Once Bitten, No Longer Shy by Julie Steimle (chrome ebook reader txt) 📕

was a one-time thing between them. But then again… it could become something more. He hoped he made her want more.

 

When the sun trickled into the room the next morning, she woke first. Rubbing up against him, she kissed him on the nose. “Wanna have another go?”

Troy chuckled, opening his eyes to the beautiful view of her body. “Are you kidding me? I’d make love to you all day if you could take it.”

Nicole giggled, teasing him to touch her. He obliged, kissing her bare skin then her lips. She quickly straddled him, and they made love for another hour before she finally said through heavy breaths, “I would love to do this all day, but I need to get to work.”

Troy nodded, sitting up. Work. He ought to do that too. But he would miss this.

As she picked up her clothes from where they had been dropped, searching around for her missing panties, he chuckled to himself, admiring her nude form more with the realization that he had lost his virginity to the most luscious woman alive. He could not imagine Selina being as sexy as Nicole. He chuckled more, now wondering why he had waited so long to lose his virginity. He really had been way too focused on his work.

“They must be downstairs,” Nicole murmured.

“What?” Troy sat up, admiring the curvature of her derriere.

“My panties,” she said. “You took them off downstairs. I think my scarf is there also.” She headed to the door, still naked, to go find it.

Troy jumped out, blocking her way. “Wait! I have two roommates.”

She giggled, reaching for the knob. “Well. Then we’ll give them a treat.”

But Troy stopped her, whispering, “They’re religious freaks. They would not understand.”

A Vampire’s Libido

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Sixteen

 

 

Both Art and Hanz were in the kitchen when Nicole came down—mostly dressed, sans panties and ascot though they could not tell—followed by Troy in his pajama bottoms. She was carrying her shoes. Their jaws dropped. They hardly moved their heads when they exchanged glances.

“I guess this belongs to you,” Art said, gingerly lifting up the flimsy pink underwear and ascot from off the counter. He probably had picked them off the floor, thinking all sorts of things.

“Ah!” Nicole’s face lit up. She trotted over to him, plucking it from his hand. She immediately pulled it on, hiking up her skirt to fit it correctly.

Both Art and Hanz quickly averted their eyes. Troy continued to admire her luscious contours.

She winked at him.

“Do you want breakfast?” Troy gestured to where Art made his usual fare of eggs, toast, and some kind of hot cereal.

Nicole waved him off, heading toward the door. “No thanks. I really am late. I already called an Uber.”

Troy nodded, following her to the door. He opened it and she kissed him on the cheek as she went out. “Maybe we’ll get together again sometime.”

He watched her walk down the hall to the elevator. When she went in, he shut the door, sighing.

“I can’t believe you.”

Troy cocked his head. It was Hanz who had said it.

“Excuse me?” Troy stepped out from the door.

“I can’t believe you,” Hanz repeated, staring at him like Troy had committed a felony.

Huffing, Troy shook his head, strolling up to the kitchen to get some food. “Well, I’m not a monk, like you repressed jerks.”

Art raised his eyebrows, remaining silent. His eyes trailed to Hanz who held a similar facial expression, though he was staring at Troy with an intense degree of disappointment. But Hanz just shook his head and headed back to the couch where his blankets were still a mess. Apparently he had gotten back extremely late and had also just woken up. His hair was still mussed.

“I realize you don’t live by the same standards as we do,” Art said, leaning near Troy as he peered over the food, “But you hardly know that girl. Isn’t she one of the bite victims from the group yesterday? That chick who walked off with Brandon?”

Hanging his shoulders wearily, Troy rolled his eyes. “What of it? She wanted to have dinner with me yesterday. Then she came over to help out with the oil infusion. And one thing led to another, and…so what? This is the modern age.”

Groaning, Art snapped, “So what? So what? She’s a bite victim and you are having sex with her.”

“What? Are you going to police my life now?” Troy grabbed a plate, loading up on eggs a little quicker than he had intended.

“It’s immoral,” Art snapped. “You shouldn’t be doing it!”

Troy shot him a dirty look. “You live in the dark ages. Love is love.”

Art shook his head. “You’re not engaging in love. You are engaging in lust. And she is someone you are supposed to be helping! Not someone to screw with!”

Troy slammed down the plate. It cracked. “Don’t go holier-than-thou with me! I thought you said God will force no man to heaven. I’m damned anyway as a vampire so why shouldn’t I enjoy it?”

Art tossed up his hands and marched away to the bathroom. He shut the door.

After a brief silence, Hanz spoke up.

“God may not force man to heaven, but God also does not help those people who disregard his commandments. They are left to themselves,” Hanz said in a lower voice. “And I thought you needed all the help you could get.”

“Well,” rolling his eyes, groaning inwardly, Troy spoke up, finally saying what had been on his mind since he had found out Hanz and Art were part of a weird religion. “I’m so sure you’re right about who this god you mention even is. Christian god or your Mormon god? But you know, both seem pretty lousy—‘cause all I know is my life has sucked up until last night, which was pure ecstasy.”

Hanz’s cheeks colored. Troy was not sure what steamed his more—the reference about his god or about the great time he had with Nicole. Troy thought about elaborating with detail, just to see this Nordic god blush more.

“I’ve seen people get killed and people suffer,” Troy continued, not to be outdone by a presumptuous guy with presumed piety. “If there really is a god, then why do bad things happen?”

Hanz leaned back from him and stared. The color in his face cooled. His stare lasted for a full minute then he shook his head, taking a step back toward the couch again. “Your question isn’t ‘Is there a god?’. You know there is something out there that is bigger than all of this. Perhaps you should be asking: ‘What is the true nature of God? What is he really like?’ ”

Troy rolled his eyes.

“I don’t know what you imagine God to be,” Hanz snapped. “But He isn’t a short order cook or a slave that makes things all hunky dory for people so life is rainbows and ponies.”

Troy lowered a dirty look at him. Hanz had never spoke like this. Had he been biting his tongue all this time?

“You have to ask yourself,” Hanz said as he delivered a disappointed gaze one right back. “What is life really all about? What exactly are you doing?”

“I don’t need your religious dogma,” Troy bit back, fiddling with the broken plate pieces. He had destroyed the thing. He grabbed another plate, scooping some of the eggs onto it.

“It’s not dogma,” Art replied dryly, coming out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel, jogging to his bedroom to grab something. The shower was running. “Dogma is a catholic thing.”

Troy stared after him.

Hanz coughed, almost laughing. His expression lightened entirely. He shook his head and cleaned up his blankets from sleep, folding them. He then went to his suitcase which was open on the floor. Apparently Troy and Nicole had come down just after he had changed clothes. What a shame they had not come down during. He had yet to see Hanz with his shirt off, but it would have been a glorious sight. It would have also freaked the prude out.

“How is it not dogma?” Troy demanded to them both, ready to throw that plate next.

Art came out of his room and replied, “Dogma is an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, generally referring to enforced decisions such as those of aggressive political interests or authorities—according to Wikipedia. Our church is neither aggressive nor political, and the only enforcement we have involves keeping one’s membership within our faith. But excommunication only happens in extreme cases, and a member is free to leave if he or she so chooses.”

Hanz and Troy watched him enter the bathroom and close the door, locking it. Hanz then looked to Troy as if that was that.

“That makes no sense,” Troy snapped, staring at the door.

Hanz huffed, the second sign of his impatience. “Just because you don’t comprehend it does not mean it does not make any sense.”

Troy stared at him. It was the first rude thing Hanz had ever said to him. “Excuse me?”

Zipping up his suitcase, Hanz lifted his eyes to him. “Look. I don’t know how you see this world. But I need to remind you that it does not revolve around you.”

Troy’s mouth opened wider in protest. He never thought that ever.

“And just because things are not going your way and you don’t get why things are difficult, does not mean there is no God,” Hanz continued in a raised voice. “And I am sorry you don’t like to be censured when you act like a complete self-absorbed jerk, ignoring that you should not even be messing with those bite victims who are vulnerable.”

“I wasn’t! She came on to me!” Troy protested.

Hanz pulled back a step and said, “Then I feel even more sorry for her.”

“Why?”

“Because she hardly knows you,” Hanz said, almost whining that Troy did not see it his way. “A girl who moves that fast and that loose does not have an emotionally stable life. She’s probably really screwed up. Can’t you see that—”

“Just because she’s not sexually repressed like you morons, does not mean she’s messed up,” Troy snapped back. “Get off your high horse.”

Hanz leaned away. Lifting his shoulders like a Norse god who was done with ‘mortals’, he turned back to his suitcase, pulling it upright. “I’m talking human psychology here, not religion. When a woman is that promiscuous, she is seeking approval while degrading herself. She—”

“Oh, please…” Troy started to walk back to his room. He didn’t want a sermon.

“Most healthy women seek a stable, sustainable relationship, not one where she is bed hopping to get what she physically wants from the men around her,” Hanz snapped.

“What time warp have you come from?” Troy shot back.

Moaning, Hanz shook his head. “Truth is not regaled to a single time era.”

“And you think that repressive view idea about women and sex is truth?” Troy retorted.

“I know it is true,” Hanz replied. “And it is not repressive.”

Troy rolled his eyes, continuing to the stairs and going up to his room. The guy was so mindlessly Captain America-Boy Scout, it was sickening.

“You are going to regret messing with her,” Hanz called after him.

“I’m not messing with her.” Troy halted halfway up the stairs. “This is called dating. You do know the word, right?”

Hanz snorted. “It’s called a one-night-stand.”

Troy colored. “It wasn’t.”

“Oh?” Hanz lifted his eyebrows. “Has it