How to Discipline Your Vampire(76)

            Not bad for the end of the world.





CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

            Cerise

            To say I’d had a busy month would be an understatement.

            Some of the highlights from the past few weeks—photographer and model, prisoner and warden, snowbound in a cabin, the list goes on. Whatever scene I threw at him, he crafted it with gusto and originality. When it was a surprise day, he topped himself each time.

            Last week, we used the abandoned house again. No, not another apocalypse. We were fugitives on the run from a bank robbery. William cashed out one of his bank accounts and we fucked on a bed covered in hundred-dollar bills.

            Things were good, so I decided to give William a present today.

            One he had been waiting for.

            I presented the box to him at the kitchen table, after I had eaten my lunch.

            “Whatever this is,” he began, “I don’t deserve it.”

            “Yes, you do. In fact, you’ve been expecting it.”

            He relented, and opened the box with his long, graceful fingers. “Cerise,” he breathed.

            “Your collar,” I said proudly.

            It wasn’t a collar in a traditional sense—it was a sexy-as-hell leather wrist cuff. This way he could always keep it on without getting unwanted attention. You know, because typically sexy guys don’t walk around town wearing dog collars.

            He wrapped it around his wrist and clicked it shut. “I’m never taking it off.”

            I stroked his forearm. “Looks good on you.”

            He appraised me for a moment, nodding.

            “What?”

            “Generous beneath your brash exterior. You’re such a Leo,” he said.

            “Excuse me?” I asked.

            “You don’t know your own Zodiac sign?” he asked, appalled.

            I shook my head. “Superstitious nonsense.”

            He waggled his finger at me. “Oh, not at all. I’ve got your number, Cerise. You’re a Leo to a T.”

            “Oh really. Go on.” I crossed my arms and leaned back in my chair, waiting for his silly esoteric explanation.

            “Domineering, for starters,” he grinned. “Confident and encouraging.”

            I rolled my eyes at him. “You only see what you want to see in those descriptions. I bet there are ten other adjectives that wouldn’t describe me at all.”

            “Melodramatic and stubborn?”

            I grimaced.

            He laughed.

            “Okay, so what are you?” I asked.

            “A Virgo.”

            “Oh, you were a Virgo when we met, all right.”

            He chuckled. “Don’t worry, the irony doesn’t escape me.”

            I cracked my knuckles and leaned in, intensely. “Tell me about Virgos,” I said, placating him.

            “Successful, structured, creative,” he droned, patting himself on the back. “We’re very reflective.”

            I nodded. “Spot on, Gentry. Anything else?”

            “We are givers, who only want love in return.”