“Close your eyes, Richard. Maybe if you pretend I’m Flo on steroids . . .” I brushed against him and dropped the sheet.

“Stop it. You’re beautiful, Gloriana. Perfect. But you’re not yourself.” Richard gave me a good long look, like he was thinking about the gate to Heaven—I knew the religious angle would get to him—then he inhaled again. “No, this isn’t going to happen.” He stalked into the living room. “Get dressed.”

I slipped on a nylon robe, but didn’t tie it. “When I was a dancer in Vegas I learned some pretty good moves. Check it out.” I picked up the remote and turned on the CD player. I knew just the track I wanted. The slow sultry music filled the apartment, Alicia Keys singing “Fallin.” I danced around Richard, ignoring the scratching at the door from the hallway. If those dogs thought I was letting them in now . . . How icky would that be? I stretched, undulated, even tried a high kick. Oops. Something wrong with my balance. Richard grabbed me before I fell and I decided this was a good thing.

“Sorry.” I smiled, clung to him and kind of rubbed myself on him. Then I pushed him away. Obviously he liked the chase. So I took another turn around the room. Seven veils would have been nice, but at least I could play with the robe. I knocked over a pile of DVDs and kicked them out of the way. Dirty Dancing crunched under my feet. Okay, I could do dirty. A bump and grind. I checked my audience. Richard couldn’t look away.

I let the robe slide down my shoulders and fall to the floor and picked up a throw pillow. I held it in front of me like a G -string while I shimmied my boobs. Closer to Richard. Oh, yeah, just brush that hard chest with my nipples. Ooo. My nipples hurt. I dropped the pillow to rub my hands over them.

“Help me, Richard. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I need your mouth on me. Right. Now.” I practically threw him onto the couch. I think I took him by surprise because he didn’t resist. I straddled him and pressed a breast to his lips. “Please.”

I closed my eyes when he sucked my nipple into his mouth. Good. Now that I had him distracted, I knew where a male ’s working parts were by feel. I got him unzipped again then took his cock in my hands. Another inch or two and he’d be inside me. I wiggled my hips into position.

“No!” He grabbed my ass and shifted me off his lap.

“Damn it!” I tried to pry his hands off me. “Why aren’t you cooperating?” I leaned over and bit his shoulder and not a love bite either. The blood welled up and I licked it clean. Oh, my. Nothing tastes better than an ancient vampire. More. I needed a lot more. Right after we . . .

“Gloriana.” He growled my name, but pushed me off of him.

I prowled the room, desperate to get things going. I was Gloriana Freakin ’ St. Clair, queen of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Didn’t Richard get that? He was off the couch and watching me, eyes gleaming, damned zipper up again. But his shirt was still in the bedroom where I’d flung it. Hah!

I swept everything off the wooden coffee table, glad I’d sold the old one with its cold marble top. Magazines, re-motes and an empty Fangtastic bottle flew in every direction. I lay back, one leg on either side of the wood, feet on the floor. Could I look any more inviting?

“Come here, big boy. Give it to me.” I grinned at him and wiggled my hips. Oh, hell. “Ow.” I jumped up and looked back at my bum.

“What?” Richard turned me and examined my backside.

“Splinter.”

“I see it.” He gently pulled out the sliver of wood, then dropped to one knee and licked the tiny cut.

“Yes.” I sighed. “That’s what I want. Lick every inch of me, Richard.” I swayed and reached back to thread my fingers through his soft hair. “Keep going, lower.” I held on and spread my legs.

“No. I shouldn’t have done that. It was the smell of your blood.”

I looked back and saw him lick his lips. “Go for it, then. Bite my ass. Though there’s a vein a little lower on my inner thigh that would be a whole lot better.” For both of us. I shivered thinking about his fangs taking me there. “Please.”

“No. This isn’t right.” He pulled back.

I whirled and threw myself on him, knocking him back on the rug. “This is right. Quit teasing me, you son of a bitch.” I found his jugular and sank my fangs into his warm skin, sucking hard.

His fingers dug into my hair, holding me tightly against his neck. I swallowed, savored the taste for a moment, then decided I ’d had enough. I tried to pull away but he kept his hand on my head, refusing to release me. He was too damned strong for me to muscle away from him. I fisted my hands and hit his chest, sign language for let me go.

“Keep feeding, Glory. Dilute that poison you’ve got in your system.”

Poison? Get real. I was flying high, more aroused than I’d ever been in my life. Wasn’t he feeling this chemistry between us? But he still hadn’t taken me. I couldn’t freakin’ believe it. He’d even managed to get his zipper back up for the thousandth time. I hit him again, then tried a little mind control, since my mouth was clamped to his neck.

“Let me go, Richard. Make love to me. Or if that’s too much commitment for you, call it sex. Let’s have hot, no holds barred, sex. We can feed from each other later. Afterward. I’ll do anything you want if you’ll just take me.”

I groaned and pushed, desperate to put some space between my fangs and his vein. I wasn’t hungry for this. I’d just presented him with an offer that no self-respecting male vampire would ever refuse.

“No, Gloriana. No.”

Tears burned my eyes and I collapsed against him. Still he wouldn ’t let me stop feeding, his damned strong hands holding me firmly. I drank and swallowed and drank again. Until I felt sated, bloated, like I ’d gag if I had to take in another drop. Finally, finally, he took his hands from my head. I gasped for air. My head, too heavy to support, fell to his shoulder. He cradled me against his chest.

“Better, Gloriana?” He stroked my naked back, gently. And wasn’t that a hell of an attitude? I burrowed closer to him anyway.

“Better?” I mentally went through a check list. Still aroused, but not quite as desperately. Check. Warm from feeding and the pressure of his bare chest against mine. Check. Naked. Me, not him. Okay, now I was hot with embarrassment. Forget lists. My mental state was a mess, part frustration, part hating like hell that I’d, oh, yes, waved my titties at Richard and given him my best lap dance and still been rejected.

“I didn’t, wouldn’t reject you, Gloriana.” Richard touched my hair, petting me like a favorite cat. “What I rejected was the drug you had controlling you. You would have hated me tomorrow if I’d taken you up on your offer.”

“Hated you? We’ll never know now, will we? At least I think I’ll stop attacking you now. Sorry. And quit reading my mind.” I couldn’t quite open my eyes. I was such a fool. Had Vamp Viagra made me throw myself at him?

Oh. My. God. That stuff was awesome. I mean horrible. Oh, hell. I still couldn’t think straight. I’d been drugged, damn it. That weasel Simon Destiny. If I ever got my hands on him . . .

But what about the dancing? Tears burned behind my closed eyelids. Had I messed up any chance of having a regular date with Richard? Had I repulsed him?

“I’m really sorry, Richard,” I whispered.

He picked me up and walked to the bedroom, staggering a little because I’d taken him down about a quart or maybe even a gallon. When we got to my bed, I wouldn’t let him go. Surely there was some way I could make this up to him. I pulled him down beside me. I didn’t feel the urgency anymore. Not to mate with him. But I needed his comfort, his warmth and to be close to him. I’d taken so much of his blood, that I felt part of him inside me. Like we breathed with the same breath, touched with the same hands. He traced a path from my breasts to my hip, then pulled me closer. Yeah, I felt that he did want me. I sighed and offered my neck.

“Feed from me, Richard. Please. I want you to.” I opened my eyes. “And I do know what I’m saying this time.” I was finally coming down from whatever astral plane I’d been on. When his fangs pierced my neck, I groaned. I felt the pull and held him close. My tender breasts scraped against his chest and I felt another surge of desire. Vampire Viagra. How long did it last? How long could I last without some kind of big finish?

I reached down, touched myself and screamed. Yep, screamed, shrieked, blew completely apart in a world class orgasm, wilder, more intense than anything I’d ever felt in my entire centuries long life. Crash! Richard fell on top of me, a vamp sandwich between me and my dogs. You heard me, my dogs.

“Son of a bitch. Let me go! That’s my leg, damn it.”

“I know, asshole. Get off of Glory before I rip you apart. Leg first. Head second.” Will had the tough guy act down.

“Glory, what’s this guy doing to you?” Valdez gave Richard a head butt that knocked him off the bed to hit the floor. “Say something.”

I grabbed the sheet before I exposed myself even more to all and sundry. “I’m fine. Seriously. Will, let him go.”

I stared at Will until he dropped Richard’s leg. Blood gushed, a guaranteed mood killer. Who was I kidding? I licked my lips. Even after my recent fill-up I still craved another taste. It had been really good.

“You screamed, Blondie. Like he was killing you.” Valdez sat on the bed, next to me. He looked me in the eye. “What happened? ”

“Vampire Viagra. That’s what happened.” I grabbed a pillow, stripped off the case and wrapped it around Richard ’s calf. Richard staggered to his feet and wiped at the blood. But he wasn’t an ancient vamp for nothing. The flow had already slowed to a trickle.

“Impressive defense.” Richard locked eyes with Will, then Valdez. “Your dogs really do take their jobs seriously.”

“Damn straight.” Will jumped up next to Valdez and I had to grip the sheet when it slipped too low. “We won’t let anyone get to our Glory.”