The Sacrifice (15 page)

The thought sends a shiver down my spine—it would be like working
with a wolf or a mountain lion and having no idea until it was too late. Still,
Aiden James seems much too civilized to prey on his coworkers, whoever they
might be. Maybe he’s the CEO and doesn’t have to deal with them very much—that
would fit his cool, remote personality to a T.

“What are you thinking about?” he asks, looking at me closely.

“You, Master,” I blurt before I think. I clear my throat, my
cheeks getting hot. “I, uh, was just wondering where your office is. Where you
work from.”

“I own a company with offices in downtown Tampa, if you really
want to know,” he says. “Most of my employees are in a separate building from
the one that houses my office.” He gives me a rare smile, baring those sharp
white fangs it’s so easy to forget about until they’re staring you right in the
face.

I bite my lip and look down. He must know I was thinking about him
snacking on his workers. Was it a lucky guess or can he see into my thoughts
somehow?

“Your face is very easy to read,” he remarks.

“That’s what Lexy says too,” I say. “Uh, my cousin.”

“The one you were talking to today on the phone?” He raises an
eyebrow at me and I blush.

“Well, yes. Are you monitoring my phone calls?” I demand.

“I could if I wished, but no. I do, however, take note of when my
telephone or computer has been used.”

“You can’t cut me off from the outside world forever,” I protest.
“I have a life, you know. Maybe not a very exciting one but—”

“What do you most want?” he says. “Ask, Emma. I can’t promise to
give it to you but I won’t be angry with you for asking.”

“To talk to my cousin,” I say at once. “Maybe go out with her for
lunch sometime. Or have her over here?” I make this a question because I’m not
sure about asking to have people over to his house.

Aiden frowns. “Yes to the first request—you may talk to her as
much as you like on the phone. As to having her here, I am a very private man.”

“I understand,” I say quickly but he raises a hand to stop me.

“
But
, I understand the female need for companionship.” He
sighs. “You may have her over as long as you’re willing to see her while you’re
dressed in the way I see fit.”

“You mean I can’t take off the harness when she comes over,” I say
flatly and Aiden nods.

“Exactly. I need you to wear it for a certain number of hours
during the day. It serves to open you and also to remind you of me.” He looks
at me intently. “I never want to be far from your thoughts, Emma. You are never
far from mine.”

I look down, unable to stand the intensity of his gaze. “Don’t
worry,” I mumble. “I…I think of you a lot too. I can’t help it.”

He smiles and strokes my bare thigh until I shiver. “I’m glad to
hear that.”

“What about my class?” I ask in a rush, my heart pounding. “Can I
contact my professor? When can I go back? My final exam is coming up soon and—”

“No classes, not yet.” He frowns. “It’s not safe.”

“Not safe?” I frown back at him. “I’ve been going all semester
with no problem. I mean, I know it’s a night class but—”

“You didn’t belong to me before,” he interrupts me, frowning
sternly. “I’m sorry to tell you this, Emma, but as the new Sovereign I have
many enemies who would be happy to do to you what they couldn’t do to me.” He
sighs. “Besides, you’re not nearly through with your training yet. And…”

“And what?” I prompt him impatiently.

He looks at me thoughtfully. “And I’m not ready to share you yet,”
he murmurs at last. “The bond between us is still too fresh—too new. I need you
here, where I can nurture it. And protect you.”

“Protect me and keep me all to yourself, you mean,” I say
snappishly.

“Exactly.” He’s perfectly calm about it, as though it’s not a big
deal for him to keep me confined in his home. “Now then.” He claps his hands.
“Let’s have no more unpleasantness. You can contact your professors and ask to
do the assignments from here. If they give you problems about it, let me know.
I can be very…
persuasive
when I have to.” For a moment his gray eyes
flash silver and I shiver.

“All right,” I whisper, though inside I’m still upset. Am I going
to be kept a prisoner here in his house this entire year? It’s very confusing
to be so attracted to a man who is also a vampire and my captor. I must have
the worst case of Stockholm Syndrome ever because I can’t help wanting to
please him, can’t help craving his touch…

Before I can dwell on the problem too much, Aiden rings a tiny
silver bell and calls for Barnes to bring out dessert.

It turns out to be banana coins—slices of banana wrapped in some
sweet pastry and fried until they’re crispy on the outside and meltingly soft
and sweet on the inside—with a scoop of coconut ice cream on top. The entire
concoction comes in a little porcelain bowl with a matching pitcher filled with
golden honey sauce on the side. Aiden drizzles a little bit of it over the
dessert before spooning up one of the coins and a generous amount of ice cream.
He holds it out to me.

“Be careful, darling. The inside is going to be extremely hot but
the ice cream should keep it from burning your tongue.”

I wonder if he’s always this solicitous and careful of all his
submissives, then I remember him saying this isn’t a game he plays often. He
certainly seems to be enjoying it now, though. He feeds me two more coins with
the creamy smooth ice cream and gives me a sip of cool water to cleanse my
palate. Then he puts down the spoon, sits back and looks at me.

“It’s time for the second part of dessert now, Emma,” he says softly,
his eyes half-lidded and his voice deep and soft. “Can you guess what that
might be?”

“No,” I whisper, my heart suddenly thumping. “No, I…I have no
idea. What is it?”

Instead of answering, he asks me another question. “Tell me, my
darling, have you ever sucked cock?”

Those dirty words in that deep voice of his sends a spark of heat
straight to my bare pussy. “No,” I whisper, pressing my thighs together,
feeling suddenly even more naked. “No, I…I never.”

“Well, you’re going to learn. Come here and kneel before me on the
ground.” He scoots his chair away from the table and opens his long legs. Then
he unzips his expensive gray slacks and pulls out his cock.

I try not to gasp but I can’t help it. He has the longest,
thickest shaft I’ve ever seen in my life—and that’s saying something because
Lexy has a thing for gay porn and she’s always making me watch it with her.

Aiden seems unaffected by my shock. “It is both a blessing and a
curse,” he remarks as he strokes himself slowly with one well-shaped hand. “It
is the reason I was turned in the first place—but it also ensures that I can
never take a female without extensive preparation.” He gives me a slow smile.
“Which is one reason I am so content to take my time with you, my lovely little
witch.”

I stare at him until I remember I’m supposed to do more than just
look. Awkwardly, my hands still cuffed in front of me, I slip off the chair and
knee-walk over to settle between his thighs.

“Very good.” Aiden strokes my hair away from my eyes and gives me
a look of approval. “Now the main thing is to never use your teeth but I don’t
really expect you to be able to fit much of me in that lush little mouth at
first.”

I’m relieved to hear that. His shaft looks thick enough to choke
me. “But then…what do you want me to do?” I ask hesitantly.

“To begin with, just lick.” He raises an eyebrow at me. “You did
like the honey sauce, didn’t you?”

“Yes.” It was delicious—sweet and a little tart as though a tiny
bit of lemon juice had been mixed into it.

“Good,” Aiden rumbles. Lifting the porcelain pitcher, he drizzles
a thin line of honey sauce over the broad, throbbing shaft of his cock. “Come
here, darling,” he murmurs, beckoning to me. “Lick me clean.”

I lean forward, more eager for this than I want to admit. Though
it’s never been my number one fantasy, I’ve always wondered what it would be
like to give a blow job. To take a man in my mouth and taste him, master him in
a way, with the power of pleasure. And the fact that it’s Aiden sitting there,
watching as I hesitantly put out my tongue to take the first taste, only makes
me hotter.

I lap gently at the thick club of flesh rising from between his
thighs. It’s long and straight and ends in a broad head with a small slit at
the end. Though the rest of his shaft glistens with the golden honey sauce,
there is a small drop of clear liquid beading at that tiny slit that I know is
all Aiden.

He groans softly, deep in his throat, and strokes my hair gently
as I clean him, feeling like a naughty cat cleaning away cream with my tongue. My
hands are still bound in front of me, my head bowed over him in a submissive
posture as I nuzzle close to get every last drop. Every drop but the clear one,
that is. I’m saving that for last.

The skin of his shaft is like warm silk under my tongue and I can
feel him throbbing as I lick him. I like his scent, it’s dark and spicy and
utterly masculine. It makes me want to rub my cheek against him, to somehow
mark him with my own scent like an animal might, marking its territory. I
wonder briefly if this is how he feels about me. Is this need to mark, to
claim, the reason he’s so possessive?

“Very good, darling,” he murmurs, pulling me back to rest my chin
on his thigh when I have licked away the last drop of honey. He caresses my
cheek tenderly and looks into my eyes. “Did you enjoy your dessert?”

“Yes, very much,” I say boldly. "In fact…” I arch my eyebrow
at him. “I want seconds.”

“There’s more where that came from,” he says softly, his eyes
never leaving mine.

“I want to suck you this time,” I say. I’m not sure where I get
the courage to say the words—they just seem to come out. “I want to take you in
my mouth—all the way.”

His eyes are half lidded with pleasure but he shakes his head, a
little regretfully, I think. “I don’t want to choke you, my little virgin.”

I bristle at his words. “Just because I’m inexperienced doesn’t
mean I can’t learn,” I point out. “Please, Aiden…Master. I…I’ve always wondered
what this would be like and so far…well, so far I
like
it.”

“I see.” His eyes gleam. “Very well, you may try but you must
promise to be careful and stop if I tell you to. I don’t want to come tonight.”

“You don’t?” I look at him uncertainly. “But…why not?”

“There are several reasons, the first and foremost being that I
tend to produce quite a lot of cum.” He strokes my cheek. “I don’t want to
shock or frighten you by expecting you to swallow such an amount.”

“Oh,” I say softly, biting my lip.

“
Oh
indeed,” he mocks me gently.

“I can take it,” I look up at him. “I…I want to make you come. The
way you made me come last night.”

“That’s a lovely offer but not tonight, my darling,” Aiden says
firmly. “And as for seeing my cum, you’ll be feeling it soon enough, filling
your sweet little cunt the first time I fuck you.”

I feel my hands clench in concern as something new occurs to me.
“Aiden,” I say hesitantly. “I mean, Master, I…I’m not on any kind of birth
control right now. So if you come in me…” I can’t finish my thought out loud.
It’s very rare for a vampire to make a human woman pregnant but it
has
been
known to happen from time to time. Especially a woman with witch blood in her
background.

He frowns. “We can discuss that another time. It won’t be an issue
tonight.”

I’m surprised at the rush of disappointment I feel at this
announcement. True, his cock is really large and I’m sure it wouldn’t be easy
for him to get it inside me. But some naughty, perverse little part of me
wishes he would try. The stern look on his face, however, tells me this is
nonnegotiable. Well, at least I get seconds on dessert.

I lean forward to take him in my mouth but he stops me. “Wait.” He
rings the bell again and calls for Barnes. “Clear the table,” he tells the
servant and though he talks to Barnes, he looks only at me, cupping my cheek in
his hand and looking into my eyes. “But be quiet about it. My darling Emma is
trying to concentrate on a task and I don’t want her distracted.”

“Yes, sir. Very good, sir,” murmurs the servant. He begins to move
in a deliberate fashion, clearing away the dishes and taking them back into the
kitchen.

“All right now,” Aiden says to me. “Suck me, darling. Suck my
cock.”

I feel like every nerve in my body is on fire with embarrassment.
“I can’t now,” I hiss, my eyes flicking up to where Barnes is carefully
removing a half full soup tureen. Even though I know he can’t see me, I’m
certain he heard Aiden’s commands to suck him. I’m mortified—utterly mortified.

“Emma.” Aiden’s voice is suddenly stern. “Pay no attention to
Barnes, you know he can’t see us. You need to get used to giving and receiving
pleasure in front of an audience.”