The Accidental Vampire(54)

"It's okay," Victor said quickly. "I was just passing through. You forgot to unlock the

door downstairs. I knocked, but there was no answer, so I thought I'd just slip through

your room to do it."

"Oh," Elvi breathed her shoulders relaxing. "I—You startled me. I didn't expect…" Her

voice trailed away and she glanced down at the bundle she'd dropped. Clutching at her

towel with one hand, she bent to retrieve the bundle with the other, but something

slipped free and wafted back to the floor as she straightened. Victor moved forward at

once.

"Here, let me get that." He knelt to pick up the bit of silk, his brain slow to realize they

were red silk panties. Recognizing that, he started to raise his face to glance at her

apologetically, but his eyes got caught on her naked legs. They were lovely. Pale, but

perfect. And there was a drop of water she'd missed while drying. It was at the top

inside of her knee and he had the sudden, crazy urge to lean forward and catch it with

his tongue.

A small sound from Elvi dragged him back to his senses, and Victor forced himself

upright. He held the bit of cloth between them. "Your… er…"

Flushing, Elvi took the panties from him, murmuring, "Thank you. I'm sorry I forgot to

unlock the door."

"Yes," Victor mumbled, his eyes locked on her lips. There was another drop of water

just there in the center of her lower lip. It seemed to be taunting him, daring him to

capture her lower lip between both of his and suck off the drop.

Her expression was confused and uncertain, but he could also hear her heartbeat and

knew it was racing in response to his nearness. As was his own, he realized.

"Victor?" His name was barely a breath of sound, but it was enough to send the water

droplet tumbling forward. Before it could roll off, Victor swooped forward, closing his

mouth over her lower lip and drawing on it gently, capturing the drop and taking it into

his mouth.

Elvi drew in a small gasp of surprise and Victor took full advantage. Shifting, he covered

both her lips, allowing his tongue to fill the space between. She tasted sweet and

smelled of vanilla, the aroma of home‐baked cookies. Victor had an urge to eat her up.

It was a reaction he hadn't had since his wife had died and was impossible for him to

ignore. Giving into it, he used his tongue to urge her mouth further open, slid one hand

up to her head to tilt it, then deepened the kiss even as his other hand slid around her

waist to flatten against her lower spine and urge her body forward.

Elvi moaned into his mouth, her own hands creeping to his arms and clutching as he let

the hand at her back drift down to the edge of the towel and slip beneath to close over

one firm cheek of her behind.

It was the stomp of feet on the stairs leading to the deck that made him stop. Breaking

the kiss, Victor glanced toward the open door to the sunroom, cursing himself for not

closing it. He released Elvi with an apology and stepped away, pausing abruptly and

bending to catch at her towel as it began to drift to the floor. When his hand closed

over it, he found his face directly in front of one round breast, it's nipple a puckered

rose.

Victor closed his eyes briefly against the temptation, then forced himself upward and

wrapped the towel around her. He then placed her hand over it, turned her toward the

bathroom and gave her a gentle push back into the room as someone knocked at the

sunroom door.

"I'll get that," he murmured, pulling the bathroom door closed behind her. Then Victor

took a moment to run his fingers through his hair, gave his head a shake to get it

working again, and moved into the sunroom.



Chapter Eleven





"Sorry," DJ said when Victor opened the door. "We were starting to get worried. First

Elvi went to unlock the door and didn't return, and then you went with the same

result. We thought maybe something was wrong."

Alessandro nodded from his position on the step below DJ.

"No. Nothing wrong," Victor assured them. "Elvi just forgot and went to take a bath."

"Ah," DJ murmured, and then raised an eyebrow, obviously expecting an explanation

for his own failure to unlock it.

Victor ignored the look. He stood there, solid as stone, waiting.

"Alessandro has to use the facilities and I need a bag of blood. I haven't eaten all day,"

DJ announced when Victor remained silent.

"Oh." Victor hesitated, his gaze moving to the closed bathroom door and then he

reluctantly stepped back and gestured them in.

"Thank you," Alessandro said as he slipped out through the bedroom door Victor

opened a moment later. "I'll unlock door to kitchen on my way back out."