Chapter 23
Ji-Su tilted his glass up to swallow the last of his champagne, then set the glass aside.
The champagne giving him courage, Ji-Su rose up on his knees.
No. That position was too submissive. He needed to be bold to get what he wanted.
He slipped from the bed and moved to stand at the foot of it with his back straight and chin up.
Raul watched him with curiosity in his gaze.
“What’s up?”
Ji-Su pulled in a deep breath and slowly let it out before answering. “I know I’m not what you’re attracted to. But I can give you what you need with my blood if you let me.”
Raul’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.
“You think I’m not attracted to you?” he asked.
Before Ji-Su could answer, Raul slid down to the foot of the bed, moving slow and easy over the satin bed covering. He put his feet on the floor on either side of Ji-Su’s, caging him in with his thighs.
“I’m not tall and modelesque like the blood pets you had before me,” Ji-Su said, trying to sound nonchalant as he stated the obvious. “Or feisty and flirty like Solan.”
“I don’t want you to be any of those things.”
Well, there went the last possible excuse for Raul repeatedly turning him down. “Then why don’t you want me?” Ji-Su asked, unable to hide the hurt in his voice.
Raul responded with another question.
“You think I don’t want you?”
Raul suddenly grabbed him around the waist and tugged him forward. Ji-Su gasped in surprise as he stumbled and pitched off-balance. He put his hands on Raul’s shoulders to steady himself, but Raul picked him up and maneuvered him into place to straddle his lap.
“If that’s what you think, carino, you are very, very wrong.”
He took Ji-Su’s hand and slipped it between their bodies, pressing it against his length. Ji-Su gasped again, this time with arousal. Behind his jeans, Raul was hot and hard, impossibly thick against his palm.
“This is how much I want you. I go to bed every morning like this while I think of your soft hands, or your perfect lips wrapped around my cock.”
“Then why...” Ji-Su paused to lick lips gone dry from nervousness and reluctantly moved his hand. “Why don’t you want to drink my blood?”
“I do. I always have.” Raul put his hands on Ji-Su’s bare back and began to slowly caress him while he spoke.
“But when you first came to the ranch, I didn’t take from you because I wanted to let you recover from your ordeal with Cedric.
I didn’t want to scare you or trigger any negative reactions.
Then, once I did bite you, I had to be careful. ”
“What do you mean?”
“I kept myself under control, because I didn’t want you to have sex with me out of obligation or gratitude for buying out your contract.”
Understanding dawned. “That’s why you didn’t release your pleasure venom with me.”
Raul nodded. “Yes. I was trying to keep things impersonal—a transaction so you could feel satisfied you were doing your job. But when you said you didn’t like the way I bit you I thought I’d hurt you.
And that’s the last thing I’d ever want to do.
That’s why I stopped drinking your blood.
I should have released you from your contract too but I didn’t want to let you go. ”
Ji-Su couldn’t believe that they’d both been so wrong.
He sagged forward, letting his head drop to rest in the crook of Raul’s shoulder.
Raul wrapped his arms around him, making him feel safe with their warm strength.
“I think maybe we should have talked before this,” Ji-Su said as he hid his face.
“But I’m not good with direct conversations. I tend to avoid them.”
“And I didn’t want to put any pressure on you. But we’re talking now. You can say whatever you need to say to me.” Raul turned his head to whisper in Ji-Su’s ear. “Just tell me what you want.”
Ji-Su forced himself to sit up straight and look directly at Raul before he spoke. “You’ve always been kind and protective. I appreciate that. But after those first few nights I didn’t need any more time to recover.”
“Why did you say you didn’t like my bite? Did I hurt you?”
“You’ve never hurt me. When I said that I was trying to tell you that I didn’t like when you bit me so cold and impersonally, without releasing your pleasure venom. But I couldn’t quite figure out how to say it.”
“And I jumped to conclusions before you could do so.”
“Yeah. But I promise that was the wrong conclusion. The desire I feel for you is real. Obligation has nothing to do with it. So, what I want, is you.”
“You have me,” Raul said, his voice throaty and low.
“Finally,” Ji-Su whispered, relieved that his boldness had paid off.
Raul stroked his hands up beneath Ji-Su’s sweater, pressing on his shoulder blades to guide him down into a kiss.
This kiss was as slow as the one outside the tent, but much more intimate with Ji-Su straddling his lap.
He moaned softly when Raul lightly trailed his fingertips down his spine before cupping his ass to pull him even closer.
The thin material of his pants let Ji-Su feel the warmth of Raul’s palms as he squeezed and caressed his ass.
Raul sucked on Ji-Su’s bottom lip, lightly dragging his teeth over it as he pulled back.
“Hey,” he said softly.
Ji-Su opened his eyes to look at him. “Yeah?”
“Want to lay down with me?”
When Ji-Su nodded, Raul moved them until they lay on their sides facing each other.
“I love this outfit,” Raul said as he ran his eyes over Ji-Su in a slow perusal.
“I said you looked cute at the ranch and you do. But damn, you look sexy too. And so fucking soft. This sweater. These pants. Your skin. I wanted to run my hands all over you as soon as I saw you at the top of the stairs.”
“You hid it well. I thought I saw a hint of attraction in your eyes but I blinked and it was gone.”
Raul grinned. “I’m a casino boss. I’ve perfected my poker face.
” Raul tucked a finger beneath the garter strapped around Ji-Su’s thigh.
He slid his finger back and forth along the leather, thumb flicking at the dangling crystal heart.
“Now, this outfit is lovely, but I sure would love to take it off of you.”
“Go ahead.”
Raul unbuckled and removed the garter first. Then, he put a hand beneath the hem of the sweater and pushed up, taking the sweater along as he went.
As soon as it was off, he tossed it aside before lowering his head to press his lips to Ji-Su’s chest. Raul softly kissed Ji-Su from his sternum, across his chest until he reached Ji-Su’s nipple.
He blew a warm breath over it, making Ji-Su shiver in response.
“Are you sensitive here?” Raul asked as he brushed his thumb over Ji-Su’s nipple.
Ji-Su nodded. He was and he enjoyed having his nipples played with. But most guys were in such a hurry to get to other stuff that they skipped right over them. He would love it if Raul took his time giving them attention.
“Your heart sped up. You really want me to touch you here, don’t you, carino?”
“Yes.”
“They’re such pretty nipples,” Raul said with another barely there touch. “So small, and they’re already tightening up for me.”
“Raul,” Ji-Su whined his name.
“Hmmm?” Raul hummed in question, a teasing sparkle in his eyes.
Ji-Su pouted. “You’re mean to tease me.”
“I could never be mean to you. You’re such a sweet little thing.”
Raul stopped teasing and licked the flat of his tongue over Ji-Su’s nipple before rolling his tongue around it.
Ji-Su shivered in reaction and pressed his chest closer.
When Raul took his nipple into his mouth and began to suck on it, Ji-Su gasped.
He slid his hands into the cool, ebony silk of Raul’s hair, holding on while each tug of Raul’s mouth on his nipple sent tingles of sensation straight down to his cock.
Raul released him with a little pop. Ji-Su started to protest, but before he could form a single word, Raul’s lips had already closed around his other nipple.
Ji-Su tried to scoot closer, whining softly when Raul stopped him.
The whine turned into a moan when Raul rolled him to his back and held him down to the bed.
He had to lay there, trapped by Raul’s strength while he sucked and bit and teased both nipples.
The erotic torture had him hard, his back arching up from the bed as he moaned for more.
When Raul finally lifted his head to look at Ji-Su, his eyes were heavy lidded and brightly glowing with arousal. He pushed up to bring their lips together in another passionate kiss, his mouth hot from Ji-Su’s skin.
Raul licked into Ji-Su’s mouth lazy and slow as if he had all the time in the world.
Ji-Su couldn’t get enough of the way Raul kissed him.
He even leaned up to chase after his lips when he pulled away.
Raul indulged him, kissing him again for several more breath stealing moments before he stopped.
Ji-Su touched a finger to his kiss stung lips while he stared up at Raul, waiting to see what he would do next.
“And now for these sinful pants.”
He popped the button and pulled down the short zipper of the clingy, low-rise pants. Raul let out a soft curse then brushed a thumb over the bare skin of Ji-Su’s pelvis behind the zipper.
“No underwear, carino?”
Ji-Su blushed and shook his head. “You could see the outline of them through the pants.”
Raul raised a brow. “So instead of showing the outline of your underwear, you decided to torment me with the outline of your pretty cock,” he said as he rubbed his palm up and down Ji-Su’s still clothed cock.
Ji-Su blushed even harder. “That wasn’t intentional.”
“It’s okay. I like it.” He tucked his fingers in the waistband of Ji-Su’s pants. “But I want to see more than the outline.”
Raul slowly peeled Ji-Su’s pants past his hips, down his thighs, then all the way off. They were tossed in the same direction as his sweater.