Page 19 of The Vampire Kingpin
I turned my head. My soon-to-be thrall slouched on the chair next to my bed, her legs draped over one of the velvet-covered arms, playing with the blade I’d taken from her. Behind her, my weapons cabinet was open. She’d also gotten into my closet because she wore my favorite purple silk shirt over the thigh-highs from last night.
The snick-snick ceased. “You’re awake.”
“Mm-hm,” I said without taking my gaze from where the thigh-highs disappeared beneath the tails of my shirt. Was she wearing the thong under that?
She got up, smooth as a cat. “I’ll stick around,” she informed me, “but on my terms.”
Now we were getting somewhere. I leaned back against the headboard, fingers laced behind my neck. “Spill.”
The sheet bunched at my waist, leaving me bare from the waist up. From the way she moistened her lips, she liked what she saw. The feeling was mutual. I’d come awake with morning wood but at her obvious interest, my dick tried to drill through the damn sheet.
She took that in, then moved her gaze up…slowly. Taking in my chest. My biceps. And finally, my face.
“One month,” she told me. “At the end of that time, my debt is paid—and I want an extra fifty grand on top of that.”
I lifted a brow, enjoying myself more than I would’ve expected. “Now why would I agree to that?”
She strolled the few feet to the bed and leaned over. The purple shirt gaped open, giving me an eyeful of small, perfect tits. Her shiny black hair spilled forward to brush my chest.
Behind my head, my fingers clenched, itching to gather that silky mass and guide her soft mouth down to my cock.
“Because.” She traced the point of her blade down my sternum and past my navel. Her silver blade, which meant it left a trail of fire. “I’ll be the best fuck you ever had.”
The pain only made me want to force her down on the bed and teach her manners. Just picturing it made me harden even more.
She used the point to flick the sheet draping my dick, threatening me in a way that I shouldn’t have allowed. But I let her get away with it. The woman had cast a fucking spell on me. I was this close to saying to Hades with negotiations and just giving her whatever she wanted if she’d come back to bed.
I didn’t even think she was exaggerating. I suspected she would be the best I’d ever had.
But it went against the grain to allow her to get the upper hand, and I was pretty sure she’d lose all respect for me if I gave in so easily.
“No to the fifty grand.” I nudged the blade away by its steel, nonpoisonous-to-vampires handle. “You owe me those thirty nights. You broke into my lair and stole from me. Anyone else would be in their final grave.”
“You have your damn dagger back.” Closing the switchblade, she slid it into her boot and crawled on top of me, her long hair tickling my chest and abs. “And we both know you can spare the Benjamins.”
With a feline look at me from beneath her lashes, she licked her way from my belly to my chest in the opposite direction she’d drawn her blade.
“You’re going the wrong way.” I reached between our bodies to shove the covers away. My dick sprang free, brushing her stomach.
Her warm fingers closed on me. I had to grit my teeth to keep from groaning aloud.
“Forty thousand,” she said.
“Ten,” I managed to say, my gaze on her strong, elegant fingers.
She gave me a slow stroke up and down. “Twenty-five.”
I gathered Lark’s silky locks in my fist and pulled her head back. “Done.”
Her beautiful eyes narrowed. “Thirty nights, and you’ll pay me twenty-five thousand dollars?”
“Yes.”
“Swear it.”
My hand tightened in her hair. “That’s the second time you doubted my word. You’ll get your twenty-five, damn you. Now show me how good you can be.”
Her witchy eyes lowered. “Yes, my lord.”
