Page 3 of I Dated a Golden Vampire (Blind Date Corporation #21)

C abree was walked into a very elegant dining room, and as there was a lap decoration in place, she looked at Cavel. “You know what you have to do.”

Cavel winced, pulled out Cabree’s chair, sat down, and Cabree popped herself into his lap.

Denog suddenly looked furious. “What are you doing?”

“Well, you have a woman in your lap, and as I am smaller than Cavel, he would crush me if we arranged ourselves with your logic.”

His lap ornament was glaring at her.

Cabree nuzzled Cavel’s neck, licked his earlobe, and stroked his chest. Cavel groaned. “You are killing me.”

“Naw. I don’t think he wants more than energy.”

Denog cleared his throat. “Miss, what are you?”

“Just a standard blood-based active.”

“I tasted...”

“Pleasure. I taste like pleasure. Could be worse. Could be cotton candy.” She nuzzled Cavel again.

Denog grunted, and the young lady got off his lap. “I have gotten rid of mine. Would you return the favour?”

She turned Cavel’s head and kissed him softly. “Thank you for being my chair.”

“My pleasure.” He set her on her feet and got out of the chair. She blinked. Yeah, he had enjoyed it.

She was about to sit, but Denog pulled the chair next to him. She smiled and walked over to the chair. She sat and watched Cavel escorting the young lady from the room. She smiled. “The furniture doesn’t like me.”

He grinned. “You don’t seem shocked by it.”

“Naw, I have seen guys weighing their cocks down before. Is it so light, it will just fly away? Or does it get cold? That I can sympathize with.”

He was staring at her. “You aren’t nervous at all.”

“I am a little nervous. I can still bleed out. That’s the worst that can happen.”

“How did you learn that trick with my nose?”

“I have met drinkers before, but I am a little much. Like a liqueur on a beer diet.”

“I could drink you in every day.” Denog looked at her with a smile.

“If you have an extraction kit, I can give you a pint or two before I leave.”

Denog nodded. “That would be welcome.”

A menu was presented to her by a nervous server, and she made up her mind swiftly. She chose a cheese tray, beef in pastry, and a dessert.

Denog nodded. “Sensible choices considering.”

She shrugged. “Maintaining a healthy base for the blood is important. Especially if I drain it out to warm up.”

He focused on her words. “Drain?”

“Yeah, if it builds up in my system, I go hypothermic. When blood is removed, I get warm. If I have to remove it myself, I do.”

He gasped. “You waste it?”

“I donate some to research, but it isn’t suitable for drinking by the average active.” She looked around. “This is a very nice place.”

“I think so.” Denog smiled. “Are you enjoying your journey through the islands?”

“I am enjoying my vacation. I haven’t taken one before. It is nice and warm here.” Her cider was brought, and she sipped and smiled.

“Which islands have you seen?”

“None. I have just been lying in the sun.”

“You don’t burn?”

“No. I just get nice and warm.”

Denog smiled. “What do you want for one night?”

“What?”

“I would like you in my bed for one night.”

She bit her lip. “I don’t know. My boss might know. You aren’t a patron, are you?”

He paused. “With the BDC? Yes. Why?”

“Oh. Right. I am not active yet.”

Denog blinked. “You are an escort?”

“I was supposed to be, but my test got lost in the shuffle, and I didn’t actually have my first patron experience.”

He was staring at her and then opened his com. He growled. “Management.”

What followed was that Cabree got her cheese platter, and Denog got hold of Zera.

Zera sent a message to Cabree. “ Do you want to? I can authorize it if you do. ”

“Yes.”

“ Fine. Stop drinking. Switch to juice. The contract will have you back on your ship at dawn. ”

“I need to finish dinner.”

“ Got it going in the contract. ”

“Give him a discount because I am not going to be good at this.”

Zera laughed. “ You are killing me here. ”

“Sorry. This is a surprise, but what the hell. Oh, and there can’t be anyone else in the bed.”

“ Noted. Give me a few minutes .”

She looked to the server. “Can I get some kind of fruit juice instead of the cider?”

“You don’t like it?”

“I just started work.”

Denog snorted, and he outlined what he wanted from her for his side of the contract. Sex, blood, and her in his arms until dawn.

She was nibbling at her cheese platter with hard crackers, and then a selection of juices was lined up in front of her.

She darted looks at Denog as he waited for the contract. When it arrived in her com, she looked and read the details, blushing a lot. This was different. Her untouchability was in her lack of a contract. She bit her lip and signed the contract. Denog grinned and did the same.

For what it is worth, you are a good match.

She worked her way through the cheese platter, and then it was taken when her main was set in front of her. She cracked through the pastry around the beef, and he began speaking to her.

“What is your day job, Cabree?”

“I am a programmer.”

“Who do you work for?”

“Um, security and defense contractors.”

He raised his brows. “Really?”

She kept eating and made her way through the delicious food, slightly sad that she couldn’t slow down and enjoy it. He was watching that fork with intensity.

When the dessert came, it was in the form of a cream and berry soup. She dipped her spoon in and ate carefully but quickly.

Denog said, “You didn’t savour it.”

“You are watching me eat. It isn’t a standard behaviour.”

He grinned. “My diet is exclusively liquid. I haven’t consumed solids since I activated.”

“Oh, that sucks.”

He chuckled. “This is less formal than other dates I have had.”

Her face flushed scarlet. “I am so sorry. I did ask Zera to give you a discount because I am not good at this.”

Denog chuckled. “How considerate.”

“You are already being used as a training. I didn’t want to gouge you.” She sipped at the pineapple juice.

“I am being used as training? Interesting.”

She blushed. “I thought I explained that earlier.”

He paused. “You did. I recall that you did.”

She sipped at another juice and made a face.

“You don’t like it?”

“Lots of acid in a mango.”

“Slide it over.”

She slid the glass over, and he took it, drinking from the place her mouth had been. “You are right. Very acidic.”

Cabree asked, “So, how do your teeth work? Do they puncture and hold the wound open while the tissue bleeds?”

He blinked. “Yes.”

“So, you have just lost the enzymes to break down tissue.”

“You know a bit about this.”

“Just a bit. A friend of mine does research with actives.”

He nodded. “But you have escort training, just no practical application.”

“The time to ask that would have been before you signed the contract, but yes.”

“Why?”

“The drinker who was supposed to be my first date mistook my layered clothing for an enlarged body, and he joked with his friends that I would give him high cholesterol. I took offense and nullified him as a candidate.”

Denog blinked. “He said that?”

“He’s in a bonded quad, but he is the only drinker that they had to start me on.”

“I see.”

“Yeah. I know. I am petty as fuck. He didn’t know what I tasted like, so he can be forgiven for his lack in judgment.”

“But your feelings are still hurt.”

She shrugged. “At home, the longer I go between donations, the colder I feel. The reflex is to put on more clothes, so yeah. I look puffy.”

Denog chuckled. “But here, it is warm, so you need less concealment.”

“Yes.” She finished her pineapple juice and then sipped at her water.

“So, are you going to look at me or continue to drink everything at the table?”

“I am debating it.”

He snorted and got to his feet, extending his hand to her.

She sighed and followed protocol, letting him guide her to her feet.

He offered her his arm, and she slid her hand around his elbow, taking in the island clothing he was wearing at that point.

She honestly hadn’t noticed that he was wearing a wrap around his hips and a loose vest of a matching fabric and nothing else.

She was wearing more fabric than he was.

His skin was warm, and she wanted to curl up against him, so proximity would not have to be forced.

The two lap sitters saw him moving toward what were obviously his private quarters. They came toward them, and one reached out to touch him, and he growled.

“But, Lord Denog? You said you couldn’t sleep without us.” She used a babyish tone, and her friend nodded in response.

Cabree answered her. She used her best seductive tone. “He is not planning on sleeping.”

Denog’s arm got rigid as he looked down at her. “She is not wrong. I am on a date, so I will see you ladies tomorrow. Late tomorrow.”

Cabree walked with him, and she fought the urge to put her head on his shoulder. He was so warm.

They walked past three sets of guards before they walked a long hallway, and Denog opened the door and ushered her inside.

She looked around at the open space with wide windows that overlooked a cliff. “Oh, wow. I thought for sure there would be another one of those bunnies waiting in your bed.”

“No one enters my quarters without me.” He was walking calmly to the bed platform.

“Oh. That’s comforting.”

He chuckled and stood at the foot of the bed, sliding out of his vest and removing the wrap that covered what was covered.

He flipped off his sandals, and that made her smile. She swayed and reached back.

He walked to her, naked and aroused. “I want to do this slowly.”

She had been lectured on downplaying her appearance. Actives weren’t looking at the same things that humans were. With humans, it was strictly appearance when it came to basic attraction. When it came to actives, the energy signature and scent counted for a lot.

The kiss came as a surprise. She liked it. He held her head as his tongue delved into her mouth, and she tasted the mango juice while he tasted everything else.