Fixed 01 - Fantasy Fix (16 page)

Before he could sink completely into thoughts of her, his phone rang.

“Vidâme,” he answered automatically.

“So, you didn’t wind up breathing wood this weekend. I started to wonder.”

 
“Good of you to be concerned. I’m sure that’s why you called.”

Graham laughed. “Well, I did want to ask if your snack was as tasty as she looked, but somehow I don’t think you’re going to tell me.”

“Lupines
are
renowned for their acute instincts…”

“That’s what I thought,” the werewolf chuckled. “I’m assuming you spent last night with your little hors d’oeuvres since I didn’t see you at the club.”

Graham owned a private club on the Upper East Side called Vircolac. Dmitri had been a member for longer than Graham had been alive, but then, the club had been founded in the eighteenth century. Graham had acquired it the old-fashioned way. He’d inherited it.

“Why is it that you persist in referring to humans as menu items?” Dmitri asked, ignoring his friend’s unspoken question. “It’s a little creepy.”

“Creepy? You’re the one who uses them for food, and I get called creepy?”

“And you use them for entertainment. Does that mean I should refer to them as tennis balls when I’m speaking to you? Or do you prefer Frisbees?”

“Touché. Clearly your
lady friend
made an impression on you.”

“She is my mate.”

Silence.

“Have you told anyone?” Graham sounded cautious and slightly stunned.

“No. There hasn’t been time.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” He paused again, and Dmitri could hear when the thought occurred to him. “Have you told her?”

Dmitri laughed. “I’m surprised you thought to ask.”

“Well, humans tend to have…interesting reactions to the whole vampire thing, let alone to a proposal of marriage from one. Most of them don’t know a thing about you guys. How did she take it?”

This time Dmitri paused. “I don’t know yet.”

“Then you haven’t told her. Which means you haven’t turned her, either.”

“No. And I’m not planning to do it unless she asks.”

“Ohhh-kay, if you say so.” Skepticism laced the werewolf’s voice. “Can I buy a ticket to be there when you break the news?”

“Smartass. You should be careful around me, or I will have to sic her friends on you.”

Graham scoffed. “What? Will those nasty human women kick me in the shins or something?”

Dmitri grinned and told his friend the story of the Fantasy Fix. The information he’d gleaned from Regina’s mind still managed to amaze him. He’d never known human women with imaginations quite that vivid. He described the basic nature of the club, how he and Regina had met, and paused for Graham’s reaction.

“Wow. Her friends sound…entertaining. If I met a human female so adventurous, I might break my rule about dating them.”

Dmitri’s grin turned wicked. “I could set you up with one of them.”

“Bite your tongue, fang. I was joking. I don’t do humans.”

But Dmitri did. He had done one extremely intriguing human several times the night before, and he could barely control his impatience to do her again.

After he hung up the phone, he forced his mind onto his work and quickly discovered the results of his inattention over the past couple of days. Any man who commanded an empire as large as that of Vidâme International could not afford to take unexpected vacations. He had a lot to do if he were going to catch up.

He worked all night and well into the morning. He paused a few times to stretch, but didn’t bother to eat. The blood he had taken from Regina the night before sustained him longer than any ever had, and he savored the additional proof she was meant to be his mate. She could sustain him indefinitely, nourishing both body and soul.

Though his energy flagged a few hours after dawn, the time when he normally would have been fading into sleep, he worked until he had completed all his pressing business. He even did a little advance planning in order to free up more time to spend with Regina. Finally, just before midday, he set aside the last of his correspondence, gave into temptation, and reached out to her.

He kept his touch light this time, knowing his intrusion had angered her the other day. He slipped into the edge of her mind, keeping his presence veiled from her while he simply sat back and savored the contact. At least until he discovered what she’d been up to that morning.

With ruthless precision, Dmitri caught the edge of her memory and reviewed her conversation with her friends, as well as the phone call she’d taken at her office just an hour ago. When he discovered the result of those conversations, his expression hardened, and he removed himself from her mind, taking one last piece of information with him when he went.

Regina had agreed to a date with another man.

I will kill him,
he decided.
I will kill him while she watches, and then I will throw his body to the jackals and lock her in the tower of the castle I will purchase on a remote island in the North Sea, and I will fuck her until she understands the consequences of dating other men.

And as for Ms. Markham
, he reflected grimly.
She is one woman who needs to be taught to mind her own business.

* * * * *

Monday was a very good day for Ava. She’d stolen a very hot new model away from one of her competitors and signed him up to her agency. She’d negotiated a multi-million dollar deal with a notoriously stingy
parfumier
that her models would be the exclusive reps for his new ad campaign, and she’d heard from Marc Abrahms that Reggie had agreed to their date.

She had also found out some very interesting things about Regina’s new friend. Like the fact that Dmitri Vidâme owned a billion-dollar corporation called Vidâme International that had its fingers in an awful lot of pies. Or that Vidâme had no family, even though his ancestors had supposedly lived in New York since the early eighteenth century. Every little thing she found out made her more suspicious about the man, and she was determined to uncover all his secrets before he could hurt her friend.

All in all, when Ava snuggled under her down duvet just after midnight, she felt remarkably content.

Dmitri almost hated to shatter her happy little illusions, but she meddled into affairs that were none of her concern. She needed to learn a lesson, and he would be the one to teach it.

He waited patiently until she drifted off to sleep—which didn’t take very long after her fourteen-hour workday—and slipped casually into her subconscious.

In another time, her mind would have fascinated him. He’d observed at the bar the other night how much more Ava resembled the women he’d involved himself with in the past. Now he could see the truth of that mentally as well as physically. Regina’s friend possessed a brilliant, creative mind and the iron-willed determination of a military dictator. No one had ever managed to dig up so much information on him in such a short period of time. Her acumen impressed even him, and he made a mental note to include her agency among his investments.

Still, while he sorted through her mind, the unfamiliar feel of her only deepened his hunger for Regina. This woman, as complex and beautiful as she might be, left him cold, while Regina set him on fire.

He hurried about his task, anxious to get it over with so he could focus his attention back on his new mate, who would still require a good amount of skill and finesse before she grew accustomed to the idea of being his.

When he slipped from Ava’s thoughts thirty minutes later, he found himself exhausted. Tampering with the woman’s mind had required more effort than he’d anticipated, and he felt he might not have been as thorough as he wanted, but he’d laid the groundwork. Ava Markham’s suspicions of him had been set on the back burner, and she would find her business concerns took precedence over everything else in her life for at least the next few days. He figured that should give him enough time to secure things with Regina, and once she admitted her bond to him, he knew not even Ava could come between them. And just to be sure she stayed away until he had Reggie tamed, he would have Graham and his pack keep her under watch. The werewolves did a mean stakeout.

He slipped out of the apartment as silently as he had entered. He hoped now he could stay out of all but one mind, because he needed to conserve his strength for Thursday night, when Regina’s date would deviate slightly from what she was expecting.

Slipping his cell phone from his coat pocket, he made the arrangements.

* * * * *

They writhed together on the Persian carpet, the flashes of skin like cream and cocoa in the flickering firelight. A fall of pale, blonde curls caressed a nipple the color of raspberry truffles. A hand, slim and dusky, slid between pale, silken thighs and disappeared in the rosy, wet cavern they concealed.

Natalie moaned, her mouth full of dark, puckered nipple, and reached up to brush her own slender fingers over her lover’s pouting lips. Simone opened her mouth, drew the fingers deep and sucked, humming her pleasure.

With her free hand, Natalie reached out, felt across the soft, nubby fabric of the rug until her fingers closed around a cool column of sinuously curved glass. Her mouth curved into a wicked smile, drawing back from Simone’s nipple to lave the ruched peak with the tip of her tongue. Pulling her fingers free of her lover’s mouth, she positioned herself at the other woman’s side so that her hips could rock against Simone’s fucking fingers while she had free access to her friend’s cunt.

Closing her teeth around one dark nipple, she grasped the other between finger and thumb and gently squeezed while she brought the glass dildo between Simone’s thighs.

Simone shivered at the press of cold, slick glass against her heated cunt. Moaning, she drew two fingers free of Natalie’s dripping core and a moment later speared her again with three. She twisted her wrist, screwing her hand deeper, even as she lifted her own hips in search of greater sensation.

Growling low in her throat, Natalie closed her teeth more tightly around Simone’s nipple and increased the pressure of her fingers. She slid the dildo back and forth through her lover’s slit, gathering moisture and slicking the smooth surface of the glass. The toy slowly warmed, taking on the heat of the woman’s body as Natalie circled it around the engorged clit and teased it against the rim of the quivering vagina. Her expression revealed the extent of her excitement, how much she enjoyed toying with the responsive female flesh beneath her hands and mouth.

Simone’s hips canted upward. “
Ah, Natalie!
” she moaned, her head thrashing against the carpet. “
Ma chere, baisse-moi!
Fuck me! Please!”

Natalie chuckled and lightened her touch, running the slick glass over Simone’s swollen vulva, deliberately bypassing her clit and her grasping cunt.

“Bitch!” Simone hissed and twisted her body in a lithe, rapid motion until her nipple popped out of the other woman’s mouth and her free hand clamped over Natalie’s mound. She slid two fingers deep, catching the blonde’s clit between them and scissoring them together until Natalie moaned. Simone grunted in satisfaction and finger-fucked the other woman with hard, rapid thrusts, her fingers curled to rub the g-spot with every pass.

Her head fell back to her shoulders, and Natalie thrust the dildo home, burying it deep in Simone’s dripping cunt. Her knees buckled, and she fell to the floor beside the other woman. Their bodies tangled together, legs entwined, hands burrowing between sweat-dampened thighs. They came together, lips meeting, tongues thrusting, kissing until they might have devoured each other. Moans and whimpers broke from them and filled the room with the rough, desperate sounds of sex.

About that time, Graham realized he needed help. Two of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen writhed naked and horny on the floor in front of him, and all he could think about was heading home for a cold beer and a nap.

It was just sad.

He sat sprawled in a chair in front of the fire in Natalie’s parlor watching two stunning women fuck each other silly, and his dick barely twitched. Any man who could be bored by that should get counseling.

When his cell phone rang, barely audible over the wet, sucking sounds of clinging cunts and the squeals of female pleasure, he reached for it like a lifeline.

“Yeah?”

“I am glad I reached you,
bratok
.”

“That you did, brother,” Graham answered. “What’s up?”

A female voice rose in a wild cry that traveled clearly over the airwaves. Dmitri paused. “Did I call at a bad time?”

Graham scowled and stood, padding naked to the other side of the room and propping his shoulder against the fireplace mantle. “No, it’s no problem. What’s up?”

Dmitri accepted the statement easily. “I need you to do me a favor.”

Graham hoped it was an urgent favor, one that needed immediate attention. “You got it. What do you need?”

“I need you to arrange for your pack to do some surveillance for me.”

“Done. Who are we staking out and why?”
And do I need to start tonight?

“It is a woman, a friend of my mate. She is something of a troublemaker, and she does not approve of me. I need to be sure she stays out of the way until I have things settled with Regina.”

Graham crossed his ankles and ignored the increasing tempo of moans and curses from the other side of the room. He could smell the mingled fragrance of the women and the sex, but he ignored it. “So that’s your paragon’s name. I was starting to wonder if you were ever going to tell me.”

Dmitri chuckled. “I will even allow you to meet her, once I have settled her down,” he said. “Provided that you keep your hands to yourself.”

Graham rolled his eyes. If he wasn’t interested in fucking either or both of the exquisite female vampires who just then screamed out their mutual climax, he doubted a simple little human would send him into a lustful frenzy. “I don’t think you need to worry. Why don’t you tell me more about this job?”

Dmitri gave him the woman’s name, Ava Markham, and her address. Graham was grateful Natalie and Simone had finished with each other and lapsed into silence. At least now he could hear. He didn’t bother to take notes because he would remember every detail. Most people said Graham had a mind like a steel trap, but he preferred to compare it to a filing cabinet. Once he learned a piece of information, he stored it away in its proper place and when he needed it again, he knew exactly where to find it.