And she was fine with that.
It was beyond thrilling and titillating to be out of control for a change. She never had anyone above her…anyone to guide or manage or lift the burden of her life from her shoulders. Here, she could be submissive at last. She could allow someone else control over herself and her life. Oh, it was only temporary…and only in this bed perhaps, but it was still nice. It was nice to let someone else be in charge for a little while.
And in charge he most certainly was. His mouth was voracious on hers then dragged down the entire length of her body, kissing and nipping and licking everywhere it went. All she could do was cling to him desperately, her hands in his hair. However, when he went to take her clit into his mouth once again she stiffened and pulled him up along her body by the roots of his hair. He chuckled as she dragged him up.
“Something wrong?” he asked, placing teasing kisses at the corners of her lips.
“No. I just…I want you inside of me. Don’t make me wait. Please,” she begged him softly.
“Mm,” he growled softly against her ear. “When you beg me so prettily, how can I refuse?”
Just like that, with no other warning, he aligned himself to her and thrust himself inside of her. They both groaned as he sank deep and seated himself firmly within her.
“My god…how you feel!” she breathed. She was overwhelmed. She had never felt so full…either physically or emotionally. She was satisfied on so many levels…and yet hungrier than she'd ever been in her life. “Don’t stop. I want more. More of you. All of you.”
“Not to worry,” he whispered hotly into her ear. “I don’t plan on stopping. Not until you’ve screamed my name again.”
A thrill washed through her and she laughed. Her hands raked down the back of his neck and down along his spine. She stopped only when she had his buttocks gripped in both her hands and was guiding him deeper into her body. He withdrew almost completely and together they sent him deeply home again. He dropped his mouth to hers, ravaging her hotly as his rhythm inside of her deepened and quickened. Heat bloomed from head to toe across her body. Her heart pounded with pleasure and excitement. Sensation overwhelmed her as he glided against all her most sensitive nerves. Oh how he moved! He had a way of sliding inside of her that struck every chord of her body, much in the way a guitar player could make strident music with the strum of his fingers. She thrived under the thrill of it all, came alive like never before. She shouted out, his name as requested.
She came so hard and so completely that she was too lost to be aware of his equal shout and the tension that suddenly gripped his powerful body…at first. Then she was aware of him holding himself deep inside of her as he spilled into her. He strained, almost as if it pained him, and the power of his release touched her deeply. He had lost himself to her just as she had lost herself to him. They had been and were equals. Well matched…both in passion and as living sentient creatures.
Her heart thundered in her chest as he finally relaxed above her. He caught her mouth with his, kissing her deeply, as if he hadn’t just spent his appetite for her. That was when she realized that it was going to take quite an effort on both of their parts to burn this attraction and passion out.
The thought frightened her a little and she felt suddenly breathless. She was queen. She was supposed to be in control of everything and every one of her e-vamp subjects. It was dangerous to think of putting anyone before herself. The urge she had to lose herself in this passion was daunting. She must control it though, she thought severely. It was well enough to trade power in the bedroom, but outside of it…there was no question. She was their leader. He was subservient to her. He served her. She could make or break him on a whim.
It was shocking the sudden chill of revolt that rushed through her at her thoughts. Was he expecting her to be subservient to him? Was all of this a method of managing her and thus managing the throne?
No, she negated her own thoughts with a firm mental shake of her head. He had done nothing to deserve such suspicions. It was true she didn’t know him as well as she should for engaging in this kind of intimacy, but she felt she knew him well enough to know he wasn't seeking to control her. Besides, if he were that sort of man, Leo would never have tolerated him. He would never have recommended him to her. Where others might send a man in to get close to her for their own purposes, she trusted her cousin utterly to not be that sort of man. Their other cousin was a completely different matter, but Leopold she trusted.
It was a hard thing to trust another being when you were in a position of power. The responsibility that came with that power was enormous and every move she made had to be exacting and well thought out. This relationship was none of those things and completely out of character for her. Did that mean she was shirking her responsibilities?
She didn’t think so. Not much in any event. He had asked for nothing, did nothing but protect her and make her happy. Those were very important things and key to helping her manage the everyday burden of her throne. What was good for her was good for her people. Keeping herself happy and content led to clear and compassionate governing. So in a way he was influencing her rule. In a good way. In a great way.
She cuddled up against his side as he laid beside her and pulled the covers around them both, protecting their cooling bodies from the chill on the air
“Why do you keep it so cold on here? He asked as they snuggled down against each other.
“I guess it’s because there’s a certain level of intimacy involved” she said softly. “There’s something comforting about wrapping oneself up against the cold.”
“I suppose its true. Sort of like giving yourself a sustained hug.”
“Exactly,” she said with a smile. She laid her cheek on his chest and began to draw patterns with her nails through the hair on his chest.
“Well, I’m here to hug you now,” he said, drawing her in tighter to his body.
“Good. That’s very good,” she said softly.
“Is it? Am I? Good for you?”
There was something vulnerable in the question. Since she had just mentally mulled over that question only moments ago, she understood that vulnerability.
“Yes,” she said softly. Simply. “You are very good for me,”
“Wow. I rate a ‘very’. I’m pretty damned impressed with myself.”
“As you should be…because in my opinion, you are pretty damn impressive.” She sighed and closed her eyes. She could stay like this forever, she thought. Warm, held, well-loved. She couldn’t think of anyplace else she’d rather be or anything else she’d rather be doing.
“Well, thank you,” he said softly into her hair. “You’re pretty damn impressive yourself.”
She smiled and sighed again.
Before she knew it, she was asleep.
Chapter Fifteen
The rest of the week seemed to fly by. They worked in the daytime and spent the nights making love…except for the one time he had her in her newly lockable office. He had never known such heat…such desperation for the feel of another person in his arms and around his body. It was like he was a kid again…if he could remember that far back. He was a newly fledged teenager with hormones flaring. E-vamps went through something very similar to human adolescence…only they were ten times more sexualized. They often began having sex in their early teens, probably thanks to the sexual high that came from feeding directly from a source. A vampire didn’t feed directly from a source until their early teens anyway. Before then they were fed by their parents, a secondary source, which was an infinitely less sexuaL experience. The sick were fed the same way. It was rare for a vampire to become ill, but it happened. Usually it was damage caused by a fight with sycophants or some other accident. Vampires were fast healers, but even they had their limits.
Anyway, he and Simone were obviously healthy. Very healthy. Too healthy. It took him three days to realize they were having unprotected sex. Not that they could trade disease…vampires didn’t exchange
sexually transmitted illnesses…but Simone could get pregnant. True, it was not an easy thing to achieve. Pregnancy required some calculation and a lot of luck. Vampire females’ cycles stretched out over two months and during those two months they could only get pregnant one day at best. Calculating that day was something of an effort and a bit of trial and error. Since male vampire sperm only survived a day outside of their bodies, that meant hitting a bull’s-eye while the bull’s-eye was in motion. Also, it helped if the female remained unmoving after insemination, allowing the sperm to get to where it belonged. So it stood to reason that the odds of Simone getting pregnant were very slim to almost nil, but it was best to protect against it all the same. They were getting along well….very, very well…but it didn’t mean they were ready to share the responsibility of a child.
He found it intriguing that Simone had never had a child in the past. When he had asked her about it she had told him she simply had never tried. It had never really come up for her. She had always held political ambitions that had never seemed synonymous with children. Before she had been queen she had been a prince, before she had been a prince she had served a king as an authoritarian on the committee. Before that she had served a prince and had been an authoritarian plain and simple. Her life had been dedicated to serving the vampire nation. She had never felt she could serve both the nation and a child with the equality each would have demanded of her.
He realized they had much in common. He was currently on the same path she had taken. One day it was possible he could become a prince. Serving on the committee certainly set him up for it. But there was more to it than that. He had to be popular with the vampire people, and that meant getting himself front and center of their attention. He wasn't much of an attention seeking sort of fellow. He rather preferred to work in the wings, to remain in the shadows where he could best achieve his job. Perhaps that would change one day, but for right now he was focused on caring for another popular creature.
Simone was ready for a hunt again. Also, she was preparing for a very big state function that weekend. Unlike most of these functions that took place at vampire central, this one was taking place elsewhere in the city…in the posh ballroom of a very elite hotel. There would be a meal, served by human caterers, and dancing afterward. Not the dancing of the young generations, but waltzes, tangoes…controlled, seductive dances that harkened back to earlier days, which many of the vampires had lived through in person.
He found himself very eager for this opportunity to dance with Simone in this way. Oh, they had danced together already, and that too had been a seduction all in its own way, but to hold her close while violin music reverberated into his soul, that held enormous appeal. It was when he considered he would spend the evening watching her dance similarly with others that it became a test of his self-control.
He had never been nor ever viewed himself as being the jealous type. He was quickly realizing he did have a streak of it in him somewhere. As his relationship with Simone progressed, he found himself growing quite possessive of her. If he wasn't careful, that could become a serious problem. He had to find a measure of control somewhere or this relationship could ride completely off the rails. He didn’t want that. He wanted his relationship with Simone to remain healthy. Productive. Benefitting both of them rather than becoming a detriment to either of them. He understood the crucial part a consort played in the grand scheme of things.
That is…when he actually became a consort. Sleeping with a king or prince didn’t automatically make one a consort. Making a habit of it eventually did. Any sustained relationship with a royal would eventually require that person to take on a larger role in the vampire nation. It was literally sleeping your way to the top. Still, the announcement had to be made officially and both parties had to be serious about it, and the consort had to be willing to take on the duties of a consort.
Here is where he balked. It was one thing to make love to a queen…quite another to thrust himself in the public eye as an official consort. They didn’t have to be married for it to happen, and that wasn't what concerned him. What concerned him was all of the attention. As previously noted, he worked best out of the spotlight. He didn’t think he could carry out the role he was intended for and the role that might be thrust upon him at the same time.
He wasn’t all that worried though. Simone had never had a consort in her reign as queen. It was clear she wasn’t quick to jump into that kind of a commitment. In fact, he didn’t think she’d had one as a prince either…and that reign had lasted far longer than the fifteen years she had served as queen. If he remembered his history right, she had been prince of London for forty years before giving up the position to Leopold and taking on her role as queen. Again, if he remembered his history right, it was a long time to go without a committed relationship…so clearly she didn’t take to them very readily. In fact, her inability to commit should comfort him. However, on a level he wasn't quite ready to examine, it did not.
He thrust all of that aside and focused on the issues of the moment. The future would work itself out. He was in no particular rush to hurry it along. Instead he would worry about his new role in life. He would worry about her and her safety. He would worry about his responsibilities to the committee.
He watched her as she readied herself for the hunt that night, sitting on a sofa as she performed her toilette at her vanity in a special room right before her enormous closet. The closet itself was a work of art, with mechanized parts the spun her clothes about and display cases that kept her purses, shoes, and jewels on view. It was nearly as big as the bedroom itself…and she had it decently filled, even though it would take quite a lot to fill a closet of that proportion.
She was dressed in a sexy little black dress that hid her cleavage in front up to her throat, but made up for it by draping low over her exquisite back, nearly to her waist, with a chain hanging down from the clasp that held the dress onto her body by that chain which was woven into the fabric at her shoulders. So basically the rhinestone chain went from shoulder to shoulder, clasped at the midpoint, and hung a glittering rhinestone chain down her bare back to her waist.
It was so tempting to see that seductive line of her spine. It made him want to touch her. The urge was so overwhelming that he stood up and crossed over to her. He laid a hand against the back of her neck beneath the chain and met her eyes in her brightly lit mirror. He bent at the waist and bore his gaze into hers, making her pause in the act of putting on her lipstick.
“Mm. With a look like that I have a feeling putting on my lipstick at the moment would be an act of futility,” she said with a smile. God how he loved her smile. It spread over her ripe lips so seductively, tempting him to smile with her. Or kiss her. Damn it, he was always consumed with the need to kiss her. It made for some difficult morning meetings as he tried to focus on issues at hand rather than her delectable mouth.
“It’s not your lips I’m interested in,” he said with a lie and a rasp to his voice. “At least, not at the moment,” he amended more truthfully. He then leaned forward and kissed the back of her neck, trailing his fingertips slowly down the sensual curve of her spine. His mouth followed that path as well, slowly working his way down, kissing every vertebra on his way. She sighed and enjoyed his attentions for a moment before finally turning herself away from his mouth and laying a warding hand on his chest.
“Much more of that and we won’t make our dinner date,” she said breathily. It was how he knew she was far more affected than she was letting on. The responsiveness was like fuel to his fire, but she was right. He had to control himself…or at least make a better effort. They needed to hunt and that night they had a date with a couple who promised to suit them both. They would share their meal and then they would share each other. He was hungry for it. As the week had worn on he had stopped trading energy with her, knowing that as their energy was depleted it was taxing to engage in trades. It essentially burned energy to trade energy. It was why they were on the hunt
again after only six days when usually she and he could go almost to ten days, depending on how they used their energy normally. It had been quite some time since he had needed to hunt within less than a week.
It was why her neck had healed. It was a perfect, unblemished expanse of soft female flesh. Now she could show it off…just as she was. She could tempt him with it, with that chain that clasped provocatively at the top of her spine. She may as well have been wearing a bull’s-eye with a blinking arrow pointed to it. Of course it would be more tempting to, say, vampires like him than the average male…but she would be tempting all the same. He didn’t want to let her go out in public where others would covet her and devour her with their eyes.
That new dash of jealousy and possessiveness made him withdraw, letting her finish her final touches and behaving patiently as she did so. He was rewarded with one of those seductive smiles and a hand on his chest that trailed with promise over his pectoral muscle. He drew in a sharp breath as she moved once more out of his reach in order to retrieve an exotically patterned fur from a rack full of them within her closet. That was the moment when he realized he was completely under her spell. She could ask anything of him, do anything to him, and he wouldn’t complain.
It had been quite some time since he had been lost to a woman like that…if indeed he ever had been. No, he realized, this was unique. Unique unto her. Her spell was only this powerful because she was a powerful woman. She was above him in both rank and class. She had a style he could only aspire to.
Not that he thought so little of himself. On the contrary. He did think himself worthy of her. He had entertained doubts earlier, but the more time he spent with her the more he realized he was the one who could best take care of her. On all levels. He could satisfy her sexually. He could feed her intellect. He could connect with her emotions. True…the emotion was young as yet, but he felt there was an incredible potential for it. He felt himself opening to the possibilities of it.