Two

Jess slid out of the tiny ship’s bathroom, and then hesitated in the narrow hall, not eager to return above deck. Apparently “feed the sharks” was Punta Cana–speak for party. At least, that was the only thing she could think. They’d been sailing for a good hour now without stopping, and the sun had set. It didn’t seem likely to her that they’d “feed the sharks” in the dark. After all, why bother if they couldn’t see them eating?

Aside from that, the moment the sun had disappeared there had been a distinct change in the crew. Music had been turned on, and was now pounding from speakers all over the ship. Then clothes had started to disappear. Every single male crewmember had stripped off their shirts, vests, and jackets and were now running around in just their pantaloons. The female members of the crew weren’t even wearing that. They’d stripped down to bikinis that were sexy enough to heat up the ship without the glare of the sun to aid it.

Vasco was the only one who hadn’t stripped. He still wore the same outfit he had when Allison had dragged her to him, but his personality had definitely changed, although she couldn’t exactly pinpoint how. He hadn’t seemed tense before, so it wasn’t exactly that he seemed more relaxed. And the man was still charming, but there was an added something to his attitude. Perhaps a touch of anticipation, combined with a sly smile that she’d caught at times, as if he was secretly amused at something he knew and they didn’t.

Jess found it a bit disconcerting, and was reluctant to return to the helm. Especially since Vasco planned to show them the captain’s cabin when she did. At least, that was what he’d said as she’d slipped away to find the bathroom he’d given her directions to. “I’ll have my first mate, Cristoval, take over the wheel when you return and will show you and your cousin my cabin.”

There hadn’t been anything suggestive in his words or tone, but the hungry way he’d looked her over as he’d said it had made her leery.

A startled half cry that was quickly cut off caught her ear and Jess peered along the hall in the direction it had come from. It had sounded like a cry of pain, and it had come from the back of the ship. The opposite direction to the one she needed to take to return to the deck. That in itself was reason enough for Jess to decide she should check it out and make sure everything was okay. After all, someone might have had an accident and need help. Right?

Jess moved along the hall, looking through the doors she passed. Every single one was open. Through each one she saw a small bed built into the wall and other furnishings. Every room she passed was presently unoccupied. The hall ended at a doorway without a door. It opened into a large room that appeared to run from one side of the ship to the other. It was also a good fifteen or twenty feet deep.

Pausing in the entry, Jess peered curiously around, noting the cupboards and the two long wooden tables, each with benches on either side. It was obviously where the crew ate, she thought, and believing it to be empty, started to turn to leave, but stopped when she spotted a couple several feet away along the wall. One of the men from the wedding party and one of the female crew stood about ten feet away from her. Well, he was actually sagging against the wall, held up by the woman kneeling before him. She was pressing him against the wall with a hand at his stomach. Her other hand was wrapped around the base of his penis before it disappeared into her mouth.

Jess wasn’t a Peeping Tom. Normally, she would have averted her eyes and retreated quickly to give them their privacy . . . if that was what you could call going down on someone in a public room. However, this time Jess didn’t retreat. She was held transfixed, her attention caught by the sight of the bright red blood dripping from the woman’s chin and splashing onto the wooden floor.

Horror rising within her, Jess lifted her gaze to the man’s face. She didn’t know him. He was a guest of the groom’s, but she’d been introduced to everyone and thought his name was Tyler. He’d seemed a nice enough guy, friendly and cheerful, but right now he was staring down at the woman with his mouth open on a silent scream of horror and pain.

“Mmm, good.”

Jess jerked her gaze down to the woman at that, and found she’d released Tyler’s poor abused and bleeding member and was peering at her with a wide smile on her bloody face . . . a smile that revealed two long and pointy, bloodstained fangs.

“I bet you’re tasty too,” the woman added, smacking her lips obscenely. “Too bad you’re Vasco’s dinner tonight. Maybe another time, hmm?”

“Jessica!”

Jess turned her head sharply at that call, and peered up the hall to where Allison now stood scowling at her from the bottom of the steps leading up to the main deck.

“Come on,” her cousin said with irritation. “Vasco won’t show me his cabin without you. He sent me to fetch you while he waits for his first mate, Cristo.”

“Run along, little one,” the creature with Tyler said with amusement. “You shouldn’t keep Vasco waiting. He has a temper. Besides, he’s not like me. He’ll make sure you enjoy it. I promise.”

When Jess turned to peer at the woman, the crewmember’s gaze became concentrated and she added, “Now go to Vasco and give him a big kiss. Tell him it’s from Ildaria.”

Jess found herself turning and leaving the room, her only thought that she should go to Vasco.

“What were you doing?” Allison asked with annoyance as Jess approached. “I thought you had to go to the bathroom? It’s up here, not back there.”

“I have to go to Vasco,” Jess said, continuing past her.

“No shit, I just said that,” Allison snapped with irritation, hustling to keep up with her. “Hang on. Wait for me. I found him. He’s mine. Remember that and clear out the first chance you get or I’ll make your life miserable.”

Jess didn’t respond; she was already mounting the steps to the main deck. She was vaguely aware that Allison was nattering at her the whole way across the ship to the steps to the upper deck where the helm was, but nothing her cousin was saying was piercing the bubble Jess was now in. All she was really aware of was that she had to go to Vasco, kiss him, and tell him it was from Ildaria.

“Ah! There you are. I was beginning to worry.” Vasco grinned at them as they stepped onto the quarterdeck. Gesturing for the tall, bare-chested pirate next to him to take the wheel, the captain stepped away from it and watched them approach. His eyebrows rose as he took in Jess’s expression, though, and he murmured, “What do we have here? Have you been exploring where you shouldn’t have?”

Jess didn’t respond. She didn’t stop either until she was directly in front of him, and then she reached up on tiptoe, slid her hand around his neck, and tugged, whispering, “From Ildaria.”

Amusement curved Vasco’s lips, but he lowered his head willingly for Jess to press her mouth to his. She had only intended to give him a quick peck, but the moment their lips touched, a strange, almost electric charge went through Jess and she gasped in surprise. She was vaguely aware of Allison’s outraged howl, and the startled sound Vasco made, but then his mouth pressed more firmly on hers and his tongue thrust between her lips to fill her, and she was lost to a sudden and violent passion that swept through her like a tidal wave.

It was like nothing Jess had ever experienced. She was no innocent, but this was the first time she’d lost herself so completely in a simple kiss that she forgot where she was and just who she was kissing.

“What the hell! Jesus, Jess! I just told you he was mine! Get off of him! Get off! Get off! Get off!”

Those orders rang out in concert with the blows Allison was showering on Jessica’s back and shoulders. Gasping in startled pain at a well-placed blow to her kidney, Jess tore her mouth from Vasco’s and blinked with confusion as she realized that she was presently clinging to the pirate captain like a koala up a tree. His hat was gone, dislodged by her fingers, which were presently buried in his hair, still tugging in demand, and her legs were wrapped around his hips so tightly that their groins were pressed firmly together.

Shocked, Jess was about to scramble down off the man when Allison grabbed her arm and yanked hard, cussing her out the entire time for her betrayal. Jess would have fallen backward and probably would have landed headfirst if Vasco hadn’t tightened his arms and saved her. Turning away from the still-shrieking Allison, he set her down gently, and then swung back to give her cousin a narrow-eyed glare. That was all. He just glared at her in a concentrated way and she settled down at once.

Apparently satisfied by her submissive behavior, he turned back to Jess and his expression changed at once. A smile eased onto his face, and he ran one finger lightly down her cheek, murmuring, “Ildaria obviously knows what I like. You are a delicious little bundle. You’ve actually managed to reawaken my passions. I think I might even fuck you while I feed.”

Jess barely heard the words; she was too distracted by the feel of his fingers caressing her cheek and the way her body shivered in response. But when his hand fell away, she glanced nervously toward Allison to see how she was reacting to the captain’s attention to her. Jess expected her cousin to be glaring daggers at her at the very least, but Allison was still and blank-faced.

“Really?” the first mate, Cristoval, said, drawing her attention back to the two men. “You haven’t done that in centuries, Vasco.”

“No, I haven’t,” Vasco agreed thoughtfully, a frown tugging at his lips as he peered at Jess.

“Have you tried to read her?” Cristoval asked.

Jess blinked in confusion at the question, but Vasco apparently understood. Straightening, he nodded slowly. “I cannot read her, but am a little fired up just now and still controlling her cousin. I will try again once I get her to my cabin. My passions should have cooled a bit by then.”

Jess frowned. Her passion was cooling quickly now that she was no longer touching the man and his words were finally making their way through the clearing mist. It was raising questions in her. What did he mean he was still controlling her cousin? And had he really said he planned to fuck her while he fed? Was that why he wanted to “show them his cabin”? He planned to feed on her there? Feed like the woman Ildaria was doing to Tyler? To her mind, that made the cabin the very last place Jess wanted to go. She glanced to Allison, hoping to signal her that the cabin was a no-go and enlist her aid in avoiding it, but her cousin was still standing silent and blank-faced.

“Come.”

Jess glanced around with alarm when he took her arm and started to lead her away from the helm, saying, “You’ve got the wheel, Cristo. Let me know when we reach international waters.”

“Aye-aye, Capitan,” the first mate responded, but then asked, “Have you any orders regarding Ildaria?”

Vasco stopped abruptly, his hold bringing Jess to a halt as well. She tried to tug her arm free then, but his fingers were like a vise around her upper arm. Not painfully tight, just firm.

“Ildaria?” Vasco asked now, not even seeming to notice that she was trying to get free of his hold.

Cristo nodded. “I can read the señorita, and she caught Ildaria with one of the guests . . . starting the festivities early again.”

As Vasco frowned and glanced around at the night surrounding them, Cristo said, “The wind is good now that we’re around the point, but there was little when we first set out. We can’t be more than six or seven miles out yet,” he finished meaningfully.

It was a meaning that completely escaped Jess. She had no idea what the distance they’d traveled had to do with anything. The woman, Ildaria, had been chewing on Tyler’s penis like it was a pickle. And she’d had fangs! That memory had her peering anxiously toward Allison again, but while her cousin had followed them when they’d started to leave, and stopped when they’d stopped, she was now simply standing there, still looking blank-faced. She wasn’t going to be any help at all in getting out of this situation.

A violent curse drew Jess’s wary gaze to Vasco, and she watched nervously as he ran his free hand agitatedly through his hair. Letting his hand drop, he shook his head. “I will put the women in my cabin and then deal with Ildaria. Just let me know when we are in international waters.”

Jess almost sighed her relief at the words. If Vasco left them alone in his cabin it would give her a chance to try to bring Allison around. It would also give her a bit of time to think of a way out of this mess, she thought, and then noted the concentrated way Cristo was peering at her. Afraid he was reading her thoughts, she shut them down at once.

The moment she did, a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, and then he glanced back to Vasco and offered, “I could get Gascon to take the helm, and deal with Ildaria for you myself. That way you need not leave the women alone.”

Jess started to tense up with alarm, but Vasco shook his head and said, “I am the captain. It is my responsibility. You warned Ildaria the first time. I will warn her this last time. I want to be sure she understands the consequences if she disobeys orders again.”

“Sí, Capitan,” Cristo said solemnly, and then asked, “Did you want to leave the troublesome one with me?”

Much to her relief, Vasco again shook his head. “If—” he began, and then paused, his mouth hanging open briefly as he stared down at Jess.

“Jessica,” Cristo said gently. “Her name is Jessica.”

“Jessica,” Vasco said the name softly, and smiled at her.

“Her full name is Jessica Anne Stewart,” Cristo added, apparently plucking the information out of thin air. Unless Allison had told him her name at some point, Jess thought with a frown as Cristo added, “And I am quite sure she is your mate, Vasco. I am hearing your thoughts.”

Vasco glanced at him sharply. “You are?”

“Sí. You are thinking what with Jessica being your life mate, you will need all of your strength for the marathon of sex the two of you will no doubt enjoy, so you will need the blonde to feed on.” Smiling, he added, “Good thinking.”

Vasco grinned back. “I like to plan ahead.”

“Sí. It is why you make a good capitan,” Cristo said on a laugh, and then waved them away. “Go tend to Ildaria, and then enjoy your life mate. I will see to the rest of this voyage, and the next several as necessary until you can crawl out from between her legs.”

“Sí.” Turning sharply, Vasco urged Jess to the steps.

She went willingly, but only because she was about to be escorted to his cabin and then he was going to leave, at least for a while, and she needed some alone time to figure out what the hell was going on. A lot of what the two men had said had gone right over her head. What did they mean she was his life mate? And what did the distance they were from shore have to do with anything? It was bad of Ildaria to attack Tyler six or seven miles from shore, but what? It would be okay farther out? Really? And what was that bit about Vasco’s reading her? She wasn’t a billboard.

Jess didn’t know. Hell, even the stuff she thought she did understand didn’t make much sense to her. For instance, she got the parts about needing strength for marathon sex, and the suggestion that Vasco might not “crawl out from between her legs” for a while . . . but just how long was this marathon sex? Apparently, really long, she thought as she recalled Cristo was offering to handle the “next several trips.” That was alarming. Mostly because the idea of marathon sex with the big, handsome captain was exciting the hell out of her despite the fact that he was crude and a vampire and apparently planned to feed on her cousin as Ildaria had been feeding on Tyler. Well, not exactly the same way, of course. Allison didn’t have a penis . . . that she knew of. Her cousin could be a dickhead at times, though, so who could say?

Grimacing, Jess glanced back to see that, yes, her cousin was still following them, and her expression was still as blank as Jess’s mind had been after Ildaria had ordered her to go to Vasco and kiss him. Since she doubted Allison would want to be anyone’s dinner, Jess supposed her cousin was under some kind of compulsion like the one that had sent her marching out to kiss Vasco. She figured that was some kind of vampire trick, taking control of her mind, or somehow sublimating her will, so that she did what she was told. She didn’t appear to be under control anymore. At least she was able to think now, and could drag her feet and tug at his hold on her arm as she wished, she noted as she tried both options.

Allison, however, was another matter, Jess thought. She was quite sure Vasco was controlling her cousin right that minute. Because there was no way the Allison she knew could manage to remain silent this long. And certainly, obeying anyone was not her strong suit. Vasco was definitely controlling Allison.

Mouth tightening, Jess turned her gaze forward again, and glanced around at the groups of people spaced around the deck. For one mad moment, she considered shrieking at them to flee for their lives, they were among vampires. She might even have done it despite the fact that they’d probably not believe her and think her nuts, but then she noticed that the majority of the tourists on board all had the same blank expressions on their faces that Allison wore. Apparently, she was the only one left with her awareness.

Lucky me, Jess thought unhappily, almost wishing she was still being controlled and could just go along with Vasco’s plans. As much as she would like to claim the man was completely abhorrent and she wanted nothing more than to get off this ship and away from him, Vasco was gorgeous! He was also one hell of a kisser. Parts of her were still humming from their first encounter . . . and would be happy to experience more.

Not good, Jess thought grimly. She needed to rein in her body’s urges, or she feared she could very easily be seduced into having crazy good monkey sex with the bloodsucking vampire pirate captain . . . and probably end up a vampire herself!

That possibility went a long way toward silencing her body’s humming. Jess was not interested in becoming the bride of Dracula. She liked her soul. She wanted to keep it. Which meant she needed to figure out a way to get herself out of this mess, and rescue the others while she was at it.

“Here we are. My cabin.”

Jess blinked her thoughts away and peered around as they entered the room he’d led her to. She got an impression of a large room done in soothing earth tones and then her gaze landed on the huge bed against the opposite wall. When her mind immediately began to fill with images of their bodies entwined on that bed, Jess closed her eyes against it, trying to regain control of her poor hormone-hijacked brain.

“You, my lovely, can wait right here.”

Forcing her eyes open, she saw with relief that he was steering her toward a desk in a corner of the room.

Halfway there, though, he stopped, and glanced around, muttering, “Or perhaps the bed.”

“I think we should go above deck again,” Jess said anxiously, afraid to go anywhere near the bed with this man. She might drag him onto it herself and that so would not be heroic. Or even decent, really. Nice girls didn’t bang vampires, she was sure.

“Above deck?” Vasco asked with surprise.

“Well, you’ve shown us your cabin now,” she pointed out. “And really, we should be reaching the spot where we feed the sharks soon, don’t you think?”

“Oh,” Vasco said nonplussed, and then a smile pulled at his lips and he cupped her face with both his hands. “You do not understand yet. How sweet.”

Jess grimaced, unimpressed at being thought an idiot. “You’re not even going to pretend anymore that there are sharks, huh?”

Eyebrows rising slightly, he grinned. “So you do know?”

“That there are no sharks and that this ‘feed the sharks’ thing is just a way to bait tourists and lure them onto your ship?” she suggested dryly.

“That is one way to put it,” he agreed.

“There’s another way?” Jess asked dubiously.

Vasco shrugged. “Some people would say we are the sharks,” he pointed out, and then opened his mouth so that she could watch as two of his seemingly normal canine teeth shifted and dropped down to form fangs.

Eyes widening with horror, Jess backed away until she came up against the desk. Pausing then, she lifted her chin determinedly. “I won’t willingly have sex with you. You’ll have to rape me.”

“Rape?” Vasco had started to crowd forward, but her words brought him up short and he stared down at her with dismay.

“Yes, rape. And I’ll fight,” Jess lied firmly, quite sure she wouldn’t fight at all. He was so close she could feel the heat of his body, and she was struggling not to lean into it. Jess very much feared that all it would take was one kiss for her to be climbing him like a monkey going up a tree after bananas.

“Oh, lass,” he said finally, shaking his head. “I’d never rape ye. I’ve not forced a woman to my bed in all my five hundred years and I’d surely not start with you.” He had relaxed his stance, and eased forward just enough that their bodies were brushing against each other. Now he ran his knuckles lightly down her cheek, and asked, “Do ye know why?”

Jess just shook her head. She had no idea why. She also had no idea what she could do or say to get her and Allison out of this mess. She found it incredibly difficult to think with him caressing her cheek as he was, and the way his body was pressing into hers wasn’t helping any either. She knew that her body’s response to him under these circumstances was utterly ridiculous, but it was responding. Apparently, her body didn’t give a fig that he was a vampire about to bite her and suck her dry . . . so long as he was touching her while he did it.

“Because you are me life mate,” he said solemnly, as if that explained everything, and then he smiled crookedly and added, “That’s why I find ye irresistible, and why ye find me so damnably attractive too. We are both helpless in the face of life mate passion.”

Life mates. Jess turned the words over in her mind. She had no idea what it even meant. Sure, she knew what she and the rest of the world thought of when you said life mate—a partner in life, a mate, and so on. But he said it with such reverence she suspected it meant something entirely different, or at least more, to him.

“Your skin is so soft and you smell so good,” Vasco murmured now, and she refocused on him to see that his gaze was now fixed on her lips. Even as she noted that, he glanced briefly to the door, but then his eyes returned to her mouth as if drawn by some sort of magnet, and he muttered, “Ildaria can wait,” before lowering his head and kissing her.

Jess tried to resist. Truly she did. He was a vampire, for God’s sake, and a pirate captain vampire at that, a vampirate, with a ship full of vampires under him who planned to bite and probably kill every nonvampire on this ship and throw their bodies to the sharks afterward. That knowledge terrified and repulsed her, but damn, he was an amazing kisser. That was the last even half-sensible thought Jess had before she groaned and gave in to the passion he brought to roaring life within her.

The next few moments were a blur of sexual frenzy as Jess tried to get as close to and touch as much of him as she could. Apparently, he felt the same way, because Jess felt him tug her T-shirt up, and half expected him to break their kiss to pull it up over her head and remove it. Instead, she heard the tearing sound as he ripped it apart from hem to neckline. Much to their mutual frustration, it still left her swimsuit top in the way . . . briefly. Jess added that last thought as Vasco grasped the top between the cups and simply jerked, tearing it off.

Warm evening air washed over her skin. Jess sighed at the ethereal caress, and then groaned as his hands kneaded her eager flesh briefly, before he broke their kiss to peer down at her with wonder.

“I felt it,” he told her with amazement.

“What?” she asked with confusion, and then gasped and clutched at his shoulders as he caught her nipple between thumb and finger and tweaked and then rolled it.

“That,” he groaned, bending to press a kiss to her forehead. “I am feeling your pleasure. The shared pleasure life mates enjoy.”

“Oh,” Jess murmured, a little nonplussed. She had been quite enjoying herself until he’d started to talk, but now she was remembering the business about vampires. As well as Tyler’s chewed-up tchotchke, and the—Her thoughts ended on a startled gasp as he scooped her up in his arms.

Clutching at his shoulders, Jess glanced around, alarmed to see that he was carrying her to the bed. Oh, that couldn’t be good, she decided as she recalled the conversation on deck about marathon sex with her while he fed on Allison. How the hell did he think that would work? Was he planning to do both at the same time?

An image came to mind of his laying her on the end of the bed, and then standing there thrusting into her as he sucked on—also standing—Allison’s neck. Jess gave her head a shake. That so wasn’t going to happen. In fact, none of it was happening. Though it pained her to even consider it, she wasn’t having sex with him. And he wasn’t biting Allison. Or her.

“Vasco,” she began tentatively, searching her mind for a way out of this. “Perhaps we should . . .” Unfortunately, her mind didn’t suddenly fill the blank for her mouth.

“Celebrate our finding each other,” he suggested.

“Yes!” Jess grasped eagerly at the suggestion, thinking champagne, a party, a chance to escape.

“We will, my sweet,” Vasco assured her, crawling onto the bed and settling to sit cross-legged with her in his lap. “I am going to fuck you until you bleed,” he proclaimed as if it was a good thing. “And then I will lick away every drop of blood and fuck you again.”

“Oh . . . my,” she said weakly. Wasn’t that a pretty picture?

“I want you naked.”

Jess blinked at that announcement and then grabbed frantically for her shorts as he began to drag them off. Too slow. They were flying through the air before she could get her hand anywhere near her waistline to stop him. Damn, he was fast, she thought with dismay, and then gasped in surprise as he slid a hand between her legs and pressed against her, through her black bikini bottoms.

“My God, I am the luckiest of men. You are beautiful,” he said, his voice deepening and the arm at her back lifting, raising her breasts nearer to his mouth.

“Oh,” Jess breathed, her eyes widening at the sweet words, and her legs shifting restlessly as his hand began to move, caressing her through the cloth. Dammit! She couldn’t catch a break here. How was a girl supposed to resist when—?

“You have nice big jugs. I just want to gnaw on them.”

Okay, that was a break. Calling her babies “jugs” totally wrecked the mood and vanquished to hell this pesky excitement and need he kept bringing about in her, Jess decided. The threat of his gnawing on them didn’t help much either, she thought, and opened her eyes, intending to push him away. Instead, she was just in time to see his head lower and his mouth close over one eager breast. At least it was all perky, the nipple hard and looking pretty eager to her as half of her breast disappeared into his mouth.

Jess’s eyes widened and then closed on a moan of despair as he began to suck at the sensitive flesh. But when his tongue rasped across the tender nipple, she groaned and opened her eyes so that she could see to thread her fingers through his long . . . really greasy hair, she noticed, and the desire to clasp his head to her chest fell away along with some of her passion.

Before Jess could grab ahold of the brief clearing of her thoughts and use it, Vasco nipped at her nipple, sending a new wave of excitement through her.

“Oh, God! This is so not fair!” Jess cried, clutching at his shoulders and squirming violently in his lap as his hand rubbed between her legs, sending wave after wave of increasing pleasure roaring through her trembling body and silencing her head again. Jess was so caught up in the need screaming through her body, and the promise of his easing it, that she hardly noticed when he shifted to sit on his haunches.

She did notice when he lifted her and then set her down to straddle his thighs on the bed, though, because he had to remove his hand from between her legs to do it. But his mouth continued its work at her breast, and his hand soon returned between her legs. He was just tugging the scrap of her bathing suit bottoms aside to touch her without it in the way when shouting suddenly erupted in the room and something slammed into them from the side.

Allison, Jess realized as she was knocked off Vasco’s lap and sent tumbling to the floor. Apparently, Vasco couldn’t control Allison and ravish her at the same time. Her cousin had come out of her blank state to turn into a woman raging with, of all things, jealousy. It seemed obvious; Allison still hadn’t cottoned on to what was going on here and that they were on a ship full of vampires. She didn’t even appear to realize that she’d been being controlled earlier. She was just ranting on about how Vasco was hers, and Jess was a slut for trying to steal him from her.

Vasco didn’t seem to take well to Allison’s calling her a slut. At least, that was the point that he got over his surprise and growled at the woman. Seriously, he growled like an animal, and then narrowed his gaze in the general area of Allison’s forehead and she suddenly went silent and still, all expression slipping off her face and leaving it blank.

The moment she did, Vasco leapt off the bed and hurried to Jess’s side.

“Are you all right?” he asked, helping her to her feet.

“Yes,” Jess said, forcing a smile as she tugged together the sides of her torn T-shirt to try to cover her breasts as she became aware of her lack of clothing.

“Do not hide them from me,” he admonished, brushing her hands away from the cloth. “I like your jugs.”

Jess winced at the words. Honestly, the man would be perfect if he could just keep his mouth shut. Well, and if he weren’t a bloodsucking vampire who wanted to fuck her until she bled and then lick it up. And the pirate thing maybe wasn’t a plus. Was that like his job? Really? Jess wondered, and then realized she actually didn’t know much about him at all, other than that he was her sexual kryptonite, and he talked like a combination of a pirate and a . . . well, honestly, she didn’t know what. She heard a lot of different influences in his voice and words. There was a hint of a Spanish accent, but some English too, and something else Jess didn’t recognize. There were also some salty words and phrases to his speech, but some antique terms as well.

Sighing, Vasco slid his arms around her waist and leaned his chin on her head, saying, “I suppose we cannot do anything with the lass here.”

Yes! Jess cried silently. She could stop trying to fight him off. Okay, she hadn’t really tried hard. But in her defense, he had some serious skills, and some powerful mojo working for him.

“Damn,” Vasco breathed. “One more minute and I’d have had my whore pipe in your tuzzy-muzzy too.”

“My what?” she asked, pulling back to stare at him with disbelief. “What does that even mean?”

“I was just about to slide you onto my cock and have you riding St. George,” he explained.

Vasco then turned to scowl at Allison, totally missing the way Jess grimaced and rolled her eyes at his description. Honestly, if he could just not talk she would be forever grateful.

“Unfortunately,” Vasco continued, “I cannot maintain control of yer friend there while giving you a good seeing-to. Ye excite me too much.”

Jess’s eyebrows rose at that. Other than returning his kisses, she hadn’t done a damned thing that could have been described as exciting him. She certainly hadn’t caressed or even touched him other than to hold on for dear life as he ravished her. That realization actually made her feel a little better. At least she hadn’t been an active participant in her ruination, and ruin it would be if she became the girlfriend of a vampire pirate who sailed around the high seas feeding on her fellow mortals.

Unfortunately, that looked like where this was headed, Jess acknowledged. She wasn’t seeing a way out here. She apparently had the self-control of a gnat. All the man had to do was touch her and she melted like butter in the skillet. This was bad.

“Well,” Vasco said on a sigh. “I suppose I had best remove yer cousin and take her above for Cristo to look after.”

Jess frowned, unsure whether that was a good thing or not. It would keep Allison from being fed on by Vasco, but what about Cristo? Would he—?

“And then I will deal with Ildaria before I return to you,” Vasco said, eyeing her solemnly as he reminded her, “It was my original plan before you distracted me with your tuzzy-muzzy and jugs, and it was a good one. It is better if I handle her first. Then I can grope for trout in your river again without worrying about anything I left undone.”

“Grope for . . . ?” Jess echoed with bewilderment.

Vasco grinned at her confusion. “I will show you when I return,” he promised with a wink, and then slapped her behind and released her to walk to the door. He opened it, and then paused to peer back at her and suddenly smiled. “You are pretty as a picture.”

Jess was just softening at the compliment when he added, “But I want you naked in bed when I get back. I plan to fuck you for four days straight at least and in every hole. Clothes will just get in the way.”

Jess groaned and dropped her face into her hands with despair. The man had no couth at all. How could someone she found so damned repugnant intellectually make her body burn and weep for his attention?

How could she find a vampire sexy? He drank blood! Feeding off mortals like they were little better than cows. He was a monster, and she found his kisses and caresses irresistible? What was wrong with her? she wondered, and shame immediately claimed Jess. Fortunately, she was saved from suffering it for too long when the sound of the door closing reached her ears.

Lifting her head abruptly, Jess saw that Vasco had left, and sagged with relief before turning toward the bed. “Allison, we have to . . .”

Her words trailed off into silence. Allison was gone.