I skimmed my hands up his sides and onto his shoulders. I gave the slightest of tugs to let him know that I wanted him closer. He obliged and moved himself over me. I felt his erection through the black cloth, which was trying its best to enclose it, against my leg as he slid over me. I moaned and went at his mouth harder. His hands found mine and he laced his fingers in mine, moving our hands out and up as he went. This put the full weight of his body against me and sent my skin into a tingling fit of desire. I threw my head back and heard myself making tiny noises of want and need. His lips found my neck and kissed along it. He licked my collarbone lightly before his tongue glided down towards my b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

My nipple pushed up and tried its best to poke through the lace that was holding it captive. His mouth covered my bra and he sucked gently. He was teasing me, making my body ache for him. He released his hold on my hands and I grabbed the back of his hair, lifting his head. He kept my nipple in his mouth and tugged it back with him.

"Please," I whimpered.

He smiled and held my nipple in his teeth. I eased my hands over his back and raked my nails across his shoulders. He moved up and kissed my lips again. I tried to reach down the length of his torso and hold him in my hand, but my arms weren't long enough. I attempted to scoot down on the bed. He grabbed my wrists, rendering me immobile.

Thumping my head back on the bed, I let out a frustrated grunt. A low throaty laugh came from his throat.

"You're loving this, aren't you?" I shot a nasty look at him.

"It has been centuries since we last joined, what are a few more hours?"

I lifted my head and tugged on his lower lip with my teeth. "Hours? I can't handle hours of foreplay with you."

He pushed his mouth down on mine then pulled it away slowly. "Then you certainly have changed."

His head moved down towards my neck again. I knew he hadn't fed yet, and I wondered if that had anything to do with his attraction to that spot in particular. I wasn't worried about him biting me. I wanted so much more than just teeth stuck in me.

I let out another frustrated moan and wiggled my hands into his again. His fingers laced through mine and I knew that I had always loved it when he did that to me. It made me feel closer to him. I let him push our hands on to the bed, gently, and knew for the first time that I had been very much in love with him at one point and wondered how much of me, if any, still was.

I got lost in his touch. His mouth moved over my upper body, exploring all that he could with my undergarments still on. He brushed against me and pressed his groin to mine every now and then. I was damp and ready for him to take the next step. I lay there, pinned beneath him, while he toyed with me for what felt like hours. I gave in finally and let him have free run of my body. I moved my hands up and grabbed a hold of the heavy iron headboard. This freed his hands up to aid in his teasing of me.

The smell of vanilla and fresh soap floated in around me. I looked around the dark room, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Giovanni stopped his a.s.sault on my inner thigh with his tongue and moved up to my face again. His fingers moved to the clasp on the front of my bra. He undid it and pulled the cups free of my body. I was. .h.i.t with another wave of vanilla scented soap, glanced up and saw the faint outline of what looked like Pallo above us. My eyes widened and I stared harder. I couldn't make sense of it. He looked like he was lying on the ceiling looking down at us. His gaze met mine before he descended upon us. I screamed, pushed Giovanni off the top of me and brought my arm and legs up to break the impact. Nothing happened.

"Gwyneth?"

Giovanni moved over me, grabbed me up and held me to him. I was shaking and trying to look around the room for Pallo. There was no one there but the two of us. Tears burst free of me and I did nothing to stop them. My mind was slipping, giving me images of things that weren't really there. Stopping it didn't seem to be an option. I told Giovanni what had happened and he pulled me tighter to him.

"What's wrong with me?"

"You told me Pallo saved your life the night you took Caleb's full power into you. You also said he had to try to turn you into one of us. He succeeded in saving you and did so without you turning into," his arms tightened around me, "one of us, but I think in some ways he did manage to bring you over."

I buried my face against Giovanni's smooth chest and listened to him go on. "Gwyneth, I think the recent attack brought your natural defenses down. You yourself said you used an enormous amount of magik to drive the omnis away. Now, I believe this opened the door for Pallo to reach you and I believe he has not only found you, but is calling you to him. He is summoning you to him as he would one of his vampires."

I shook my head and wrapped my arms around Giovanni's slender waist. "Make it stop."

He let out a sigh. "I can't, but I do not think he means to harm you in any way. I think he is just trying to bring you back to him, Bella."

I pulled my face away from him, making no attempt to hide my disbelief. "You sound fine with the idea. Do you want me to leave?"

He averted his gaze. "I have come to terms with your feelings for Pallo. I am not foolish enough to think I would win over him in a battle for your heart. I fought that match and lost years ago and I know better than to fight it again. I'll understand if you feel the need to go back to him. I would even go with you if I knew it wouldn't upset him so."

I sat there, too stunned to do much beyond try to soak in all Giovanni had said to me. He had just admitted to me that he was more than willing to share me with another man. I couldn't believe my ears. I didn't want to go home to Pallo. I wanted to stay right where I was. As hectic as my life had become, I should have been thankful to hear Giovanni offer to share. I wasn't. I wanted to be loved by one man and love only one man in return. Prior to having immortal men re-enter my life, I thought that very thing was a real possibility. Now, I had to wonder. The fact that I craved monogamy once more spoke volumes to how much Giovanni had helped me heal, both external and internal wounds, over the past several months.

"Do you think he'll come here for me?"

Giovanni touched my cheek and lowered his voice. "I do not think he will show up here."

"Why? He's coming to me now, somehow."

"He is not really here. In your mind he is real, but not physically, and I don't think Pallo would just show up here, because this is the place where I made him."

I glanced around the room and thought about the huge villa I was sitting in. This had been the house that Pallo had sought my freedom from, long ago, only to return a vampire?

Oh, yes, I certainly could weave a web with the best of them.

Chapter Five.

I stepped out of the bathroom dressed in a white pantsuit. It was provocatively low cut and I wasn't sure how my b.r.e.a.s.t.s were supposed to stay in it. Giovanni was sitting on the corner of the bed slipping another pair of black dress shoes on.

"How many pairs of shoes do you own?"

He glanced at me as he b.u.t.toned the sleeves on his gray dress shirt. "Enough," he said, giving me his two dimpled-grin.

I walked over and picked up my white heels lying near him on the floor. I know that I flashed a breast at him because I heard him take in an extra deep breath. "It's your own fault. You could have alleviated the s.e.xual tension between us, but no-you wanted foreplay," I said, low and with a bit of tease in my voice. "I wanted you deep in me, but no. Mr. Foreplay has to have his way."

Giovanni put his arms out, gathered me in them and pulled me close. Since he was sitting on the bed and I was standing this finally made me taller than him. I wanted to crawl back into the bed and try yet again to be with him-to make love to him, but Malita would be waiting for us at the dinner table, and I didn't want to be rude. Giovanni had sounded surprised she'd shown up. He said he had called her, but the last time he had spoke with her she was tied up and unable to make it in.

Guess her schedule cleared.

"We should probably head downstairs now," I said, not sure I really wanted to. I'd much rather be making love to Giovanni than entertaining female omnimorpheleons, but hey, a gal's got to do what a gal's got to do.

He took another deep breath and blew it out slowly over my chest. "Voglio fare lamore con te." Giovanni's words were sweet, yet foreign to me. I wanted to ask what he had said, but he smiled and spoke again. "Let's go down and greet our guest, shall we?"

He rose to his feet and once again towered over me. He took my hand in his and led me out the door. When we hit the bottom landing, I spotted Malita talking with one of Giovanni's vampires. I hadn't had an opportunity to learn any of their names yet. He had pretty much told them that if they so much as looked at me he'd kill them. I asked him about this and he told me that they needed only to concentrate on keeping me safe. They didn't need to be my friend. I got the impression there was more to it than that, but didn't ask.

Malita turned to us and I noticed her gaze go to our joined hands. Giovanni held tightly to me and took a step towards her. I had to pry my hand loose to avoid being flung across the entranceway at her. She walked up to him and they both did an odd but well done no-kiss kiss. It was one of those kisses where a person goes in and kisses towards a cheek and then they flip to the other side and repeat it. I'd only ever seen it done on TV and it was a h.e.l.l of a lot more impressive in person.

"Malita, I'm glad you could make it. On my last check you were preoccupied with work. I gather your schedule is now free."

Malita turned her light blue eyes to him, and I could tell she was attempting to unleash her charm. "You knew I'd drop everything and come. Don't be modest, Giovanni. It doesn't suit you."

"Ah, you know me all too well," he said, as he turned back towards me for just a moment. "Gwyneth tells me the two of you spent the afternoon together. I am delighted to hear you hit it off."

She cast me a soft smile. "Giovanni, why wouldn't we?"

The look he gave her said she knew exactly why we wouldn't have hit it off. I wanted in on the reason, too, but didn't bother to ask. Giovanni put his hand out to me and I took it. We walked into the dining room and found the table set for ten. Giovanni's gaze moved to me and I shrugged. I'd told Ester it would only be the three of us. I was about to call for her to come out when I heard the doorbell.

Giovanni glanced at us both, "Mi scusi." He had a weird thing about answering his own door. I had given up trying to figure out all his quirks. I had enough of my own to worry about.

Malita smiled innocently at me. Somehow, I figured she knew who was at the door without having to ask. I wondered how much more time would pa.s.s before I stopped liking her. My guess was a minute or two.

Giovanni returned to the dining room followed closely by a man in his mid-twenties and two females. I did a double take when I saw that the women were identical twins. Their bleached out hair and lined, pouty lips made them candidates for hookers, but the way that they carried themselves said they weren't quite that low. I think they could have pulled off being high society if it wasn't for the short red leather skirts and tiny black leather tank tops they were wearing.

The man standing in the center of them appeared extremely casual next to them. In fact, I hadn't seen a guy look that down to earth since Caleb. The man had a five o'clock shadow. The kind that was there on purpose and it looked good on him. His skin was slightly darker than Giovanni's but his hair was a great deal lighter. It was so light brown that it bordered on blond. He looked like he'd just rolled out of bed and with the two little bimbos he wore on each arm I was guessing I wasn't too far off with my a.s.sessment.

Giovanni glanced at me and I knew he didn't like the fact that they'd arrived. He forced a smile and turned around. "Everyone this is Gwyneth. Gwyneth, this is ...." He stared at the twins and drew a blank. I was happy to see he didn't know them.

The one on the left answered first. "I'm Brandy and that's Candy."

I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. I wondered if they realized their names alone made them too good to pa.s.s up for a good chuckle. Add in the fact they looked like stripper dolls and I think you had the punch line from every blonde joke ever created. That or the next two break out stars in the world of p.o.r.n. I couldn't decide.

Giovanni's gaze landed on the man in the middle. Something unspoken pa.s.sed between them. At first I thought it might be animosity of some sort. The more I watched, the clearer it became. It was friendship. "And, this is Mikhail."

I stopped thinking about trying not to laugh at the bimbos and started staring at the man named Mikhail closer. His light olive eyes lit up as he looked my way. He smiled at me and took a step forward.

"It's a pleasure to meet you again, Gwyneth."

"Again?" Giovanni asked, glancing over at me.

I could tell that he wanted to know more about how I knew Mikhail. I knew that I was in for the Spanish inquisition after dinner. I did a head count and came up short for the number of place settings Malita had set out. As if on cue, the doorbell rang again. Giovanni turned and went to answer it.

Brandy and Candy couldn't keep their hands off Mikhail. His light blue, long sleeved shirt was only b.u.t.toned twice, down near his very visible, very fuzzy navel, and the rest of his shirt was yanked out of his blue jeans and twisted. I was having a hard time not staring at his hairy chest. The men in my life now had very little in the way of hair on their torsos. Mikhail noticed me noticing him and made an attempt at appearing a little more presentable.

While it was admirable on his part, it was unnecessary. As s.e.xy as he was, I still had eyes for Giovanni.

I heard Giovanni arguing with someone. I excused myself and headed out towards the front door. Giovanni was standing there in a heated discussion with a man at least six inches shorter than him. The man was dressed very much like the stripper twins, his black leather pants were low rise and I wasn't sure how they were covering anything. His upper half was worse. He didn't actually have on clothes. He had on two silver belts that crisscrossed on his chest. I did a double-take when I noticed the heavy amounts of eyeliner around his dark blue eye. I couldn't see his other eye behind his oh-so-eighties dyed black punk hairstyle.

Geez, I thought James was bad!

"Giovanni." I said his name quietly. He turned his attention to me, so did punk-rock boy.

"Gwyneth, this is Fritz, another one of Malita's people."

Another one? That meant the twins and Mikhail were her people, as well. I tried to force a smile to my lips, but even I knew I wasn't very successful. Fritz nodded at me and followed Giovanni to the dining room.

The doorbell rang again and I turned, visually scanning the room for Giovanni. He was already at the other end of the house. I walked over and braced myself to find yet another character claiming to be one of Malita's people. I opened the door. My mouth fell open. Caradoc and James were standing side-by-side smiling at me. Caradoc had his white-blond hair pulled back tightly from his face. I knew without looking that I'd find it in a braid behind him. His light green eyes matched his green pirate shirt. He always did have a way of looking the part of a vampire. James, on the other hand, never once appeared to be two- hundred years old.

I stared at James' hair. Last time I'd seen him it had been dyed bright blue and spiked an inch or so off his head. Now it was back to its normal bleached blond but was longer than he normally wore it. He had on his signature long black leather trench coat, t-shirt and jeans. Monochromatic was an understatement for him.

My blue gaze locked on his.

"Long time no see," James said rather dryly.

In an instant, I was on them. First, I grabbed Caradoc's tall, toned body and hugged him tightly. He always seemed awkward showing affection and being away from each other for four months had only encouraged that. He patted my back gently and pa.s.sed me to James.

James picked me up and spun me around. I clung to him and laughed as tears formed in my eyes. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed him. He and I had become best friends in a relatively short period of time. Setting me down, his gaze snapped to the opening in my white suit jacket that ran down to my lower abdomen. I knew my b.r.e.a.s.t.s were at least half exposed. I did a silent prayer that my nipples were at least covered and smiled.

His eyebrow rose and he leaned over. I thought he was going to kiss my ear, but he whispered to me instead. "You have about five seconds to cover up your melons before ...."

I heard a swooshing sound and then a voice I hadn't expected to hear so soon. "I would not bother with covering up now. I think it is fair to say it is a little late for that. I, as well as most of the men here, have seen all you have to offer."

James stepped to my side and kept his hand on my back. I stared at Pallo as my knees threatened to give out. Every emotion I'd ever felt for him came flooding back in an instant. I had to fight to not run to him and throw my arms around him. We had ended things on bad terms. I thought taking this much time away from him would clear my head of the mess we'd created. It didn't. It only served to confuse me more.

I stared up at Pallo's strong face, brown eyes and matching chestnut brown, curly hair. His hair now touched his shoulders. I hadn't remembered it being that long the last time I'd seen him. I could see his pale skin with the tiniest of freckles on it under his very sheer, very snug cream top. I glanced down at his dark brown dress pants. I'd seen him wear those colors only once since I'd known him and I thought they looked stunning on him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Ah, yes, I have missed you, too, Gwyneth."

I glanced at James and leaned into him, giving him another good half hug. Pallo let out a small noise. "He gets a hug and I get you standing as far away from me as you can."

"Perhaps she is a good judge of character," Giovanni said from behind me. I spun around and let go of James, sensing the tension in the air. I'd seen Giovanni cut Pallo wide open from across the room before. I didn't need a repeat performance. I stood an equal distance from both men. I knew from the looks in each of their eyes that they were waiting to see who I went to first. It was immature, especially for men who had been alive for centuries, but that's exactly what they were doing.

James made a quick but feeble attempt at helping me. "Well, I could use a drink. I don't know about anyone else here, but I'm parched. Gwen, care to show me where to wet my whistle?" His accent gave away that he was a London native.

"Jameson," Pallo said his name sternly. Everyone knew it was a threat.

"Pallo? I thought I heard your voice," Malita said from behind Giovanni. She pushed her way out into the group and went straight for Pallo. His eyes widened and James moved closer to me. Malita threw her arms around Pallo's thick neck and began kissing him with an open mouth and from my angle, there appeared to be a lot of tongue, as well. I hoped it wasn't too obvious that I was flabbergasted. James nudged me, and I knew it was. I closed my mouth and let myself blink.

Pallo and Malita stayed locked together for what felt like eternity. I took a step back and found someone standing directly behind me. I put my hand back and felt Giovanni's pant leg and let my body relax. His arms came up and wrapped around me. I turned around into his arms and hugged him back. The tension ebbed out of his body. He had honestly thought I'd push him aside now that Pallo was here.

I pulled back from him and touched his cheek. He turned his face into my palm and kissed it softly. James made a noise of disapproval, but I ignored him. I'd deal with him later.

"Are we going to eat, or are we, like ... going to stand around and make out in groups. Either way, I'm good," I heard a very bubbly voice saying. James made a low whistling noise and I knew one of the twins must have been standing in the doorway.

Giovanni and I hugged each other tighter before we turned to go back into the house. James and Caradoc followed closely behind us. I didn't look back, but I was pretty sure Pallo and Malita were still lip-locked.

Chapter Six.

I stood in my bathroom staring at my reflection, willing myself not to lose control, and I think it was working. Giovanni knocked softly on the open door and took a step in towards me.

"How are you doing?"

I let out a small laugh and felt the tears threatening to resurface. I'd managed to keep them down all through the very awkward dinner. I did my best to avoid making eye contact with Pallo and he did his best to continue making lip contact with Malita. I'd hoped to call it an early night but the busty-twins wanted to go swimming. They managed to convince the rest of the group it was a good idea, too.

"You do not have to go back down if you do not want to," Giovanni said softly.

I felt like going downstairs and swimming about as much as I felt like having a rematch between the omnimorpheleons and me. Giovanni took a step back. His face revealed nothing about his mood.

"What's wrong?"

"Go to him, Bella. Don't deny yourself the touch of someone you care so deeply for. I know what that is like. It makes you bitter, twists your mind and leaves you vulnerable to ...." He didn't finish.

I moved towards him, and he took another step back. My anger got the best of me. Distancing himself from me was ridiculous. "Oh, Giovanni, you're a fine one to preach about denying your feelings for someone. Why don't you just turn and run. It'd save you a h.e.l.l of a lot of time. Every time I try to get close to you, you push me away." I was hurt he was doing this to me when I needed him most. I wondered how much of it was self-preservation on his part. I pushed past him. "If you want me to go to him so badly ... then move."