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The maître d smiled at me, but his eyes were unkind.
He thinks you’re a prostitute
.
I swallowed and smoothed my faux fur stole.

“Can I help you, Miss?” The nondescript male inquired.

“Oh…” I trailed off and shook my head, trying to remember Aleksi’s last name. “The…
Mikailinov party?” I half guessed. The maître d checked the book and shook his head.

“I’m sorry we have no party by that name
.”
      

“Oh, what about
…uhh… Mikhailovich?” He checked the book again.

“No. It is very hard to get a reservation here. I’m sorry but your…
friend isn’t here.”

“Can you just check one more name? Darling.”

“What? I’m
sorry, but flattery will get you nowhere, Honey.” He sneered at me.

“I’m sorry, I meant to ask you to check under the name Darling.” He glanced down at the book and did a double take.

“No, no, apologies are all mine, Ms. Darling. Your party is already waiting for you.” Suddenly he was tripping over himself to help me. He flagged down a hostess and murmured something about a private room to her. Within
minutes, an immaculately dressed blonde led me through the impeccably decorated restaurant and back to a corridor of private rooms.

The Hostess opened the door for me. The room was intimate. The only furniture was a small bar, a couch, and a small round table with two chairs. It was lit by a low-hanging, crystal chandelier which looked like ropes of icicles strung together. The light was turned low enough that it almost mimicked candlelight. Aleksi was seated at the small round table with a wine glass of blood in front of him. Opposite him was a glass of blush wine.

“Thank you, Anna. I’ll call the front
desk when she’s ready to order.” He thanked the hostess who smiled at him and closed the door behind me. I stared at him for a moment. He was dressed like he was on a date. He wore a black suit jacket and a white button down shirt with a blood red tie. That dark hair of his, which I was so used to seeing in that low disheveled bun was in a bun which was actually intact. “You’re late.”

“I’m sorry, there was an angry couple. And then maître d was being a”
—Be civil, Autumn
—“twit.” I finished as I pulled the black ribbon holding the stole in place free. I draped it over the back of the chair and sat down.

“A twit?” He arched a brow and smirked. That smirk and those sparkling blue eyes made me melt.
He’s dating Kendra, don’t melt over your friend’s boyfriend.
I swallowed and sat up straighter. I spun the wine glass by the stem between my thumb and forefinger. The blush wine wasn’t the color I was used to. It was more salmon than pink.
Sit up straight—project an air of confidence.
I pressed my knees together and crossed my ankles. I raised my chin a bit and took a slow breath.

“You said you wanted to discuss the complicated situation you’re in?” I swallowed again and brought the wine to my lips.

“I’m not with Kendra, Autumn.” He sighed, with his lovely face stoic.
Liar!

“So, that night I saw you at her apartment door in nothing but tights, shoes and a jacket you were just… helping her practice technique? Technique that, m-might I add, sounded a lot like you...”
—don’t say it, be a Lady—
“fucking her.”

“You’re being loud,” He breathed before he took a sip of the blood.
He’s right, you are being loud.
“Sip your wine, and calm down.” His voice was soft and soothing. “After we had our date, I was called in to meet with Elizabeta. Tristan made a flippant comment in passing about Kendra’s dancing and jokingly suggested Elizabeta order me to sleep with Kendra to clear the tension. Unfortunately, this comment was made in front of the wrong people.” He sneered a little and sipped more of that dark red blood. His eyes darted to my wine glass and I brought it to my lips and nursed it tentatively. “Things, however, are finally starting to calm back down.”

“So, a sire can just order one of their…sired into someone else’s bed?”

“The word is Progeny and yes—with a handful of exceptions. If you were my official
servant, she couldn’t have.”

“Official servant?” I raised a brow and set the wine back down. I could already feel the slight lightheadedness.
He’s trying to get you drunk again.

“Yes, it’s a human who binds themselves to a vampire. It’s the only marriage between a vampire and a human that isn’t an absolute joke. Servants used to be necessary tools, but with the invention of the umbrella, sunblock and UVB blocking sunglasses every vampire can go out in the day now.”

“O-oh.” I returned to nursing the wine. “How did you know I liked blush wine?”

“Kendra
.”

“Oh. Is it… officially
o-over between you two?”

“As much as it possibly can be at the moment.” He smirked and sat up straighter, his eyes dancing
over me. “Did you enjoy your reading?” For such an absolutely benign sentence his tone was pure and tangible sex. I blushed heavily and swallowed setting my wine down.
Say something intelligent and Ladylike.

“Yes, it was v-very… enlightening.”
Now was that so hard?
I flashed him a nervous smile and passed my hands over my dress to smooth the creases.

“How enlightening was it, Autumn Darling?” His eyes darted back to my glass and I finished the last few sips.

“The material was very…t-titillating and… intriguing,” I swallowed and traced my fingers over my hair
line. He reclined in the chair.

“Go on.” He stood and walked over to the bar, retrieving a bottle of wine in a champagne bucket. He set the bucket on the table and poured me another glass.

“You were right—when you suggested The C-claiming of Sleeping Beauty. I enjoyed it
th-the most.” I stammered out as he lingered behind me.

“What about it did you like?” He whispered, tugging on
that red ribbon in my hair. My black tresses cascaded down my back, and I trembled violently. He made a small, smug, triumphant noise as those white fingers traced across my shoulders. That simple, innocuous touch made me press my knees together and my toes curl.

“I liked…”
—A Lady wouldn’t share—“
I liked… all of it.” I confessed with a shiver as I chewed relentlessly on my bottom lip
. Stop chewing on your bottom lip, it’s unladylike!
I stopped.

“Oh, A
utumn, that is hardly an answer.” He sucked his teeth at me and stepped from behind me to take his place across the table. “How about this… what didn’t you like?”

“The i
-idea of being sh-shared.” I swallowed, my mouth was suddenly dry. I reached for the wine, but again, he guided my actions with a glance and I let my hand fall back to the table.

“You like the idea of serving one individual.” He deduced as he sipped that blood again. I nodded a bit too rapidly and had to close my eyes.
He has you drunk again
.
Shut up Miss Manners, I might get some!

“Y-yes,” I breathed shakily as I gathered my courage with a deep breath.
“You.” He smirked in victory.

“Have you ever done any
thing like this before?” The question made me drop my eyes. I shook my head no. “Well it won’t be like the books you read—that’s fantasy. It’s one thing to fantasize about branding someone, giving someone to another because they displease you, et cetera. It’s another thing entirely to do it.” He finished the blood and pushed the empty glass aside. “The trust it takes to do what we’ll do, will bind both of us to each other. This will be the most intense relationship you’ll even enter into. And for you, I believe it will be cathartic.”

“Cathartic?” I tilted my head to the side, and it was his turn to nod.

“You are wound so very tight. You rarely let go or show much emotion—other than nervousness. I want to unwind you, unwrap you and see your very soul laid bare before me.”
Thank him for the wine and leave, this is too much.
I didn’t leave. I did tug down the hem of my dress and trace my thumbs over the soft fabric.

“H-how would you do that?” I reached for my wine glass again, and he gave me that
stern look once more. I contented myself with swirling the wine in the glass. His eyes darted to the water glass and I sipped that instead.

“I would take you somewhere more private, strip you down, and tie you up with this ribbon.” He slid his fingers seductively over the red satin. “Then I would use my fingers, lips, teeth and tongue to bring you again and again until you begged me to stop. Then I would bring you twice more. Now, once you were panting and utterly exhausted, I would use the riding crop. I would tease you with it until you were begging for more—at which point I would stop completely.
” A wide smile spread his lips and those eyes glanced up to stare at the chandelier like he could see it unfolding before him. “Perhaps I would tease you about begging me to stop, but I would hold you right on that edge, and bring you screaming into orgasm with my bite at your throat.” If there had been charcoal between my knees at the beginning,
it would have been a diamond by the time he finished. He smiled wide, showing those delicate little white fangs. “And then—if you hadn’t passed out—I’d untie you, and let you see how absolutely concupiscent watching you writhe had made me.” I flushed as red as the ribbon in his hands, and Miss Manners fell silent
as his eyes returned to me.

“So… I…I take it there will be some sort of contract?” I
canted my head to the side and he slowly shook his head.

“No, I don’t want you as a
plaything, Autumn—I want you as a companion. My demands on you will be few. You naturally follow every subtle cue you’re given already.” To drive the point home his gaze settled on my wine glass, and I set my water down and took a sip of the oaky wine. “Besides, the idea of a contractual obligation cheapens the bond between us.” He traced his index finger over his now empty glass. “The idea of you being submissive to me because that’s where you long to be is far more arousing isn’t it?” I nodded slowly and shifted in my chair. “As far as what I will and won’t do to you—as in any relationship it should be an ongoing dialog. I will promise to never be cruel to you, and to never hurt you in any serious fashion.”

“I-if I say no?”

“Oh, I would indulge you. We could still date, but we’d end up in the same spot. You are naturally inclined that way.”

“I… I’m not so sure. I mean…with Garrett I didn’t join him in h-his…” I trailed off I couldn’t figure out a way to say it that wasn’t vulgar.

“It may seem simple on the surface, but there’s more to it than simply following orders. You aren’t a complete blank slate. You have your own wants and desires, such
as you want to be adored. You hunger to be the very center of your lover’s universe because that’s what they are to you.” His voice was low and calming. I found my mouth suddenly dry. I reached for the wine glass once more and took another sip.

“I… is that what you’re offering me?”

“It’s what you already are to me, Autumn. I didn’t stop watching you just because I was told I couldn’t have you. Yesterday wasn’t the first time I watched you dancing. I meant what I said, I need you to be mine.”

I swallowed. “So you’ve been stalking me?”

“Yes, isn’t that what predators do? And what is a vampire if not a predator.” I pursed my lips at his nonchalant honesty. My hands slid to my lap and pressed the hem of my skirt between my thumb and forefingers. “Don’t pretend as though this isn’t what you want. I can smell your desire, Autumn.” He pulled his cell
phone out of his pocket and dialed a number. He put the phone to his ear and said. “It’s me, the Kobe filet mignon, with glazed carrots…medium rare, and instead of potatoes, broccoli…No…Yes, another canister.”—his lips twitched—“And have Erin fire Sam.” With a small devious smile he lowered the phone from his ear.

“So you own this restaurant?”

“Elizabeta gave it to me in the eighties to placate me last time we were stuck
here.”

“Oh…I wo
uld have rather had the chicken.” I shifted in my chair and he smirked.

“You’ll need the iron and protein in the red meat. I’d hate for you to become anemic.”

“W-why?”
—
Really? You need that spelled out for you? I thought you were getting your Ph.D.
—“O-oh, feeding you.” He nodded.

A moment later, a waiter came in with a small cart which he parked next to the table. He set a plate with an ornate cloche over it in front of me. On the cart was what looked to be a warming tray that was filled with water. Floating in that
water were two glass canisters filled with what I could only assume was blood. The waiter took one out and unscrewed the top. He filled Aleksi’s glass before returning the canister to the water. Aleksi and I thanked the waiter and I started eating. It wasn’t as odd as I thought it would be, I guess that was because he was eating too in a way. He also had a certain satisfied smirk on his face that delighted me. Things were normal, more normal than they had been even with Garrett. He was gentlemanly, staying on his side of the table
for the duration of the meal.

But the sweet normalcy didn’t last. He reached across the table and traced over my fingers with his. He almost looked living, his skin had that pinkish hue behind it like humans with that peaches and cream skin tone. My heart jumped up in my chest at the touch.

“We
shoul—” He stopped mid-word and his smile fell. He let out a long heavy sigh and his mouth set into a hard line. Reclined as he was in the chair, he looked like a petulant teenager.