“Are you suggesting I’m convenient to have as a girlfriend?” Spencer demanded.
“I’m saying you were always forbidden to me, because you’re human and you work for me, but now that the blood-drinking cat’s out of the bag…”
There was literally no time for Spencer to react.
One second, he was still standing a few feet away, another second and he was standing right between her legs, his large hands clasping her face, and as her lips parted in a stunned gasp, his mouth took immediate advantage with his tongue driving inside hers.
Oh God.
The kiss vaguely reminded her of that other time she had a man’s lips on hers, but guilt struck her as soon as the thought occurred, and she quickly shoved it to the back of her mind. That part of her life was done and over with, and regrets about past decisions—
“Stop thinking,” her boss growled against her lips just before sucking her tongue. Hard. So, so wonderfully hard that it had her unconsciously doing what he had just ordered. She stopped thinking, period. It was impossible to think, with this kind of kiss burning through her senses.
She tried her best to resist, or even to just cling to the threadbare remains of her sanity, but when his mouth hungrily moved down the side of her neck, and she felt the rough slide of his fangs against the tender skin—
“No!” The protest was instinctive, but it was also too late, with her boss’ cruel, beautiful mouth having already latched on to her pulse, and a moment later, she could only whimper as she felt his fangs slowly pierce through the flesh.
The pain oddly reminded her of the first time her hymen broke; terrifying and absolute, but at the same time sweet and liberating, a taboo side of pleasure that good girls would never confess to enjoying out loud.
Because it was just as he said, she realized as her body involuntarily arched. Him drinking her blood was enjoyable…and then it was suddenly over?
Etienne watched her eyes flutter open, and satisfaction blazed through his veins at the clouded look of desire in her gaze. This was how she looked that night, and it was an even greater turn-on tonight, because this time she knew it was him kissing her.
“Do you understand now, mi vavli? Or do you need more convincing of why I want you to be my mine?”
Chapter Five
Fucking someone at work, for Etienne, had always been akin to shitting where one ate; it was something he had never done, and it was why he had been determined to have another night with Spencer without having to reveal himself.
But now that the truth had come out…
Etienne pressed the doorbell of apartment 7A, and a moment later, he heard the distinct voice of Spencer’s roommate say, “I think I’m hallucinating, Spence.”
“Huh?” He listened to her footsteps as her scent grew stronger. “What are you talking about?”
“I went to see if it was the 7B kid pranking us again, but…”
A few moments later, he heard Spencer gasp. “What the—”
“So it really is him?” the other girl squeaked. “Let me see—oh, shit, it really is him!”
Etienne’s lips slowly pressed together in an effort to suppress his smile. Although Spencer already knew he wasn’t human, it was obvious that she still didn’t understand what this truly meant or just how different humans and Caros were.
For one thing, his senses were extraordinarily acute, and in this case it allowed him to her the whispers she and her roommate exchanged despite the thick concrete walls standing between them.
“Let me handle this,” he heard Spencer decide.
“Ah.”
“What do you mean ah?”
“So Mr. Hirsche is here because of you?”
“It’s not—”
“Oh my God. You guys are dating, aren’t you?”
“Will you—”
“Who said what first?” Etienne heard Kiernan ask excitedly. “And how?”
“It’s nothing like that!” Spencer’s mortification was evident in her tone.
“Then how?”
“It’s just—”
Etienne thought it prudent to press the doorbell again at that moment, and the sound caused both girls to gasp.
“He doesn’t look pissed,” Kiernan reported.
The commotion that followed made Etienne imagine the two girls taking alternating turns at looking at him through the peephole, and it was a struggle to keep his face expressionless.
“But I doubt Mr. H is used to waiting—”
“Then go away so I can answer the door,” Spencer retorted.
“Not until you answer one question first.”
“Oh my God, Kier—”
“Does he know you’re in love with him?”
Spencer waited until Kiernan had gone back into her room before grabbing her bag from the couch and flinging the door open. A part of her still wasn’t sure whether she wanted her boss to still be waiting outside her apartment, but when her gaze collided with his—
Yup, you’re still horribly in love with him.
—and this meant she did want to see Mr. H, even if she wasn’t exactly sure it was a good idea to do so.