The breath between them vanished when Filomena took his lips.
Hot. Ben closed his eyes and took her mouth as she had taken his, raising his hand to cup the nape of her neck. His fingers tangled in her thick, caramel-brown hair.
Filomena heated her skin until it matched the flush of his own. She tasted of wine and chocolate and the indefinable taste that was all her own. A medley of scent and flavor and sensation. Her eyelashes brushed his skin as he eased away from her mouth and trailed his lips along the arch of her cheekbone. He followed the fragrance of her hair and the perfumed skin beneath her ear.
Filomena let out a low, satisfied purr and dragged her nails down his neck.
The sharp bite of pain brought Ben up short.
Blood rushed back to his head as he trailed firm kisses back along her chin and up to her mouth again, luxuriating in her taste and the softness of her lips.
Her fangs were fully aroused.
Ben drew away, gently biting her lower lip before he smiled. “You taste delicious.”
She blinked slowly. “And you are a cautious man.”
He cupped the side of her neck, brushing his thumb over where her pulse would beat.
If she were human. Which she wasn’t.
“Mmm,” he said on a sigh. “Sadly, I have to be. After all, a foolish yoga instructor wouldn’t last long in your world.”
“My world?” Filomena raised an eyebrow, clearly still enjoying their flirtation. “Is it not your world as well?”
“That’s an excellent question.”
“One you’re not going to answer.”
“It’s only our first bottle of wine, Filomena. We shouldn’t reveal all our secrets at once.”
“True.”
She shrugged his hand off her neck, so Ben let it fall to the back of the chair in a proprietary gesture that seemed to please the vampire, judging by the smile teasing the corners of her mouth.
“You’re bold.”
“Am I?” That’s probably why I’m not dead already.
Lucky for him, she only smiled and leaned against it, willing to play his game for the night. “You’re also surprisingly good with your mouth. For a human.”
“Thanks. I got kissing lessons from a three-hundred-year-old French courtesan when I was a teenager. I think it helped.”
Filomena threw her head back and laughed loudly. She even wiped a pink tear from the corner of her eye before she asked, “Is that true?”
“I’m not going to tell you.”
She narrowed her eyes, trying to find his tell, but Ben smiled innocently.
“What?”
“It’s a shame I cannot take you as a lover. I don’t think either of us would regret it.”
He let his eyes trace her mouth, the delectable cleavage she had bared for the evening, and the sweep of her long, muscled legs. “I think regret would be the last thing on my mind.”
“This life is long.”
He cocked his head. “Not for everyone.”
“All the more reason to seize the night.”
Ben shook his head and poured both of them more wine. “My friends were right. You are a dangerous woman.”
❂
Rome, one week later
BEN kicked the ball back to Enzo, the boy whooping in delight as he ran after it in the courtyard. His mother, Serafina, watched from the bench near the fountain where she chatted quietly with Fabi as Ben and Enzo killed time before Zeno rose for the night.
The old vampire had finally convinced the quiet woman to marry him the Christmas before, though Fina had protested they should wait until her son was grown. Ben was fairly sure his uncle would have a new immortal daughter once Enzo was an adult. Neither Fina nor Zeno had said anything, but Ben could see how devoted they were to each other. Plus they were both under Giovanni’s aegis and invaluable members of his staff.
Fina had brought herself and Enzo to join Zeno in Rome as soon as the boy had finished his school exams for the year. Now the three were residing in Residenza di Spada with Ben and Angie.
Angie, of course, was delighted. Especially since that gave her three human appetites to cook for. Four if you counted Fabi, who ate dinner with them most nights.
“So Fina”—Ben interrupted the women’s quiet conversation—“Zeno said you saw Tenzin at the library before she went north.”
“Only briefly,” Fina said. “I didn’t speak to her. I think she only sheltered for the day before she flew away. Though she did take a fifteenth-century manuscript on metalsmithing. Well, the copy of it. I only have a digital scan because the original resides in—”
“Metalsmithing?” Ben frowned. Metalsmithing? But why would Tenzin need a manual on medieval metalsmithing if she already knew where Alfonso’s cache…
Oh, Tenzin.
Shit.
He should have known.
“Ben,” Fina continued, unaware his thoughts had wandered, “Zeno tells me that you and Tenzin are working for Alfonso in Naples. You are being careful, aren’t you?”
“Of course.” He kicked the ball back to Enzo just before Angie called the boy inside the house to wash up. Ben strolled over to the edge of the fountain and perched on the corner. “What do you know about him?”
“Well”—Fina’s prim voice made him smile—“it is rumored that he was part of the Bourbon court, but that is only a rumor. Like many things in Naples—well, and anything to do with immortals, if we’re honest—rumors of corruption have followed him over the years. Giovanni is fairly certain he was behind the library theft.”