I s.n.a.t.c.hed the plastic bottle out of his hands. "I still had panties and a bra on. That's a big difference from being completely naked."

"Trust me." He chuckled. "It's not a big difference. I'm getting the same reaction I got when you only had your undergarments on."

Seething with rage, I blinked away water from my eyes. "You're a s.a.d.i.s.tic pervert."

"Relax. I promise I won't bite you. I just really need to clean up."

I frowned. "It doesn't matter anyway. I'm almost done."

"No, you're not."

The bottle slipped out of my hands and crashed to the floor. Some of the contents spilled out. Samuel's arm brushed against my calf as he picked up the container. More heat stirred my flesh.

"You can't be done." His voice sounded smooth within the pitter patter of the shower's downpour. My blood roused with the sound. I swallowed down my unease.

Why am I reacting to him this way?

"You still have gunk in your hair and all over your legs," he whispered.

Continuing to hug myself, I stepped farther away from him.

"Let me wash your hair." His hands went in my hair. A cool liquid seeped on my head. His fingers ma.s.saged my scalp, kneading all of my tension away. Oh, Ambi. His fingers are like magic. A rosy perfume filled the shower. My heartbeat increased.

"Calm down," he said. "If I wanted to hurt or drain you, I had many times to do it."

My hands fell to my side. My shoulders slumped and my posture slackened. "Perhaps you wanted me clean first."

"You do have a point. I definitely like my women clean." His soothing fingers moved in a circular motion on my head. "And you're absolutely breathtaking. Even if your domina blood didn't flow through your veins, I would have wanted to taste you."

I swallowed and focused on breathing. His scent drowned out the shampoo's fragrance and spun around me. Clearing my throat, I edged away from his hands, but found no escape. Lost in his ma.s.sage, I leaned back a little. His erection pressed into my behind.

I jerked forward. "Okay... Thanks. I-I'll rinse my hair out."

His hands stayed in my hair. He manipulated those fingers and s.n.a.t.c.hed my breath away. Tendrils of pleasure swirled through my body. For the first time in many years, my husband's memory didn't rush to my head. Instead, Samuel's hard, muscular chest and that thick c.o.c.k flashed in my mind. He slipped his hands down to my neck and balanced them on my shoulders.

"Should I move my hands," he whispered, "or should I touch you some more?"

My nipples stiffened. It had been two years since I'd been touched in any way besides inspection. I cupped my b.r.e.a.s.t.s harder and hoped I hid my erect peaks. "You should stop."

"Should I?" Samuel's hands glided down my back and paused at the area right before my behind. He moved his hands away from me. "Your husband doesn't deserve you."

Suddenly, rage coursed through me. It was just what I needed to return back to reality. I rushed to rinse my hair out. "You don't even know him."

"He gave you to the king."

"My husband didn't give me to anybody." I faced him and bared my teeth like a vampire. "And I explained why I left."

"It doesn't matter. Your husband could have figured out another way." Samuel stepped toward me. His gold eyes brightened and centered on my cleavage. I backed into the wall with my arms still crossed over my b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

"He exchanged you like a peddler exchanges a tent for a st.u.r.dy horse." Samuel edged closer. "If I was him, I wouldn't have taken the king's money or sent my wife off to breed. I would have sold my blood, worked in other towns, and did anything I could to keep my family together."

"Stop it."

"You're the mother of his kids, for Ambi's sake."

"Shut up. You don't know him." I stepped around Samuel.

"I know his type and I've helped many women like you return to men like him."

"And did you shower with these women and poke them with your...erection?"

Again, he flashed that mocking smirk at me. "I didn't shower with them and I don't exactly poke. I tend to pound inside-"

"I don't want to know." I held up my hand.

"Why not? Is it your loyalty to this husband who's probably counting the king's money as we speak? Did he write you?"

The first year, but then the letters ceased.

"You don't know him. Ethan has always been devoted to our marriage and me."

Something could have happened to him or the girls. Writing the letters to me also could have been difficult. He probably imagined me sleeping with the king each time he wrote one.

"When I used to help dominas, they all made excuses," Samuel said.

"That's good to know, but I'm not like any other domina. I am only me."

"That's the first correct thing you've said tonight. You aren't like any other." He remained there and refused to move out of the way. "That silky red hair makes me want to do naughty things with my c.o.c.k. I want to sample every part of you-from that addicting blood to the soft, velvety flesh between your thighs. And by Ambi, I want to take my time. One night may not be enough."

I trembled, and it wasn't fear that overtook me. It was scorching-hot l.u.s.t and curiosity. No. Think of Ethan. Our skin rubbed against each other as I fled the shower. Shampoo suds smothered my hair, but I didn't care.

"Come back," he yelled. "I'll leave the shower and let you finish."

"I don't care if you're trying to conserve water. Don't come in the shower with me again," I called back. "Keep your hands off of me. s.e.x isn't part of our deal, only the mushrooms."

The shower turned off.

I wrenched a towel from a rack near the sink. "Just because I was a domina doesn't mean I'm a wh.o.r.e."

I wrapped the towel around my body. Samuel exited the shower. His wet skin glistened over taut rows of muscles. He grinned with fangs extended.

"I know you're not a wh.o.r.e." His gaze drank me in and he made no attempt to conceal that fact. Beads of water traveled down his ma.s.sive chest and journeyed toward his belly b.u.t.ton. I struggled to keep my eyes from straying any further.

"Do you need me to give you a towel?" I frowned.

"No." He walked in front of the door, blocking my escape. I would have to rub against his naked body when I left the bathroom. He remained silent and gazed down at my towel. "Can I use the one you have on?"

I sucked my teeth.

"Your eyes shimmer when you're mad," he whispered.

I started to say a smart remark when I spotted the pattern on the sides of his legs. Dark black swirls decorated his thick thighs and soared down to his ankles. Just like the baby princes.

"You're a prince!" I pointed to the marks.

He blurred to the piles of towels behind me and shoved me out of the way. "We're done here."

I twisted to him as he rushed to put on the towel. "But...you're a prince."

"You must have been a horrible domina if you can't tell a tattoo from real marks." He stormed out of the bathroom with two towels plastered haphazardly to his legs. "I'm no prince!"

Chapter Six.

Samuel put on his clothes in a rush and then raced out of the room, saying nothing else. I didn't try to make him talk. In the end, Samuel being a prince didn't concern me. I decided not to bring the topic up whenever he returned. The old woman I'd met earlier arrived right after Samuel departed. She carried soup, honey biscuits, wine, and a gown into the room. Her face displayed an impartial mask. She didn't speak as she set the food down, handed me a long white gown, and left. In that moment, I realized she had never told me her name. How odd it was that she'd been so nice when I first met her, but now no longer wanted to talk.

Regardless, I put on the gown and devoured the food at a quick pace, happy no one witnessed the debauchery. I even licked the bowl and searched the tray for crumbs. With my stomach full and body clothed in the soft gown, I crashed onto the bed, exhausted even though I'd napped in Samuel's arms earlier.

I turned off the lamp. Only the moons' light illuminated the room. The gentle rhythm of a violin drifted up from the bar. Every now and then, I caught couples talking as they exited the hotel downstairs and dawdled outside my window. I closed my eyes and attempted to imagine my husband. Instead, Samuel's chiseled face emerged. His herbal scent still lingered in the room, even though he'd been gone for hours.

No one will know if I think about Samuel. Just my little secret.

For a few seconds I allowed myself to imagine how it would feel to have his searing-hot fingers tease my flesh. I bit my lip and sank deeper into those guilty thoughts, telling myself it was okay to dream about him just once. My husband Ethan had a small frame and stood only a few inches above my height. Next to Samuel, Ethan would look like a boy. They're night and day. During violent storms when thunder and lightning struck the land, Ethan cuddled under the covers, his head resting on my bosom as I raked my fingers through his hair and soothed him. What would Samuel do? I got the feeling he would seize the opportunity of our time in bed to make love within the background of the lightning's threatening flares and thunder's fierce echoes.

Stop that. It's not fair to compare them.

The door opened. Light seeped in from the hallway. Samuel stumbled in, closed the door, and ambled to the other side of the bed. He collapsed behind me, making the mattress bounce a little. My body tensed. I kept my back to him.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have come in the shower. Ambi knows I shouldn't even be lying in this bed next to you."

Not knowing how to respond, I remained stiff, pretending to be asleep.

"I know you're awake. I hear your heart beating fast," he warned. "And I know how it sounds when you're asleep. I listened to it the whole time I carried you in the sewer."

I gritted my teeth. "Fine. I'm awake."

"Do you mind me sleeping in bed with you?"

"I don't mind as long as you don't touch me."

His laughter filled the s.p.a.ce. "A vampire lies next to you and all you're worried about is him touching you?"

"I'm used to sleeping with a vampire," I confessed. "Once a month, The Quiet King slept in my bed to help me adjust to him."

"He never touched you, right?" Samuel's voice came out in a low growl.

"No. He would just say a few things in my mind. And goodness, I hated his voice in my head. It was like sandpaper scratching against my brain, so rough and menacing."

"I've never heard his voice," Samuel declared. "I don't think he can get inside my mind."

"You can't hear him at all?" I quickly twisted around to face him. "I thought he mentally spoke to everyone in Capitol City."

"Not me."

I'd attended many of the king's public speeches. They'd all been surreal. The king always mentally communicated his messages. Thousands of vampires and humans would gaze up at the king as he lounged in his wheelchair. No one said anything. Everyone just silently listened to the king's words as they flowed through our minds.

"We need to talk. You know I'm a prince. This information can get me executed and the people who kept me alive murdered." Samuel positioned his head on my pillow so our eyes met. His gold eyes glowed within the darkness.

"You're a prince." I tried to calm down my anxiety, but my nerves still flared on edge. "That's why your eyes get bright and your body is warm like the king."

"You're the only one to ever notice my body temperature."

I scrunched my face in shock. "Only me?"

"And an old mage woman I helped free long ago. She'd been the king's prisoner."

Mage? I knew they existed and had seen pictures of the dark-skinned people in books and magazines, but I'd never seen one up close. The Quiet King forbade mages to cross over into our land. Likewise, the mages killed any vampires who entered their territory.

"Tonight," Samuel interrupted my thoughts, "I sat in the bar downstairs for an hour and debated whether I should kill you or not."

"What?" I froze and forced myself to breathe. "And what answer did you come up with?"

"I can't hurt you, of course. Ty spoke the truth back in the alley. I'm no killer of women." Samuel's hand moved some of my auburn hair away from my cheek. "So I ordered some more drinks and spent an hour trying to come up with an alternative."

"And what's the alternative?" I formed my hands into tight fists and prepared myself for the worst.

"I will form a mind-to-mind connection with you. Just like what the king and you had, except now our bond will break his link. He may realize it or not, since he's connected to the whole city's residents."

"Have you done this before?"

"No."

My heart pounded in my ears. "Why do we even need a bond?"

"I can't let you walk around free, not while you know I'm a prince."

I sat up. "It's your fault! You paraded your marks in front of me while we were in the bathroom."

"I know." He rubbed is eyes with his hands and then ma.s.saged his temples. "For some sick reason, I think I wanted you to know I had power. Ever since I drank your blood, my head has been crazy."

I edged away from him. "I don't want to bond with you. Look, I promise you I won't tell anybody."

"I want to believe you, but the mental connection will guarantee you won't say anything," he said. "I could make sure you don't utter the words with a simple command."