“Language,” I warned.
I felt something inside me melt as he smiled an apology. “I’m sorry for cursing. Did we not go over this? The purpose of staking a vampire is to pin him helpless to the ground while you cut off his head or burn him to ashes using fire or sunlight.”
“Yuck.”
Tristan’s smile grew, increasing his good looks exponentially. My insides turned to runny butter. I hoped he didn’t notice.
If he did, he gave no sign. “Yuck indeed. If you stake one of us without pinning us down to the ground, the damage is only temporary. After all, our hearts don’t actually beat. It heals like any other injury we’d sustain.”
I thought about it. Vampire biology. We sure didn’t get that in tenth grade science. “I see. And if a vampire’s body is killed while he’s in ghost form, instead of returning to the body at nightfall, he simply disappears. Do I have it?”
“Correct to the letter.”
“Where do dead vampire souls disappear to?”
Tristan shrugged, the motion a violent jerk. I could tell the conversation made him uncomfortable. “Unknown. No vampire to my knowledge has ever returned as a ghost once its body has been destroyed by beheading or burning.”
No wonder he wasn’t smiling anymore. Grim stuff. “Doesn’t that scare you when the sun sets, to not know if you’ll be coming back?”
Tristan shrugged again. “Vampires keep their day resting places well hidden, even from each other.” He abruptly changed the topic. “How are you getting along with Dan?”
I knew when to let a subject go. With a smile I said, “Dan’s a peach.”
“I think he likes you too. He was staring daggers at me when I brought you in here. He must think I plan to have my way with you.”
Tristan’s observation about Dan marred my enjoyment of the old-fashioned phrasing. So I hadn’t imagined that flash of jealousy. My defenses went up. “I don’t like getting tangled up in relationships. If he’s looking for his one-and-only, he hasn’t found her yet.”
Tristan leaned close, putting his hand over mine. “Someone hurt you.” It was a statement, not a question.
“You could say that.” I moved forward in my chair bringing me closer to the vampire. I liked Dan, but he wasn’t going to trap me. Better he find out now than get too invested and be hurt later.
To Tristan I said, “I find I prefer grazing at the buffet over ordering and getting stuck with a particular meal.”
He chuckled. “I’ve never heard it put quite that way before. So you’re open to the affections of more than one man?”
He didn’t wait for an answer. Instead, he leaned over to kiss me long, slow, and deep, igniting every inch of my body with his lips and tongue alone. Man, Tristan sure could kiss with that curl-the-toes kind of passion every girl loves.
His lips moved over mine, tasting me thoroughly. One hand cupped my jaw and the other wrapped possessively around the back of my head. With that kiss, he had the liquid of my insides bubbling at full boil. Good golly, Miss Molly.
My hands slid over his suddenly naked chest, enjoying the smoothness of his skin that stretched over hard muscled planes. I’d never had a preference for hairy versus smooth chests. I admire and enjoy the many different ways a man could be. Right now, the silky clean lines of Tristan’s torso were very much to my liking.
“Don’t wish your clothes away,” Tristan whispered when he finally lifted those too-talented lips from mine. “I want to undress you slowly.”
I nodded. I wasn’t sure if I had a voice or if it had gone on vacation.
Tristan slid the spaghetti straps of my sundress down my shoulders, baring them and the tops of my breasts. His lips and tongue were velvety soft as they traveled down my chin to my throat. He paused at the hollow at the bottom of the column, sending trembles dancing down my body as he kissed me there. He slowly moved across the line
of my left collarbone, kissing his way to my shoulder. He gently bit the rounded muscle there before reversing his course, traveling oh so slowly to the other shoulder.
I sat in a puddle on my chair. He hadn’t touched any naughty bits yet, but I gushed like a sponge being wrung out. The man was way too talented.
He got to my girl parts soon enough. Tristan cupped my still-mostly covered breasts, lifting them up for his attention. He nuzzled the bared tops, kissing and nibbling. His thumbs rubbed my nipples through the soft material, bringing them to nubby peaks. I moaned in encouragement. He delved deep into my cleavage, his chin pushing the fabric down as he licked a hot, wet path in that valley.
He went to his knees in front of my chair, his body pushing my legs apart. My fingers traced the divots and creases that outlined his muscular shoulders. I watched his dark head just below my chin with half-lidded eyes as he moved up and down, now kissing the inner curves of my breasts.