.”

“It’s called vanilla sex, and I want to do everything with you.”

He drove a hard bargain. Very hard. By now, he was fully erect, stiff and insistent.

His breaths whispered across her skin. “Indulge me.”

Cursing her failed willpower, she opened her legs, and he slid deep inside.

Only this time he didn’t prod her into saying, “I love you.” He simply
made
love to her, beautifully, breathtakingly, setting a languid pace. So much for not being affected by him.

Marie went warm and syrupy, her limbs turning molten, her body floating on air. She even came in a cloud of spun sugar, reeling from his sweet-vanilla touch.

Chapter Nine

Anthony and Tessa wanted to entertain Nicholas and Marie at their house. In fact, they offered to do it that very night.

As Marie got ready, preparing to meet her lover’s family, she battled a bout of nervousness. She’d been anxious the first time she’d met Keith’s family, too. Not that she should be making a comparison. She and Nicholas weren’t in a committed relationship. Of course he was still trying to make it so. The romantic con. The supernatural seducer. The melting feeling he’d incited in bed still hadn’t gone away.

On the way to their destination, she did her darnedest to clear her mind and quit thinking about him, focusing diligently on the road.

Upon their arrival, she discovered that Anthony and Tessa lived in a cozy place in Old Town Orange with a
For Sale
sign in the yard.

As she parked beneath a streetlamp, Nicholas said, “This is Tessa’s house. They’re selling it because they’re going to buy one of my brother’s old houses. He was an architect in his heyday and when one of the Hollywood Hills cottages he’d designed came on the market, Tessa wanted it. The cottage is more expensive, but they can afford it because Darrin gave Anthony his pendant and Anthony sold it because it was worth millions. Your uncle is a generous guy.”

Marie nodded. “He’s always been that way.” Darrin was extremely wealthy from investments he’d made in his youth. But he’d only strived to be rich so he could help others, giving away far more than he kept for himself. Mostly he lived on his income from the magic shop, which was meager at best.

Nicholas spoke again. “My bracelet is worth millions, too. So when I become mortal, I can sell it and have a decent income. I’m going to go back to playing music, though. I miss it.”

“I’m glad you’ll get to return to your old life.”

“When the time comes, I should be experiencing it with you. We should try to fall in love.”

How persistent could he be? And how many times did she have to belabor her point? “People aren’t supposed to
try
to fall in love. It’s supposed to happen naturally.”

“I don’t think you were in love with Keith. Not enough to marry him. You should be glad it’s over.”

Darrin had accused her of not loving Keith enough, too. “Maybe I pushed the marriage issue because I wanted a family so badly, but I still loved him.”

“I’m not saying that you didn’t. But loving someone and being
in love
with someone are two different things.”

She shot him a look. “And you know this because?”

“I’ve been reading up on it.”