If he was going to have to face her ex-lover, he wanted her teeth marks all over him. She’d told him that she and Cheng never shared blood, so he wanted to throw her bite marks in his face.
Was it petty? Yes.
Did he care? No.
Besides, he always wanted her to bite him. If it were up to Ben, she’d sink her teeth into him every night, all over his body.
She rose over him, her fangs wickedly curving in her mouth. Her eyes were hooded with desire as he ran his fingers over her body, teasing her breasts and stroking her belly.
“Where?”
He turned his neck to the side, baring his throat to her.
She pressed her mouth to his neck and slid her teeth into his flesh.
His back arched as he gripped her waist. The heat rose on the surface of his skin, and the air around them ignited with amnis.
She drank from him, then licked at his neck like a satisfied cat, sealing the wound.
“Not too much,” he whispered. He wanted them visible.
Tenzin’s eyes met his, and she understood. The corner of her mouth turned up. “More?”
He was already hard, and he could smell her body ready for him, but he nodded. “More.”
She hovered over him and bared his right shoulder where his neck met his collarbone, sinking her fangs into the hard muscle there, licking the blood away and leaving the wounds raw. Then she moved down his body, scraping her fangs along his chest, his defined abdominals, and licking lazily at the band of muscle that arrowed along his waist.
She straddled him and bent over, her arms framing his narrow hips as she brushed her cheek along his aching erection. She ran a fang delicately along the turgid flesh, and Ben nearly came just from watching her. But instead of taking him in her mouth or sinking her fangs into his inner thigh, she moved up and struck along the hard vee of muscle at his waist.
Ben gave a hoarse cry as Tenzin sank her teeth into his left side and pulled, nearly ripping his flesh in her ferocity. Her mouth bloody, she moved to the other side, leaving twin wounds visible at his waist. Then she licked them clean, moved up his body, and slid onto his erection with a satisfied sigh.
“Don’t come yet,” she whispered. “Not yet.”
He groaned, but he managed to hold back from the brink.
Ben couldn’t take his eyes off her. Her mouth was red with his blood, and the aching pleasure pain of her bite bloomed over his torso and neck. Her eyes were fire when she looked down, and he rose, sitting and gripping her hip with one hand as he pulled her down harder, moving her up and down his cock, working her body over his.
Her eyes were half-closed when she leaned her head to the side and bared her throat. She hooked one arm around Ben’s neck and pressed him closer.
“Now.” Her voice was a breathy moan. “Now, Benjamin.”
His fangs ached in his mouth as he struck her neck and drank the rich blood that hit his tongue. He felt her muscles convulse around him, and he let himself follow her climax, chasing the heady pleasure of amnis, blood, and joined flesh.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, whispering something nonsensical into the air as Ben ran his hands up and down her back, easing her down from her peak.
He felt her blood in his body, her amnis running along his skin, through his nerves, and filling his mind with heightened awareness. The scents in the room were sharper. His vision even clearer. He felt every hair on his body rise to follow her fingers as they skimmed over his shoulders.
After an hour of more leisurely lovemaking, Ben heard a signal horn in the distance and a few seconds later, an answering sound.
He looked at Tenzin, her mouth, neck, and breasts covered in smears of blood.
That should not be as sexy as it is.
Ben shook his head and tapped her visible fang. “I’m thinking a shower might be a good idea.”
The corner of her mouth turned up. “You’re the one who wanted to show off.”
“Thanks.” He had half a dozen bite marks on his torso, and at least three would be visible even if he was wearing a long-sleeved shirt. “I think he’ll get the message.”
The captain pulled the yacht up to a private dock located in a luxury community south of the city and owned by Cheng. It was dotted with expensive villas and modern mansions overlooking the water and boasted a man-made beach, pleasure islands, and immaculate landscaping designed to appeal to the ultrarich of Shanghai. Hell, the ultrarich from any country on the globe.
Ben took note of various flags flying off neighboring boats as he floated from the deck of the Penglai yacht to the pristine white walkway where Jonathan, a British water vampire who acted as Cheng’s second, waited for them.
“Benjamin Vecchio.” Jonathan was so pale he nearly glowed in the moonlight, but his blue eyes appeared friendly. “It’s been too long.”
“It’s been a while.” He reached out before he remembered Jonathan didn’t shake hands. “Is Cheng waiting for us?”
“He is.” Jonathan’s eyes lingered on Ben’s neck, then caught a bite Tenzin had left on his inner biceps. “Is she joining us? He’ll be expecting her.”
“You know she does what she wants.”
Jonathan’s eyes pointedly looked at Ben’s neck. “Obviously.”
A gangplank was latched onto the walkway, and Jae walked across in the company of one of the ship’s officers. They consulted quietly for a few minutes; then the officer nodded and returned to the ship, and Jae walked to Jonathan and Ben.
“Are you Jonathan?” Jae asked.
“I am.”
Jae hit his forty-five-degree bow with his usual precision, and Ben saw one of Jonathan’s eyebrows go up.
“I greet you in the name of Elder Han Xiang and extend my thanks for your cooperation in solving this mystery.”
Jonathan turned his cool blue gaze back to Ben. “I’m still not clear on what this mystery is.”
Ben didn’t know quite how to broach the topic of Penglai suspecting Cheng of grand theft, so he folded his hands and said, “Why don’t we wait for Tenzin so everyone is on the same page?”
“Very well.”
A few silent minutes later, Tenzin joined them on the dock, her hair flying wild in the ocean breeze. She wore a long tunic and loose pants, both in black, and Ben’s bite was immediately visible on the curve of her delicate neck, an angry red wound that she’d done nothing to heal.
As proud as Ben was to wear her marks on his body, he had a visceral and satisfied reaction to seeing her skin marred by his fangs.
Mine.
She wore his bite and a ruby ring on her left hand, the rich red stone winking in the moonlight like a gleaming drop of fresh blood.
“Jonathan,” Tenzin said. “Thank you for meeting us on such short notice.”
Cheng’s man immediately turned and started walking up the dock as Tenzin fell into step beside him. “It was short notice; you got lucky. You know you’re always welcome, but we’ve had meetings and trade negotiations every week for the past two months.”
“That’s a lot of time in the office for him.”
Jonathan chuckled a little. “Not so much time for him. More for me. He sweeps in at the end, impresses or frightens them, then makes his dramatic exit.”
“Still a pirate after all this time,” Ben muttered.