other than the soggy ones he wore. It was a relief to know that he didn’t have a dryer function under his clothes after all.
Could she actually be privy to a dead guy in the buff? Even though she felt a little unclean at the thought, Poe anticipated the possibility. She’d watched those crappy teenage flicks where 16-year-old girls were getting it on. I’m twenty-two, for goodness sakes.
“It’s between him and Morales,” Poe muttered about the men in her life.
But since Sainvire was closer and made her skin itch whenever he smiled at her, Poe wouldn’t mind an affair, if she could just get over her distaste for the undead.
Her entire body hurt like hell. Doing it with Sainvire would be too much like having an affair with Tarzan on the vine. She was in no mood to be jarred and hoisted.
I’ll just be a perv and sneak a peek, she told herself.
The vampire emerged from the bathroom, wearing only a towel around his waist. Poe could scarcely draw a breath. She studied him as if he was a rare butterfly and she an entomologist. He had the body of a day 186
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laborer that was marred by a twisted shoulder. She wondered how he had gotten such an injury.
Being a peeping tom proved to be too irresistible for Poe, particularly when he pulled the towel about his slim waist.
Poe couldn’t help it. She gasped. Sheer terror enveloped her from the slip, but the vampire didn’t seem to notice. She suddenly had the urge to pinch, touch, and explore. No male porn star ever looked like this!
“Are you enjoying yourself, Julia?” Sainvire asked, drying his upper body with the towel. He turned his back on Poe and presented her with his firm backside.
He knew that she was awake and devouring him with her eyes. Like it was going to make it better, Poe pulled the comforter over her head to hide her shame.
Sainvire chuckled at the sight of Poe hiding under the sheets. He put on a black t-shirt and straight-legged blue Dickies and approached the bed. He sat next to her.
“Will you face me or are you going to be immature about this whole thing?”
“Go away. I’m trying to sleep,” said Poe in a muted and scared voice. Sainvire pulled the comforter and blankets down and tried to catch Poe’s mortified gaze.
“Poe, look at me.”
Poe shook her head.
“You know, I should be the one offended since you practically molested me with your eyes.”
That did it. Poe’s eyes snapped open. “What do you want?”
“Aren’t you going to apologize?” he asked, his short black hair hanging wetly against his face.
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“What?” Poe almost yelled out. “You were the one walking around naked in my room.”
“I believe I have the right because this happens to be my room.”
“Fine. I’ll leave your room this instant.” Poe sat up and winced.
Sainvire put his hand gently on her shoulder.
“Don’t worry about it. You can stay here as long as you want.”
“Forget it, sicko!” Poe bellowed, pushing at his hand, the brief contact giving her goose bumps.
“Sicko?” Sainvire said with disbelief in his voice.
“If I remember correctly–”
“Shut up about it,” Poe burst. “So I looked. You were parading around naked like Harvey Keitel. Isn’t that human? So what if I peeked? You think I’ve seen real naked people before?”
Sainvire’s eyes widened, a grin quickly spreading.
“By the look on your face, Sister didn’t keep her trap shut. Look, I didn’t know porn was different from regular films until the nun told me, alright? I’m not a perv!”
“I didn’t say you were,” he said so gently that Poe was taken aback.
The vampire lost his grin and was staring at her lips like they were the last piece of pecan pie in the entire world. She couldn’t help it; she licked her cut lower lip from nervousness. This movement seemed to embolden the vampire further, and he gazed lustily at her eyes. With a feather-light finger, he touched the bump on her forehead then lowered his lips to kiss her injuries, even the two-day-old scratches. One by one.
Poe closed her eyes, trembling from fear, lust, pain and a combination of things she couldn’t explain.
When the kisses stopped, she opened her eyes to see Sainvire’s beautiful silver eyes that shone even in the 188
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semi-darkness. He looked at her with such need. Again she licked her lips and swallowed. What will he do with me? Will I be able to say no?