SweetHeat (3 page)

“Just give me a few minutes before we get into today’s agenda, okay?”

“Sure thing, boss.”

Julie cut off the intercom, breathed a heavy sigh of relief, leaned against her cozy office chair and closed her eyes.

Nine thirty in the morning and she was already tired. Beat.
Toast.

Last night she’d been out late with her top client, charming and dining her until Ms. Mallow finally admitted she wanted Julie’s newly planned erotic chocolate line.

Normally her sales department handled the clients. But the elderly human had specifically asked for the dinner meeting. Gushing like a teenager, she’d complimented Julie on the chocolate samples Julie had instructed to be sent to their top five clients, which of course included eighty-nine-year-old Ms. Mallow, who still ran her own array of popular chocolate shops across America.

Julie had high expectations there would be a bidding war to get exclusive rights to the line and Ms. Mallow’s opening bid last night proved to be much higher than Julie had anticipated. So she couldn’t be happier.

Her smile widened as she opened her eyes and gazed around her corner office.

Cozy, she liked to call her office space. Not too big and not too small. Two of the walls were floor-to-ceiling windows, giving her a great view of the blue ocean and weathered docks five floors below. Recently she’d had the room decorated in orange and rust shades. With her furniture being top of the line in plush and black leather, everything looked and felt good.

She had to admit she’d done well for herself with
Vampira’s
support. She’d created several lucrative companies over the decades. Sold them at huge profits and started new companies. Currently she ran her own multi-million-dollar chocolate factory located in Aphrodite, Florida.

She enjoyed visits to
Mati
Smith’s Victorian house where Julie continued to receive her monthly shots to prevent any vampires from homing in on her. She walked in the daylight without frying to a crisp and networked with her
Vampira
sisters thanking the Vampire Gods every day that
Mati
had taken her into the clique and all the females in the clique had warmed to her upon seeing how truly productive she had turned out.

She’d never been happier. Sure, occasionally she still had bursts of homesickness, when she thought of those quaint French Alps, but those feelings passed when she thought about how uncaring everyone in the coven had been to her feelings.

Vampira
was her coven now. Despite initially not wanting her,
Vampira
had supported her every goal. They had successfully concealed her identity, put her through university and allowed her to spread her wings as an entrepreneur.

And she had done them and herself proud.

She shook her head, resisting the urge to pinch herself about Ms. Mallow’s opening bid. There was still much to be done in selling those rights and she needed to get herself moving.

Standing, she walked into her personal kitchenette where she kept her stash of clone blood. Clone blood was another benefit of being a member of
Vampira
. One of their members owned a large laboratory on a secluded island, which was veiled from the humans. The mindless clones were created and housed exclusively for their blood and used for vampires in an effort to keep humans safe. She wasn’t too keen on getting her energy that way, but it was superior to plasma or synthetic blood and much better than keeping thinking humans against their will for such purposes.

Retrieving a tall glass from a cupboard, she keyed her password into the digital lock and opened the door, welcoming the cool blast of air against her body.

Over the decades she made it a habit of downing a cold glass of clone blood every morning before getting into the day. It kept her energized and thinking clearly. Unfortunately, lately, she’d been drinking more and more in order to keep from succumbing to increased weariness. She knew exactly when things had physically changed for her.

It started around the time she’d hired those two sexy black-haired, dark-blue-eyed vamp males, Caleb and
Zander
Davenport. She’d put them on the night shift working the new erotic chocolate line. Their qualifications were perfect for positions in the lab where they busily planned the sexy molds for the chocolate. And they had come through for her with devilishly naughty designs.

Chocolate molded into erotic shapes; ménage a
trois
, bondage couples, gay couples, as well as individualized such as chocolate shaped handcuffs, butts, whips, pussies and fetish, to name but a few.

Not only did her chocolates have to taste good, they had to feel good when going into a human’s mouth. Certain shapes—for instance, those with too-pointed edges—were discarded. Not to mention, packaging and shelf space had to be considered as well.

Even after all these decades of hiding among the humans, being one of them, eating their food, she still had a sensitive stomach to it. She knew her sensitivity was due to her Traditionalist upbringing where she’d been given only blood for nourishment. Due to the increasingly modern thinking of some vampire factions and the need to discreetly blend into the human world, some vamps were introducing their offspring to the human food at an early age. It had been discovered that after an initial sick period, the vampire body began to adapt and accept more than just blood. When in Rome, do as the Romans do, was one of the rules
Mati
enjoyed quoting when she spoke of the human food.

But consumption of human food wasn’t what made Julie tired. It was the scorching fantasies.
Hot, powerful, addictive sexual fantasies that consumed her every night as she fell asleep.

Dreams.

The three of them.
Her and those black-haired twin vampire males.

Naked.

Tangled in silky white sheets.
Her,
sandwiched in the middle.
Moaning wantonly as they double-penetrated her with exceptionally long and thick cocks.
Plunging into her over and over until she screamed in arousal and her fangs pierced the flesh of one and then the other male as she greedily sucked the erotic offerings of sweet, powerful blood into her very being.

In her fantasies their blood zipped through her with lightning speed, nourishing her and giving her so much power she could fuck them for what seemed like hours.

But when she awoke, she felt more tired than when she’d fallen asleep.

Just thinking of them sent another wave of erotic heat searing into her and she couldn’t help but hurry and pour herself that ice-cold glass of blood in an effort to cool herself down.

Where once she looked forward to drinking clone blood or even plasma blood to sustain her, she now craved it hot and sweet.
Vampire and male.

Their blood.
Forbidden blood.

Shit.

Upon being allowed into
Vampira
she had sworn never to succumb to her desires for a male. Be he human or vamp. It had been easy to commit to get what she wanted, which was their protection from the arranged marriage and her freedom.

For more than half a century, during her monthly heat cycle, she managed to keep herself in isolation and away from anything male. She claimed her “periods”, as the humans called them, were too painful to go to work. So she worked from her veiled beach home during those times, keeping tabs on whatever company she owned at the time. Using masturbation, fantasies and toys she achieved personal relief.

Lately, however, she was thinking what had once been the unthinkable.

Getting it on with those two sexy males.

Julie wiped away the sheen of perspiration from her forehead and drank the icy-cold bland-tasting blood. The liquid melted over her tongue, doing nothing for her taste buds. She swallowed in large gulps and it gushed down her parched throat.

Usually the buzz of energy hit instantly, screaming through her system, waking her and giving her the pick-up she needed. Not lately though.

Definitely not this morning when she needed energy so badly.

No buzz. No get-up-and-go.

Just her pussy pulsing with a wanton need and her body flaming with desire.

Thank the Vampire Gods those two vamps worked nights and she worked days, so contact with them was kept to an extreme minimum.

Sure, she could fire them. But what would that accomplish? She’d still fantasize about them.

No, all she needed to do was stay away from them. Far
far
away and with time, she would adjust and her body would go back to normal.

She groaned in frustration and headed into the nearby bathroom to retouch her makeup, gasping at her utterly paler than normally pale complexion in the mirror. Yes, vampires did see themselves in mirrors, contrary to human folklore. And she was glad too because she definitely needed to retouch, cover those shadowy circles beneath her blue eyes and run a brush through her red hair.

Touching up her foundation, she followed up with a zip of blush across her cheeks and nose and a gentle swirl of pretty pink lipstick. She couldn’t help but chuckle at how different she looked now than when she’d first run from her Traditionalist parents.

Back then she had waist-length straight black hair, a white complexion and a too-long nose. As
Vampira
did with most of the females being accepted into the clique, her appearance was altered. Her black hair cut short and colored and the makeup of the times became her best friend. When plastic surgeons came about, she had her nose done shorter to change her appearance even more.

Her nose was now perfect, making her cheeks naturally look fuller. Over the years she
permed
and colored her hair, her latest hairstyle was sassy and a rosy shade of red. Also in order not to bring suspicion to humans of her aging at a much slower rate, she occasionally changed her name with every new appearance and founded a new company.

She had to admit that upon first joining
Vampira
a new look didn’t do anything to help her lack of self-esteem and low self-confidence. Those things she struggled to change on her own in the beginning years. When they became available, she read self-help books and participated in workshops on those subjects. Changing her internal thoughts, she blossomed from being a frightened, helpless, lost young vampire female to believing herself a success. Education, of course, had been her best helping hand, giving her the courage and knowledge of pursuing her goals of independence and freedom.

Unfortunately education and a new look hadn’t been able to stop her from craving sex during her monthly heat cycles. Nor did it help stop her from fantasizing about those two males she’d hired.

She groaned her frustration, swept the brush through her short, curly hair and returned to her desk. Plopping back onto her plush leather chair, she sighed and wished for it to be the end of the day so she could go home, climb into bed and fantasize about those two delectable males.

Unfortunately she had a company to run and an entire day stretching ahead of her.

Sighing again, she snapped down the intercom button and invited Selena in.

* * * * *

Even though
Zander
Davenport knew the icy liquid wasn’t going to do the job in dousing his arousal tonight, he stepped into the shower and turned the cold water faucet on full blast. In less than an hour he’d meet with Caleb at work and they would wait for Julie’s mind link to open. It was getting harder to keep from thinking about her. That female was going to kill him if he didn’t have her fully soon. He had it bad for her.
Really bad.

The lust for her had hit his brother and himself one split second to the next after seeing her the first time in Maine several months ago. Caleb and he had been staking out a female vamp’s Victorian home. The owner of the home, a sexy vamp with a past, turned out to be the leader of
Vampira
and she was a female their fathers desperately wanted.

The stakeout, however, was all but forgotten when a white limo pulled in front of the house and a female, her red hair tossed in a bun, her lush body dressed in an elegant white suit, had stepped out. When they spied her it was like a lightning bolt going off inside them.

At first they’d fooled themselves into thinking perhaps it was an infatuation with a human woman. Hours later, as she left the home belonging to a woman named
Mati
,
they followed her and found out her identity.

That night she’d appeared in their mind link. Hot, passionate and looking for sex. Of course, they’d obliged. The night had left them reeling. Who was she? Why had they reacted so intensely to her? How had a human managed to get into their mind link?

Discussing the matter with their sires, they were told only one female could make them feel so intensely—a vampire.
Their fated mate.
The one who’d run from the arranged marriage decades ago. She must have instinctively homed into their link now they were in the same vicinity.

Upon discovering she was hiring for a new planned erotic chocolate line, they had garnered an interview through the personnel department, willing the human interviewer to get the boss to come to the interview.

The males showed Julie their credentials and she’d hired them on the spot. But lately, she’d been avoiding them like the plague. He knew it had everything to do with the sexual fantasies she was having during her sleep times.
The fantasies in which they played the starring roles.

She had to know they were vampire. She had to realize they knew she was one too. How could she not? She had to smell their lust scents.

They’d never felt this way about a female and instinctively knew she was their destiny.

Zander
turned himself in the shower and allowed the cold water to lash his cock and balls. Instead of withering his erection, the pummeling of the cold water enhanced his need for release.