I continued to comb my hair through, piece by piece, with the tortoise shell comb that Constantine had given me a long time ago. I wondered how I could answer that. Yes, I needed to see my sire, my love. We had received word that they would be home at nightfall, but it was not him that I was yearning to see. That my eyes longed to behold, that my body craved to be touched by.
I saw Carlotta
’s eyebrows go up and she laughed. “Oh, I see. A clandestine affair. Who, pray tell, is the lucky man?”
I could not say. Our liaison was a secret. We had kept it that way for many years. Constantine would never understand after Vito. I shrugged and avoided her piercing stare.
“Well,” she said, her hand on her hip. “If you cannot tell me, it must be very wicked.”
“I must leave,” I muttered, standing up and smoothing down my hair as I pushed the comb into it. He loved my hair down, I thought, so that he could pull it and twist his fists into it.
“Be gone,” Carlotta said, shooing me away with her hands. “I, too, have to pretty myself.”
I grimaced at her. I knew she was excited to see Constantine, although she would never say it to me out loud. We were friends, but there were certain things we did not discuss. Ever. Her profession was one of them. I found it distasteful that she chose to earn her gold by whoring herself out, but that was her business. Not mine. I certainly did not want details of her liaisons and I especially did not want to hear about her and my sire.
I gave her a tight smile and she gave me a secretive one back. Yes, she was readying herself for a special man, and my sire was nothing if not special.
I turned and forgot about it as I made my way to the stables. I was already running late. I was due to meet him in the forest at noon, as he had come ahead to prepare for the delegate party that Constantine was bringing back from Florence with him.
I scrambled up onto the horse and spurred him on. I felt the wind in my hair as I raced through the countryside and to the edge of the forest.
We picked our way through the trees until it became too dense. From there, I had to slide down his flanks and lead him the rest of the way.
As I approached the clearing, my nerves returned. What if he wasn’t there? What if he had changed his mind about meeting me? Or worse, was caught sneaking away?
I tethered the horse and, with my breath held, I entered the clearing.
“You are late, mi’ lady,” he said to me, his cold, black eyes boring into mine.
“I apologize,” I murmured. “I was held up, trying to get away.”
I walked closer to him. I needed my hands on him.
I gasped as he dragged me to him with his Vampire speed. He pushed me back up against a tree, his hands bunched up my skirts so that he could slide them up my thighs. “I missed you,” I breathed out.
“And I missed your wet cunt,” he rasped, his fingers delving roughly inside me.
I flinched at his harsh words. This was not the man that I came to see. He forgot so easily when he was away from me.
“Do not treat me like one of your victims,” I spat out at him, pushing his hands away.
“You are refusing me?” he asked, tearing my skirt from hem to waist.
I nearly choked because as much as his violent side scared me, at the same time, it turned me on in ways that only he could.
“Say you missed me,” I managed to say as his hands went to undo his breeches.
“I just did,” he said coldly, fumbling to get himself free.
“No!” I pushed him away with all the strength that I had. “Say that you missed me, Frederick. Say that you love me. I love you and I have missed you more than words can say. Please, come back to me. You are not this man with me.”
He paused and his face fell. He turned his back to me and sat on the forest floor heavily. “I apologize, mi’ lady. I forget how to treat you when I have been away from you for so long.”
“I know,” I said, sitting down on his lap and cupping his face in my hands.
“I have missed you,” he murmured, lowering his eyes.
“And?” I pressed him.