Read Online Enchanting Absinthe (Sex with Strings, Book Four) by Shona Husk - Free Book Online

“Thank you. I needed that more than I knew.” His hand reached for hers, then he brought her fingers to his lips.
    Her heart gave a flutter that had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with something much more fragile. No, you don’t get to do that to me.
    But she knew how much he’d needed it. Vampires, like Shamen, needed physical contact, they craved it, and if all he was getting was fast sex at the back of clubs, it wouldn’t be enough. It would be the same as eating only junk food. Fate knew where he was getting his blood from.
    “Glad I could help.” She smiled. She meant it; maybe he wouldn’t forget her in a hurry.
    * * * * *
     
    William closed his eyes. He was tired, all kinds of tired—physically, mentally, magically—but he couldn’t sleep. Claire had tucked herself under the sheets and gone to sleep, curled on her side. All he could see was the back of her head and the sweep of her lovely neck.
    He ran his tongue over his teeth again. She hadn’t tasted quite human, but then if she’d been raised around non-humans, there must be something in her family tree. But he was sure he hadn’t tasted anything like her before. Definitely not Were, that bred true through the maternal line and he’d have noticed that a mile off and avoided it. Vampirism also bred true and only required one parent to be Vampire. That left Shaman and a host of other minor subspecies. From other Vampires, he knew biting a Shaman was the same as eating dirt—because that’s what his blood tasted like to them.
    Claire hadn’t tasted like earth, she’d tasted like Eden. He turned over to face her back. He should’ve asked her to leave; he’d be sleeping now if he had. But there was something about her, a look in her eye, or the way he’d felt the magic sweeping over his skin—he’d never come so hard. He frowned, not in recent memory any way, and he couldn’t be bothered sifting through over four hundred years of life and comparing lovers. He shrugged. What did it matter? They could repeat in the morning then he was packing and leaving. The band had to be in Tokyo in three days’ time.
    Bloody tour schedule. Another day in Sydney would’ve been nice.
    Eventually he let exhaustion claim him, but the worry she’d be gone in the morning lingered. It would be nice not to wake up alone just once this century—two centuries if he included the nineteen hundreds.
     
    It was light when he woke. He was on the wrong side of the hotel for sunlight to spill into the room, but he preferred it that way. Dawn was sometimes too hard to face after fresh blood. He sat up and saw Claire still sleeping. His bite on her neck was pink and unhealed. His cock hardened in expectation of another round of sex and biting, and he was tempted to lean over and kiss the mark he’d made, but he held himself in check.
    Don’t get sucked in.
    That he’d let a woman sleep over was odd enough. Getting entangled would do neither of them any favors. William eased out of bed and pulled his pajama pants out of a half-unpacked suitcase. That part of touring he wasn’t going to miss. Performing, both onstage and backstage, he would, but he knew it was time to disappear and let humans forget they existed.
    That was much harder these days with modern technology. Once, he’d just moved to another city and taken a new identity. He traveled most of Europe that way. He glanced again at Claire. He could just wake her up. A grin curved his lips as he ran his palm over the length of his cock. There were advantages to having someone sleeping in his bed.
    No. He shook his head and walked into the living area where he found the room service menu and ordered. He’d do the right thing, feed her and send her on her way before he was tempted to do anything else, even though letting her go felt like the wrong thing. He should be keeping her close. Damn, she’d gotten under his skin fast. It was the nails, she might be human, but she knew what to do. And she’d