on a breath, and Tucker’s cock thickened in his pants. Please, please, for the love of everything holy, let there be blood in the refrigerator. Appeasing his thirst would barely dim his need for Mary, but at this point, he would take anything he could get.
Willing his fangs to stay in place, Tucker reached up and felt his way along the top of a porch light until he made contact with the key, using it to unlock the door.
When he pushed it open and saw the house, he laughed.
“Now this is the upmarket flash I’ve come to expect from the king,” he said, taking Mary’s hand again and guiding her inside. “The master of hiding in plain sight strikes again.”
“What do you mean?”
Tucker started to describe the utter luxury of the interior, but a better idea struck him. He tugged his phone out of his pocket, pulled up his music library and found what he was looking for. “All right, if the outside of this house was a song, it would be this one.” The sound of banjos being strummed filled the room and Mary’s smile bloomed little by little. “And if the inside of this joint had a soundtrack, it would be more like this.” He tapped on Pavarotti, replacing the dueling strings with the full, passionate voice of the Italian tenor. “Does that sum it up for you?”
“Yes,” she half-gasped, half-laughed. “That…that was perfect. Do more.”
“Okay, come on.”
He took her on a tour of the house, beginning with the living room, where he played In the Jungle to describe the forest-green walls, white leather couches, bear skin rug and zebra print pillows. The bathroom had a beach theme, so he cranked some Jimmy Buffet. Mary giggling into his shoulder might have been the best moments of his life. When they reached the bedroom, however, his mind drew a total blank. One bed. Only one bed and the décor? Even a dude with very little experience like Tucker knew it was romantic.
The wallpaper was a dark moody gray with gold stars tapering down from the ceiling. A canopy hung over the bed, gauzy and twinkling with fairy lights. Beyond the bed, a window overlooked the fenced-in backyard, which was landscaped and lush, unlike the deceptive front of the house. Beneath their feet, the cream carpet was thick and soft. So clean that Tucker reflexively kicked off his boots and nudged them out into the hallway.
Mary’s eyes were fixed on his throat expectantly, a half-smile curving her mouth.
In the glow of the fairy lights was where she belonged. They embraced her, highlighted the gloss of her lips, the fire of her hair. Turned her eyes stunningly bright and wrapped her in a lustrous welcome. Had he really touched this goddess? Kissed her?
If vampires could sweat, he would have been a human downpour about now.
“Uhh.” He stared down at his phone, as if it had transformed into a shoe horn.
There was only one singer that could capture this mood, but he couldn’t tap the screen to take them there. He’d almost succeeded in lessening the tension between them. It was coming back now in degrees, though, Mary becoming aware of it, her fingers biting into his forearm.
When he continued to hesitate to play the song, Mary walked her fingers along his arm toward the phone and traced them over the curve of his hand. Her middle fingertip tapped on the screen and the strains of Are You Lonesome Tonight? by Elvis turned the room into a honeymoon suite at some fancy hotel. And they the newlyweds.
“I’ve never heard this one,” she whispered. “Will you make me a playlist of these songs? And…any songs you like?”
Break the spell. Cut the romance bullshit out. “I’ll make you anything you want,” he blurted hoarsely. Dumbass.
Mary tilted her face up toward his, so clearly expecting to be kissed with the sound of the King crooning in the palm of his hand, the haven of the bedroom drawing them in. His hard-on was so painful at this point, he was stooped forward slightly, hips drawn back just in case she stepped a few inches closer and encountered the stiffness against her belly. As had become the constant, his throat burned for the taste of her. Yearned.
“Come on, I’ll get the bath going for you,” he rasped, pulling away from her, easing his retreat by squeezing her shoulder. “I’ll get your suitcase out of the car and leave some clothes outside the bathroom door while you’re in