around, so you’ll have to get rid of her. Also, you need to keep that thing in your trousers.” Neli points to my erection. “I know how much you like virgins and what you do to them.”
She is referring to the fact that I can never quite stop myself from drinking them to death. They taste too good.
“First of all, I am not wearing any trousers. Second, you forget who is in charge. It is my castle, and I will do as I please.” I march off toward the kitchen. “And order me a new coffin! I want it delivered before I wake.”
I return to the cellar and climb into my extremely uncomfortable coffin, forced to lie there for another hour before I can close the damned lid, lest I risk injuring my very stiff, very uncomfortable situation.
I would take care of it myself, but I am a vampire. I can get any woman I want, and it is far more pleasurable to be serviced.
Yes, tonight, I shall find someone to sate a different kind of hunger. And I shall stay far away from that baker woman with the pastries. Meeting. Hrrmph! Foolish Neli. It is a ridiculous idea. That human, Stella, has no idea how close she came to dying just now, and the last thing I want is to begin killing the town’s peasants. Not yet. Not until I am situated in this new time and place.
Nevertheless, I drift off to sleep, thinking of Stella’s long flowing dress and sweet delicious scent.
CHAPTER FIVE
Stella
Naked hot man is really hard to get past. He was young too, maybe thirty at the most. No, not going there. I need to keep this professional. Stellariva Vineyards is not shutting down on my watch.
Seeing Prince in all his sexy muscular—stop. He has a condition. A sleepwalking, fully erect condition, but that is beside the point. The only reason I’m thinking about him naked so much is because it was a shock. Yes, that’s why. Any woman would feel the same, even if they weren’t going through a sexual drought. Ahem. At our meeting tonight I’ll pretend I know nothing about his wide rounded shoulders, muscular chest, and impressive…other things. I flush with heat. He must hit the gym hard to get those six-pack abs and the deep V at the waist leading to—
Business. This is business. I have a plan and a backup plan. I’m determined to get something useful out of this meeting. I can’t afford to be distracted. Not by how much younger he is than I thought he’d be, considering his level of success.
Not by that body.
And certainly not by his huge, thick…that!
I follow my dad to our wine cellar to pick out two of our best vintage bottles—a pinot noir and a cabernet sauvignon—as a gift for my neighbor Prince. I mean Mr. Bozhidar. Neli says it’s important to use formal address because he appreciates old-school manners. No problem. If that’s all it takes to get in with him, I’ll consider myself lucky.
The cellar is dim and cramped with barrels and wine-making equipment. My parents use the outdoor patio for the wine tastings instead of the cellar. Unfortunately, there’s not enough of those tasting visitors to keep us in the black.
My dad takes the bottles out and hands them to me. “Are you sure you don’t want me to go to the meeting with you?”
“You and Mom said you’re hoping I’ll turn things around, so let me do my job.” My tone is a little snippy, but I can’t help it. I’m still so angry they kept the truth about the financial state of the winery from me, and I’d really appreciate it if they could show some trust. “Please,” I add belatedly.
His brow furrows over kindly hazel eyes. “My gut says something’s off about this Prince Bozhidar guy. What kind of name is that anyway? I couldn’t find anything about him online. And we’ve been neighbors for years, yet we’ve never seen him—only Neli.”
“You never visited him.” My parents only sent me the one time to drop off cookies at Christmas. “Today I stopped by, and he answered the door himself. All it took was a little neighborly friendliness to bridge the gap.” Or cross the moat. I keep that to myself. Dad doesn’t need any more ammunition against the one person who could help save our winery. I don’t expect Mr. Bozhidar to spill all his secrets on what makes his wine so good, but I’m hoping