Conversion (Page 41)

Tracey laughed at something Ben had said and started to turn her head to me. With my hand, I covered my neck, as casually as I could, hoping that would break Teren’s focus. "Emma…did you hear that?" Tracey turned all the way to look at us and scrunched her brow when she saw Teren. "Is he all right?"

My heart was thudding so hard I thought it might jump out of my chest. I risked a glance over at Teren; he’d snapped out of it a bit and was focusing on his plate as he tried to breathe steadier. His face was pale, and he almost looked confused.

I grabbed his hand, making him look up at me. His brow furrowed and he frowned. "Actually, he’s feeling a little sick." I said, looking over at Tracey. "We’re gonna go outside for a minute…get some fresh air."

Tracey’s face oozed sympathy as she watched me grab my clutch purse and stand him up. Ben’s concerned eyes matched hers. "Hope you feel better, man."

Teren lamely nodded while I started walking him through the sea of linen-covered tables. I wondered if he had even heard any of that conversation…or anything during dinner. I walked us through the elaborate double doors out of the restaurant, and then looked around for a secluded spot. Across the parking lot I saw an elegantly fenced in area for the garbage receptacle. The gate on the wooden fence was partially open, so I knew it wasn’t locked. Looking around for witnesses and not seeing any, I pulled Teren in that direction.

He hesitated at first, not seeming to understand what we were doing or why, but then he relaxed and let me pull him. He’d either stopped wondering or stopped caring. The glum look on his face didn’t leave him, though. I pulled us through the gate and shut it behind us. It was dark with the gate closed and Teren’s eyes glowed at me. I used the peace from his gaze to calm my wildly beating heart. He had almost fanged me in front of Tracey and Ben…I was pretty sure of that.

For even more privacy, I moved him to the far side of the dumpster and then I began to hitch up my flowy, knee-length dress. That seemed to break through his melancholy.

"What are you doing?" he asked, in a thoroughly confused voice.

I gathered the light, breezy fabric just above my thigh, bunching the material against my purse as I held my leg up to him. "Drink." My tone implied an order.

He blinked and started to back away. I grabbed his dress shirt and pulled him closer. "Drink, Teren," I firmly repeated.

This time, he shook his head and looked around the dark, enclosed area with the large, green container overflowing with rotten seafood and plastic bags of filth. "No, Emma…not like this."

I grabbed his face and made him look at me. "You are going to attack me in the middle of that restaurant, if you don’t get some blood in you. Will you please just drink me now, so we can go back and have dessert without massively freaking out our friends?"

With a guilty face, he nodded and exhaled a slow breath. I shoved his shoulder down as he bent to one knee. He placed my leg on his shoulder, so he’d have a better angle, and I leaned back against the fence to support my weight. He made a low noise in his throat; the vibrations affected me more than the slight coolness of the approaching fall air. Goose bumps danced across my flesh as I felt the stubble of his jaw brush across my thigh. I ran a hand back through his hair, allowing myself to breath heavier. It was private out here…no one would know what we were doing. And if anyone suspected by the noises, even though we were both being pretty quiet, well, I was pretty sure they would expect to see something other than a man dipping into my femoral artery.

"I shouldn’t want this so bad…" I heard him mutter, his breath hot against my tender skin.

I was about to tell him I felt the same way, when his teeth grazed my leg and I felt them extend to fangs. He sank them in without a second’s pause and we both groaned a bit. He worked his hands up both legs while I held my dress for him. He took long, deep draws and made groaning, satisfied noises, like he was finally getting what he really wanted. A part of me delighted that I could give him something that pleased him in a way nothing else could. A part of me was worried about how deeply this seemed to please him.

He took another couple deep draws, and just when I started to feel the tiniest bit faint, he tilted his head and his eyes flashed to mine. I held my breath at the fire I saw burning in the glowing orbs. Bedroom eyes had nothing on sucking-on-your-thigh eyes. I stopped caring about Teren’s needs as I stared into those eyes. I stopped caring about Tracey and Hot Ben wondering if he was okay. I stopped caring about a busboy coming out here with a bag of garbage. I stopped caring about anything outside of those blazing, blue eyes, and I started caring about my own needs.

Dropping my purse with a dull thud to the concrete, I grabbed Teren’s face and yanked him off my thigh. He came freely, blood dripping off his chin, a warm trickle of it running down my leg. He usually licked the wounds closed, but I hadn’t exactly left him the option. I pulled his face up to mine, not caring about the blood on his tongue, his fangs in my mouth…only needing him.

His hands scrunched my flimsy dress up to my waist and then ripped down my underwear. My hands made short work of his belt and slacks. We were both panting as we took our passion for each other to a whole new level.

Pushing me up against the fence, Teren held my bloody thigh at an angle and moved into me. I clamped my mouth shut to contain the moan I wanted to make, while Teren let out a satisfied noise that I hoped no one heard.

Squeezing my thigh with one hand, my dress being held against my hip with the other, Teren thrust into me over and over. The openness of our location, the strain of not letting myself cry out, the cool air against my skin, all made me reach my peak faster than I would have thought possible.

I held my breath as euphoria washed through me. My eyes fluttered closed and my head hit the fence behind me. I shuddered and clutched his back as the overwhelming intensity rippled through my body. Teren adjusted his position inside of me, as he drove into me with abandon. A few wild thrusts later had him slowing, stiffening, and then relaxing against me with a deep groan.

Having sex with a vampire beside a waste bin overflowing with smells that churned my stomach, after letting said vampire drain my leg to near shaking, was definitely right up on the top of my Things I never imagined myself doing list. Teren had opened my world in ways I’d never anticipated.

After our intense moment, we both clutched each other and tried to calm our breaths. He pulled away from me and licked a smidge of blood from my chin. I closed my eyes and smiled. Then I remembered the trickle down my thigh that I’d felt earlier.

I exhaled in a grunt. "Great…I’m bleeding."

Teren fixed his clothes, wiped the blood from his chin and gave me a cocky smile. "Not a problem."

He returned to his knee and cleaned the red trail with his tongue, staying on the circular wounds until the bleeding ebbed. I tried to not enjoy it too much. Really, once by this reeking dumpster was enough, and we did have curious friends waiting. But damn if it didn’t turn me back on a little bit.

Teren seemed to understand the look on my face when he was done. "Later, Emma. We do have people waiting." He handed me my purse, then my silky underwear. Flushing, I slipped them back on. In the faint light that he emitted, I checked my clothes for bloodstains. I appeared to be all clean though. I looked over Teren’s clothes as his fangs retracted; his seemed to be clean as well, thank goodness.

His face was happy and relaxed, and held no trace of the confusion or turmoil he’d shown earlier. I carefully watched him as he took my hand and led me out of that darkened area that we’d just christened. A light smile was on his lips and his eyes had the slightly unfocused look of someone a little tipsy. He walked straight and confidently though; it was just an odd, satisfied look on his face. A look I realized would be painfully obvious to Tracey, when we sat back down with them.

I stopped him as we started walking back through the parking lot. He turned to look at me, all happy and content like. I frowned. "Can you try and look like you’ve just been sick…not like you’ve just had sex?" I straightened out his clothes again and rechecked us both for bloodstains in the brighter lights of the lot.

"I’ll work on it," he chuckled, the look not leaving his face at all. "I’m just so…relaxed."

I scrunched my brows as I examined his features. "You should give me a heads-up, the next time your urges get that bad."

He half-grinned and started pulling me towards the restaurant. "I’ll work on that, too."

Once inside, I slipped away to the bathroom to see to my leg while Teren went to sit back down. I didn’t think it would bleed again; Teren was generally pretty good about making sure my wounds weren’t flowing before he left me alone. I liked to think that was out of concern for me, but honestly, it could have been because he didn’t want to miss a drop of his liquid diet. Feeling that "better safe than sorry" was a more prudent approach to dating a vampire, I’d started packing Band-Aids in my purse.

After making sure I was one hundred percent alone, I lifted up my dress and examined the wounds in the gilded mirror. The bite marks were larger than he’d ever made them before. I thought back to the moment and realized that it had hurt more than usual; he hadn’t been as gentle as he typically was with me. I’d just been too turned on to care. I sort of cared now, as I ran a finger over the red marks.

Digging through my purse, I found a bandage and pulled it out. It was just large enough to cover the area. As I was patting it into place the bathroom door opened. I immediately dropped my dress and crumpled the bandage wrapping in my hand.

Tracey walked through the door, sweeping the room until her eyes met mine. "There you are. Are you okay?"

I stuck on my fakest smile as I discreetly dropped the bandage wrapper into a nearby garbage. If she had come in just a few moments earlier and seen the fresh wounds…"I’m great, Trace…just freshening up."

She nodded, understanding that feminine need. Taking a second to glance over her own appearance in the mirror, she fluffed out her blonde hair and checked her eyes for stray makeup in the corners. "Okay…well, the guys ordered us a Bombe Alaska to share, and they just dropped it off." She glanced over at me. "You missed the fire show." A Bombe Alaska was the same as a Baked Alaska, except a ladle of lit brandy was poured over the meringue top of the dessert at the table. It made for a fun little presentation before the flames died out.

I frowned, genuinely disappointed. "Oh…that’s my favorite part." She finished prepping and I asked her, as casually as I could, "How’s Teren? He thought he was feeling better, once we got outside."

Tracey smiled as she grabbed the door handle. "Oh yeah…he seems great. Near elated, I’d say." She raised an eyebrow at me as she opened the door. "What exactly were you guys doing out there?"

With the look in her eye, the smirk on her lips and the suggestive tone in her voice, I knew that she knew exactly what we’d been "doing" out there. Well, the tail end of it anyway. I looked away with a soft, embarrassed smile, and she laughed at me as we left the room.

I thought over our garbage receptacle escapade on the drive home. I thought about the moment before that, at his eagerness while feeding on me. I rewound a bit before that, to him muttering that he shouldn’t want it so bad, and then I rewound a little more, to him mentally draining me at the table.