"Good!" Laurencio called. "You need to look scared, not ambivalent."
Another sensation rose up within her fast and hard. Not quite panic, not quite desire.
Hunger. Need.
She gasped at the intensity that turned her lower belly into a furnace and swept through her, making her achingly aware of his scent, the heat and smoothness of his skin, the size of his body and the hot mouth pressed against her neck. Her skin grew so sensitive, the scrape of sand and heat of his hands were almost orgasmic. The tension building within her wasn't something she'd felt in years. Her eyes drifted closed.
"Scared, not sleepy!"
Laurencio's voice reminded her they weren't alone. Jessi fought back whatever spell was trying to engulf her. It swallowed her senses, but she wasn't about to lose complete control to someone like Xander. On a beach. With a ton of people watching. Whatever he was doing to her, he made her want to beg him to finish.
"Xander, head up. Look at each other as if you're in love."
Xander withdrew from her neck, but not before his tongue flickered out to trace the sensitive spot. She shuddered, his spell retreating. He lifted his head and met her gaze. A drop of something warm fell onto her face.
Blood. His fangs were red from blood. Her blood. The realization helped her push back the trance she'd been about to fall into.
"You did bite me!" she said in a breathless voice. "What kind of psycho are you?"
"You're a smart girl. You can put two and two together," Xander said.
The fangs, the eyes, the ability to manipulate the minds of others. It struck her that the red eyes weren't contacts and the four inch incisors weren't implants. Her blood was on them. He tried to tell her he was a vampire. She didn't believe in them, until Jonny. She hadn't wanted to believe she might be caught at the mercy of not one, but two real-live vampires!
"There you go. You got it," he said, his look turning cunning. "Vamp got your tongue?"
Jessi's lips parted, but the words she wanted to say were stuck in her throat.
"Excellent emotion! Perfect!" Laurencio exclaimed.