Present Tense: Pleasure Times Four (Out of the Fire Book 3) Read online

  James stopped at the door and motioned her to stand in front of the number pad. “Today is November third. Punch eleven-oh-three on the number pad and then open the door. It’ll change on the first and fifteenth of every month, but you’ll know the night before what it will be changed to. We rarely use dates, but this seems safe, and easily remembered.”

  She punched the number in, a tiny light turned green, and she pushed down on the handle. The door opened, and a little of her tension faded away. She had a house now. She could get into it when she wanted.

  “Thank you.” No need in telling him it would be oh-three-eleven in Australia. She needed to get used to the way Americans denote the day and month anyway. Maybe this would help.

  “Stop thanking me for everything. As stipulated in your contract, Drake will pay your rent for three months, and then you’ll pay it. Your room was made into a vampire guest room shortly after we moved in, and Drake Security pays me to house visiting vampires who prefer a private residence over the two vampire capable hotels in town. We put your bags in the largest of the two basement guest rooms, but you can change to the other if you’d like.”

  She followed him to the rear of the house, down a flight of stairs, and across a large room with a single sofa and a few chairs. The basement felt bigger than the basic size of the house, but she didn’t mention it. He pointed her into a room, and she turned in a circle once inside. She hadn’t expected much, and she was pleasantly surprised. The room was done up as a sitting room, with a sofa and loveseat, a desk, and a large screen television. A door led to a huge walk-in closet with shelves and drawers waiting to be filled, and another led to her own bathroom.

  “The armoire is a murphy bed,” James told her. “If you want to change out the artwork, let us know so we can properly store the items in here already.”

  She’d never heard the term murphy bed, but from looking at the armoire, she assumed it was a wall bed. She needed to remember to call it by the term they used.

  Rather than mention any of that, she simply said, “It’s perfect. Thank you.”

  Three walls were painted a nice cream color, but the fourth wall was a deep wood paneling. James walked to it, put the toe of his boot on the baseboard, pressed down, and a hole opened in the wall, waist high, three feet tall and six feet wide.

  “There’s a bolt inside that makes it impossible for anyone outside to open it, when locked. Everything is well labeled. The mechanism is old-school mechanical and doesn’t rely on electronics or battery.”

  “This is perfect, James. I know you don’t want me to thank you anymore, but it feels I should.”

  “You have about an hour until sunrise. We’ll leave you to yourself so you can get situated, unpack a few things, take a shower — whatever.”

  “I had soap and shampoo delivered, along with some other toiletries.”

  “The boxes that arrived addressed to you are in your closet. One of us can take you shopping tomorrow night if you discover things you need but don’t have.”

  5

  Fabio took Kelsey’s phone downstairs thirty minutes before sunset and knocked on her bedroom door. When she hadn’t answered after thirty seconds, he said, “It’s Fabio. If you’re up, I need you to open the door.”

  Ten seconds later, he heard footsteps and the door opened.

  She stood before him in a short, sexy little robe. Her gaze focused on his bare chest and then went lower. His dick throbbed in his jeans.

  “Sorry, I wanted to get my eyeliner on. I showered before the sun took me, but...” She moved out of his way and motioned him in. “Please, come in. I haven’t tried to lower the bed yet. Do you know how?”

  “I do. It isn’t hard. I’ll show you. First, here’s your cellphone. The sticker on the box has the phone number and pattern to get in. You can change the pattern, but you can’t do away with it. Also, you should know the Drake geeks can get into it no matter the pattern. There’s no expectation of privacy. Oh, and the print on the sticker will fade in forty-eight hours, so make sure you memorize everything on it. It was printed about eight hours ago, so you have around forty hours left.”

  He put the box in her hands, walked to the murphy bed, and opened the chest doors. “The main thing to remember is to pull it down from the top, which is technically the foot, I guess. If you pull from the sides you run the risk of mashing your fingers. The sheets are clean, and there’s a set of fresh sheets in your bathroom closet. We don’t have a maid, so you’ll have to wash them and change them out as needed.”

  “James and I talked about that. If you want to hire a human, I can go into his or her head and make certain they don’t notice things you’d rather they not see.”

  He turned and gave her a level gaze. “Yeah, ’Losa told us, but for now, we don’t have a maid. Also, you’ll be able to look into my head all you want once you drink from me, but you’re liable to need therapy if you do, so I wouldn’t advise it. Drake employees get six free visits with a therapist per year. She knows all about supernaturals, so you can be honest with her. It’s possible she knows more about vampires than you. If you kill someone for the company and you want or need more than six visits, Aaron will make it happen. First kill, seeing her is mandatory. Otherwise, killing someone doesn’t mean you have to. Usually, I assume vamps have killed, but I’m guessing you haven’t?”

  She shook her head. “No. I was offered shapeshifters exclusively before I had control. I was told I’d just be in the office here, though. Not out in the field.”

  “Your contract says we can offer a bonus for you to go out in the field, should your skills be needed.” She’d moved into the room far enough to put the phone on the sofa table, but she was still on the other side of the sofa. “You need to feed, Kelsey. If you don’t want to have sex today, that’s fine, but I can sense your hunger.”

  She’d been shy and afraid, but his words seemed to give her confidence. She walked around the sofa, slid her robe down her arms behind her back so it fell onto the arm of the sofa, and then walked to him, completely naked, looking like a model on a runway.

  She smelled of vampire, but she looked completely human. He knew this was a combination of being recently dead and the expert use of cosmetics, but he didn’t care. He opened his arms when she neared, and lowered his mouth to kiss her.

  Fabio’s dick had been interested before, but the cool mouth of a vampire had blood pulsing into it, and within seconds, he was granite hard. He’d been with plenty of vampires, and all of them wanted to take control. Since his first, none had managed, and this little thing wasn’t going to, either.

  “Undo my pants, Kelsey. You may lick, but no more for now.”

  Kelsey knew she was good at sex. This wasn’t her being smug, just knowing her strengths. She was horrible at socializing, sports, and just about anything outside of the handful of things she excelled at — sex, hacking and computers, geeky sci-fi knowledge, business and finance, fashion, hair, and makeup.

  But in this moment, she was focused on the hunk in front of her who smelled of big cat, and nothing else mattered. Leopards are damned sexy even when they aren’t trying, and this one seemed to be trying. She ran a finger from just below his Adam’s apple through the center of his chest, over ripped abs, and to the top of his pants. She flipped the button loose, and pulled the zipper out and down to make certain she didn’t injure him, since he clearly wasn’t wearing underwear.

  And he was nearly as big around as a freaking Pringles can. Not terribly long, thank heavens, but fat enough she’d know when he was in her.

  Her tongue touched her upper lip before she realized it was going to. He’d told her she could lick, but she wanted to do more to the beautiful man with the magnificent dick. She pushed his pants to the floor, and while she was leaned forward, she ran her hands up the sides of his legs until they reached his hips, and held on. Her legs were spread and straight, her back arched, and she ran her tongue over his gorgeous cock while she breathed in the scent of warm, male leopar
d shifter.

  She’d fed from a variety of animals, but so far, one flavor hadn’t stood out above the others. Vampires are usually a great deal older when they gain power over a particular kind of shifter, but Kelsey’s former Master had given her a wide pallet on the off chance something stood out.

  She wasn’t a fan of reptiles, but occasionally had a taste for them. She preferred mammals over birds but when given a choice, but didn’t mind the taste of birds.

  Big cats and grizzlies are always good, and this cat had her hunger rising, but there were things Fabio needed to know before they did this.

  She let go of his hips, stood, and met his gaze.

  “If I bite you during sex, there’s a good chance you’ll need to change to heal. I have excellent control when everyone is still, but I haven’t gotten the hang of it during the height of pleasure.”

  “Good to know. Practice makes perfect, but today’s probably not the day for that since I’ll be taking you to Drake when we finish. If sex is on the menu, I’d prefer to lead with that and have you feed from me with a bonus orgasm after.”

  Kelsey hadn’t decided for sure about whether to have sex with the leopard shifter on this first night. She’d figured he’d assume it was going to happen, and that was a turn-off, and yet, she still might have. She’d found that having sex with most men nearly always gave her more power over them than stringing them along. Even as a submissive, it gave her power.

  As a human, she hadn’t thought in terms of power, but as a vampire, she’d quickly learned how the world of the supernaturals worked. She was on the bottom of the pile in everything — magical powers, financial power, and friends in high places. She hoped she’d gain two friends in very high places by working for Drake Security, since she’d be working for The Dragon King and the Amakhosi.

  But Fabio wasn’t treating sex as a given. He was being clear it was up to her, and he was here to feed her — sex or not.

  “Your wish is my command, kitty cat. How do you want me?”

  The blue of his eyes was like lasers, focusing on her even more, zeroing in, and she suddenly felt like prey. “Every way, Cupcake.”

  Cupcake? What the fuck?

  But then there were no more thoughts because she was on her back, the kitty on top of her, and the heat of his mouth taking hers. Lips. Tongue. Teeth.

  She had enough restraint to keep her fangs from dropping, but his teeth on her lower lip nearly evaporated her control. He moved away from her mouth, kissed his way down her jaw, nibbled her earlobe, and then set his teeth around the tendon at the side her neck while he licked.

  “Fuck!”

  He bit a tiny bit harder, then harder again, and then let up and licked everywhere he’d bit. She knew there were teeth indentions because she could feel his tongue lapping over them.

  “Soon. Not yet.”

  “It was an exclamation,” she told him, “not an order.”

  “There’s that Aussie accent. So fucking sexy. Too bad you’ll have to completely lose it.”

  He licked all around her nipple and then bit there, too — but not with his front teeth. With his back teeth.

  “The kitty likes to bite?” It came out breathier than she intended, but she couldn’t help it.

  He clamped down a little harder, and her clit pulsed furiously between her legs. Her heart raced in her chest, and she didn’t bother to try to control it.

  Finally, he let go and licked again, then sucked, and her groan filled the room because he may as well have been sucking on her clit, the way it reacted.

  “The vampire likes to be bitten with human teeth.”

  She’d liked it as a human, too.

  He released her nipple and licked it to soothe it. “There’ll be consequences for not sounding American, even in bed, Cupcake. Not for that slip, since you didn’t know, but we had a household meeting without you today, and we’ll have one with you tonight, before we take you to Drake HQ.” He moved up, so his face was over hers, looking down. “Now you know. I’ll start keeping count from this point forward. You don’t need to know what the consequences are, only that you don’t want the count to grow.”

  He put his cock at her entrance, and she moved her legs a little farther apart to give him room. She hadn’t pegged him as a missionary sort of lover, and she had a feeling he wouldn’t stay that way for long.

  He lifted a single brow, and she stared at it. She could never manage it, and she thought it unbelievably sexy.

  “No complaints about preparing you?”

  “I’ll be fine, kitty cat. A little pain spices things up nicely.”

  She felt his dick pulse, and she couldn’t help her smirk. “Don’t hold back. My safeword’s red if it comes to it, but I doubt it will.”

  He sat back on his knees and pushed the backs of her legs up until her feet were in the air.

  “Let’s alter that a little. Yellow means I need to back off on the pain but you don’t want me to stop. Red is full stop, get off the damned bed and don’t fucking touch me again.”

  She met his gaze. “I haven’t had the luxury of a safeword for some time. I negotiated it before coming here. I doubt I’ll use either if it’s just sex, but I’m happy they’re available.”

  Her safeword was only available during sex though. Not for punishment, unfortunately.

  And then his fat cock was back at her entrance, the head pressing in. The heat of his body over and around and so close to being inside her made her want to lick and bite and suck, but it wasn’t time yet. Not to mention, he smelled so fucking good, she had to focus on keeping her fangs from dropping down.

  In another hundred years, or possibly a hundred and fifty, she’d be strong enough to flip him over and hold him down while she fed. She could handle humans like that now, but not the strongest shapeshifters — and especially not the ones trained in martial arts, as she was certain her new kitty cat was. She closed her eyes and prepared for him to spread her open, prepared to have to hold off a while to feed.

  “No, Kelsey. Open your eyes.”

  She did as she was told, and it was like a punch to the heart. He was holding himself still, pressing her knees into the bed near her head, but clearly working to control himself harder than he needed to work to control her.

  And those beautiful blue eyes were almost too much.

  “You’ll use your safewords if I’m too rough. That’s an order.”

  She gave a tiny nod, and her world shattered. The heat of him was suddenly rammed into her, opening her and spreading her. Invading. Conquering. Her cool walls were forced wide, stealing what little breath she’d had to start with. Her eyes opened even more, her mouth formed a huge O, though no sound came out because she couldn’t draw a breath.

  And before she could adjust, or breathe, or scream, or even blink, he was moving. Out and then a sharp thrust of his hips and he was back inside her. Buried. He breathed in. Out. His finger traced her cleavage down to her bellybutton, burning a hot line down her skin. He grasped just below the backs of her knees, leaned his upper body’s weight on her legs, and then fucked her like a damned jackhammer. He was more rabbit than cat, in that instant. Her inner walls were pressed in and dragged out despite their slickness, because he was too fucking thick. Too much. He opened her too much.

  And it was perfect.

  Her heart raced in time with his. Her breathing came in gasps. Her clit throbbed to the beat of her heart. She drowned in his wild heat. His unbridled thrusts.

  And the ache inside her grew, and grew, and grew until it threatened to consume her. She needed to come. She needed to feed. She needed her teeth inside him, his blood inside her while his fucking cock was.

  “Bloody hell.”

  “That’s one, Kelsey.”

  He hadn’t slowed to speak, and it took a good ten seconds for her brain to make sense of his words. She’d spoken in her home tongue, so that was one.... one what? Strike? Point? Demerit?

  She didn’t care, in that moment. She reached to he
r clit, but hesitated just before touching it because a growl rumbled deep in the kitty’s chest.

  Moving slowly, she lifted both arms and then rested them on the bed, over her head. His strikingly-blue eyes told her he approved, but he hadn’t missed his rhythm even once.

  Fabio wished he had three hours to fully explore this little baby vamp with soft hazel eyes that touched his soul.

  But he was on a tight timetable, so after another couple of minutes of pounding her into the mattress, he let go of her hip and pressed the heel of his hand over her clit. In less than ten seconds, she was on the edge, and he pushed his cat down far enough to use his voice.

  “Come, Kelsey. Let go. Give it to me.”

  He made her come three times before he finally pressed into her, held, and released deep, deep inside her.

  But he only gave himself a few seconds to catch his breath before he rolled them so she was lying on his chest.

  “No painkiller this first time. Make me hard, drink me down, and give me an orgasm, but I want to feel everything. Not always, but for this first time, I need to know exactly what you do.”

  He forced himself to relax. A skilled vampire can enter without too much pain, even without coating their fangs in painkiller first, but she was a baby vamp, and he knew it would hurt.

  She didn’t argue with him — at least she’d been taught to accept the choices of the people who agreed to feed her.

  The upper fangs struck and slid in, all at once, sharp pain, but not as bad as he expected. He felt her bottom teeth during entry, but then not so much. She backed her fangs up a little, looking for the artery, and then his veins were on fire. Seconds later, his dick was granite hard, his balls ached, and a groan escaped. His arms were still around the vampire, and he felt her growing warm from his blood.

  She sucked and pulled, but drank slowly, taking her time. Enjoying him. He felt her slide into his mind, but she didn’t speak telepathically. Nor did she affect his thoughts.