Chapter 1
“Do you have any flights leaving New York after sunset that arrive in Paris before sunrise?” Aaron Pilan stared unblinking at the travel agent, assaulting her with the full bore of his gaze.
“No sir, not commercial flights. I’m not sure about the charter flights.”
Aaron glanced at the nameplate on her desk and tried a more personal approach. “Penelope, I need your help.” He drilled into her mind with his telepathic probe, digging through her thoughts and emotions. “How long is a flight to Paris?”
“Well … it’s a seven hour flight at minimum, but the time zones …” He read Penelope’s every thought with ease. His eyes seemed to swallow her very soul with the wondrous intensity of his gaze. She fell under his spell in a matter of seconds. “Um … Paris is six hours ahead of New York, so it’s really thirteen hours …”
“Help me, Penelope. Help me find a flight that leaves by 7:30 p.m. and arrives by 7:00 a.m. in Paris.”
His eyes owned her as he read her mind. She couldn’t imagine disagreeing with him. She would give him anything – her heart, her body, her soul – just to know the truth behind his eyes. He read her infatuation as she moistened between the legs, staring at him like a love-struck teenager.
“Um … one of the Gulfstream charters might be able to do that.” She thought hard, considering one company in particular that would fly anyone anywhere, under any circumstances, for the right price.
“I knew you could help me.”
He took her hand and she wet her underwear in anticipation. A blush of rosy heat crept up her face and her little pink tongue darted out to swipe her dry lips. Her desire to be kissed flooded her mind, washing over him as he sifted through her thoughts. She focused on the gleaming white teeth of his smile, and he knew she wished he’d drag her into the alcove and have her up against the wall. Too easy. He could bend her over the kiosk right there.
He read all her fantasies, a series of delightfully wicked things she hoped for. Uncomfortably hot and bothered by his brief touch, Penelope’s fingers moved unsteadily over the keyboard. She tried not to look at him, but she couldn’t help herself.
She cleared her throat. “Executive Pathways can expedite a transcontinental flight tomorrow night for $16,000. Oh wow, that’s really expensive, but they’ll leave whenever you like. Are you sure we can’t make one of these commercial flights work? I can get you first class at a discount …”
“No thanks. I’ll take the charter.” His exacting flight schedule could not be compromised.
She continued trying to dissuade him. “It’s only a couple hours difference ...”
Two hours made all the difference. Vampires don’t do daylight. “I need two tickets.”
“Two? But there’s no discount for the second ticket …”
He followed her mind as she imagined accompanying him overseas. A foreign rendezvous, endless hours of sex in a French hotel suite. She’d let him do anything he wanted, repeatedly.
Michelle arrived, slipping her arm around him intimately. Gorgeous, blonde, glamorous, she could’ve been a model fresh off the runway. Penelope’s fantasy crashed and burned, the screams of dying dreams echoing in her ears.
He smiled at her again, and winked. “We’ll take two tickets.”
Penelope swallowed her demolished pride. He felt a twinge of sympathy as Penelope realized she could never compete with a woman like Michelle. His master was so beautiful it hurt to look at her.
