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  Vasile was pleased to agree but he was a little confused by her request. Why would she need a buffer with her parents? They’d seemed mild enough in the past. He searched her mind and found that Nina’s biological mother had believed that her child would have a better future if she were raised as an American instead of a Romani—a Gypsy woman.

  Her natural father had died and her mother couldn’t face the prejudices of a single Gypsy mother alone in a strange country. She could have gone back to her parents in Moldavia or even left her child with family in America. Instead, her mother had written a note for Nina and had taken her own life.

  When they arrived at the restaurant, Nina’s parents were waiting for them. Introductions were made and Mr. Caruthers, “Please, call me Chaz!” he’d declared, told them that they were waiting for a table.

  Nina’s mother, a willowy blonde, introduced herself as Vanessa. He was sure the woman’s plastic surgeon was on her telephone’s speed-dial and was considered a family member. Neither of the elder Caruthers seemed all that warm and loving.

  Upon seeing Vasile, the maitre d’ instantly rushed to seat their little group at a good table overlooking the water. He ordered two bottles of Tasmanian Pinot Noir, which the maitre d’ himself opened at the table. He poured Vasile’s glass and opened the second bottle. At Vasile’s nod, he poured three glasses from that bottle and placed them in front of Nina, Chaz, and Vanessa.

  From what he could tell, her adopted parents were uneasy with her background. They didn’t trust Gypsies to begin with and had been surprised to learn of her heritage when she’d been given her mother’s letter. The rape when she was sixteen seemed to make them even more uncomfortable with her. Since she’d been injured and nearly died two years ago, her adopted parents had distanced themselves from her more than ever. He knew Nina was hurt by their feelings but it had gone on for some time.

  As the small group sipped their wine, Chaz asked Vasile what he did for a living. Vasile had noticed that very little of the conversation was directed at Nina. They placed their dinner order and Nina answered Chaz’s question.

  “Vasile is the head of Velicescu Finance, Father,” she explained. “I’m his administrative assistant.”

  Chaz and Vanessa gave each other a significant look. “Has Nina mentioned that she’s adopted?” Vanessa asked throwing Nina an apologetic look. “Normally, that sort of thing should be private, of course.”

  “I heartily agree, darling,” Chaz said to his wife. He turned and patted Nina’s hand. “We’re sorry, Nina—but banking? Vasile, Nina comes from…” he paused.

  “She comes from Gypsy stock,” said Vanessa in a low voice.

  Vasile was proud of the stranglehold he had on his temper as he searched for a way to answer them that didn’t involve bloodshed. No wonder Nina had asked him to act as a buffer. Scanning her mind now, he found she wished that she’d come alone or not come at all. She was completely humiliated.

  He reached over and took her hand in his, moving his thumb back and forth across the inside of her wrist in a calming fashion. He waited patiently for the waiter to place each person’s food on the table. When the young man left, he responded to her parents.

  “My only interest in Nina’s cultural heritage is how it has affected the remarkable woman beside me now. She has always proven herself to be trustworthy as has every person I’ve ever met of Romany descent.”

  Vanessa and Chaz exchanged another significant look. “Where did you say your parents were from, Vasile?” Vanessa asked him.

  “Moldavia,” he answered tightly. “I am Romanian—Moldavian, specifically.”

  “You and Nina are seeing one another socially, aren’t you?” asked Chaz.

  Vasile reminded himself that no amount of mental suggestion would make decent people out of the two shallow specimens seated across from him. When he felt Nina’s thumb caressing his wrist in an effort to help him remain calm, he grinned.

  He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckle. Turning his hand he brought her soothing thumb to his lips and kissed it as well.

  “Yes, in fact we are seeing one another socially.” He lifted Nina’s wrist and placed an open-mouthed kiss upon it.

  Nina began to smile as well. Soon, she was chuckling with him.

  “It is most kind of you, Chaz and Vanessa, to worry for my financial holdings. Let us enjoy our meal and speak no more of money and ethnic heritage.” Vasile smiled at Nina.

  “I know what, Vasile, Mother, Father!” Nina gave them all a wide-eyed look as if she’d just had a surprisingly good idea. “Why don’t we talk about shopping and golf?”

  Vasile wasn’t sure what surprised him more: the fact that he didn’t choke with laughter or the fact that they did, indeed, talk about shopping and golf until the couples parted company.

  As he escorted Nina back to the suite they shared, he was slightly uncertain about what Nina wanted from him. It seemed she was uncertain, as well. He wished her goodnight and gave Abby the kitten a goodnight kiss on her pink little nose. When the door to Nina’s room closed behind her, he decided to go and hunt.

  Vasile was gone two hours when his restlessness brought him back to the hotel and the suite they shared. As he scanned Nina’s thoughts, he found her awake and restless in the other bedroom.

  Quietly, he began preparing for bed, knowing that he would never sleep. It was much too early and he was much too hungry for Nina. Finally, he could stand it no longer.

  Naked, he walked into her room and stood beside her bed. She rolled over and looked at him with her enormous deep-sea eyes. She held her arms out to him.

  Without a word, Vasile lifted her against him and carried her into his room and lowered her beautiful body to his bed. His mouth covered hers, demanding her response, feasting on her while his hands slid under her loose satin nightshirt.

  He moved his mouth down to the pulse beating in her throat. His tongue glided over her delicate collarbone. He nibbled around the curve of her rounded shoulder revealed by the wide neckline of her loose shift. Edging both hands under the shirt, he pushed it up and over her head, controlling the urge to rip it in half and get it out of his way. His slow oral exploration then resumed, continuing over the curve of her breast, pausing to suckle a moment on one pink nipple and then the other.

  His mouth moved down over the slope of her belly, across her naked hip, down one thigh and up the other. With his head, he nudged her legs apart and cupped her bottom in his hands. He dipped his face to her feminine core and traced her labia with his tongue. At last he began to suckle her little nub and dipped his tongue into her center. Back and forth, up and down, his masterful mouth teased her, settling into a small, circular pattern that took her to the edge within moments

  He slipped a finger inside her, then two, sliding in and out in perfect rhythm with the even, tantalizing sweep of his tongue. When she began to sing out her frantic cries signaling that she was nearly there, he curved his fingers inside her to press against the spot just behind her pubic bone.

  Nina came apart. Vasile pulled his fingers free, replacing them with his mouth. Sinking his long incisors into her, he drank deeply of her blood and her honeyed cream. When her tremors began to cease, he closed the pinpricks and slowly kissed his way back up her belly, her breasts, then to her throat and finally her mouth again.

  After kissing her deeply, Vasile gently turned her to her stomach, pulling a pillow under her. He began to lovingly kiss the curving line of her back from nape to tailbone. When he reached her rounded bottom, he spread her thighs and took her from behind, entering her with a slow thrust.

  He moved her forward with each stroke, leaning over her, his strokes faster, harder. Speed kept them short and deep. She cried out for more, begged him in unintelligible moans and gasps. Her little animal noises were driving him wild.

  He felt her climax rush through her, heard it singing in her veins as her heart pounded in her chest. He sunk his fangs into her neck as she tightened around him, and
he thrust inside one final, powerful lunge. His cock began to pulse inside of her, filling her with his hot seed. He collapsed atop her pressing kisses down her spine and against the scars on her back.

  Still without a word, he gathered her against him and rolled to his side, feeling her drift to sleep. Before he closed his eyes, he made sure that he would awaken into human sleep when she began to stir the next afternoon.

  Chapter 15

  As Vasile slept the next day, Nina forced herself out of bed. She was having lunch with Jason today. Although she knew she’d see him at the dinner that night, she didn’t plan to spend a lot of time with him then. She was Vasile’s date and she intended to enjoy it. She’d left a message with Jason’s office right after she’d opened her eyes and he’d called her back pretty quickly.

  She pulled on the faded jeans and crocheted sweater that she’d worn the day before and left a note for Vasile. She made sure that Abby was fed and watered with a clean litter box and then she went down to the lobby to wait.

  Jason was a little late but overjoyed to see her. Finding her in the lobby of the hotel, he pulled her from her chair and spun her around, clutching her tightly to his body.

  Nina heard a low menacing growl and shook her head. She closed her eyes and thought, whether you are real or a dream, this man will never touch me as you have so please, stop. The growl was like the shadow of a memory to her and she didn’t need a headache trying to figure it out.

  “You okay Nina?” Jason asked in concern. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to see you before now. I guess I kind of had my hands full, you know?”

  “Don’t worry, Jase. I’m fine now and I want to hear all about everything, okay? Don’t leave anything out.” she said sternly.

  Together they left the hotel and found a cab. They talked about their jobs and her accident and recovery during the ride. Jason had given the cab driver an address she didn’t recognize.

  “Where are you taking me, Jason?” Nina finally asked.

  “Can’t tell ya! It’s a surprise!” he crowed.

  “You know I hate surprises, Jase,” she countered.

  He covered her eyes when the cab stopped and kept his hand in place all the way up in the elevator. She didn’t want to guess at what other people must think with her pressed against Jason like this and his hand over her eyes.

  She heard and felt him opening a door and then he propelled her forward. After a second, he stood still, keeping his hand over her eyes. He began filling her in on all that had transpired since she’d left so abruptly two years ago.

  “Remember that kiss, Nina?” he asked her. She turned red and shook her head, “no”. The hand over her eyes followed the side-to-side movement of her head.

  “I’m sorry, Jason, some things are just a little fuzzy. Start reminding me, okay?” she excused herself with chagrin.

  He chuckled. “That kiss changed my life and you don’t even remember?”

  In her mind, Nina could have sworn she felt a sense of smugness from somewhere outside herself.

  “Just before you took off, you let me kiss you for the first time ever. It was a mind-blowing kiss, pal,” Jason murmured into her ear. “You said, “If you find anyone who makes you feel like that kiss just did, promise you’ll marry her—or him”.”

  “I guess I do remember that, Jason,” she blushed. “It was a pretty good kiss.” She heard growling again. Mentally she stomped her foot. It stopped. “I remember that it lasted a real long time.”

  “Well” Jason went on, “I did find someone who made me feel that way. I guess I thought that if I felt like that, she must, too. We had unprotected sex.”

  He sounded both guilty and proud at the same time. “Meet Felicia Nina!” Jason removed his hand.

  “No WAY!” Nina shouted.

  “She’s ten months old,” he said proudly. “This is Helene. We’re getting married in a few months.”

  Nina burst into tears. She was so happy for her friend. A beautiful blonde woman, Helene, put a squirming toddler into Nina’s arms. Nina wrapped her arms around the baby and buried her face in her softness.

  “You didn’t tell me she was so breathtaking, Jason.” Helene’s voice held a mild reproof. “You also never told me about that mind-blowing kiss.”

  “Umm” Jason stalled. “Nina is indescribable.” Helene kissed his reddened jaw.

  Nina sank to the floor with the baby in her arms and let the child tug at her hair and pull at her clothes. To her surprise, the elegant Helene gracefully floated down next to her and the two women played with the baby together.

  Jason took the baby after a while and helped both women to their feet announcing lunch. While they ate, Jason asked Nina about her own life.

  Since they had already discussed her recovery from the injuries she’d suffered in the accident, talk turned to her new job with Velicescu Finance. Finally Jason asked about her love life.

  “Umm, there’s a real guy in the picture these days…” she trailed off thinking of making love with Vasile the night before.

  “Spill, Lady!” Jason demanded. “I gave you all the details of mine!”

  “Thankfully, no you didn’t, Jason” Nina blushed. “Well… I have a monster crush on my boss.” She casually took a sip of the wine Helene poured her. “I’m going to the dinner tonight with him. It’s not work. We’ve, um, gone out several times… and stuff.”

  Jason stared at her for a few minutes! “Nina, Vasile Velicescu is … well… he’s a dangerous man. He could break your heart.”

  Nina heard the little beginning growl and ignored it.

  “Jason, if he’s going to, I guess that’s that. I’m not running from this. I’m going to see what happens. My broken heart is the only part of me that didn’t get taped back together two years ago. If it breaks again, I think it’ll stay broken this time. But, you know, maybe that won’t happen.”

  Jason and Helene promised to find her at the dinner later that evening and Nina caught a cab back to the hotel.

  * * * *

  Vasile heard Nina getting ready in her room after he awoke. He’d known when she’d returned from her lunch with that blonde womanizer. He would have liked to stop her from going at all but he’d been sleeping deeply when he heard her decide to meet with the other man. While he’d known of her intent, he’d been unable to do anything about it.

  Because he’d gone to bed early the night before, he’d managed to listen in on parts of their meeting. It had made him feel very good when she told him, even though she didn’t know it was him that this other man wouldn’t touch her the way he had.

  She had told her old friend that she had a monster crush on her boss. That had made him feel very good inside. Upon reflection, Vasile decided that he had a monster crush on his assistant.

  He hadn’t been able to follow the entire conversation the two had exchanged but there was something about a child. From what he could tell, Nina had really enjoyed the visit. He decided not to reflect on that too much.

  When she came out of her room, Vasile’s breath caught in his throat. She had to be the most beautiful woman he’d known in nine hundred and twenty-seven years.

  Gowned in a long, figure-hugging, jade colored dress of matte silk, Vasile could barely take his eyes off of her. Her shoulders were bare, the plunging halter neckline teased and, when she turned, the squared back revealed the graceful line of her spine. He was relieved when she pulled a dainty, lacy wrap over her shoulders. She wore no jewelry. Her shining black hair caught in an elegant twist at the back of her head completed her sophisticated look.

  “My Nina, I am proud to be your companion this evening.” He lifted her delicate hand to his lips, brushing her knuckles with a gentle kiss. Her skin was warm and soft, and her spicy, feminine scent stirred his hunger for her. “I shall have to remain vigilant so that no other tries to claim you for himself.” At that thought, Vasile had to close his eyes to hide the red evidence of his beast flickering there.

  “Oh, Vasile, do you kn
ow how suave you are?” She threaded her hand through his arm as he escorted her out to the waiting car.

  Chapter 16

  Nina was a bundle of nerves. This entire weekend had seemed surreal to her. First, having supper with her parents, making love with Vasile the night before the way she had, and then lunch with Jason—all of that had seemed unreal to her. Now, walking into this dinner on Vasile’s arm after being away the last two years, she was feeling very stressed.

  After a brief stop to check her purse and shawl, Nina and Vasile entered the banquet hall filled with sparkling lights and elegantly dressed guests. Drawing a deep breath to compose herself, Nina looked around at the room. Along a far wall, she saw tables filled with a wide array of finger foods staffed by waiters. Next to it stood a busy, full-service bar.

  Through an archway, she could see another room filled with tables glittering full of crystal, silver, and fine china. The music playing could hardly be enjoyed over the loud buzz of talking and frequent bursts of laughter

  Turning to look at Vasile, she caught his smiling eyes looking down at her.

  “I will go and get us a glass of wine. You are not to look at another man while I am gone.”

  She could tell he was joking, trying to put her at ease. She looked up at him with a smile. His jet-black hair shown in the muted light, and he looked so handsome and sophisticated in his black tuxedo. Tall, broad-shouldered, and vitally masculine, he stood out among the other wealthy, handsome men assembled. He was masculine power and sexuality in the flesh.

  “I think I should give you a similar directive, Vasile. I’m more in danger from a jealous woman than an eager man.”

  Vasile threw back his head and laughed. Designer-gowned women shot speculative glances at him from throughout the room. She watched him surreptitiously as he strode away.

  She stood quiet, looking around and taking calming breaths. She didn’t know why she felt so tense. She wondered if Jason and Helene had arrived yet.

  “It’s about time you came back, Ice Lady.” she heard a voice say. She groaned aloud.