Page 57 of The Biting Bargain

There’s probably not a surface left at his place, not a piece of furniture, not a square inch of carpeting, where we haven’t fucked.

And damn, how we fucked. It's like we've opened Pandora's box and unleashed sexual mayhem.

I've had more orgasms in the last two days than — I'm quickly counting it over in my head — in my entire adult life. I should be kind of embarrassed, but I can’t help but keep floating into a state of utter euphoria.

Can you get stupid from too much sex?

In my case, the answer is probably yes. But if I have to burn away my last two brain cells in an endorphin shower of multiple orgasms delivered by a hot vampire, so be it. And who knows if I’ll ever get sex again that is so freakishly and out-of-this-world hot it makes my eyes roll back into my skull. No, with my luck, this is the (haha) climax of the roller coaster. So I cling to our business perk for as long as it lasts.

I'm not anything else to Vincent anyway.

A little perk.

The pang in my chest is small but telltale. I really am an incorrigible idiot.

"So, no card table tonight?" I ask, trying to sound casual, and pick another appetizer that looks like a microscopic taco. "No venturing down to the illustrious underground casino?"

He shakes his head, his gaze scanning in the crowd. "Don't feel like it today."

I furrow my brow, popping the mini taco into my mouth. It tastes great, but man, I could actually do with a pizza. My body is screaming for carbs. And I’m sore in places I didn't even know I had muscles that could be sore. But apart from that, I wonder why Vincent doesn’t want to show me off to his fancy bloodsucker pals? Wasn’t this whole endeavor about him making a great impression? Show everyone what a jolly, old vampire he is?

"No networking?" I ask.

Vincent shakes his head again, twirling the end of the leash in his fingers. I have to force myself not to stare at it, and divert my eyes to the appetizers in my lap.

Since we marched in here, he's greeted maybe five of the posh guests, held a polite but brief round of chitchat — and we've been sitting here ever since, side by side on the chaise longue. Not too close and not too far.

Still, it feels like the air between us is crackling with electricity. And at the new glance he shoots me now, which takes my breath away a bit, I realize that he'd rather be anywhere else than here.

I swallow.

"What about representation?" I ask. "What about seeing and being seen?"

Vincent shrugs, turns back to the crowd. "The people who need to know I'm here already know."

"Oh?"

"And after our dramatic exit last time, I thought we'd keep a low profile today."

"Haha," I say lamely. Because my pea brain is stuck on his crooked smile, which is too sexy to be true.

On the stage at the other end of the hall, a vampire in a suit enters the podium and starts a lecture about the history of some famous vampire family. The lights are dimmed for a slide lecture. The illustrious audience listens devoutly. It's terribly boring and I can barely stifle a yawn. Needless to say, I haven't gotten too much sleep in the last few days…

"Bored?" Vincent rumbles, suddenly very close to my ear.

"No, it's most interesting," I whisper, a little overwhelmed as he puts his arm around me and pulls me closer.

"You're a miserable liar, dove." He smirks down at me. "I can tell you'd rather be doing a thousand other things."

He looks at me as if he knows exactly what is happening in my head.

That it’s playing reruns from last night my inner adult movie theater.

How hot I'm getting right now.

Or how my pussy is painfully clenching around nothing…

I clear my throat. "Well, I'm a professional. I can keep it together for the job I was hired for."

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