The Vampire Next Door (28 page)

They strode hand in hand from the subway station to the block where their building stood without saying a word. One would occasionally glance over at the other and smile. Morgaine knew exactly where they were going and what they would do, and she didn’t need to be psychic for that.

When they reached their stoop, Sly dropped her hand to retrieve his keys and let them in. They entered his apartment and stripped off their clothes on the way to his bedroom. They moved in complete silence. It seemed as if words would break the spell.

Standing beside the bed, she stared at him. His molten brown eyes held an intoxicating mixture of relief and desire. No. It was more than desire. He
needed
her.

He gazed at her a moment longer. “I thought I’d lost you.” Sly leaned in and closed his mouth over hers. Her eyes fluttered closed. Lust simmered from his mouth to hers and she took an instinctive deep breath, fusing their lips together. Heat passed between them, and their tongues found each other. They met and swirled, and a murmur of delight escaped her.

Morgaine broke the kiss and sighed deeply, and her body dropped onto the mattress still holding him. They landed on the bed, bounced, and laughed. He nuzzled her neck.

“I love you,” he whispered.

He said it.
She had been dying to hear those words. Elated, she felt as if her heart would burst. Suddenly, all their passionate feelings for each other concentrated into nonverbal communication with more and deeper kisses.

Their tongues tangled sensuously. She embraced him and felt the warm flexing of his broad back. They rolled toward the pillows, then back toward the foot of the bed. They hadn’t even turned lengthwise yet.

He slid his hand up her rib cage to capture a full breast and kneaded it. She offered him complete access and moaned when his mouth found her nipple.

He suckled her briefly, then maneuvered their bodies lengthwise and toward the middle of the bed. When she felt his bare chest on top of hers and his hard erection nudging the juncture of her thighs, she basked in his erotic promise. His passion would penetrate her to the core.

She bucked her hips against him. The friction of his cock against her clit made her wild. Her mind melted into an oblivion where only the two of them existed. The light coating of black hair on his chest rubbed her nipples into stiff peaks.

His tongue massaged hers in hungry strokes, and he slipped one hand around to cup and squeeze her buttocks. A warm shiver passed through her.

He lifted his swollen lips from hers. Every nerve ending tingled. He lowered his head over one breast, and his ebony lashes hid his eyes as he captured the nipple in his mouth and sucked. She arched and moaned, unable to help herself. His clean, musky scent filled her senses. He slipped his arm around her back, encircling her completely. He was so strong and yet so impossibly tender.

He swirled the tip of his tongue around the sensitive nipple. Morgaine arched her back, trying to push her breast further into his mouth. He seemed to understand her silent plea and sucked deeper, harder. White hot ripples radiated from her breast to her core. Her womb clenched. She opened her thighs wider, inviting him to take her. Instead, he kissed a hot trail to her other breast and suckled that one thoroughly too.

She was sure she was going to come from his relentless attention to her breasts alone if he continued that way. Several times the tug of pressure on her nipples sent a jolt of heat into her core. She ground her hips against his. His cock seemed to grow even larger and harder, if that were possible.

At last he lifted his lips and looked into her eyes. His gaze held a bone-melting, hungry look she’d never seen before.

“I want you,” he whispered. He rose onto his knees and reached out.

Grabbing his waist, she pulled him toward her mouth. “Not yet. I have something for you first.” She licked her lips.

He grinned and walked up on his knees until his cock was poised in front of her. She grasped the base with one hand and massaged his balls with the other. He leaned back and groaned.

Then she took him into her mouth and sucked. He undulated with the beat of a primitive drum only he could hear. She’d never wanted to do this for any other man, but for Sly she didn’t think twice. She wanted to give him as much pleasure as she could—to show him a fraction of how happy he made her.

He reached behind and ran his fingers over her slick, aching folds. She pulled in a shuddering breath but continued to suck until he said, “Stop. No more.”

He backed down the bed until his mouth was level with hers. He leaned over and crushed her lips in a brief but hot kiss. Then he continued to back down between her legs until his mouth reached her most intimate spot.

He ran his tongue up and down the ridges of her labia. She whimpered and pleaded with him incoherently. At last he zeroed in on her clit and lapped it repeatedly. The pleasure zinged through her, pushing her higher and higher.

At last she shattered. Crying out, ripples of joy sped through her shuddering body.

As soon as she had begun to breathe normally again, he settled gently on top of her. The head of his cock nudged her slick opening.

Morgaine caught her breath softly. Her mind spun and her body tingled. A few hours earlier, she hadn’t known if she’d ever see Sly again. Now she was going to be joined with him in the most intimate way possible.

With a small thrust, he pushed the head of his cock inside her and stopped. He lowered his face and kissed her softly. She sighed and surrendered willingly. He pushed his hips forward a little more but stopped again. She was getting impatient. She wanted him. All of him. All the way.

“Please, Sly. I need you. All of you.”

He smiled and pushed ahead slowly until he was fully seated. He caressed her cheek with one finger and reached between them with the other hand to where they were joined. He rubbed little circles around her clit as he withdrew and thrust. If he kept going slowly like this, she’d go mad.

As if sensing her frenzy, he coated his finger with her juices and rubbed quick strokes across her clit while he increased the tempo of his thrusts. She moaned her gratitude and sensed the building tension in her core.

Finally, the pleasure peaked and shock waves erupted, radiating from her core to the top of her head to her fingers and toes and back again. She quivered and shook, trying to be quiet but unable to stop a scream of ecstasy as it tore from her lips.

She screamed and bucked and screamed some more as Sly stayed right on the root of her pleasure until every last drop of bliss had been wrung from her. He came with a few uneven jerks and gasps. At last, he dropped next to her as she lay spent.

She curled into the crook of his arm and he held her. Softly, she murmured, “I love you, Sly.”

He kissed the top of her head. “I love you too. I always will.” A smile entered his voice. “After all, you’re my beloved.”

A wave of contentment filled her. “You’re mine too.”

*   *   *   *

That evening, as Jules opened his door to the hallway, the strong smell of alcohol almost knocked him over. “Don’t tell me they’re partying in the basement again. And even if they are, why the hell does their booze waft way up here?”

He was about to take his trash out to the Dumpster, so he figured he’d swing by the basement on his way and check on things. He jogged down the flight of stairs to the first floor, leaned his trash bag by the wall, and opened the basement door. A wave of crisp ethanol-scented air hit his nostrils like the deep chill of swimming through a cold spot in the ocean.

“What the hell?”

He flipped on the light switch and took the cellar stairs double time. “Ladies? Are you down here?”

All was quiet. Except for a small dripping sound. Afraid something in the laundry room might have sprung a leak, he went there first. He checked the deep sink, the pipes beneath it, and the space behind all the washing machines. Everything was dry.

Whew! I can skate by on my false claims of plumbing expertise for a while longer.

“So where are that damn dripping and strong smell coming from?”

He moved to the other half of the basement and peered around the boxes, half expecting to hear female giggles again. Not this time. Just that infernal dripping sound. It sounded like it was coming from the back wall. As he approached, he noticed something he hadn’t seen before. A crack spanned the length of the wall right at the bump-out.

That’s weird.

He grabbed the flashlight he kept on a shelf and returned to the suspicious spot in the wall. He illuminated the crack and noticed a space behind it. Then something glinted in the light. Something copper.

What the hell is that? With my luck, it’s some new plumbing I haven’t seen before and it’s leaking, dammit.

With a crowbar and a hard pull, a hinge creaked and the crack opened. A metal contraption with copper pots and tubes came into view, with a clear liquid dripping from it into a bucket.

“Is that a still?” he said out loud.

Of course no one answered him, but they didn’t have to. This explained everything. The smell. The girls partying in the basement. Everything. Should he report it to the board of health? Heck, no. That would call attention to the ballplayer’s building. They’d probably want to talk to the owner.

He sighed. “This might explain the extra foot traffic too. They’re probably selling it.”

Well, they wouldn’t be selling any more. He’d have to drain and dismantle the enterprise. But should he squeal on the residents? He began looking for the shut-off valve and decided that would depend upon how much of a pain in the ass the still was to take apart.

*   *   *   *

Sly held Morgaine’s hand and knocked on the door of apartment 3A with his free fist. She’d noticed that his skin warmed whenever he had some of the vampire curative wine in his system. He was still plenty warm from that morning’s dose.

Lily had come up the stairs right behind them and waited along with them for Gwyneth to open her door.

Eventually, the door swung open wide.

“C’mon on in, all y’all!” Gwyneth stepped back and allowed her guests to enter. Country music played in the background. It had to be Gwyneth’s favorite radio station or a CD she’d recently bought. Morgaine had never heard the song before.

She had seen Gwyneth’s girly apartment plenty of times, but the other two probably hadn’t. Their gazes wandered around, taking in the decidedly feminine decor. White wicker furniture with pink-and-white striped cushions and loads of unmatched floral pillows dominated the room.

A pink tablecloth and a vase of flowers graced the dinette table. Also on the dinette were a platter of crust-free sandwiches cut in triangles, cheese, crackers, fried okra, and peanuts. Gwyneth’s version of party food.

Nathan rounded the corner of the kitchen with a Mason jar of what looked to be the finished moonshine whiskey. It was a pure amber color.

Morgaine pointed to it. “Is that the um…” She glanced at Lily.
Oops.
“Is that what I think it is?”

“First batch,” Nathan said proudly. “Gwyneth and I finished it up while we were, ahem, waiting for you and Sly to, ahem, relax after your ordeal.”

Sly smirked. “Badly clogged throat you’ve got there, Nathan.”

Morgaine dropped Sly’s hand and strolled toward the windows. She gazed outside at the fierce snowstorm.
It must have begun snowing as we were, ahem, making love.

Nathan noticed her by the windows. “Big snowstorm out there. It’s times like this when I’m glad I don’t have a car.”

“Amen to that,” Sly said.

Gwyneth piped up. “If I had a car out there, I think I’d just let it set until spring.”

Nathan strolled over to her and casually wrapped an arm around her waist. “Until the city made you move it so they could plow. Thank goodness for public transportation.”

“Are you two…” Lily pointed from one to the other and back again. Her question wasn’t hard to figure out.

Gwyneth chuckled. “Not just yet. I’m gonna make him wait a bit. That way he’ll appreciate me.”

“I already appreciate you.”

“I know, I was just teasin’ is all.”

“You’re a tease all right.”

He tickled her. She shrieked and tried to squirm away.

Morgaine noticed Lily watching the scene with a serene smile.

“Lily, how are you doing?”

“Fine now, thank you.”

Nathan looked over at her. “No more fiery sneezes?”

“No. I saw Jules before coming up here.” She blushed.

“Why didn’t y’all bring him to the party?”

“I didn’t know if he was invited.”

“Of course he is.”

“Now, wait a minute, Gwyneth. This is my pad too. Shouldn’t you ask me if I’m okay with him being here first?”

“Oh, fiddlesticks, Chad. What could y’all possibly object to as far as Jules is concerned?”

“Well, I think you might want to avoid him for a while.”

“Why’s that?”

“He’s dismantling your still as we speak.”

Gwyneth and Morgaine gasped.

“Not the still,” Gwyneth wailed.

Sly had been gazing longingly at the food on the table, but he whirled around and stared at them. “What about the still?”

Gwyneth collapsed on the sofa and covered her face with her hands. “Chad just said Jules is dismantling it.”

“Shit! Now what are we going to use to preserve the…” He trailed off and gazed at Lily.

Morgaine knew what he was going to say, but he probably didn’t know Lily well enough to trust her with his secret yet.

Suddenly Gwyneth lifted her head. “I know. We can make wine. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that afore. It don’t require no still.”

Lily looked confused. “You have a still? Can’t you afford to buy alcohol when you want some?”

“Um…” Morgaine had to say something before Gwyneth spilled any more beans. “No, not really. Our finances are pretty low right now.”

“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that. I have some money saved…”

“No, please, don’t worry about it. We’ll manage.”

“Are you sure?”

A knock at the door interrupted their conversation.

“Now who could that be?” Gwyneth wondered out loud.