ROMANCE: Vampire Romance Collection (Menage BBW Young Adult Paranormal) (Vampire Shapeshifter Romance Short Stories)

Embracing Desire

A Vampire Romance Collection

By: Romance Novels Publishing

Book 1: The King’s Bride

Book 2: Immortal Ceremony

Book 3: Dark Savior

Book 4: Dark Desires


Copyright 2015 by Romance Novels Publishing - All rights reserved.

In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.

Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.

"Good morning children." she said as she entered the classroom full of overly energetic five year olds. Her warm smile lit up the room as it the soft corners of her mouth turned upward.  She drew her gaze over her classroom.  She worked hard to get to where she was at.  She felt at home most surrounded with these children—shaping their tiny little hearts and tiny, growing minds. 

He stared at her from a distance.  There was no one more gentle and beautiful than Sage Jenner in his eyes.  The five foot three petite woman he had been watching for the last five years was the one woman he hoped to make his mate. She was simply stunning with her fair porcelain skin.  He longed to run his fingers through the jet-black waterfall of her waist-length hair.  Her sapphire blue eyes reminded him of the North Sea—his home from long ago as a child before he was turned.  Every day for the past six months, he embedded himself as a teacher’s aide so that he could see her in her natural habitat, so to speak—the place for which she felt most at home.  As he learned more of her kind and gentle nature, he fell more and more in love with her and became certain that she was the one.  She was to be his. 

It was important for a king to take his time choosing his life mate.  It is not every day that a nine hundred and twenty two year old vampire king chooses a mate in the first place, but it must be done.  However, it is usually done much earlier in his life.  Yet, Marcus VanderZanden refused to settle on someone who was just ‘satisfactory’.  He demanded perfection.  As a six foot four inch tall man with obscenely handsome features, he was in a perfect position to demand such perfection.  His slicked back black hair and silver eyes set him apart from most of his kind.  However, most that came into contact with him thought of him as just your average thirty year old man.  Though he had gained many female admirers in his time observing Sage, he refused them all as he was uninterested in their advances.  The only opinion and approval he sought was that of Sage—but she seemed completely disinterested. 

"Okay kids, let’s begin where we left of yesterday with our alphabet. Can anyone tell me something that begins with the letter C?"

He was snapped back into the task at hand by her voice, which filled his ears like a soft and gentle melody meant only for him as he sat at his desk next to hers.  He had a difficult time concentrating on the current task at hand as he became hypnotized by the sway of her hips captured within the constraints of her knee-length, black A-line skirt that brought out the contrast of her rose petal pink button up blouse.    He often imagined ripping the offending pieces of clothing from her skin and ravishing her in the comforts of his own bed, but he kept control of himself.  Still, he assured himself there was nothing wrong with admiring the gentle features of her countenance—her plump lips that she painted the sexiest shade of pink, the tender silhouette of her face including her slightly upturned nose that fit her face perfectly.  He ran his hand down his face, shaking himself from letting his thoughts run free as he walked over to stand next to her, ready to begin the day.

***

Another piece of chalk snapped in half as Sage attempted writing the letter 'C' on the chalkboard.

What is with me today, she thought to herself in frustration?  The agitation at her unidentifiable unease made her stress even worse. She snapped a third piece of chalk.

Wanting to growl in frustration, Sage she chose to instead plaster a smile on her lips as she turned to the expectant young faces. Fake it ‘til you make it, Sage, she reminded herself.  The children watched her mutilate the chalk with vague interest. When she turned, it looked as though several of them expected her to throw the half-empty chalk box their way. The smile she forced placated them. Two dozen round and innocent faces smiled back at her.

"Who wants to color?" Sage asked. A multitude of tiny hands shot up into the air. Gleeful agreement swept through the seated kids, who bounced away from their desks in excitement.

Marcus gave Sage a questioning look. The smile she returned to him was radiant, if a bit strained at the edges. Curious about her behavior, he merely nodded his agreement to her suggestion of coloring for the children.

"Okay, okay," Sage said in a raised voice. "Back to your seats and we'll color some pictures for your moms and dads.  Chelsea, Reagan, would you help me pass out paper, please?  Mario and Parker, please get crayons from the craft shelf and pass them out, as well."

Sage tended to pick out her problem children for helping her with tasks around the classroom.  She noticed that by singling out those types of children early on proved with more positive results—especially the ones too young for a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or the like.  Since the school year started, Mario's outbursts had greatly reduced.  For a five-year-old, he'd gotten in more fights than any teenager Sage had ever seen.  Instead of time outs or detention, Sage had tried giving him responsibility and purpose.  She liked to think the effort had been successful so far.

When all the crayons and paper had been passed out, the children got to work on their Crayola™ masterpieces. The background noise of their chatter soothed Sage.

She watched Marcus move among the children. He knelt beside a shy girl named Monica and praised her purple flower.  He moved with a grace she'd never encountered in a man. While she checked attendance journals for the children and squeals of laughter and delight resounded at something he said to the boys in back, Sage watched Marcus.

Though she was often too busy to think of anything beyond her class and her studies as she pursued a Master’s degree, she'd found her thoughts straying more frequently to the imposing man. Thoughts weren't bad, were they? Sage figured if she kept her desires to herself she couldn't be faulted. No one had to know how much she wanted to run her hands through that thick black hair and rake her fingers up his back in the throes of ecstasy.  She didn't have to admit she felt a draw to pull the shirt from his body to see if his form was truly as sculpted and muscular as it appeared.

Marcus caught her gaze with those mercury-colored eyes, and Sage felt in that moment he knew every dirty thought that had run through her head as he smiled a knowing, devilish grin.  Fighting a blush, she returned to her papers.

***

Just as the children were finishing their coloring, the bell rang for lunch.

"Alright, let’s line up from shortest to tallest." Sage said as she stood next to the door and Marcus stood back in the center of the room a bit.  As the children lined up, Sage caught Marcus’ gaze.  It was as if he was lost in a trance.  Every so often, she caught him doing this at random times.  She thought to herself, he is so different than any man I've ever met, almost like he is from a different place and time.  Shrugging the thought aside, she smiled softly to the little red curly-headed girl at the front of the line.

"Okay Sadie, go lets go." Sage said as she opened the door and headed down to the cafeteria. As the children ate quietly, Sage and Marcus joined the other teachers and their assistants at the round table in the center.

"Hey guys, how your day going?" Jodie, one of the other kindergarten teachers, said.  Sage never really liked her, she always made eyes at Marcus and she openly flirted like a floozy.  For some reason unknown to herself, Sage began to notice that she was super aware of Marcus's presence as well as the fact that Jodie's flirting really ticked her off.  Yet, she'd never admit that for she was far too modest.

The day dragged on after lunch seeming longer than most days.  Perhaps that it was the fact that in two more days, school would be out for seven days, which would give Sage a much needed vacation. Sage didn't know why she was extremely excited for the break.  Other than getting a few days off, she had no other plans.

Sage's life was just that--fairly boring and pretty much the same routine day in and day out.  Every morning she woke up at 4:30 a.m, changed from her pajamas to her athletic clothes, threw up hair up in a ponytail, and went for a 5 mile run.  Once she returned home, she showered, got dressed for the day, and had a quick breakfast before she was out the door.  If it wasn't her Monday thru Friday routine, on Saturdays she went to the grocery store in the morning to beat the crowd.  Sundays, she stayed home, curled up in a chair and read.  Because of her monotonous and boring routine, she struggled to decipher Marcus’ interest in her or why he always watched her with such interest painted on his face.  The thing she failed to realize was that to him, she was the most interesting and beautiful thing to ever walk the Earth.

***

              Wednesday evening finally rolled around and as the class was leaving, Marcus made his way over to Sage.  He finally managed to muster up the courage to speak about something other than the children in the classroom or grades.

"Sage, I was wondering if you had plans over the break? If not, would you be interested in going out with me on Friday night?" he asked as he nervously twiddled his thumbs.

Sage was taken by shock, not sure if she heard him right, and uncertain if she should go. Mixing business with pleasure could often get sticky, but Marcus was just an intern for the school year.  Once the year was over, he would be returning home.

What if I go out with him and we hit it off? I don't want just a fling for the year and I can't do long distance, those are doomed from the get go, Sage thought to herself. The turmoil of emotions played on her face even though she tried to hide it. Knowing she didn't have much time left, she smiled softly and listened to the words that poured out of her mouth despite the protests of her common sense.  “I'd love to what time do I need to be ready?"

The smiled that spread across his face was simply beautiful. “I'll be there at 5, dress comfortably.” he said.  He turned to finish picking up the room as if nothing had transpired between them, yet the excitement that boiled within him threatened to spill over. 

Sage sat at her desk and graded papers as Marcus was busy hanging some the colorings the children had done this week. She watched him for a few minutes as a soft smile spread across her face. Thinking back to how well Marcus had done with the children, it warmed her heart through and through. He was a gentle man, and always showed attention to each and every one of the kids. It was hard to believe a man who looked like him, one that could control the world, could be so kind and tender with the children. Sage looked back down to her papers as she allowed her thoughts drift away to what they may be doing Friday night. If she was honest with herself, she was excited for their date and just a little bit anxious.

Thursday night, Sage was busy cleaning her kitchen floors in her home as the phone rang.  Her hands were covered in suds as she frantically looked around for her dish towel so she could dry them off in time.  Finally, she found it.  “Yes,” she exclaimed as she ran across the hard wood floor.  She slid and used the wall to break her fall.  “I’m probably the only person in the world with a land line these days.” she said to herself as she jerked the phone off of the receiver. 

"Hey mom!" Sage said as she grabbed the phone right before the machine picked up.

"How are you darling?" her mother asked.

"I'm doing good Mom, how about you?" she asked. It was rare for her mother to call her during the week, but Sage figured it was because her mother knew she was on break from work.  They talked for about an hour about the weather, work, and the kids in her class as she often did.  Yet this conversation was slightly different as she announced her upcoming date with Marcus.  Sage had not dated anyone in close to four years.  It wasn’t that men weren’t interested.  It was more so that she was in pursuit of her career.  Her assumption was that any man worth redirecting her focus would cause her to lose control over all of her mental faculties and sweep her off of her feet. 

As she described Marcus to her mother, her mother encouraged her to have a great time.  After their conversation ended, Sage finished cleaning her floors, put up her mop, and emptied out the water in the bucket.  Then, she began her preparations for bed.  Since she didn’t have to be awake at 4:30 in the morning, she told herself that she would skip her morning run and sleep in so she was well rested for her date Friday night.  So, she picked up on of her ‘smut’ books and began to read.  

She laid in her bed and began to read.  As she came across one of the steamy passages, thoughts of Marcus sprang to her mind.  Desire was simple.  She wanted Marcus the way that Adeline wanted Hadrian in her book titled The Highland Stones written by one of her favorite authors S.C Hutchinson.  She thought that perhaps it was her desire for that which she could not have is what drove her to want Marcus, but it was more than that.  It was an aching need left unsatisfied for years that burned deep within her core and resonated through her entire body.  She could only think of his penetrating gaze was more than what she needed.  He stirred up feelings in her that she was unaware existed, but she could no longer fight them off now that they were present.  She walked over to her bed, feeling the aching need build between her legs, and climbed on the bed.  She pushed down her pajama bottoms and laid backwards allowing her head to rest on her pillow.  The goose down comforter felt sensually soft beneath her naked ass.  She imagined her legs wrapped around him as her slick folds slid over his erect manhood.  She placed her hands between her legs and touched herself.  Her hands wandered down through her cleavage and toward her most sensitive areas.  She needed him, but this would have to do for now.