Phantom Desires (2 page)

She would never know he had been watching her in her new home for weeks, biding his time for the opportunity to meet her legitimately and put her under his spell. If such a thing was possible. This woman seemed to be immune from his more subtle abilities to an almost alarming degree.

She had even caught him as he watched her sleep that first night. It was all he could do to overpower her strong mind and lull her back into a dreamless sleep.

She also had the disturbing ability to see him in her dreams. Several times, he had found his consciousness seduced into her dream. Each time, he was able to extricate himself only after some difficulty, leaving her none the wiser.

Except that one time.

In that particularly hot dream they had shared, he’d pushed her too far. He had wanted so badly to taste her—even if it was only in a dream.

He’d brought her to a screaming orgasm with surprisingly little effort. The wave of pleasure had jolted her out of the dream before he could pull back and mask his presence. She had seen him that night, without a doubt.

But she was so sweet. He wanted to taste her in truth and perhaps he would, but first he had to work on seducing her mind.

Her strong mind and their close proximity made it imperative that he meet her in person and bring her under his power, but it had to be done in a subtle way. She had to be convinced that he was nothing special, no cause for alarm, so they could both live peacefully side-by-side in the wilderness.

Dmitri needed the solitude and peace of the open land as much as he surmised she did. He’d done some investigation into her background and learned of the high-powered lifestyle that had finally driven her out of the city and into the open places. He could commiserate with that feeling, but he needed the privacy of the open land for his very survival. Without the secrecy of his existence, all would be lost, and he could not let this one mortal woman endanger him.

She would come under his power tonight or she would die.

The coffee was strong and black, just the way she liked it. Carly gulped down another mouthful as she set the high-powered computer in front of her to its task. The program would take almost an hour to load and install. She would have to sit and watch, to be sure it all took place as it was supposed to. Not a very exciting part of her job, but essential nonetheless.

She was settling back to watch the screen when she felt a presence at her side. Looking up, she jumped a bit. The most handsome man she had ever seen was standing above her, his gaze inscrutable as it passed over her form like a caress. He looked vaguely familiar, his handsome face teasing her memory for a moment until she dismissed the odd thought as foolishness.

“Uh, Professor Belakov?” The department chair had warned her that his colleague might stop by to check on her progress. In answer, he rolled a chair out from the neighboring workstation and sat altogether too close for comfort.

“Call me Dmitri.”

His accent rolled over her, bathing her senses in warmth. She clenched her thighs together under the desk, feeling the wetness gathering there. All from just three words! What would happen, she wondered with an inward chuckle, if he uttered a longer sentence? Would she come on the spot? Gah! How embarrassing. But this guy was too good to be true. He was like a walking, talking erotic dream.

“Dmitri.” She tested how the exotic name rolled off her tongue and found she liked the taste of it. “I’m Carly. As you can probably see, the installation is proceeding according to plan. So far, so good.”

“Excellent.” He turned his gaze from the slowly scrolling screen to rest fully on her. “I was told you were the best in your field when I researched this project.”

She liked the sound of that. Even more, she liked the sound of his voice, his slight accent, his warmth. She could listen to him for hours. And yes, she decided he probably could make her come with just his voice alone. His voice sounded somehow familiar, but she couldn’t place it. He too, seemed familiar to her, but the memory was elusive. Like a dream. She shook her head at her own foolishness, trying to focus on the matter at hand.

“That’s a lovely thing to say.” She fumbled, realizing he was waiting for some response from her.

“It’s no more than the truth.”

His eyes seemed to sparkle in the low light of the office. She kept the lights down when she worked late so as to minimize the glare from the computer screens, but now it was serving a double purpose. The low light made the atmosphere more intimate between them, causing her to shift in her seat. Her stomach fluttered, as did regions farther down.

The computer beeped, requiring a few keystrokes from her, which she put in almost by rote. She noted his gaze following her fingers as they flew over the keyboard. Usually when people watched her work they made her nervous, but this man had an entirely unexpected effect on her. This man fired her long-dormant libido. He made her want things she had never wanted this badly before. He made her want to throw caution to the wind.

She finished entering the last string of commands and turned back to him. He was such a disturbingly masculine presence at her side she needed to make him leave so she could think.

“I’ll be at this a few more hours. It should probably finish the loading sequence somewhere around three in the morning.”

“So late?” His voice warmed with concern. “I don’t like the idea of you walking around campus alone at such an hour.”

She shrugged, trying not to show how much his concern warmed her inside. She had been alone so long. Nobody had ever really worried about her keeping odd hours. No one since her foster parents, and they were long gone.

“It can’t be helped. But I’ll be careful. I can call campus security to escort me to my car if I feel the need.”

“That will not do.” He made a slight
tsking
sound as he shook his head gravely from side to side. “I’ll tell you what. I need to mark a huge stack of essays. I can do that while you work here and when you’re done, I’ll walk you out myself.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to put you to any trouble.”

“No trouble at all.” He stood with some finality, his body language making her realize he would not take no for an answer. And what a body.

He was muscular and hard in all the right places.

“I insist,” he continued. “Perhaps you will join me for a cup of coffee at the all-night diner in town? I suffer from insomnia and find it difficult to sleep at night.”

His self-effacing little shrug touched her heart. For such a strong man to admit to any sort of weakness was somehow very endearing. How could she turn down such a simple request, especially when her more adventurous side was yelling at her to take him up on his offer. She took a steadying breath and nodded, liking the immediate light that came into his eyes.

“That would be nice. I could probably use a bit of time to unwind after this is done. It’s always the most boring, but nerve-wracking part of the job.” She chuckled and he followed suit, the slight upturn of his lips lighting up his whole face. She thought just maybe a full out smile from him might very well kill her. He was that potent.

Dmitri surprised her by taking her hand. Bowing slightly, he kissed the back of it in an old-world gesture that would have seemed silly coming from any other man, but Dmitri Belakov had the right kind of dashing charm to carry it off. She nearly swooned when his lips parted, and his tongue brushed ever so lightly against her knuckles, dipping into the crease between her ring and middle fingers for a sensuous lick.

Her breath caught, and her eyes shot up to his. The amusement in his gaze lit a fire in her blood, daring her to laugh back and she did, surprising herself. The man was magic. He had to be. She had never responded to any man this intensely or this fast. Ever.

“Call me if you finish before three. Otherwise, I’ll come check on you at that time.”

She found she had no breath to answer him, merely nodding as he offered her a slight smile and left the room. She had been right, she realized.

His smile was completely devastating.

At three in the morning, Dmitri returned to check on the small woman who was busily typing away. She was so intent on her work she didn’t sense him at first, though that was hardly surprising. Most mortals would be unable to sense his presence at the best of times but he had come to realize this woman was much more sensitive than most mortals. She had sensed him in her dreams, pulled him into her phantom desires and was aware of him on a level most mortals would never plumb.

He liked that. Perhaps a bit too much.

She would, in all likelihood, die at his hands, but he would give her a fair hearing at least, before deciding her fate.

“Carly.”

She gasped and jumped in her seat. Her gaze turned to him in the darkened room. “You frightened me.”

“I apologize. I came to see if you were almost ready for that coffee.”

She bit her lip, turning back to the glowing screen. He found himself staring at her perfect, white teeth as they worried the plump, pink lower lip. How he wanted to be the one biting her.

“Uh, I should be done here in about ten more minutes. The last module is being a bit stubborn.” She turned back to her work, dismissing him from her mind as the computer problem took his place in her thoughts. He did not like being so summarily dismissed. The thought jarred him.

Usually, he was more than happy to leave his human prey with no recollection of his presence. In fact, it was important that he be able to exert control over their weaker minds in order to contain the secret of his existence. It was imperative to his survival and one of the most important rules he had set when he had taken over this territory some three hundred years before. He was Master of this region now, as he would be well into the future, barring some unfortunate circumstance. Only his death would cause him to relinquish leadership of the vampires in this region. He loved this wide-open country too much.

There were not many of his kind here, but enough that he had to exert his power and authority now and again. He led them with equanimity and fairness. None had ever complained about his leadership, though he ruled with absolute control and his word was law. Luckily for his people, he was a fair-minded man with more inclination to let them live as they would with only a few simple guidelines and laws they could not break.

Breaking one of his laws, they all knew, would be cause for immediate and deadly punishment. Adhering to his few, well-reasoned mandates, however, allowed them all to live harmoniously in the shadow of the mountains where so many
were
creatures resided. There was an uneasy truce maintained between his kind and the
were
tribes and he wanted it kept that way.

Chief among his laws was secrecy. If it could be helped, no mortal should ever be left with a memory of their kind. Vampires needed to feed from mortals, but he taught even the youngest of his people to cover their tracks. No memories remained with the mortals of their encounters with his kind, unless they were memories of exquisite sexual pleasure with an unknown, faceless partner.

He would love to give Carly those kinds of memories, in truth. He would fuck her over and over while he feasted on her blood, but manipulating her memories might prove more difficult than with the average woman. Her mind was enticingly complex for a mortal, with hints of something…other…he could not identify. It was there and then it was gone when he had invaded her dreams. It intrigued him, as did the woman.

She was bright¾brilliant in fact¾and had a confidence in her intellect that was very attractive. At the same time, she seemed wholly unsure of her attractiveness as a female. She had a voluptuous body, though her manner indicated she was still untried in many ways, her eyes going shy whenever he looked at her breasts with interest. That intrigued him as well.

More than that, she had a purity about her, a kindness that manifested itself in the small ways she interacted with those around her. He’d watched her closely over the past weeks. She was thoughtful, respectful of her elders and those for whom she worked, and honest in her dealings.

Those were rare traits, he knew, among mortals of this generation. She was unique and uniquely arousing.

She turned him on as no woman had done for centuries. All he had to do was look at her for his body to go hard and wanting. All he had to do was think about her for his fangs to drop, seeking her essence.

Before he realized the passage of time, she was turning back to him, a brilliant smile on her face. She seemed genuinely happy about the victory she had just won over a stubborn computer program.

“All done.”

He found himself smiling back and noted the hitch in her breathing. His eyes strayed to her pounding pulse then down to the swell of her breasts. She was so aware of him, he knew it would be easy to take her now, but he needed more information. He needed to know if she was a threat to him, and if so, he needed to decide her fate. Live or die? He did not want to rush to judgment on this one.

“Shall we see about that coffee?”

She nodded, collecting herself and stood. With a few economical moves, she shut down the computer system, then grabbed her coat. He took it from her before she could put it on and held it open. He wanted to get his arms around her, the sooner the better, but he was cautioning himself to slowness. He had to get her used to his touch first. Gentleness wasn’t something he was used to giving, but he instinctively knew it was what this particular female needed.

She turned her back to him and allowed him to help her into the coat. When he didn’t let go, she started nervously, like a frightened doe, but he held her close, her back to his front, his arms wrapped around her over the bulky shearling coat.

“You are a beautiful woman, Carly.”

He nuzzled her soft hair, seeking the scent of her skin where her shoulder joined her neck. He felt her shiver and smelled her rapidly rising arousal. Good, he thought, she is as responsive in the flesh as she was in her dreams.

“Um, thank you.” She seemed frozen in place, curious but frightened. He liked that she did not run from him. If she had run, he knew his predatory instincts would have come to the fore and he would have chased her down. This was so much better in the long run. He needed her to come to him willingly. Keeping that goal foremost in his mind, he let her go and stepped back, breaking the spell.