Crying his name, Jess sat up abruptly and clutched at his shoulders as he thrust into her, holding on for dear life until he thrust one last time and threw his head back with a roar of pleasure.
Shifting sleepily, Jess reached instinctively for Raffaele, but found the built-in lounge mattress empty beside her. Frowning, she opened her eyes to bright sunlight, and quickly closed them again on a groan as her head began to pound. God, she felt like complete and utter crap! She must have overdone the drinking last night, but . . .
Jess stilled suddenly and opened her eyes again, doing so slowly this time to allow her eyes to adjust to the bright daylight, and then sighed as she saw that she wasn’t out on the balcony, but on the pull-out couch in the sitting room. She glanced down at the blue shirt she still wore, and then turned her head and spotted Raffaele shifting sleepily in the overstuffed chair next to the couch, and turned her head unhappily away. She was in Room 306, the suite Raffaele shared with Santo and Zanipolo.
It had all been a dream. That lovely, hot episode on the balcony had just been a damned wet dream. It seemed her sudden spate of horniness had followed her into sleep. Sighing, she closed her eyes as the memory of what had really happened last night moved across her mind and she recalled that everything was gone.
The alcohol had really started to affect Jess by the time they’d reached her room and she’d had to enter the combination to the safe three times to get the damned thing open . . . then it was only to find all of her belongings gone. Allison’s things had still been there, but Jess’s passport, wallet, and even her return ticket for the flight home were gone. She’d shrieked in dismay and horror when she’d made that discovery, and then shrieked again as she noted that all her clothes, and even her suitcase, had been removed from the closet as well.
Not only could she not fly out today, but Jess didn’t have a single stitch of clothing other than the borrowed shirt she still wore.
Well, she supposed she had the torn T-shirt and the bikini, Jess thought on a sigh. Yay.
It had to be Vasco, of course . . . or Cristo, or one of his other vampirates. It just had to be connected to him. If it had been a straight-out theft, Allison’s things would have been taken as well, and Jess’s clothes would have been left behind. It wasn’t like they were designer or anything. Allison had more expensive clothes that she’d badgered her father into buying her, but Jess bought hers at Walmart, for Pete’s sake.
No, it was Vasco. He was trying to prevent her leaving. Although she had no idea how he knew of her plan to flee.
Jess barely had that thought when she recalled Cristo telling Vasco her name without her mentioning it, and his asking Vasco if he had tried to read her. That must be another vampire trick they had. Besides controlling people, they must be able to read their minds, she thought. And Cristo must have read her plans to fly out today from her mind when he’d tried to force her onto the bus. He’d taken that news back to Vasco, and they’d set out to make sure it didn’t happen.
Dear God, they had her trapped here! At least temporarily, Jess added with a frown. Surely, she could get a replacement passport from the American embassy here? Was there an American embassy in Punta Cana? God, she hoped it wasn’t in some other city in the Dominican like Puerto Plata or somewhere else way far away. She didn’t have any damned money to get to Puerto Plata, or any other Dominican city, really. Or for a flight home now that her credit cards were gone. She’d have to borrow that, as well as clothes and . . . She had no idea what she’d have to do to get a replacement passport.
But whatever it was, she’d do it, Jess thought grimly. She wasn’t letting Vasco force her into being his vampirate bitch, or whatever he was after. He’d pissed her off now.
Opening her eyes, Jess turned her head and peered at Raffaele again. His eyes were closed. It looked like he’d fallen back to sleep, if he’d ever even woken up fully. It left her free to examine his face. He really was attractive. At least, he was to her. She supposed he didn’t have classical good looks, but there was just something about him that appealed to her. And he had an amazing body. He’d carried her around like she weighed nothing last night, both on the way to the room she shared with Allison, and then again when he’d carried her back here to the suite he shared with Santo and Zanipolo. Jess had been a bit hysterical at the time over her things being stolen, and she suspected she’d been babbling about vampire pirates and not wanting to be a vampire bitch when he rushed into the bedroom after she screamed. But he’d been incredibly sweet and soothing and had simply scooped her up and carried her out of the room.
He’d brought her straight here, set her in the chair while he opened the pull-out couch, which was already made. He’d then set her on it, tucked her in, and had promised that she was safe, and he would make sure it stayed that way as Santo and Zanipolo had finally caught up to them.
“It was the pirates!” Zanipolo had blurted, rushing into the room. “They had a small motorboat down on the beach. By the time we got there—”
That was all Jess could remember . . . except she was pretty sure Santo had suddenly turned to look at her then. But that was it, so she must have passed out at that point . . . and fallen into some pretty steamy dreams, Jess recalled, biting her lip. All of them had starred Raffaele, and all had included some pretty rockin’ sex in a variety of places and positions. The balcony had just been the last of the lot, and a tamer one than most of the others. She supposed she’d been wearying as morning approached.
A loud snore sounded from behind the closed double doors to the bedroom. It was followed by a much quieter snore, and then they both repeated one after the other. Santo and Zanipolo were obviously sleeping well, she thought dryly. But then they didn’t have some crazy, sexy, murderous vampirate wreaking havoc in their life and stealing everything they possessed in an effort to force them into being their bitch.
Well, not murderous, she supposed. As far as Jess could tell everyone who had been on the ship had returned to the resort safe and sound . . . just probably a pint or two lower in blood. Still . . . she just wanted her life back the way it was before Allison had dragged her onto that damned boat. She wanted her passport and everything else back. And she wanted not to know there were vampires out there, sailing the high seas and biting people.
But she couldn’t have that, Jess told herself firmly. So, it was better to deal with reality and do what she could. She would have to find out where the nearest embassy was and see about getting a temporary passport. Fortunately, she’d scanned and emailed herself her passport pages as a precaution before the trip. That should make getting a replacement a lot easier. She hoped. But even then, her problems weren’t over. Sure, she could probably borrow money from one of her aunts and uncles for a ticket home, but they’d wonder why she wanted to leave early, so she supposed she’d have to come up with an excuse for that. But even once she got home, her troubles weren’t over. She’d have to replace all her ID, all her credit and bank cards, her health card, driver’s license . . .
The list seemed endless, and it would be expensive, and time-consuming, and the whole time she’d be worried about Vasco showing up at her door, because he had her address. It would be easier if she could just get her stuff back from him.
Jess contemplated that briefly. Could she get it back? He probably had it on the ship. Probably in his cabin and she knew where that was. If she could slip on board while he was gone, say, while they were all out luring tourists back to the ship . . .
That idea had some merit to it, Jess thought suddenly. It might work. She just needed to come up with a plan to stay hidden near the dock until she saw the vampirates disembark to mix among the returning tourists. But first she needed to get rid of her headache so her thinking was a little sharper. She needed a foolproof plan if she was going to do this. Jess hadn’t escaped the ship, just to turn around and get caught sneaking back onto it.
Opening her eyes once more, Jess turned her head toward Raffaele again. Much to her relief, he appeared to be sleeping pretty soundly. Jess didn’t think she could face him this morning. He couldn’t know about her dreams, of course, but she was afraid she’d blush and stammer like an idiot if she had to deal with him before she at least had a coffee and cleared her head.
And maybe a stern internal lecture about this sudden horn-dog streak she had going on, Jess thought with a grimace as she pushed the sheet aside, and got quietly out of the pull-out bed. She hesitated then, every instinct in her demanding she make the bed and put it away, back to its original station as a couch. That was what a good guest would do, but Jess was afraid of waking Raffaele. She debated the issue briefly, and then merely tugged the sheet back into place, and then did the same with the blanket she’d apparently kicked aside. She’d straightened and was surveying her handiwork when Jess spotted the key card on the end table next to the couch.
It had to be hers. Probably. She couldn’t be sure. They all looked the same, but she’d just got a new key card and it might be it. Or it might be Raffaele’s key card to this room. She hesitated briefly, and then blew her breath out and took it. She’d try it and see. If it didn’t work for her room, she’d bring it back, let herself in, leave it where she found it, and tiptoe back out.
Jess managed to leave without waking Raffaele. Breathing a sigh of relief once she’d eased the door silently closed, she turned and hurried along the open hall to the stairs. The whole way back to the suite she shared with Allison, Jess was half hoping her cousin wouldn’t be there. With the way her head was pounding, she could really do without Allison’s bitchiness this morning, Jess thought as she reached the door to their suite and quickly ran the key card over the security panel.
It unlocked without issue, and Jess opened the door and stepped inside, her eyes scanning the empty sitting room, and then sliding to peer through the open bathroom door before she let the door ease closed. Not wanting to wake Allison if she was there, Jess closed it as quietly as she had the door to the men’s suite, and then pretty much tiptoed farther inside until she could see through the open doors to the bedroom. It was empty, and both beds still made. It looked like Allison hadn’t even slept there.