Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 56571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
“You have a place? Good gravy, Charlie, enough with the details.” Aurelia rolls her eyes.
I pinch her and she yelps. “Why do you want to know?”
She shrugs, her gaze down. “No reason.”
I want to probe, but her eyelids are heavy. She’s been through a lot tonight. And if she really is thinking about a future with me, well, it’s only a matter of time before she realizes a being like her doesn’t belong with someone like me.
I hitch her closer. “Go to sleep, darling.”
“What if I don’t want to sleep?” She pouts. Her lower lip juts out, puffy and delectable. My fangs sharpen to needlepoints. I want to feed so badly, I’m dizzy.
“Then I’ll think of something to tire you out,” I sit up and blur to my box of goodies. I move slowly enough my Tinkerbell can see where I go. I return to her side with the sexy corset and filmy stockings. The old fashioned lingerie triggers memories I’ve long let dormant. I push them away.
“Put them on,” I order in a silky tone and lounge back on the bed while my slave fairy does as I command. I have to help her hook the corset, but the result is stunning. The tight garment pushes up her breasts into firm mounds begging for a bite, and the naughty stockings and garters frame her pussy perfectly.
I drag her over my lap. Her wriggling caresses my cock, but it’s worth it. “A spanking and an orgasm, just what my little fairy needs.”
She giggles, her feet kicking as I deliver what she needs.
I may as well have fun with my captive mortal now because as soon as she breaks the curse, I’m gone.
Chapter 11
Anka
She waited in her long burgundy silk robe, leaving the cord at the waist untied. She’d washed up after the Viscount de Marmont, not wanting Charles to know she’d been with another man. She found the Viscount’s adoration too much to turn away. Today he had brought her a sapphire bracelet and begged her to become his mistress. She had laughed lightly and told him to go home to his wife, even as she knew he’d be back the next night, like a love-starved puppy.
She didn’t know why she still took the men to her bed. She had told Charles, sworn to him, even, that she’d given them all up save for him. And she always meant it, especially when the vampire pinned her wrists above her head and hovered over her, his fangs long and dangerous, looking like the devil’s most beautiful son. He was the only man she’d ever let dominate her. Even when she had just begun as a painted lady, she never took the rough ones.
But Charles...Charles made her go weak in the knees. Knowing the power he possessed—the sheer strength, the dangerous fangs, his ability to throw a glamour over her and make her do his bidding—knowing even with her magic, he could break her bones or take her life with one snap of his hand. Yet he only ever showed chivalry. Even when inflicting pain. Especially then. Charles was the only person in the world she trusted. They were a team, she and Charles. Two dark beings who lived for the night.
Why then, her dalliances? She couldn’t help herself. The power over the men was exquisite. They built her magic by worshipping her. And the gifts and money...ah. She’d never grow tired of those, despite her already enormous wealth. The actual act meant nothing to her—it was just sex, not an expression of love or intimacy or any other insipid thing the poets like to ascribe to it. She had no reason to feel guilty over it. She was not betraying Charles if her heart still belonged to him. But she could not tell him because the vampire had a jealous temper. Yes...she’d seen it at the beginning of their relationship. and she had no desire for her lucrative clients to come to harm.
Maybe part of her liked playing with fire, too.
A flicker of lamplight made her turn, and she drew in a breath. Her vampire had appeared. He held her Mardi Gras mask up to his face, the blue of his eyes standing out against the satin frame.
“So?” she asked. She’d been expecting him, otherwise they would have had words over his appearing in her room without knocking. She insisted he not materialize into her room, arguing that she might be dealing with sensitive matters involving her girls.
Charles tossed the mask onto her bed with a casual flick of his wrist. “He had a sudden change of heart and signed it,” Charles said, a smug twist of his lips as he handed her the contract for the purchase of a fine new property across the street where she wished to expand her business.