Page 91 of Bite Me

“Sweetheart, come here.”

He put my laptop bag aside and pulled me closer. I laid my head on his shoulder while he tugged the jacket down my arms and hung it on the coat rack. Then he unbuttoned my shirt and slid his hands underneath. He ran them up my back.

“God, you’re tense.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Who’s the culprit?”

“Charles Carlsson Jr.”

“What did Charlie do now?”

“An insignificant right-winger joked about Charlie wearing a baby carrier. He said that the greatest action hero of our time had quit his career to become a nanny and that he’d been neutered. Just one of those bitter incel podcasts, you know, which would have had zero reach.”

“Except Charlie took the bait.”

“Yup. He replied. Left a thread of comments, some in all caps.”

“He never learns, does he?”

“Nope. The podcast blew up, and the asshole is rubbing his hands because Charlie’s rants brought him several hundred K new followers in just a few hours.”

“Pierce must be furious.”

“Let’s just say that I hope Charlie’s into spanking.”

Chuckling, Russel picked me up, and I wrapped my legs around his waist as he carried me to the living room.

“So you spent the afternoon cleaning up their messes yet again.”

“We’ll be having a serious meeting on Monday. Pierce wants me to help him convince Charlie to relinquish his social media accounts to us so we can manage his presence.”

“They should have done it months ago. Charlie is hopeless.”

“He’s a good guy, but he sure has a temper.”

Russel tugged my pants off and sat on the sofa with me straddling his lap. He massaged my shoulders, and I kissed the side of his throat. I could feel his half-hard cock against mine, but I wasn’t in a hurry. We had all the time in the world. I would have to work on Sunday afternoon, but for now, there was just my vampire and me.

“Do you want to talk it through?” he asked. His fingers dug into my tense muscles, and I felt myself melting in his expert care.

“Nah. Maybe on Sunday after lunch. I’ll have to work a bit then. From now until then, I want to pretend none of that concerns me.”

“It doesn’t. It’s their mess, not yours. If they don’t listen to your advice, that’s their problem.”

“That’s what Anthony said. He was really chill about it. He even hinted that we have lucrative long-term clients as long as Helen and Pierce are with Charlie because he’ll always stir shit.”

“There’s that.”

“We might ask you to come in next week and sit with Charlie for a few hours. He listens to you more than me. But we won’t talk about that now. Not until Sunday.”

“No work until Sunday.”

At least I didn’t have to go see Mom this weekend. Since Russel began coming with me, the visits had been easier to navigate. She seemed scared of him and even showed signs of grudging respect toward me when she witnessed his apparent devotion to me. But thinking of her still made me anxious, and right now, I wanted to forget about everything except Russel.

His lips brushed my forehead, and I knew what I needed to let the last of the tension go.

“Bite me?” I whispered.