Page 10 of The Biting Bargain

I'm babbling again. As per usual, my nerves turn off all my filters. The immediate attraction this vampire radiates like sexy microwaves has apparently turned off the area of my brain responsible for reasoning and impulse control.

I shouldn’t be excited by this.

And yet I am very, very excited about this.

Calm down, Polly. This is bite-only. Professional, remember?

Again he tilts his head. Again I feel like a little mouse sitting across from a cat that has just found an interesting new toy.

"I assume they told you the most important rule in the onboarding mail," he now says, voice gravelly.

I gulp. "Yeah."

"Which is?"

"The master is in charge."

"Exactly." He smirks like he knows everything about me and that makes the hairs in the nape of my neck stand straight up. "Now sit on my lap."

He taps his leg with one hand.

Come on, Polly,I call myself to order.Sit on his damn lap, close your eyes and think of England or whatever. And of the money flooding your bank account afterwards.

Remember, this is just business. Biting only.

Pulse pounding in my ears, I climb onto his lap, straddling him. As I clumsily perform the maneuver, I’m probably looking like a stork in a lettuce field, with that stupid short skirt sliding back up my ass, exposing my pink panties. I freeze as feel his hands on my hips. A little yelp escapes me as he pulls me closer with gentle force. I come to sit on his lap, with my legs wider than I would have ever intended. Utterly exposed.

My mouth goes dry as I look up to him. Even sitting like this, he towers over me like a wall of darkness.

"Like I said, better access," he says in a low voice. He’s so close I have some trouble breathing.

"Makes sense," I press out as his gaze holds me captive. His eyes are a brown so dark it's almost black. But there's an irritating glimmer around his irises. A glimmer that looks almost amber....

"Arms behind your back," he commands.

Adrenaline pinches my chest as I comply without thinking. Thank God for all those yoga classes making me flexible. I cross my arms behind my back, clasping my elbows. I have to arch my back, exposing my chest and neck even more. I take a shuddering breath in.

"Like this?"

"Exactly like this." His rumbled words fire a thrill all through my body, sending shivers blooming between my shoulder blades. It feels like being tied up with his command alone. And all the time he looks at me as if I were a snack he can't wait to devour.

Because that's exactly what I am. Nothing more. This super hot, powerful vampire is about to bite me. And bite me only. I’m only some kind of elaborate midnight snack. Nothing else. I can pull my mind right back out of the gutter. Yet a swirl of liquid desire stirs in my lower abdomen, setting all my nerve ends on fire.

"Will it hurt?" My voice is husky.

"No." He shakes his head slightly, leaning in. "Don't worry."

"How would you know?" I blurt before I can stop myself. "Have you ever been bitten?"

He flinches, black eyes widening, and his grip around my hips painfully tightens. For a split second he looks almost horrified as if I’ve caught him in some way. But he regains his composure quickly.

"Of course not," he growls, irritated, as if I’ve said something incredibly stupid. Which I probably have.

The fact that not all vampires are turned with a bite but are actually born as vampires is common knowledge after all. So this is probably a touchy subject and I'd better keep my mouth shut.

I bite my lower lip. His gaze dips down to my mouth.

"I was told," he says now with a strange edge in his voice, "it would be like getting stung with a needle."

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