A Vampire for Christmas(56)

I could do it a few times a month without changing you or making you weak. I thought you weren’t interested in the bite?”

That was before you bit me.”

The swoon is good to mortals. Makes you sway with me. I like that.”

It makes me feel so close to you and jealous of all the women you’ve bitten.”

No need to be jealous of a quick bite. It’s just that. It feeds my need.”

Is that how it was when you bit me?”

Never.” He tilted his head and kissed her neck, tonguing it lazily, which brought her back to the delicious bliss she’d felt when they were making love. “Sway me more, lover.”

The vampire’s fangs glided into her vein and Olivia gasped and clutched his bicep. Her soul glittered and reached for the intrusion, pricking itself upon Daniel’s darkness and drowning, sinking, but loving every wicked moment.



HE SLIPPED OUT OF her bedroom as soon as he guessed she was sleeping. Dressing on his way to the door, Daniel shoved his feet in his boots and then quietly left. Outside, he pressed his back to the door and closed his eyes.

He could still taste her on his tongue. The rich, thick treat glided through him, seeking to cling, to master him. To overtake his soul with her brightness.

She thought his soul was deserving of love?

He wanted to be worthy, he really did.

CHAPTER FIVE



OLIVIA ADORATA WAS a sensation. Daniel could feel the love radiate out from the Times Square crowd as her voice carried over their heads and segued into their hearts. Her face filled the Jumbo Tron and snowflakes fluttered about her head. She sang “O Holy Night,” and he found himself staring in awe and mouthing the words he’d learned as a kid along with the audience.

Dressed all in white and sequins, she sparkled onstage, a brilliant star to lead wanderers to a promise of happiness. She wasn’t a monster, not in his mind. But he could understand now how she felt, in her heart, that her stage persona had become monstrous and too huge for her normal self who liked to be tucked away in a tiny apartment and bake cookies.

The vampire he had become was too huge for the investment broker he’d once been. But standing here in Olivia’s aura of sound and emotion, he knew he could stand forever—and he wanted to get a grasp on his monster so it didn’t bring them both down. He’d bitten her again. He wasn’t sure if that was good, bad or just plain evil.

He really liked her. Hell, he might even go so far as to—no, probably better not think it. Wouldn’t get his heart broken that way.

She said she loved you last night. Way to spoil the moment by freezing up on her, dude. You haven’t learned a thing about timing and women.

Yeah? What man did have a handle on the emotional stuff?

Scrubbing a hand over his head, he closed his eyes and concentrated on the words she sang. Fall on your knees… O hear the angel voices… And the soul felt its worth.

Lucky soul, that.

She wielded the voice of an angel who had touched his dark heart. And maybe, just maybe, a small portion of that heart, or even the edges, glowed brightly in the sound of her voice, responding to her touch in ways that brought him to his knees, wanting to worship her, not as a popular music idol, but as a gorgeous woman who needed love and understanding as much as he did.

His soul. Did it feel worthy of Olivia’s love?

They were two struggling through the mire, and had stumbled upon one another. Why couldn’t they make it work?

Hell, he wished it wasn’t Christmas Eve. The moon was high in the sky, though he couldn’t see it standing here in the middle of the city illuminated by unnatural lighting. But he felt the moon’s ominous presence and knew he had better things to do than lament the love he could never deserve.

Just as he forced himself to turn and leave, the crowd burst into applause. The song was over. Daniel cheered along with everyone, shouting out a few whoops—until he saw a new singer walk on stage to renewed cheers, and the man put his arm around Olivia. She introduced him as Parker Troy and he agreed to sing a duet with her, “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.”

And then he kissed Olivia full on the mouth to uproarious applause.

Daniel slapped a hand over his heart and stumbled backward, his steps stuttering as rapidly as his heartbeat.

Knew it, his conscience whispered. She was never yours. That soul of yours? Dark to the core and as unworthy as they come.

Turning and pushing through the tangle of worshippers, he blindly escaped the roar that threatened to suck him down to the ground and stomp upon his tender heart.