His Captive Mortal A Vampire Romance - Renee Rose Page 0,8

because I give a nervous bark of laughter. I plop down beside him and make a show of snatching one of the crackers from the plate on his lap.

I bite into the cracker and watch him chew, studying his beautiful face.

He’s loosened his black tie and leans back against the cushions, but his show of studied casualness and businessman attire doesn’t make him look any more normal. If anything, they’re a costume, an act. His beauty makes him remote, otherworldly. Not human! my senses scream. Vampire! Run!

But another part of me is fascinated. My body warms sitting next to his, and I’m all too aware of the contact of his shoulder against mine.

I finish my cracker and reach for another one, but he slaps my hand, holding the plate away. I make a sound of outrage.

“Say please,” he orders.

“They’re my crackers!”

“Are they?” he challenges, his black eyes connecting with mine in a stare-down I cannot not win.

I grit my teeth and look away. “Nevermind.”

He crosses one long leg over the other. “You see, there’s a pecking order here, love. The sooner you learn it, the easier things will go between us.”

“Go to hell,” I mutter, pushing to stand up.

He scoops me up like I weigh nothing and plops me onto his lap. “I am your hell, sweetheart. Believe it.”

I would be more annoyed, but I sense he’s just trying to get a rise out of me. I reward him with a roll of my eyes.

Maybe I’m not taking all of this seriously enough, but come on. Magic?

“Listen, I’m not a fairy. I don’t know anything about curses or magic. Even if I wanted to help you, I can’t.”

He reaches out and wipes the corner of my mouth with his thumb, showing me the dribble of chocolate syrup he swiped before popping it in his mouth to suck it off. His lips are smooth and full, and for a dizzying moment, I imagine him drizzling chocolate syrup on other parts of my body, so he can lick it off…

Crap on a cracker, I’m perving on a vampire! My nipples tighten. As if he can see through my clothing, his gaze drops to my breasts before traveling slowly back to my face. “I believe you don’t know or understand your abilities,” he says. “But I will help you get up to speed.”

“How?”

He shrugs and offers the plate of crackers. I reach for one, and he pulls it away, “Say please.”

I huff. “Please?”

He grins. “You see? That wasn’t so hard.” He lets me take one. “As for how, I’m not sure yet. It’s been a long time since I’ve been around anyone with fae blood. We thought them mostly extinct by now, most moved to living in a parallel dimension where nature ever grows.” He says the last part about nature in a falsetto tone, like he’s quoting someone. “But you have so much natural power, it can’t be that hard.”

“What is the curse?”

His eyes hood and a muscle twitches in his jaw. “You’ll know when the time comes,” he says stiffly.

“Okay.” I rub my face. I’m done. Vampire, curse, fairies. This is not something I’m prepared to handle at one a.m. on a school night. “Look, it’s way past my bedtime. I know you’re nocturnal, but I need my sleep, or I get very crabby. So...ah, are you going to let me go to bed?”

The corner of his mouth curves. “I’m glad you’ve realized who is master here.”

My heart does a slow flip at the glint in his eye. Dang if his dominance doesn’t light my fire. “Alone?” I clarify.

He lifts me to stand and rises before me. He’s much taller, and although he has a lean build, he’s much bigger than me. Grasping my jaw, he tilts my face up to his.

I stiffen, staring at his glinting fangs. He bends his face to mine, his heavy-lidded gaze mesmerizing. There’s no hint of fang when he brushes his soft lips across mine. He kisses me as if we’ve reached the end of a first date, rather than the bizarre exchange of attempted murder, spanking and...what? Kidnapping? Hostage situation? My thoughts are shorting out, shooting sparks as the kiss continues. I’m paralyzed under his light caress, smelling the sweet chocolate on his breath.

“Aurelia.” He repeats my name as if committing it to memory. “Lovely little fairy. Be a good girl and go straight to sleep. If you run, you won’t like the consequences. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.” What else can I say?

For a moment his