"Are you a vampire?"
"No." It was not like him to speak so plainly about his real nature, but Etienne felt compelled to do so with the way Spencer seemed so stubbonrly determined to confront the truth head on. "But the other men were."
"But I saw you---" Her voice faltered.
"You saw I had fangs?"
Spencer nodded.
"Because I'm Caro," Etienne clarified calmly. "We are what vampires used to be, and like them, we need human blood to survive. But unlike them, we do not kill for blood, and there are lines we don't cross to retain our souls."
He saw the way her eyes lit up at the mention of souls, and he remembered belatedly that the brat, despite her bitchy ways, also happened to be raised Catholic, and his lips twitched. "If it means anything," he said dryly, "I can go to church without burning alive."
Spencer didn't even bother hiding her relief. "It means a lot." She still liked him, was still in love with him, but him without a soul was just another complication she'd be happy to do without.
"I'm sorry you had to learn the truth this way---" His lips twisted. "It would've been better if you had never learned the truth at all."
She shook her head. "I prefer it this way, I think."
Of course she would, Etienne thought. She had once confessed to him about how her parents had perpetuated a scam that allowed them to siphon almost a million dollars into their offshore account while their victims were left destitute and in despair.
"So..." Spencer took a deep breath. "What now then?"
Most humans would have still been in denial about what they had seen, would have either pretended nothing happened rather than face the truth...or be plain scared shitless in his presence. But this brat...she had always been different, but as to whether she was different enough to accept him...
An idea started preying on his mind, and the more Etienne thought about it, the more his blood quickened and heated until his dick was once again desperately stiff and twitching for release.
Spencer couldn't help feeling uneasy when she suddenly found herself the subject of her boss' calculating gaze. "Are you thinking of drinking my blood?"
"In time," was the lazy reply, and she all but choked.
"I'm warning you---"
"You'll enjoy having me drink your blood, don't worry."
"Something's seriously wrong with you right now," Spencer muttered even as she wrapped her arms around herself in an unconscious gesture of self-protection. There was something so...so different about him now, and his eyes, the way he was looking at her, it was almost as if he wanted to eat her in a way...that she would want to be eaten---
Stop it, Spencer! Don't think stupid things!
"There's nothing to overthink," Etienne murmured, seeing the expression of furious concentration fall over her face.
Spencer forced herself to nod. The boss was right. She was just overthinking...no, she was over-imagining things, and it was all because she was still in shock, just that.
"Do you still want to work for me, in spite of what you know?"
"Will you give me a raise now that I do know?"
"Actually..." A smirk slowly played over his lips. "What I had in mind was something more of a promotion."
Her brows shot up. "A what?"
"A promotion."
"But...I'm your driver." And no matter how much she thought of it, she couldn't think of any other position in his company that was in the same category. "Do you mean, I get to be your...senior driver or---" She stopped speaking when her boss laughed.
"No, brat. I'm thinking of a whole new job, and one that would come with longer hours and more overtime---"
"And you still have the gall to call it a promotion?" she muttered.
Another smirk. "Yes."
Spencer rolled her eyes. "And you really think I'd be that big of an idiot to say yes?"
"I'm hoping so."
"Well, sorry to disappoint, but---"
"I would like you to be my woman."
Spencer stared at her boss. "Is that supposed to be a joke?"
Mr. H. simply gazed back back at her. "Do I seem the type to be joking about something like that?"
No, Spencer thought. He was not the type at all to talk about relationships, to the point that he'd want to call any woman as his, but because this was also the same man who had never seemed to notice she was a girl---
"You've never wanted anything long-term with the women you've dated," she pointed out suspiciously, "so what's changed now?"
"You," he said simply. "You're what's changed. Workplace affairs have never been my thing. They tend to be messy in the end, and more trouble than what they're worth. But you, however..." Dark eyes settled on her with a speculative gleam. "Now that you know the truth about me and appear able to handle it..."
"Are you suggesting I'm convenient to have as a girlfriend?" Spencer demanded.
"I'm saying you were always forbidden to me, because you're human and you work for me, but now that the blood-drinking cat's out of the bag..."
There was literally no time for Spencer to react.
One second, he was still standing a few feet away, another second and he was standing right between her legs, his large hands clasping her face, and as her lips parted in a stunned gasp, his mouth took immediate advantage with his tongue driving inside hers.
Oh God.
The kiss vaguely reminded her of that other time she had a man's lips on hers, but guilt struck her as soon as the thought occurred, and she quickly shoved it to the back of her mind. That part of her life was done and over with, and regrets about past decisions---
"Stop thinking," her boss growled against her lips just before sucking her tongue. Hard. So, so wonderfully hard that it had her unconsciously doing what he had just ordered. She stopped thinking, period. It was impossible to think, with this kind of kiss burning through her senses.
She tried her best to resist, or even to just cling to the threadbare remains of her sanity, but when his mouth hungrily moved down the side of her neck, and she felt the rough slide of his fangs against the tender skin---
"No!" The protest was instinctive, but it was also too late, with her boss' cruel, beautiful mouth having already latched on to her pulse, and a moment later, she could only whimper as she felt his fangs slowly pierce through the flesh.
The pain oddly reminded her of the first time her hymen broke; terrifying and absolute, but at the same time sweet and liberating, a taboo side of pleasure that good girls would never confess to enjoying out loud.
Because it was just as he said, she realized as her body involuntarily arched. Him drinking her blood was enjoyable...and then it was suddenly over?
Etienne watched her eyes flutter open, and satisfaction blazed through his veins at the clouded look of desire in her gaze. This was how she looked that night, and it was an even greater turn-on tonight, because this time she knew it was him kissing her.
"Do you understand now, mi vavli? Or do you need more convincing of why I want you to be my mine?"
Chapter Five