Deep Desire: The Deep Series, Book 1 (18 page)

The cup and saucer Adin held so carefully a moment before clattered to the tiles as he ran for the porch door, heedless of the shards of broken porcelain as they pierced his bare feet. He exploded through the back door and was down the steps, running through rain now falling in sheets that made it hard to see.

“Aw, crap.
Boaz.
”
The little shit.
“Donte!” Adin called out to the figure, although by then it had disappeared into the darkness behind the tree.

Adin rounded the tree, slipping a little in the muck of slimy, wet leaves and debris from the storm. He skidded to a halt in front of Donte, who stood dripping and still as the trunk of the tree itself.

“Donte,” Adin repeated, reaching out for him. “You’re wet.”

“So perceptive,” Donte said dryly.

“Are you in the habit of lurking in people’s gardens during inclement weather?”

Donte sighed. “Yes, of course I am. Do you never go to the cinema? It’s in the vampire handbook to skulk about the homes of chosen victims, looking morose before we make our fatal move.”

Adin crossed his arms over his chest. “I suspect I should get a copy of that handbook, now that I’m a favored snack food among your kind.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Donte whispered.

In the awkward silence that followed, Adin held up his arm to keep the rain from falling directly into his eyes. Donte shook his head, and water droplets flew everywhere.

Adin placed his hand on the side of Donte’s face, but Donte flinched away.

“What?” Adin tried again, this time catching and cupping Donte’s jaw in his hand and following up that small victory by leaning into his body.

“Adin.” Donte almost sighed. “I am trying to understand your behavior toward me. I cannot comprehend you at all!”

“What?” Adin shouted over a particularly loud clap of thunder. He couldn’t take his eyes off Donte, who looked like a god, he imagined, elemental and fierce, backlit by the lightning silhouetting the tree behind him.

Even so, he registered that lightning and trees were not a happy combination.

“How can you not hate me?” Donte asked. “Do you imagine I would have come for you if your friends had not? I could not have saved you, Adin. I was fully and completely prepared to allow you to
die
, and still you call me to your side. You gave yourself to me and told me you love me. Are you insane?”

“I don’t know, all right? It’s
complicated
,” Adin snapped as he wiped the water from his face. “I accepted the inevitable. That’s all.”

“So if I were to place my hand around your throat or over your mouth and nose, you would allow me to end your life because it’s
inevitable
?”

“You wouldn’t do that, Donte.” Rain continued to pound them.

“You cannot know that,” Donte shouted. “I don’t even know that! You’re only human. I could catch your face between my palms and crush you like a berry, Adin.”

“Now there’s a fun and spanky image,” Adin murmured.

“I need to understand why you continue to place yourself in my hands. What can you possibly be thinking? I’m nothing less than a monster.”

“Perhaps.” Adin wound his hand around Donte’s neck. Warmed Donte’s cool skin beneath his fingertips.

“Stop!” Donte cried, spinning Adin and covering his mouth and nose with the palm of one large hand. Adin felt an initial surge of panic and fought Donte’s hold on him. Donte fought back, pressing harder, giving no quarter, cutting off all Adin’s air as surely as if his hands were wrapped around Adin’s throat. He hissed in Adin’s ear. “You’re a fool to trust me.”

Adin willed himself to be still, to allow his body to relax into Donte’s. He closed his eyes and rested his head against Donte’s strong chest. He felt the hand gripping his face tighten further.

“I’m a monster, Adin,” Donte said softly, his lips spraying the falling raindrops onto Adin’s cheek. “Not human. I cannot love you.”

Adin listened to his voice and still he couldn’t make himself believe. Donte might consider himself a monster. Certainly what he was doing was monstrous. But Adin continued to submit, even though his lungs burned and his heart clenched inside his chest. Even though his body screamed at him to fight.

This was Donte, not Santos or his men. This was Donte, and Adin
chose
not to fight. As the pain of not breathing began to give way to a dizzy euphoria, he thought perhaps he really didn’t care. Maybe the answer was just that simple.

Abruptly, Adin felt a hard shove and landed on his knees in the squelching mud.

“What gives you this blind faith in me?” Donte snapped, standing over him. Rain dripped into Adin’s eyes. He lurched to his feet but slipped twice before he stood. “Why do you believe?”

“I don’t know why.”

“If I hadn’t stopped you would be dead.”

“But you stopped.”

“But if I hadn’t—”

“I know that! Don’t you think I know that?” Adin grabbed the lapels of Donte’s jacket and put his lips to Donte’s in a fierce, quick kiss. “Life is full of things that can kill me, you vampire motherfucker, and you sure as shit can just
get in line
!”

“Adin.” Donte laughed a low, rusty laugh. He pulled Adin into his arms. Adin wrapped around him. “You’re a fool.”

“Shut up, Donte.”

“Oh, caro.” Donte carried Adin to the porch. “I always seem to end up wearing you somehow.”

Donte laid him down on the wooden surface, under the eaves, sliding in to sit next to him. Adin laughed and snorted water through his nose.

“Always so elegant. There is a saying about certain people not having the sense to come in out of the rain.” He drew his hand down Adin’s soggy T-shirt. Adin’s head was half-hidden by pots of fuchsias.

Adin reached up and caught Donte’s hand. “Rain is the least of my problems.”

“Adin.” Donte’s voice held a warning.

“No.” Adin shook his head. “You were hiding behind a tree in my garden like a wet raccoon during what is arguably the worst storm of the season.” Adin reached for Donte’s belt buckle and undid it, then carefully unzipped his trousers with one hand.

“That is not a very dignified image.” Donte fumbled with Adin’s soggy jeans. Adin helped by unbuttoning the fly. Donte coaxed Adin over onto his stomach and pulled Adin’s jeans and shorts down. He leaned in, placing his face at the crest of one of Adin’s ass cheeks, playfully nipping the skin there.

“Oh,” Adin gasped.

Donte found the cleft of his buttocks and used his face to part the folds of flesh there. Adin relaxed, giving him the access he sought.

“That’s right, Adin,” Donte murmured, making the sensitive skin around his hole vibrate. “Open for me.”

Adin arched, putting his head down and bracing his arms against one of the larger pots on his porch.

Donte’s tongue slithered around Adin’s hole and entered him, and Adin’s body quivered and tightened in response. He could feel Donte, slicking his entrance and teasing at him, getting him ready. With every pulse of Donte’s tongue, Adin lost a little of himself. He needed Donte.
Needed
him.

“Donte,” Adin moaned. “Love. Fuck me. My god, fuck me.”

“Shh.” Donte kissed his way leisurely up Adin’s back, then tugged up and pulled on Adin’s T-shirt until he could get it off one shoulder and then over Adin’s head. Adin shook it off his other arm as Donte nibbled and sucked at Adin’s neck. “There’s no hurry is there?”

“Speak for yourself. I need you.”

He knelt between Adin’s legs. “Now?”

“Yes, now.” Donte positioned himself and nudged at Adin’s hole. “
Yes. Oh, god. Donte.
”

Adin pushed back. Donte clamped his hands on Adin’s hips, bruising pressure that only heightened Adin’s desire.

“Adin,” Donte whispered against his skin. “Ah, Adin. I could truly lose myself in you.”

“I’d never let that happen,” Adin said happily. “I’d always find you.”

They found their rhythm together. Adin pushed against the planter. Donte met him hard and fast. When Donte slipped his hand around to grasp his cock, Adin groaned his name.

A few sharp thrusts took Adin helplessly into his climax. Donte pounded into him, hands slipping on his sweaty back, gripping his hip hard. Donte growled low in his throat and with a final surge, Adin felt Donte’s seed spill inside him.

Adin’s heart slowed, his breath evened. Donte smiled.

He seemed delighted by Adin’s very human lassitude.

The storm was moving farther east, but occasional slashes of lightning marked the sky, trailing loud concussions of thunder in their wake. Donte quietly stroked the skin on the outsides of his thighs.

Adin lay on his stomach, with Donte draped on his back and still inside him. He laced the fingers of their right hands together by his hip.

Donte suddenly became still. “Adin?”

“Mm?”

“Have I harmed you?” Donte pulled out gently and slid away, lifting Adin’s legs to peer between them. Adin shied away, suddenly reluctant to be spread out for Donte’s inspection when minutes before, he’d been spread out for Donte’s tongue.

“Whoa, nelly. Back away there. It’s one thing in the throes of passion but—”

“You’re bleeding.”

Chapter Nineteen

“I’m what?” Adin felt around, examining his hand in the porch light. “No, I’m not. I don’t feel anything um… that’s all you, Donte. It’s jizz. Not blood.”

“I smell your blood, Adin. You must be injured.”

“Oh, shit. My feet.” Adin lifted the leg that didn’t still have his jeans on it. “See anything?”

Donte shifted in place, grasping Adin’s foot and looking at it carefully. He cupped it gently in his large hand and cursed. Checked the other. “My God, Adin. You have shards of broken glass in both of your feet.”

“I dropped a teacup,” Adin explained.

Donte was already picking him up and putting his hand on the handle of the porch door. “Will you invite me in?”

“That depends.” Adin leaned his head against Donte’s chest. “Is this a social call or a dine and dash?”

“Adin,” warned Donte.

“Oh,
all right
, welcome. Please come in.”

“Where is the bathroom?” Donte stood in the middle of the kitchen, dripping on the tiles.

“Down the hall and to the left. But you don’t have to—”

“Caro, look at the floor.” Donte spun around so Adin could see they were leaving a bloody trail. “You were saying?”

“Nothing.” The sight of all that blood made him a little sick. Donte hauled him to the bathroom. How could Adin have failed to notice the pain?

“I will need tweezers to remove the glass,” said Donte, placing Adin carefully on the counter next to the sink “And a first-aid kit, if you have one.”

“In the drawer.” Adin indicated which one. When Donte prodded his foot with a gentle finger, Adin hissed.

“Truly,” Donte murmured as he began to remove the porcelain shards from Adin’s foot. “Humans are like toy balloons, and I never cease to be amazed by the fact that they run along, heedlessly wreaking havoc, harming themselves and everyone around them—”

“Are you through?” Adin ground out. The event was becoming more and more painful as Donte forgot himself
while delivering his tirade.

“No, I am not through.” Donte lifted Adin’s foot to his lips and carefully slid his thick, slick tongue across the sole.

“Oh, hoh, hoh…hah.” Adin sighed, arching his back and allowing his knees to fall open.

Donte applied his tongue to the area under the toes. Each lick that slid over the sensitive skin on the bottom of Adin’s foot felt as though it was swirling around the head of his cock.

“That can’t be too clean.” Adin let out a shaky breath.

“It isn’t.”

“Then—”

Donte gripped his foot harder and gazed at Adin from between his toes. “I’m cleaning and closing the wounds.”

“Oh.” Adin gazed at him through heavy-lidded eyes. “Good,
good
vampire.”

Donte finished the task with thorough, dreamy precision. Adin sank against the mirror, overcome by lassitude.

“I’m going to shower.” Donte turned on the water. “Would you like to stay here, or would you like me to carry you to your bed?”

“I think I’ll stay here.”

“I don’t suppose you have anything large enough for me to wear?” asked Donte.

Adin shook his head.

“It’s like that Swift story. I’ve landed in Lilliput.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“
Travels into Several Remote Nations
—”

“I know the book. Just who are you calling a Lilliputian?” Adin watched as Donte stripped and stepped into the shower.”

“Certainly, I am not referring to myself.” They both looked down at Donte’s now-flaccid cock.

“I see,” Adin remarked as Donte disappeared into the shower. Under his breath, he said, “Truly.”

“I heard that.” Donte’s head poked out from between the curtains. “This is a very small shower, Adin.”

Adin sighed at the sight of Donte’s silhouette. It shifted and twisted behind the translucent fabric until Donte shut off the water and stepped out. Adin reached up to the towel rack and handed him a towel.

“Here you go.”

“I suppose—” Donte placed the towel on the work surface and pulling at Adin’s remaining clothing “—that rinsing the mud off you would be prudent.”

“I can do that.”

“Allow me.” Donte lifted Adin and stepped back into the shower, holding him under the spray to get the worst of the mud and debris off him. Donte shifted Adin briefly to one arm to pick a fuchsia blossom from his hair. Once they were done, Donte seated Adin on the counter next to the sink and dried him.

“I have a change of clothing in the car, along with my toiletries. Until then, I suppose I could wear a towel.”

Donte frowned at the towel, which didn’t want to stay closed as he moved.

“You brought a car?”

“How else should I get here? In a bubble of light?”

Adin processed this. “But—”

Donte paused and looked at him with amused eyes. “One gains a certain satisfaction from the hunt. You could call it stalking—”

Adin was disappointed. “You’ve been stalking me?”

Donte huffed a small laugh. He nudged Adin’s knees apart and stepped between them. “It’s not as glamorous as simply appearing whenever you speak my name, is it? I can feel you, Adin, if that’s what you’re worried about.” He took Adin’s hand and placed it on his chest. “I feel you when you want me. When you need me.”

“Do you?” Adin’s mouth was suddenly dry.

“Yes. You call to me and I feel it in my…heart, for lack of a better term.” Donte bit his lip. “It’s quite surprising, really.”

“Is it?”

“Yes.” Donte seemed to shake himself. “But as for transportation, I’m afraid I can’t arrive in a puff of smoke, and I don’t turn into a bat.”

“No?”

“No.” Donte pulled Adin’s hips into his, rubbing their cocks together. “It’s a terrible waste of time, but I must come to you through ordinary time and space. I drive a car.”

“What, like the Batmobile?”

“Like a rented Volvo.”

“A Volvo?” Adin’s head tipped back as he laughed. “Oh my G—”

“Enough.” Donte’s teeth captured the skin of Adin’s throat.

“I am Donte, the apex of the food chain in your world, allow me to lure you into my very safe Swedish automobile with its side curtain airbags. Don’t forget to fasten your—”

“
Pazzo
.” Donte nipped lightly. Adin hissed in response, catching him by the back of the neck and holding him there.

“Go ahead, love,” Adin said softly.

Donte tried to pull his head back, but Adin held him there.

“
No.
” Adin whispered in Donte’s ear. “Please…let me do this for you. I love you.”

Donte groaned and slid his mouth along Adin’s neck until he found Adin’s vein. His fangs slid, razor-sharp, into Adin’s flesh, and he fed. Adin’s head fell back against the mirror, and his hips snapped against Donte’s. He surrendered to climax and groaned weakly against Donte’s hair.

“Ah, Donte. That is never going to get old.”

Donte pressed harder against him, grinding his hips and his cock into Adin’s taint while they kissed. Adin thought he’d die from the pleasure of it. Donte found his release moments later, and Adin heard their bloodsong in his heart.

Donte rested his forehead against Adin’s chest. Adin cradled him, crooning soft words. Eventually, Adin cupped Donte’s face in his hands and kissed him deeply. Donte picked up his towel to clean them up.

“Donte,” Adin whispered. “Why
did you come here?”

“It seems all I do is apologize,” Donte said against Adin’s neck. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry.
Please.
Not about this.” Adin held him fast.

“Listen.” Donte peeled himself from Adin, who stilled. “I thought if another man came into my life, it would take something away from Auselmo. Strip him of my loyalty, my love, and my protection. Eradicate my vows. Cheapen what we had. Do you understand?”

Adin nodded. “Yes.”

“These are sacred things to me,” Donte continued. “It’s not without consideration that I could even begin to imagine a life with someone else.”

“I understand.” Adin brushed a strand of wet hair away from Donte’s face.

“I know you do
. I know.
Thank you, caro.”

Adin started to slide off the sink, but Donte picked him up again. “Where can I put you?”

“To the right, my bedroom.” Adin felt a little dizzy. “I’m so exhausted all of a sudden.”

“I’m sorry, caro. I shouldn’t have—”

“In here.” Adin pointed to the door of his bedroom. Donte backed carefully into the room with Adin in his arms, protecting his feet from the doorjamb.

“All right.” Donte lifted the covers with one hand and placed Adin gently on the bed.

Adin felt the bed sink with Donte’s weight, the cool touch of his skin, and curled into it.

“So tired,” he murmured, kissing Donte’s shoulder.

“I know, caro. Rest.” Donte stroked his hair. “Just rest.”

When Adin opened his eyes, the barest winter light filtered in from the windows. The worst of the storm had apparently passed, but a steady patter of rain could still be heard falling on the roof. His mouth was dry, and for a moment he wondered why his feet hurt. He shot up, looking around.
Donte.

Adin swung out of bed and pulled on a pair of jeans. He didn’t take the time to button them as he raced out of his bedroom and down the hall. He saw no sign of Donte as he rounded the corner into the kitchen and automatically turned to the front door. He flung it open and ran out of the house, letting loose a shriek as momentum carried him into and over a bulky shape on his doorstep. He fell down three wooden steps and into a substantial puddle of mud on the path. A dark shape loomed over him.

“Adin?” Donte’s bulk blocked some of the rain. He was wearing Adin’s bathrobe, which was about four sizes too small. He looked at Adin as though he were inspecting a new species of insect. “Are you all right?”

“Of course,” snapped Adin. “I’m simply trying to decide whether I should put in a pool here.”

“There is no need for sarcasm.” Donte held his hand out. Adin grabbed it and yanked him down to the ground and jumped him. They thrashed in the mud until they were both covered.

“Caro.” Donte said. “I hesitate to remind you of this, but it’s daylight, and even though the sun is behind clouds—”

“Aw.
Crap.
” Adin shot up and pulled Donte under the eaves. He ran his hands over Donte’s face to reassure himself that no skin had been damaged. “Why were you sitting on my front porch?”

Donte nodded at two suitcases, which were stacked neatly next to Adin’s porch swing. “I went to get my things and discovered your doors lock automatically.”

“You’re joking.” Adin snorted. “I am Donte, master of darkness—”

“Shut up, Adin.” Donte kissed his forehead. “I could have broken in.”

“Yes. You could have squeezed my house between your powerful immortal hands like a pecan—”

“Am I never to have any respect from you at all, you little
shit
?”

“I love you,” Adin said quietly. “You can have anything you want from me, Donte. Anything.”

Donte leaned over and kissed Adin’s lips.

Adin tried the door and found it locked. Donte laughed, but Adin showed him that he kept a spare key under a particularly ugly plant.

Donte lifted a brow. “I see you take security seriously.”

“The things that are important to me can’t be obtained
with a key
.”

“I know.” Donte shifted, reaching for the smaller carry-on style bag. “That’s why…”

He retrieved the
Notturno
manuscript from within it—in its protective carrying case—and handed it to Adin. “That’s
how
I know that the things that are sacred to me are safe in your hands, più amato.”

After a moment, Adin realized what Donte was saying. “Donte. I swear I’ll take care of it; I promise you that. I’ll see that it’s protected and cherished.”

He held it to his chest as Donte keyed the lock and went in first. He placed the manuscript on a table near the door and turned to see Donte looking at him with solemn, serious eyes.

“And if I were to give my heart into your safekeeping as well, caro? Would you also protect and cherish that?”

“If it’s yours to give.” Adin reached out and cupped the back of Donte’s head, bringing him close for a kiss.

“I carry Auselmo in my heart. His heart and mine are one. I don’t know how to separate them.”

“Ah.” Adin sighed, urging the still-dripping and muddy Donte into the bathroom. He opened the tap and diverted the water to the shower, pulling the curtain closed. “I think my heart has room enough for both of you.”

“I don’t doubt your heart.” Donte smiled back, looking around. “But this is a very small house.”

He removed his clothes, dropping them in a heap on the floor by the bathroom door.

“It’s cozy,” Adin offered.

“It was built for the mayor of Munchkin City.” Donte narrowed his eyes.

“But on the not very bright side, there’s hardly any sun. That will mean less wear and tear on that delicate vampire complexion. Lowered sunscreen costs.”

“Ah, yes. Well…” Donte removed Adin’s jeans, then tossed those on the floor as well. He ran a hand across the muscles of Adin’s chest and abdomen. “You are so beautiful, caro.”

“And you as well, più amato, are beautiful. And I, as the apex of the academic—”

“I will teach you to mock
me
, Adin.”

“I’m afraid you already have, love.” Adin grinned.

“Adin.”
Donte cried out as Adin bit him hard, just above his nipple.

“That will teach you to eat something spicy before bedtime.”

“You shit!” Donte joined Adin’s laughter as they stepped into the shower together.

“Maybe tomorrow, for laughs, you’ll stay in bed with me. Just
once
, I’d like to wake up and not find myself abandoned.”

“Oh, Adin.” Donte pulled the smaller man to him and generously let him languish under the spray of hot water. “I am so sorry.”

“It’s all right.” Adin laid his head on Donte’s silent chest.

“Will you let me draw you while you sleep?” Donte asked almost shyly.

Adin recalled the journal entries Donte wrote while watching Auselmo sleep, and a wave of tenderness washed over him. “You don’t sleep?”