Read Online Mastered: Ten Tales of Sensual Surrender by Kate Pearce, Portia Da Costa, Opal Carew, Marie Harte, Jennifer Leeland, Madelynne Ellis, Emily Ryan-Davis, Carrie Ann Ryan, Joey Hill, T. J. Michaels, Sasha White - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Kate Pearce, Portia Da Costa, Opal Carew, Marie Harte, Jennifer Leeland, Madelynne Ellis, Emily Ryan-Davis, Carrie Ann Ryan, Joey Hill, T. J. Michaels, Sasha White
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inside one another’s minds. He wasn’t going to pull her all the way into his world when she wasn’t ready for what that meant.
Though he’d told her all the opportunities that awaited her as a scientist, he’d also drawn a highly accurate, graphic picture of the demands placed on a vampire’s servant, as well as their lack of status in his society. When he was done, she’d been pale, her eyes wide, a slight tremor in her hands. He’d wanted to reassure her, but he’d forced himself to stay silent, wait for any questions she had.
“So I’d be yours, entirely.” Her brown eyes fixed on his face.
Something primitive stirred in him at the way she said it. His attention locked on her soft lips, how she swallowed under his steady gaze.
“Entirely. No rights but what I give you.” He fought back the overwhelming desire to sugarcoat it. He wanted this woman as his servant the way he craved blood. That alone was a warning to let her go. It made him sharpen his tone. “But I’m not the highest ranked in my world. There are others who will have the right to make demands of you and I…have to capitulate to them.”
He cleared his throat at her unreadable look. “Tomorrow night will be my last day here. If you decide to come with me, I’ll need your timetable for resigning and joining me at our facility in Alabama. If you don’t choose to come with me…”
He hadn’t been able to stop himself from reaching out, touching her face, the slim jaw, but then he drew his hand back, forced his tone to be as flat as if he were conducting a job interview. “If you don’t come with me, it’s been a pleasure working with you.”
When he’d retired at dawn and replayed it all in his mind, he was sure she would decline. They’d only spent a few days together, after all.
Yet though her submissive nature and cravings were a bottomless pool he’d only begun to explore, he’d intuitively recognized them as a mesh with the extreme demands of the vampire world and the type of servants who inhabited it. But she was socially awkward to the point of charming shyness. On top of that, she was an accomplished scientist and a woman well integrated into a modern Western society. How could she possibly agree to such an offer? “Come with me—you’ll have a fabulous lab, but you’ll also be a sex slave with no protection but what I can provide.” It was ludicrous for him to expect her to agree to that.
She’d shown up at the lab on time the next evening, a little more quiet and hollow-eyed, telling him she hadn’t slept. She hadn’t addressed the question immediately, and he’d held his tongue, not wanting to push. He expected he was putting off her rejection as long as possible. They’d worked through the early hours with minimal conversation, but as the night progressed and they started trading data, looking over one another’s shoulders and brainstorming what they were analyzing, their intuitive understanding of one another’s thought processes overcame the awkwardness of things unsaid.
“If you were a second mark, we’d be in each other’s heads. Think how much faster we could do the calculations and theorizing. And having a third mark…it’s like sharing one mind.”
He’d said it without thinking, fully caught up. He remembered how serious she’d gotten then. She’d paused a long moment. Then nodded to herself, as if she’d come to some type of irrefutable conclusion. Crossing the lab to where he sat on a stool, she moved between his spread knees. Her liquid brown eyes, framed by a fringe of lashes so black they made her look like she wore eyeliner, enhancing her pale, smooth face, had fixed onto his. Pulling her ponytail over her shoulder, she averted her chin in a delicate move, offering him her throat.
He was always a man who kept his passions under tight control. Yet when she offered her neck, he struck like a cobra, banding an arm around her waist and yanking her to him. She’d gasped, but her
Though he’d told her all the opportunities that awaited her as a scientist, he’d also drawn a highly accurate, graphic picture of the demands placed on a vampire’s servant, as well as their lack of status in his society. When he was done, she’d been pale, her eyes wide, a slight tremor in her hands. He’d wanted to reassure her, but he’d forced himself to stay silent, wait for any questions she had.
“So I’d be yours, entirely.” Her brown eyes fixed on his face.
Something primitive stirred in him at the way she said it. His attention locked on her soft lips, how she swallowed under his steady gaze.
“Entirely. No rights but what I give you.” He fought back the overwhelming desire to sugarcoat it. He wanted this woman as his servant the way he craved blood. That alone was a warning to let her go. It made him sharpen his tone. “But I’m not the highest ranked in my world. There are others who will have the right to make demands of you and I…have to capitulate to them.”
He cleared his throat at her unreadable look. “Tomorrow night will be my last day here. If you decide to come with me, I’ll need your timetable for resigning and joining me at our facility in Alabama. If you don’t choose to come with me…”
He hadn’t been able to stop himself from reaching out, touching her face, the slim jaw, but then he drew his hand back, forced his tone to be as flat as if he were conducting a job interview. “If you don’t come with me, it’s been a pleasure working with you.”
When he’d retired at dawn and replayed it all in his mind, he was sure she would decline. They’d only spent a few days together, after all.
Yet though her submissive nature and cravings were a bottomless pool he’d only begun to explore, he’d intuitively recognized them as a mesh with the extreme demands of the vampire world and the type of servants who inhabited it. But she was socially awkward to the point of charming shyness. On top of that, she was an accomplished scientist and a woman well integrated into a modern Western society. How could she possibly agree to such an offer? “Come with me—you’ll have a fabulous lab, but you’ll also be a sex slave with no protection but what I can provide.” It was ludicrous for him to expect her to agree to that.
She’d shown up at the lab on time the next evening, a little more quiet and hollow-eyed, telling him she hadn’t slept. She hadn’t addressed the question immediately, and he’d held his tongue, not wanting to push. He expected he was putting off her rejection as long as possible. They’d worked through the early hours with minimal conversation, but as the night progressed and they started trading data, looking over one another’s shoulders and brainstorming what they were analyzing, their intuitive understanding of one another’s thought processes overcame the awkwardness of things unsaid.
“If you were a second mark, we’d be in each other’s heads. Think how much faster we could do the calculations and theorizing. And having a third mark…it’s like sharing one mind.”
He’d said it without thinking, fully caught up. He remembered how serious she’d gotten then. She’d paused a long moment. Then nodded to herself, as if she’d come to some type of irrefutable conclusion. Crossing the lab to where he sat on a stool, she moved between his spread knees. Her liquid brown eyes, framed by a fringe of lashes so black they made her look like she wore eyeliner, enhancing her pale, smooth face, had fixed onto his. Pulling her ponytail over her shoulder, she averted her chin in a delicate move, offering him her throat.
He was always a man who kept his passions under tight control. Yet when she offered her neck, he struck like a cobra, banding an arm around her waist and yanking her to him. She’d gasped, but her
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