A brief feeling of guilt made her hesitate when she reached the opulent hotel lobby. How could she have such a fetish, to be with a Vampire?
Not a real Vampire, of course. She would never choose to be with an actual Vampire, with any being so inherently evil as those creatures.
But the feeling it gave her to role-play … the feeling of danger and the forbidden. Like a human with a drug addiction, she needed this. Wanted this.
Monique inhaled, raised her chin, and headed toward the bank of elevators. Nothing wrong with fantasies that didn’t cross the line. She only enjoyed human men dressed up like Vampires.
The males the agency set her up with regularly were so realistic, down to their scent of dirt and age. It had to be a special cologne designed to make the whole experience that much more intense and satisfying. Whatever it was, it added to the incredible intoxication she felt from these connections.
Before she pressed the button for the elevator, she drew a heavy cream-colored envelope out of her clutch. Inside the envelope was a keycard as well as a piece of stationery inscribed with a room number. She didn’t really need to, but she checked the paper again.
Every one of these nights she indulged in something different. Sometimes the evening started at a hotel bar or maybe a coffee shop. At a seemingly chance meeting, she would be approached and engaged in conversation. She loved the natural, realistic cat-and-mouse game that ultimately ended in a luxurious hotel room with her satisfying her lust.
Tonight was different. She was to go directly to a room. Would there be instructions? Perhaps a “bellman” dropping by for assistance.
The last time she’d been in the St. Francis was some time ago, and she was pleased to find that tonight’s room was in the original section of the hotel. She loved the decor reminiscent of the hotel’s beginnings.
Who would it be? She gave a little shiver as she thought of the male who had played Vampire to her last night. It was never the same male who she was set up with, though. Too bad, because last night had been amazing, as she had told the agency. It was so realistic down to the moment when he’d bitten her. She’d felt like she’d been taken by a true Vampire.
Naughty Mo, she chided herself.
Elves were elegant, always moving with the fluid grace inherent to their race. Her heels didn’t make a whisper of a sound as she stepped out of the elevator and walked toward the suite that had been arranged for her. When she reached the door, she smiled then slipped the keycard into its slot, heard the click, and pushed open the door.
The room was dark save for candle flames flickering from every surface. The suite had the heady, sweet smell of roses. Candlelight reflected off at least a dozen vases filled with roses of every color imaginable.
She wasn’t Drow, of course—the Dark Elves who lived belowground—so her vision wasn’t as acute in the darkness as theirs was. Still, she had little problem taking in everything in the room with a glance.
Including the man standing in the shadows to her right. A man dressed in a dark suit, his long black hair flowing over his shoulders but drawn away from his face so that she saw the hard angles and planes of his pale features.
Her breath caught when her gaze met his, and she was immediately lost in the depth of his glittering black eyes. It was the same man she’d been with last night. That never happened because she always insisted on variety. She didn’t know this male’s name and he didn’t know hers. It was the way she preferred it.
“I cannot say that I am not pleased it’s you,” she said as she set her red satin clutch on the velvet cushion of a chair near the door. “I enjoyed last night very much.”
The thrill of her first encounter with him caused a tingling low in her belly. The night had started out in an exclusive club, with him approaching her as a stranger might. It had ended beyond her expectations at the St. Regis Hotel.
The man smiled, and fangs flashed in the candlelight. So realistic.
“I am pleased as well.” He moved toward her as he spoke then took her hands in his when he reached her. He dipped his head and kissed her cheek. “It is most welcome to be