Page 30 of Pucking Vamps

Okay, maybe I might be a little obsessed with him, but he makes it awfully hard not to be. Besides, it’s not like it’s harming anyone—other than future me, potentially—so who fucking cares?

“Tonight,” Leander says.

I blink at him, my heart leaping a bit. “Oh. That’s…” Awesome. “Nice.” Depending on when exactly he’s back, maybe we can catch each other up over dinner. Tomorrow also works, I suppose, since I have no practice or lectures.

“I’ve instructed Montgomery to prepare the car. He will drive you to the airport. We’ll meet there. A friend has invited me over for dinner, so we’ll go together.” He smiles, showing off those sharp teeth. “We’ll do a bit of shopping first, to get you something nice to wear. My treat.”

This sounds an awful lot like a date. A fake date, I remind myself. He must’ve also realized that we’ve lost quite a few days of practice, so it makes sense he’s inviting me to go with him. Yep, that’s the reason. He worries about our performance.

“Tomorrow.” I grin. “We’ll do another fake date. There is a new barbeque place on the south beach that I want to try, but Nick already has plans. More practice can’t hurt.”

Leander glances to the side, nodding his head curtly. “Agreed. Perhaps we should do one every day until the ball.” His eyes swim with dark amusement. “I have to go now. My plane is about to leave. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

I wish him a pleasant flight, laughing when he licks his lips seductively and hangs up with a wink. The room goes quiet, and I sit there for a while, trying and failing to calm my rapidly beating heart because even if our dinner date is for practice, I can’t help how much I look forward to it.

Chapter 12

Leander

As I enter the expensive restaurant on the second floor of the pre-security departures’ zone, I can sense Hayden’s nervousness. He’s sitting at the table with the hydrangea vase near the floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the tarmac. He’s bouncing his legs, clearly on edge for anyone who’d spent more than a second looking at him, fidgeting with his phone while frown lines crease his forehead.

I approach without announcing myself. He doesn’t notice me, mumbling curses under his breath as his fingers tap away at the device. Positioning myself behind him, I cradle his face with both hands and tip his head back, capturing his lips. His eyes go wide for a single heartbeat, a tiny yelp dying in his throat as he recognizes me and opens for me willingly.

His sweet taste is like balm to my irked psyche. Hunting rampaging vampires is not a favorite pastime of mine. It’s exhausting as much as dealing with the human authorities is. I’ve been fighting a headache ever since I dropped off the fledgling, and even though I took painkillers and caught some sleep on the plane, the throbbing in my temples persisted.

Until now that is.

The smell of night jasmine engulfs me, heightening Hayden’s honey-like taste. His tongue is slick and hot against mine, letting me lead the dance in his mouth as I lick every inch of it. It belongs to me, like he does for the time being, and the greed with which he participates in the kiss unleashes a pleasantly tingling hum just under my skin. It chases away the aches in my body, driving my blood southward to my already swelling cock.

This human is like a drug, so addictively irresistible in the way he affects the most primal of my bodily functions. The almost-week I spent away has made me ravenous, and I can’t get enough of the kiss, deepening it further.

He moans, the sound washing over me and stirring even more desire in my gut. I love the noises he makes when he’s aroused, the way his voice goes gravelly and hoarse, how his breathing skews and turns shallow. His heart is beating so loud I can hear it, every thud reverberating through me and heightening my urge to sink my teeth in his firm shoulder so I can drive us both crazy with pleasure.

“Leander…” he purrs when I pull away so his lungs can get enough air, his face flushed in a lovely tinge of red.

The room has gone quiet, conversations paused as the other patrons seem to have taken an interest in the little show I unintentionally put on. I give them a hard look, preening just a little at how glazed over their eyes are.

“I am of a half mind to have you right here. In front of all these people, so they can see how well you take my cock,” I whisper in Hayden’s ear, teasing the shell with gentle nipping.

He sucks in his bottom lip and shifts in his seat, nostrils flaring. “Fuck. Is there something wrong with me for thinking that sounds insanely hot?” Turning his chair, he angles his body toward me and studies the people in the lounge, his tongue poking out.

“I don’t think so. People like different things, none of which are bad so long as no harm is done to anyone.”

“I’m pretty sure we’d get arrested for public indecency if we fucked here,” he challenges, his shoulders no longer so tightly wound. The nervousness is still there, but as I suspected, my kiss sucked most of it out of him.

“I’ll bribe the police. They’ll look the other way.”

He blinks at me, a slow smile stretching that mouth I want to capture again. “Oh shit. I sometimes forget that you are not only vamp—exotic, but also rich as fuck.” Wrinkling his nose, he laughs. “Wait. Does that make me your sugar baby?”

I consider that. I suppose in a way it does, but it’s more of a byproduct. I haven’t really thought about it until now, but as I let my gaze roam his slouched form, the idea of giving him the things he wants appeals to me. I can picture him with his pretty eyes wide and his mouth curving into an adorable grin.

I don’t think he’s the type to go for that dynamic, though. He’s submissive in bed, but that’s as far as it goes. He needs freedom, his own agency, his own goals. His love for hockey is endearing and I would never take that away from him, even though I have the power to do so. To have anything I want in any way I want it. It would be as simple as turning him into a thrall once our arrangement is over. He’d do anything I told him, he’d live to serve me and feed me his blood. There is a certain appeal in that, I won’t lie, and some vampires keep dozens of thralls around for that very reason. I’ve considered it myself, seeing as it would make feeding so much easier.

But not Hayden. It hasn’t even crossed my mind to enslave him that way. He shines too bright to be dimmed like this, to be extinguished and trapped in an existence of never-ending luxury and pleasure.

“Is that something you are interested in?” I say somewhat belatedly, studying the slight slant of his brows my delay has caused.

He shrugs. “No, not really. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to be rich, but this sounds like one of those scenarios where you’d be asked to sacrifice something important. There’s no way I’m throwing hockey away so I can be someone’s boytoy.”

---