A Vampire for Christmas

chapter FOUR





DANIEL HAD NEVER honestly enjoyed a woman before. Hell, he took what he could during sex, and gave back, as well. He could bring a woman to orgasm more than a few times, and have her whispering devotion to his talents. But when he’d been a corporate drone, he’d always been on a schedule. Everything had a time limit, including sex. He hadn’t time following sex to linger in bed and cuddle, or even draw his fingers along a woman’s dewy flesh to watch the subtle rise and fall of her breath, the tug of her muscles, the sighs that set up tiny goose bumps here and there.



Lost in the discovery of Olivia’s flesh, he trailed a fingertip down her ribs and above her belly button. There, he made a circle and delighted to see her skin prickle at the light touch, and then smooth out as her breathing increased.



Why had it taken so long for him to simply relax and be in the moment?



Touching the tip of his tongue to her belly, he drew a slow curve, painting his wants and needs onto her, and receiving a delicious moaning reply. This was a moment he had to remember. Imprint it like a video in his brain so he’d always have something awesome to behold. He’d never had it all.



Wait. Daniel’s conscience gave him pause and he kissed Olivia’s skin, yet tilted his cheek against her stomach to think.



He had had it all. He’d been top of his game, making a fortune, highly respected. Yet he’d never taken the time to acknowledge that fortune and status. Nor had he taken time to revel in a woman’s body. What a fool to have had life in his grasp and to have squandered it with endless hours of work.



And then a gang of vampires had taken it all away.



And the result? He’d been given the opportunity to step aside from that former self and take a different path. A path that had initially freaked him. He was only now getting accustomed to vampirism and the idea of using an innocent mortal to sustain his life. It still felt wrong. Monstrous.



Could he ever get over his new bad self and just accept?



“You tired, lover?” she whispered, nudging him with a hip.



Daniel glanced to the clock. Hell, it was after ten. Screw having it all. If he let down the Jones women again he wouldn’t be worthy of having all this sweetness he’d suddenly gained.



“Not tired. Just thinking about all that I once had and lost.”



“Your job. Your life as a mortal. You want it back?”



“I don’t think so. I think the attack happened for a reason. Maybe to make me look at my life and all I still have. It’s not so bad, I guess.”



“Did the monster just say he wasn’t so bad?”



He smiled and kissed her stomach, then glided up along her body to fit himself against her lush curves. “What do you want from me, Olivia? From this?”



“Truth? I want to take it slow.”



“We haven’t exactly been taking things slowly.”



“I know, but what’s happened so far was a reaction and there’s nothing wrong with answering a mutual pining for connection. We were drawn to one another and neither of us overthought that attraction. I’m accustomed to tabloid relationships that aren’t even real. The paparazzi snap a shot of me walking with a male celebrity—usually someone I’m not dating or even considering dating—then slap it on the front of some rag stating we’re hot and heavy. A week later the headlines have us arguing, and a week after that we’ve broken up. I’m surprised I haven’t had a secret baby yet. I want to have a relationship that hasn’t been orchestrated by a tabloid. Something real.”



“I can understand that.”



“I know it’s tough to date a person whose life involves cameras and complete loss of privacy.”



“You do have a great little hideaway here.”



“Which I am thankful for. But it won’t last forever. Sooner or later the paparazzi will find me. Where do you live?”



“Here in Manhattan. Still got the thirtieth-floor bachelor pad. You’d get recognized in a heartbeat there.”



“I suppose. I have my official place on the other side of the park. But this place is my only real home.”



Daniel sat and arched his back as Olivia drew her fingers down it. It felt like home here, and he liked that fine. But he wouldn’t jump into things, and he appreciated Olivia’s honest confession that she wanted to take things slowly.



Had he the courage to begin something with her?



You’ve already begun.



The question was: Could he continue or would he wimp out and leave her high and dry? He’d never mastered the relationship thing. And slow? Had to be even harder to accomplish.



“Do you have to leave?” she asked.



He nodded, and assumed her silence meant she thought he was heading out to scam for blood. He wouldn’t argue the point.





OLIVIA WANDERED INTO the bathroom and turned on the shower to warm the water. Daniel had left quickly after she’d mentioned her designs on a real relationship. Did he think their tryst was just a few nights between the sheets? Had mentioning taking it slow repelled him?



She should have asked him if he had left to go drink blood. The question had felt too weird even thinking it, though.



“I want more,” she said to her reflection. “I need more of him. Can I have that?”



There were so many factors working against a positive answer to that question. And even if they managed to keep a tight lid on a relationship, there was always the fact Daniel couldn’t do press with her, which naturally, her manager would insist upon. Couldn’t keep the sexy man all to herself. Would he show in a photograph? And if he did, would the paparazzi catch him sneering at them one day, fangs bright and out there? What if they caught Daniel drinking someone’s blood? They followed her everywhere; they’d follow him.



No, Daniel would never get that close to the fanfare that surrounded her. For as much as she loved her job, it was a curse to her private life.



“I wonder how often he has to drink blood?” She stroked her breast where the day-old bite mark had, interestingly, already begun to fade. He hadn’t bitten her again. Because he hadn’t needed blood or because he hadn’t been interested in her blood? Did he not like the taste of her?



“Could he drink from me often without…killing me?”



A tilt of her head wondered at her brazen claiming of the vampire. Did she really know what she was getting into?



“I miss you, Mom. And I need your advice. There’s this guy, who I know you’d like, but…well, he has issues.”



She wanted Daniel to want her. As more than a Christmas liaison.



She’d give anything to make this work.



“Even blood?” she asked the mirror, and her reflection nodded.





A CALL FROM HER MANAGER was not unexpected, only not entirely appreciated during her vacation. Olivia set aside the pan of mulled wine as she wished Lisa a merry Christmas and asked the requisite questions about her children.



“They’re drooling to open presents,” Lisa replied in her rapid Jersey drawl that no six-shooter could outdraw. “I wanted to let you know I got a date for you tomorrow night.”



“A date? I don’t need—”



“I know, you never need anything. But you do need all the publicity you can get if you’re going to hit it big. And the performance is going to be aired on a major network that will feature background bios of the performers, along with candid shots of them backstage. Don’t you even want to know his name?”



Olivia’s silence was only allowed a split second before Lisa replied, “Parker Troy. Dude is hot, sexy, has a number-one single on Billboard right now, and he’s singing right after you tomorrow.”



The singer with whom Olivia hadn’t been able to commit to performing a duet. “Lisa, I—”



“It’s spin, Olivia. You show up on his arm. The paparazzi goes wild. We get a few shots of the two of you holding hands backstage. Then when we ask his manager to do the duet you’ve been dying to do with him, they agree.”



“I haven’t been dying to do—”



“It’s what your record label wants, Olivia, and that’s how we’ll spin it to Troy’s manager. You need to take the next step, to be seen, and this is the only way to do it. Oh, and you let him kiss you, too.”



Olivia gaped. She understood that putting two people together before the paparazzi was spin and that it could definitely help her career. But kiss the guy? He was handsome as all get-out, dated supermodels and actresses and was known to spend a fortune on them, but she had no interest in him romantically.



Lately, she preferred her men a little mysterious and sharper of tooth.



“Lisa, I don’t think I can do this. In fact, I know I can’t. I have—” A boyfriend? Not really. A lover, more like. But could she even claim that?



“No arguments, Olivia. And no avoiding this issue with indecision. It’s your next step. Parker is looking forward to seeing you tomorrow night.”



“It’s just a clutch and a cheek kiss,” Olivia said. “I’m not going home with the guy.”



“Why? He’s the most adorable thing you could put between two slices of bread.”



Lisa and her weird analogies about handsome men. They were crushable, lickable, swimmable or sandwich-worthy.



“We’ll talk more tomorrow night,” Lisa said. “I gotta go. The puppy is tearing a package open!”



The phone clicked off, and Olivia tossed her cell phone toward the couch. Every part of her being cringed and shuddered as if finally her fears over a vampire had arisen, except the only bloodsuckers involved were mortals with dollars signs in their eyes.



She poured a cup of the mulled wine and sat before the kitchen counter, but couldn’t drink the spicy brew. Pressing her forehead to the counter, she kicked herself inwardly for not standing up to Lisa. Screw the duet. She didn’t need that kind of press. Her mother would not have approved. Maybe. She didn’t know anymore. When she looked over her shoulder there was no one standing there to offer a nod and confidence.



But what mattered even more: What would Daniel think?



And why did she care?



“You care because he means something to you.”



She only wished she meant the same to him.





DANIEL WATCHED THE CLOUDS move over the moon, which looked full, but he knew tomorrow was the night. The woman who had fallen asleep in his arms had done so only because he smelled vodka on her breath and suspected the entire pint sloshed in her belly now. She was desperate, and he didn’t blame her. But alcohol wasn’t the answer.



Slipping away from her, he rubbed his head and then squeezed his temples, wishing he could make it all better with a snap of his fingers. But that wasn’t the answer, either. Nothing was worth it without a fight and good hard work. Tomorrow night would try his skills in ways he couldn’t imagine. What skills? Mortality retaining powers? Hell.



He pushed open the gate and spied the two girls sleeping on a wooden bench in front of the old apartment building beside which their mother had passed out. He’d once offered to put them up in the hotel down the street but the mother had refused, and the oldest girl had stood by her mother. They frequented a local shelter. The little one wouldn’t have minded; he knew that.



“See you tomorrow night, girls,” he said, and the oldest thanked him then nodded back to sleep.



What kind of world allowed things like that to happen? Hell, allowed vampires to walk the earth? It was just wrong. He was wrong.



But he’d be damned if he’d let the wrong continue.



His anger rising, he fought to keep it to a simmer. He didn’t need to go around punching in heads or flashing his fangs because his world wasn’t right. He needed grounding.



And he knew where to find that.





WITH A YAWN, Olivia opened the door and tugged Daniel across the threshold. It was two in the morning, but she hadn’t been able to sleep. Now that he was here, she could.



Missed you,” he murmured as she snuggled into his cool embrace. Snowflakes sifted down her back and skimmed the slinky silk nightgown. Shouldn’t be here, but can’t stay away.”



Here is the only place you should be,” she said, and led him into the bedroom. “I figured you needed to go out to…”



Yeah, I had to do that,” he agreed.



Imagining Daniel leaning over a woman to sink his fangs in her neck made her heart ache, so she quickly pushed the image away. “Let’s not talk. Just touch me.”



Works for me.”



They landed on the bed like lovers who had been together for years, finding each other’s sensitive spots with ease and lingering until the heady climax bonded them in ways neither would ever unravel. And yet they were new lovers, so finding an unexplored sensitive spot behind Daniel’s ear with her tongue gave Olivia a giggle. And he wanted to spend time searching for her G-spot, which she didn’t mind at all, and—mercy, but he found it.



Skin flushed from exhaustion hugged and caressed. Lips tendered kisses to every inch of arm, leg, stomach and breasts. Fingers learned to speak a sign language shared by lovers with taps and tickles and strokes.



Hours later, Olivia rolled into Daniel’s embrace. “Don’t leave me tonight.”



He kissed her forehead. “I won’t. It’s almost morning and the curtains are drawn. I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be.”



Me, too. Daniel, I love you.”



She felt his muscles tense and when he moved away from her, Olivia’s world shattered.



Sorry, sweetie, you can’t love a monster. I don’t deserve that.” He winced and smoothed a hand over her hair. “My soul doesn’t deserve you.”



You’ve a beautiful soul, Daniel.” She kissed him in the darkness, two mouths, one making promises the other didn’t want to speak, didn’t know how to accept. “I wish your soul felt worthy of love.”



“Yeah, well, it doesn’t.” He rolled to his back and allowed her to snuggle against his arm, but she sensed he’d shut down, no longer open to emotion.



“I’m not going to apologize, because I meant it,” she said. “I don’t need you to love me back. I wanted you to know how I feel. This past week has been amazing. You’ve distracted me from my world and—”



“And brought you into my world. That was stupid of me, Olivia. Hell, you said you wanted to go slow.”



She had said that. But apparently her heart hadn’t been listening. She wanted him to want her, to want to share his world with her. But she understood his reluctance.



Didn’t make it any easier on her heart right now.



“I should leave,” he said.



“No. Please. I know you probably don’t need much sleep. Can I fall asleep in your arms? You can slip out when I’m snoring.”



“Olivia.”



“Please.” She kissed his ear, the side of his eye where his lashes flicked faery kisses against her nose. “And I’d like you to bite me. I want to feel that intensity again.”



It was as if their souls had bonded in that moment. And whether or not he could deal with that emotion, she needed it desperately. It was a sacrifice that didn’t feel like a sacrifice. It felt like the next natural step to their relationship.



He nudged his nose against her neck. “You smell like sex and cookies. My favorite smell.”



“Can I be your favorite taste? Can you bite me more often, without causing…you know?”



“I could do it a few times a month without changing you or making you weak. I thought you weren’t interested in the bite?”



“That was before you bit me.”



“The swoon is good to mortals. Makes you sway with me. I like that.”



“It makes me feel so close to you and jealous of all the women you’ve bitten.”



“No need to be jealous of a quick bite. It’s just that. It feeds my need.”



“Is that how it was when you bit me?”



“Never.” He tilted his head and kissed her neck, tonguing it lazily, which brought her back to the delicious bliss she’d felt when they were making love. “Sway me more, lover.”



The vampire’s fangs glided into her vein and Olivia gasped and clutched his bicep. Her soul glittered and reached for the intrusion, pricking itself upon Daniel’s darkness and drowning, sinking, but loving every wicked moment.





HE SLIPPED OUT OF her bedroom as soon as he guessed she was sleeping. Dressing on his way to the door, Daniel shoved his feet in his boots and then quietly left. Outside, he pressed his back to the door and closed his eyes.



He could still taste her on his tongue. The rich, thick treat glided through him, seeking to cling, to master him. To overtake his soul with her brightness.



She thought his soul was deserving of love?



He wanted to be worthy, he really did.