Smolder (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #29)(45)

“One good slap and I’d fall over,” I said, and I laughed a little nervously, a little eagerly. He and Nicky co-topped me sometimes, and there was something about their dynamics that turned my mostly submissive boy into a dominant head space that I hadn’t even known he had inside him.

“We could chain you with your arms up, using the soft leather cuffs so you could hold on to them while we marked up your beautiful ass.” One of his hands slid over my bare skin where the dress riding up had exposed me. It was a gentle caress, but the look on his face while he watched me in the mirror promised something less gentle later. It was my turn to shiver in his arms.

“I don’t think I could stand that long in these heels even with the cuffs to hang on to,” I said, leaning into his hand, rubbing my face against the side of his so I could lay a kiss on the warm, smooth skin of his neck.

He pressed himself tighter against me, fingers starting to dig into my ass. “We can find different shoes and matching thongs for you to wear.” His voice was lower, the first rush of testosterone already pumping through his body. He used his other hand to raise the dress up all the way to my waist, then pressed the front of his body against the front of mine. For once the height was perfect for him to push the growing hardness of his body against the soft mound of mine. Usually when we stood like this he was pressed against my stomach, which felt good, but this felt better.

“Yes,” I breathed.

He drew back enough so he could see my face. “Are you agreeing to spanking, or just getting distracted by this.” He started rubbing himself against the front of me. He was inside jeans, and I had one layer of silky cloth between me and his efforts, which meant my nerve endings were closer to the surface.

I shuddered in his arms, eyes fluttering closed, whispering, “Both.”

There was a knock on the door. “Sorry to interrupt,” Ethan said, “but have you bespelled Nathaniel, or are you just having your usual effect on each other?”

That made us both laugh. “I’m fine,” Nathaniel called out.

“Then Jean-Claude asked me to hurry you along, so that Anita’s makeup won’t delay him taking the stage.”

I looked at myself in the mirror then and realized that Nathaniel had totally distracted me from the mess that Rodina and I had made of my mouth and chin. The makeup looked like what happens when a car swipes another’s paint job with a little fender-bender thrown in, but the rest of the car still looks perfect. “Perfect from here up,” I said, gesturing in the mirror.

“You’re always perfect,” Nathaniel said, “but you’re lucky some of the dancers wear more makeup than I do.”

“I am lucky that someone here has more makeup than you and I do.” He laughed and we opened the door so Ethan could herd us to the dancers’ dressing room, where they were waiting like a beauty assembly line to repair the damage and get me back to my seat. Nathaniel helped me use makeup cleaning cloths to take off all the makeup from below the line of mess. Apparently, I’d ruined it so well that they needed clean skin and to just start all over. Ethan stayed out of the way since he knew less than I did about this kind of makeup. He took up his post by the door, alert for danger, but the only danger seemed to be a fight breaking out between the dancers on exactly what color of base matched what I was wearing.





18

BUZZ CAME IN while they were adding the contouring powder to the base they’d already smoothed out. “I know this is like date night and Jean-Claude is the boss, but are you okay to be around the audience?”

I motioned the makeup brushes away so I could say, “I’m fine.”

“You sure? I’ve never seen you lose control like that here.”

I looked at him in the mirror and thought about it for a few seconds as the dancers descended with brushes and powder. When they were done and the only thing left was lipstick, I said, “I feel good now, solid in my head. I think I was picking up on Rodina and Ru.”

“They’re your Brides, Anita, you’re not supposed to pick up on them,” Ethan said from the doorway.

“I pick up on Nicky more.”

“You’re in love with him.”

“It’s their birthday, and only the second one since their brother died. I think that was too much emotion for me to be able to ignore.”

“Geez,” Buzz said, “they shouldn’t have been working tonight.”

“I’ll make a note so they’re off next year,” I said.

“I’ve already texted Claudia,” Ethan said.

“Thanks, Ethan.”

“Part of the job, and since Buzz brought it up, are you sure you’re good for being in public tonight?”

“I feel fine now. I really do think it was the twins”—I closed my eyes and let out a long sigh

—“sorry, triplets, and their grief.”

Nathaniel said, “You feel normal now.”

“You do feel better in my head since they left,” Ethan conceded.

“Then let’s finish up the lipstick and get me out of here and back to my seat.”

“The audience is getting kind of restless,” Buzz said.

“Then no more talking,” Nathaniel said with a smile.

I might have replied but the tallest dancer leaned over me with my own lipstick in his hands. He told me to hold still and started painting back the perfect lines that all the kissing had wiped away. I might have interrupted it to squirm, or even ask the dancer’s name, because I couldn’t remember it.