Stefan (Lost Nights Series Book 1) Read online

  “You’re a lovely woman. I’m sure there are plenty of men around Venice who would be happy to see to your needs. Women, too, if that was your wish.”

  “I don’t sleep around,” I snapped, sitting up in bed while drawing the covers more tightly around my waist.

  Stefan stretched out across the top of the blankets, folding his hands behind his head as he lay back. “Why?”

  “You mean other than the fact that it’s not safe and I don’t sleep with people that I don’t know or care about?”

  But as I uttered those words, I wondered about my actions with Stefan. We were already in my bedroom and I wasn’t shoving him out. This didn’t feel like a one-night stand. Whether I wanted to or not, I cared about his happiness. I cared about his safety. I cared about whether he was smiling and who was putting the smile on his face. Yet even as those thoughts surfaced, I shoved them away, not ready to start working through that complication.

  “That is why I don’t feed every night,” he said simply and my anger immediately started to subside. “Feeding can be a dangerous affair. Things go wrong all the time.”

  “I can’t see how you could be hurt by a human.”

  “It is unlikely, but it could happen. But a nightwalker is more likely to be hurt by one of his own kind. We are vulnerable when we feed. Nearly all of our attention is focused on our prey. Many nightwalkers and humans have been killed this way.”

  “Oh.” I stared down at my hands, loosening them from where I had tightly balled them in my lap.

  “It is also something of a hassle.” Stefan reached out and entwined his fingers with mine, pulling my right hand to his chest. With his free hand, he traced his fingertips along my wrist and down the inside of my arm, sending chills up and down my spine. “I would assume that with all your restaurants that there are nights that humans do not wish to cook.”

  A soft snort escaped me at the thought. I hated to cook; hated it more when I was just cooking for myself. I could rationalize it a little better when I was having friends over to my place, but it just seemed like a giant pain in the ass when it was just me. “True.”

  “Come, lay down beside me. Sleep. I did not intend to disturb you.”

  I hesitated. Did I really think I could possibly sleep next to this vampire? No, not at all. And that answer had absolutely nothing to do with being afraid of him. Of course, if he was going to stay for a bit, I might as well ask him a few questions while I did have him next to me. “Are you going to behave yourself?”

  “I have been doing an excellent job behaving myself,” Stefan said indignantly, sitting upright in a flash. “I have not tried to feed on you.”

  “That’s not what I’m talking about.”

  “Oh? Do you feel that you are in danger of being seduced by me?” His voice dipped down to a low growl, raising goose bumps over my bare arms. He leaned close so that his lips brushed lightly against my cheek as they headed for my ear.

  “But what’s the point?” I demanded, desperately clinging to the thought dancing through my brain as his touch attempted to scatter it to the wind. “You can’t have sex, right?”

  Stefan jerked away from me so quickly that I shivered at the breeze he created as it rushed past me. I blinked and the vampire was standing on almost the opposite side of the room in a faint sliver of light that had crept through the curtains.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” he demanded in a hard, cold voice.

  “I just figured that it’s one of the things that all those vampire movies and books got wrong about your people. You can’t have sex. I mean, your body… you’re dead, right? It doesn’t all work.” I waved one hand at him in the general vicinity of his penis, really hoping that he couldn’t see my blush in the darkness.

  Stefan stared at me for several seconds, his entire body perfectly still so that he could have been mistaken for a statue. And then laughter jumped from him like a crack of thunder. He rocked backward, his head tipping back while his hand landed on his stomach. I’d never heard his laugh like that. It was a loud belly laugh that comes from deep in your soul.

  And then it stopped just as quickly. The silence was nearly deafening as it flooded back into the tiny room. Stefan was in the bed in a flash and I found myself pinned to the mattress before I’d even realized that he was there.

  “I must disappoint you, ma petite,” he said in a low growl as he leaned close, bracing his hands on either side of my head. “I may have passed through death to become a nightwalker and my body may not require the same things that yours does, but in many ways it still operates in the same manner.”

  “Oh,” I whispered, my throat suddenly becoming as dry as the Sahara. My heart pounded in my chest. My fingers slid down from his shoulder the silky soft material over thick muscles, but there was no heart beat to give anything away. Even still, there was a tension in his frame, as if he were poised, waiting for one little signal from me to continue. Without thinking, my tongue flicked out to wet my lips and his head gave a little jerk at the motion, proving that he could very clearly see me in the darkness.

  Slowly, Stefan lowered his head and I closed my eyes, soaking in the feeling of his lips brushing against my cheek, my jaw, the tip of my nose; slowly working his way closer to my mouth. By the time his lips lightly touched mine, I was a tight ball of taut nerves, inwardly screaming for his kiss. I tingled with that first contact, enjoying the slow exquisite exploration as we learned what the other liked.

  He took advantage of a moan that he wrung out of me to dip his tongue into my mouth for a quick exploration. He tried to pull back, but I caught him. My hand cupped his jaw and I held him to me as my tongue chased after his retreating one. The vampire froze as I kissed him, careful to avoid his fangs so that this kiss didn’t turn into something completely different.

  Groaning in pleasure, Stefan slid his hands under me and pulled me into a sitting position with him so that he could grab the edge of my tank top. He broke off the kiss and pulled my shirt over my head. Straddling my legs, he stared down at my bare chest before lifting his hands to gently cradle my breasts, his thumbs lightly brushing against the hardening nipples.

  “This isn’t fair, Stefan,” I complained breathless, tipping my head back. “I’m the only one getting undressed.”

  “Would you like me to shed some my clothes as well?” he asked before lowering his mouth to brush as kiss across the tops of my breasts. Taking the left breast firmly in hand, his lips closed over the nipple, sucking it into his mouth. His tongue teased the tip, making it nearly impossible for me to sit still. My hands had already begun to wander up his shirt, unbuttoning buttons as I found them with trembling fingers.

  “Yes and I need a light. I can’t see a damn thing and I’m getting the impression that you can.”

  Stefan released my nipple and chuckled softly. The wet nipple tightened painfully in the cool air and I wanted him to put it back into his mouth, but I also wanted to do some exploring of my own. “I think I can do something about that.”

  He jumped from the bed and crossed the room in a flash. He flipped on the overhead light and I shrieked, raising one arm to cover my eyes while the other covered my chest.

  “Too bright!”

  The light instantly went off again. He then stepped out of the bedroom and flipped on other lights in the small apartment before returning, leaving the bedroom door open. Warm, soft light poured into the room, pushing back the shadows and allowing me to clearly see Stefan without the harsh, overhead glare.

  “Better?” he inquired, arching a mocking brow at me.

  I reclined in the bed on my side, facing him. “Much.”

  Stefan approached the bed at a normal speed, unbuttoning the couple buttons I had missed. He pulled off his shirt and dropped it on the floor beside the bed.

  Smiling, I knelt on the edge of the bed, sliding my hands up his wide chest while placing kisses as I went. “That’s much, much better.”

  “Is there anything else I can do to p
lease you, Mistress?” he said with a happy sigh.

  “Mmmm... Mistress. I think I like that. I’d also like it if you removed your shoes.”

  Stefan deftly kicked off his shoes and then stared at me, waiting for my next command. I smiled in return, my hand dropping down to the waistband of his slacks. As I undid his belt, I kissed his neck, earning me another groan of pleasure.

  “Ma petite, when you kiss me like that, you make it very difficult for me to not be inside of you,” he said in a rough voice.

  “We’re getting there,” I whispered, loving the feeling of power I had with each reaction I won from him.

  “I’m trying to take my time, but you are testing my resolve.” As he spoke, his hand slipped between my legs so that his long fingers pressed into my soft mound. My own fingers forgot that they had been attempting to unbutton his pants and simply held onto his waistband as mind-numbing pleasure surged through my body. Through the silk panties, he found my clit and gently rubbed it so that I was whimpering with need.

  With some effort, I pried my eyes open when I hadn’t even realized they’d fallen shut and looked up at him. Harsh lines of strain were etched into his handsome face and his gray eyes were once again glowing, but even before I could draw a coherent thought to worry about it, his fingers slid around the edge of panties so that they were dancing along my flesh. One long finger slipped inside of me and we both moaned.

  “Ahh... petite, your body is so tight and wet,” he said, his voice thick and rough. “The thought of pushing into you makes me want to come. Your body says that it wants me inside you. Does your heart say you want me inside you as well?”

  “Yes,” I moaned, moving against his hand so that he was fucking me with his finger. My own hands overcame their temporary paralysis so that I finished unbuttons his pants. I could feel his hard dick jump on the other side of his zipper and I carefully lowered it. His cock sprang out the second I opened his pants and I moaned. He was large and thick, sending a mini orgasm rippling through my body at the thought of that pushing into me.

  Stefan groaned as I took him in hands and started to stroke along his length. “I want you, Stefan. Please, I want you now.”

  Knocking my hands away, I suddenly found myself flat on my back in the bed with my legs hanging partially off the edge while Stefan kicked off the last of his clothes. He stopped before jumping on me as if regaining his control and instead of joining me in bed, he knelt beside it between my legs and gently whisked away my panties, leaving me completely naked before him. I tried to scoot away as soon as I realized what he was doing, but I wasn’t fast enough.

  “No, ma petite. I plan to feast on you. I will to make you come with my tongue before I make you come with my cock,” he murmured.

  I wanted to tell him that it was very unlikely that such a thing would happen, but all thought was driven from my brain at the first bold touch of this tongue along my clit. There was nothing tentative or hesitant about how he licked me, leaving me writhing and screaming in pleasure. After several minutes, I was panting, my entire body as tight as a bowstring while I hovered on the edge of release. I cried his name, begging for him to finally release me, when plunged two fingers inside of me as he pinched my clit between his lips, sending me screaming over the edge. The world shattered and I flew apart on the orgasm.

  When conscious thought finally returned to my brain, Stefan was hovering over me, licking his lips. There was a hungry light in his eyes and I didn’t think it was for blood.

  Climbing onto the bed between my legs, he pressed the head of his cock at my entrance and I braced myself for him to plunge into me. But he wrung another moan out of me as he slowly invaded my body, stretching me until he filled me completely. Nothing had ever felt so good in all my life. And then he began to move.

  For a moment, I just lay still enjoying the feel of him. The light reflected off his dove gray eyes. Lines of passion and strain were dug into his lovely face. I reached up and placed my palm against cheek. He turned his head and pressed a kiss to hand and then smiled.

  Lifting my hips, he changed the angle slightly and my eyes rolled up in my head with pleasure. Stefan picked up his pace, pounding in me until the world finally splintered. My back arched and I screamed, my fingers clawing at the sheets as I tried to ground myself, but I couldn’t. I was scattered to the four corners of the earth and there was nothing that could pull back together again.

  Except maybe Stefan.

  As I floated back into my body, I could feel that he’d grown even harder and thicker. He was close. A smattering of words escaped him here and there but it was all in French now. Despite my supposed fluency, I couldn’t understand it. But then, I probably wasn’t too coherent in English at that moment.

  His fingers tightened almost painfully on my hips before his entire body stiffened and shouted my name. Stefan collapsed on top of me, catching himself on his forearms so he didn’t completely crush me. His face was nuzzled in the crook of my neck, but there was no heavy breathing or pounding of his heart against my chest. It felt as if I was being weighed down by a corpse and it was unsettling.

  I closed my eyes and replayed our blissful time together, trying to give him a moment to compose himself but the panic was building.

  “Move or at least pretend to breathe, Stefan. I feel like I gave you a heart attack.” I tried to make it sound like a joke, but the words escaped me high-pitched and a little frantic.

  To please me, Stefan moved. His dick. While it was still inside of me.

  “Asshole,” I muttered, earning a deep chuckle from him that I felt in my chest.

  “I’m sorry I’m not more like your living lovers,” Stefan said, brushing his lips against my neck, sending cold chills down my arms.

  “I’m not complaining,” I quickly said and then frowned. “Well, I’m not complaining about the sex. That was mind blowing and I wouldn’t change a thing. It’s just afterwards. You’re not out of breath. Your heart’s not pounding. It’s ... a little unnerving.”

  Stefan leaned up so that he could look me in the eye. “While I might not show it, I am winded from our escapade. But if you give me a few moments, I’d be happy to give it another try. I am worried that you didn’t have enough orgasms.”

  I laughed loudly, throwing my hands out to my sides. “You’re ridiculous. Any more and I would have had a heart attack or a stroke. As it is, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to move again.”

  “Then allow me to help you.”

  Stefan carefully withdrew from my body and I swallowed a whimper. My body was sore, but it was a good sore. No, there was just something about the loss of that connection that had me instinctively reaching for him as if some primitive part of my brain was sure the man was going to disappear before my eyes. But he didn’t.

  Standing at the side of the bed, Stefan scooped me up and laid me back in the bed with my head on my pillow. He then zoomed across the room in a blur, flicking off the light, before walking back to my bed. Slipping beneath the covers, Stefan gathered me close in his arms so that my head was now resting on his chest.

  A contented sigh slipped from my lips and I laid my hand over his still heart. I shouldn’t have felt so comfortable lying naked in a bed with a creature such as Stefan. He was technically dead, drank blood, and was easily powerful enough to end my life with a snap of his fingers. Hell, he could have killed me with sex, and yet he didn’t. I might be a little bruised in the morning, but I wouldn’t have changed a single thing. Sex had been perfect with him and snuggling with him now was icing on the cake.

  “Do you think sex has gotten better or worse since you became a vampire?” I asked sleepily. Thoroughly relaxed now, I could feel my fatigue starting to claim me, dragging me back toward unconsciousness but I didn’t want to sleep. I wanted to be awake for as long as Stefan was at my side.

  His chest moved beneath my head as if he were laughing, but I didn’t hear him make a sound. “The sensations of sex have gotten better since becoming a nightw
alker. Unfortunately, I find that I’m having sex far less frequently now that I’m no longer human.”

  I made a scoffing noise in the back of my throat, but I didn’t bother to open my eyes. His hands were lazily moving up and down my back, making it difficult to fight off sleep. “I find it hard to believe that all the little female bloodsuckers are not fighting to get into your pants.”

  “Lovely image, ma petite,” Stefan said with a heavy dose of sarcasm. “Nightwalkers tend to spend more time trying to kill each other than fucking each other.”

  “Fine, then the little human chicks.” I yawned. “I bet you walk into a nightclub and all the panties get wet.”

  “Is that what happened to you when we first met?”

  “Of course my panties were wet when we met. It was raining pretty hard.”

  He snickered and the sound brought a smile to my lips. “Nice excuse.”

  “Yeah, I thought so.”

  A long silence slipped between us and I could feel myself starting to fall asleep. I tried to fight it, but I just couldn’t hold on. “Stefan,” I murmured softly. “Is this just a one-night stand?”

  His hands tightened on me, pulling me a little tighter against his body. “I hope it is not, ma petite. I sincerely hope it is not.”

  Chapter 4

  We continued like that for the next three days. After the debacle caused by my inattention to the time of day, I was sure to be back inside the apartment before the sun set every night. And at some time during the night, Stefan would appear within my apartment. The vampire couldn’t be troubled to knock on the door and wait for me to allow him entrance. No, he thought it was more like a game. Using his amazing stealth, the sneaky bastard would just suddenly be inside my apartment. Of course, I think surprising the crap out of me also amused him.

  It wasn’t all about sex either — not to say that the sex wasn’t wonderful as well. A couple nights we talked for hours. He looked over the drawings I had done during the day and made comments on the architecture or the clothing the people during that particular time period. It was on the tip of my tongue to ask him exactly how old he was, but I just couldn’t get the words out. There was a large part of me that didn’t want to know, that was terrified of the answer. With very few exceptions, I could easily forget that he was a vampire. He acted like a regular guy. Well, sort of. His speech was still a little different and he had this “lord of the manor” stiffness to him at times, particularly when he was insulted, which only made me do it on purpose at times because it was so damn funny.