STORY EXCERPT

Harry nudged Steve as he got up. “Look over there. The coach attendant is coming this way. Hurry, will you?”

“Okay. Okay.” Steve huffed, tucking his tablet into his backpack.

The coach attendant frowned as he approached. His furrowed, puffy black eyebrows practically touched, Steve noted.

“Gentlemen, you can’t remain on board any longer. You have to disembark.”

Harry smiled, his lips in a thin, wide, tense line. “Sorry. My friend has horrible time management skills. We’re going to be on our way.”

“Yeah, I didn’t realize we arrived at the station,” Steve added, averting physical contact with the stout man as he sidestepped him in the narrow aisle.

Harry grumbled, hurrying to the closest boarding platform. “You know how I hate confrontations like that, Steve. Why do you always do this to me?”

Steve half laughed as he patted him jokingly on the back. “Because I love to see you squirm.”

He’d known Harry for more than five years. And in all that time, Harry had been obsessive, compulsive, and a worrywart. But that never stopped Steve from trying to help him calm down and let loose.

After all, life was too short to harp on timeliness and order. Chaos was and would always hold life’s reins. So one might as well let go and enjoy the ride while they could because come tomorrow it might be too late.

Steve focused on the annoying zipper of his backpack that had snagged half open when he began his distracted, hurried descent off the train.

He didn’t see the tall, mysterious stranger in his path until he crashed hard into his massive chest.

The impact was so powerful that it sent Steve hurdling backward. The back of his head smacked the steel railing, which sparked an explosion of stars fluttering in the corner of his vision.

* * * *

“Watch where the hell you’re going!” Victor Valente reprimanded the clumsy human.

Of all the times for someone to get in his way, it had to be now when he was late. His father was waiting, and one didn’t make his father wait, especially not his eldest son, the black sheep of the family.

Helder Valente never wasted a moment’s time offering his distaste in his son’s abilities and accomplishments. “You are such a disappointment,” and “You ought to know better,” were interchangeable phrases Helder used on the rare occasions when he spoke to Victor.

Helder Valente was one of the four elder vampires in the state who demanded respect from his coven and his children. From his last count, Victor had twenty siblings. Their ages ranged from a hundred and fifteen years old to as young as two.

Helder had turned them after he’d chosen them, draining their blood in his feverish hunger. Wanting to claim their souls, he’d allowed them to feed on his blood, thus transforming them into vampires.

Victor didn’t know how old his vampire father was. Nor did he remember any of his life before he’d been turned from human to vampire. Helder had wiped away his memory of that life, just like he’d done with all his children. It was for their own good not to know, he’d often say whenever one of them asked.

Victor had been born again as a creature of the night in 1898. He was one hundred and nineteen years old. His one hundred and twentieth birthday was coming up in November, but he hardly took note of it. Having lived as long as he had, seeing and experiencing all he had, he did not look forward to yet another year on this earth as a blasphemous creature.

But that didn’t mean he wanted it to end, either. He just wanted to find someone with whom he could enjoy life, someone who could love him for who he was unconditionally, and who would not recoil at the thought of touching his ice-cold body.

He’d found that special someone a decade ago, whom he’d loved deeply, but circumstances, and his father had torn them apart.

There’d been no one since then…until now.

As he saw the human fall backward after their collision, he locked gazes with his enchanting sapphire-blue shocked eyes.

His non-beating heart actually stirred. It wasn’t quite a beat, but it did jiggle and plump.

He wasn’t quick enough in his reaction to catch him before the human’s head came into contact with the railing.

“I’m sorry.” He helped the man up onto his feet. “Are you all right?” he asked peering keenly into his eyes, searching for any signs of a possible concussion.

“I’m okay.” The human rubbed the back of his head. “It was my fault. I wasn’t looking where I was going. I was too busy trying to zip this.” He held up his open backpack.

“Come on, Steve. We’ve got to get going to the Sunrise Hotel. I told them we’d be checking in at ten,” the man beside them stated.

Victor hadn’t even noticed the tall, pale, lanky man until he’d spoken.

“Umm, yeah,” Steve said but didn’t waver his gaze from Victor.

They stood only a couple of feet apart. Steve’s human scent was intoxicating. Victor had to muster all his willpower to restrain himself from grabbing him into his arms and kissing him passionately.

To touch those supple, warm lips…

The incoming text message on his cell phone drew him quickly out of his reverie.

He knew who it was even before he checked the screen. Where the hell are you!!!!!!

From the six exclamation points in his text, his father was obviously close to his boiling point.

“I gotta go.” He began to scurry away, but he twisted his head to shout over his shoulder, “Once again, I’m sorry for bumping into you.”

Steve grinned, waving. He never broke eye contact as Victor moved farther and farther away.

Victor knew that although they had to part ways now, they’d soon reunite.

ADULT EXCERPT

Steve moaned, longing to explore more. Again. Yes, again. He’d kissed these lips before. And no, not in his dream, but in real life.

It all became clear to him. He drew back to stare into those enchanting crystal blue eyes that mirrored the light all around them. “Victor? It’s you?”

Tears seemed to mist Victor’s eyes, which only brightened the light inside them. “Yes, it’s me.”

Steve’s heart trembled as he drew his hands to cup Victor’s beautiful face. He knew it had been a long time since they’d last been together. How long exactly seemed muddled in his mind.

As if understanding what was running through Steve’s mind, Victor said, “I’m sorry I pushed you away. I didn’t want to.”

Searching his eyes, trying to read his soul, he asked, “Do you still love me?”

With glistening eyes, Victor nodded. “Yes. I do. I love you more than ever before.”

“I love you, too.” Steve smiled, bringing his lips to Victor’s cold ones. He felt a pleasurable chill run through him when their mouths merged.

There was a void and confusion in his brain, but at the moment it didn’t matter. He’d sort things out later. What he wanted more than anything else at this moment was to fuck Victor.

His cock grew and throbbed in his pants while he glided his hands over Victor’s arms and shoulders, feeling his rock-hard, defined muscles. He pushed him back against the couch, wiggling his hand between them, aiming for Victor’s pants zipper.

Victor blocked his hand and mumbled, “You sure you want to do this?”

Steve wondered if Victor was having second thoughts. Was something or someone holding him back? He knew they hadn’t seen one another for some time, maybe Victor had found someone else.

“I want to do this. Do you?” he asked.

Victor half laughed. “I want to fuck you more than anything else. It’s just you were dizzy. You’re not feeling well.”

“The dizziness is gone. I’m good.” He toyed with Victor’s top shirt button, offering him a salacious smirk. “So what are you waiting for to fuck me?”

Victor growled. “All right.” He brought his hungry, demanding lips over Steve’s. He took Steve’s breath away when he held him in his steel arms, lifting him effortlessly.

Steve grabbed the cushion beside him on the couch, tossing it onto the carpet right before Victor laid him down.

When Victor withdrew his cold luscious lips, he stood and began to undress. With his nimble fingers, he unbuttoned his shirt while he stared at Steve with his adoring eyes.

Steve lacked Victor’s elegance as he tried to unbutton his shirt. Ogling Victor’s hairless, toned chest and ripped abs distracted him. Steve had forgotten a button. It popped as he shrugged the shirt roughly off.

It was a designer shirt that cost him a pretty penny, but it didn’t matter. Time was of the essence. If he didn’t strip naked this instant, he’d go crazy.

He wanted Victor to fuck him so bad, to sink his hard, long cock deep inside his ass. Victor was and would always be the best lover Steve ever had.

His well-endowed cock, his strength, agility, and his stamina weren’t what made Victor so good in bed. It was his gentleness, his love, and knowing what made Steve writhe in ecstasy that did. Steve’s climaxes had been numerous and beyond satisfying with Victor. They were heaven made bliss.

And he longed to reach that heaven made bliss once more. He had waited too long.

Victor’s hard, aroused cock and his long, muscular legs caught Steve’s attention the second Victor slid out of his pants.

Steve bit his lower lip trying to contain his sexual excitement. If he didn’t calm down, he would come before they even got started.

Instead, he took deep breaths, anticipating Victor’s touch. His dexterous, cold fingers caressed Steve’s bare chest, circulating his pecs and teasing his nipples.

Victor purred, staring longingly into Steve’s eyes. “I’ve imagined touching you like this every day and every night we’ve been apart.”

He bowed his head to wrap his cold, supple lips around Steve’s nipple. Steve’s heart skipped a beat, and his cock twitched.

When Victor sucked and nibbled it, Steve groaned. “Don’t torture me like this. I want you to fuck me now, and then we can indulge in foreplay.”

The need for sexual release was consuming him.

Victor smiled seductively as he rose and nodded. “Turn over, sexy, and show me that fine ass of yours.”

Steve’s heart’s irregular beat speeded, making it harder to breathe normally. He had to take deeper breaths.

“Mmm, how I missed this ass,” Victor moaned, rubbing and caressing his ass cheeks.

Steve could sense Victor’s eyes on him. Hearing his praising words turned his body on fire.

Shivers of ecstasy rolled over Steve’s back and legs. Goose bumps spread on his skin.

Something cold and wet touched Steve’s ass. It wasn’t Victor’s hand. It was his aroused, wet cock, which he glided back and forth over Steve’s asshole.

Waves of pleasure enveloped Steve.