I hesitated, looking down at the cards again. For the most part, they did make sense, but there was something about chaos being snuggled up against temptation that led to a little niggle of worry in the back of my mind. “Good. I have another half hour, but after that, we can talk about my boss and what we should do.”
“I will patrol,” he said, clutching his tablet as he gave over his seat to a giggling pair of young women. “Call me if you see ... them.”
“Will do. Hi. Do you each want a reading, or a joint one?” I asked the girls.
The time passed quickly, and after I tallied up the takings, subtracted my share, and handed over the Faire’s cut, it was past lunchtime.
“I’m starving,” I told Ivo, and paused, looking at him.
“What?” he asked.
“You didn’t ask for breakfast this morning. Aren’t you hungry?”
“Yes, but I could not feed before you had a chance to do so.” His eyes were serious, the gray a bit more pronounced than the green. I was puzzled by his ability to shift his eye color, and wondered if it had something to do with his emotions. I put a hand on his chest, about to tell him that I wasn’t the one who had gone for more than eighty years without food, but at that moment, his eyes warmed and went mossy green with gray streaks. “Why are you making that face?” he asked.
“I’m a bit flabbergasted,” I said, removing my hand. His eyes went gray green. I put my hand on his arm. His pupils flared and his irises headed straight for green. “OK, this is fun. Your eyes change color when I touch you.”
“Beloved,” he said in a tone that said much. “I am many things, but I am not a chameleon.”
“I don’t think they can actually change their iris colors.” I glanced around, then moved in front of him, blocking the view of anyone around us, and placed my hand on his fly.
His eyes turned emerald green.
“Hoo!” I said, thrilled with this new power to gauge his emotions. “You’re aroused.”
“You have your hand on my rod,” he said, his voice going a bit rough around the edges. “Of course I’m aroused. I do not, however, care for exhibitionism. If you wish to make love, we will return to the castle, and I will strip you and lick you from—”
“No,” I said, laughing and kissing him to stop him from describing something I surely didn’t want overheard by passing tourists.
He looked hurt.
“That is, yes, I want that, but not at this moment. For one, we both need food, and I want to talk about an idea I had while I was reading cards. Come on, I see a hamburger stand. I don’t normally eat meat, but I’m going to have to keep my iron up if I want to get your gas tank back to full.”
“If you’re going to feed me, we will need to go back to the castle,” he said.
I was about to ask him why, remembered what he’d told me about vamps and their Beloveds, and opted to get a to-go meal, which I planned to eat at the hotel.
“We’ll both eat here, and then assuming you want me to stay with you, I’ll check out,” I told him a few minutes later when we entered the room.
No sooner had the door shut than he was scooping me up in his arms, heading straight for the bed.
“What—oh, lord, yes!” I said when he slid his hands up under my shirt, immediately possessing my breasts. I tossed my burger onto the nightstand, and gave myself up to the pleasure that was Ivo.
“This is ... glorioski! Are you made of fire? This is really intense. Is sex with you always going to be like this?” I asked in between little panting gasps as Ivo slowly removed my leggings, his mouth moving along the exposed skin. He had slight stubble that made shivers of delight run down my spine while I pulled off the rest of my clothing.
He paused, his breath steaming a spot on my inner thigh, his eyes like liquid emerald. “Is it too much for you? Perhaps you should eat—”
“Are you kidding?” I wriggled my way out of my underwear, then more or less ripped his shirt off. “I don’t want to do this on a full stomach. I can eat later, assuming you haven’t melted all my innards into mush. Ivo! Your penis! It wasn’t that big last night.”
I swear he was about to roll his eyes as he shucked his shoes, pants, and underwear before returning to claim a spot between my legs. “I do not have a magical penis, Minerva. It is the same as it has always been—there when I need it, but otherwise not any different.”
“Dude. You don’t have to entertain that beast intimately. Oooh!” He nibbled the way up my leg to where said clearly defined space was anticipating his arrival with much celebrating. My toes curled with the sensation of his fingers as they stroked and teased and touched sensitive flesh while his tongue swirled and tormented, making me clutch the sheet beneath me as an orgasm started to build.
And then his mouth was on my thigh and pain stabbed like white heat for a second, before melting into rush of endorphins that pushed me closer to a climax. I stared down my body, amazed at the sight of his hair lying like silk on my flesh as he fed. For a second, a strange emotion swept over me, one of soul-deep satisfaction, a sense of rightness that mingled with erotic thoughts so heated I writhed in need. And then he was moving up my body, catching my legs over his arms, his body surging into me with deep, powerful thrusts.
I tried to say something, tried to tell him just how intensely wonderful the experience was, wanting him to know that I shared the sense of rightness in our joining, but my mind skittered away on waves of ecstasy.
I know, whispered in my mind.
