“How—”

“Don’t worry about how. Just relax and enjoy.” Jerry picked up a ripe strawberry and brought it to my lips. “Eat.”

I inhaled and almost cried again. The delicious smell . . . “I . . . I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. This isn’t real, Gloriana. We’re living a fantasy. One of yours, I hope.” Jerry grinned and pushed the strawberry into my mouth. “Bite. Remember the sweetness. Taste it.”

“You’re kidding.” I admit I’m a little food obsessed. Remember the Cheetos debacle? The berry burst in my mouth. Too divine. I chewed, but hesitated. Okay, I took a chance and swallowed. “Will this hurt me? You know when I ate those Cheetos . . .” I sucked in my tummy. Damned stupid Cheetos bulge.

“Would I do that to you?” He smiled and laid his hand on my tummy. “And you don’t have to hold this in. I think you’re perfect just as you are.”

I put my hand over his. Perfect? Of course. This was my fantasy after all. And I’d just had a strawberry.

“Mmmm. Have I told you you’re a genius?” I reached for another berry. He’d conjured up a whole bowl of them. God, how I’d missed this. Food. That’s why I’d made a fool of myself over Cheetos. I had to learn how to do this trick.

“I’ll teach you how. Someday.” Jerry picked up a pastry. “Smell.”

“Oh, my God. Lemon tart?” I dipped a finger into the filling. This felt so real. And when I licked my finger clean, my tastebuds were in full party mode. I sighed with pleasure. “You did this for me?” I scooped up another finger full and wrote a “G” on his bare chest.

“This is amazing. How can I ever repay you?” I leaned forward, my tongue tracing a path down his stomach. Mmm. Blade and lemon. Delicious. I reached for another tart.

“You’re doing a pretty good job of it.” He gasped when I scooped up more lemon and dropped a dollop of it on his jutting penis. “Of course if you’d like to lick that off . . .”

“That’s the plan.” I slid down his body. He lay back and groaned when I took him in my mouth. I stroked him, inhaled him and made him arch off the blanket when I swept my tongue around his hot length. Mmm, those vamp powers. I didn’t have to look at a clock to know he could stay hard and ready for me for hours. And he’d have to, because it was definitely my turn. I sat up and tossed my hair behind my back. Jerry’s eyes had actually rolled back in his head and a fine sheen of sweat glistened on his pecs when he clinched his fists. Birds still sang, bees still buzzed, but my heart seemed to stop as I looked down at him.

“Earth to Jerry.”

“I’m here. Barely.” He opened his eyes as he leaned up to slide his tongue across one of my nipples. Then his fangs, deliciously sharp and dangerous, traced a path over my breasts.

I reached for another strawberry. “Want one?”

“Nay, lass. I hunger for something much sweeter. But go ahead. I like seeing your pleasure. ” He held onto my breast and watched me.

Sex with a handsome man? Or strawberries? Okay, so I’m one sick puppy. But for a moment the fruit won. I bit into a berry and the sweetness filled my mouth again. The thrill was almost enough to make me forget Jerry ’s fingers toying with my nipples. Almost. But I ate another, then rubbed a third across Jerry’s smiling lips and kissed him. So delicious. I sat up and ate the last of the strawberries.

Sue me, but I’m full-figured for a reason. I always loved my food. And after I married unwisely, we’d struggled on an actor’s pay. Treats like strawberries had been unheard of. Then I’d been widowed. I’d been hungry, a lot. Only Billy Shakespeare’s kindness in letting me play an occasional part and repair costumes, had kept me from starving. Jerry’s hands gripped my ass before his fingers drifted between my thighs, finding me ready and then some.

“I’ll ne’er forget the night I met you.” Jerry smiled and touched me until I gasped. “I knew you were no man on that stage.”

I explored his firm chest. “Are you saying I was a poor actor? ” I lightly pinched one of his nipples. I’d been a woman pretending to be a man playing a woman. Billy Shakespeare always had loved that type of game.

“Never that. You had the audience convinced. But then I’m no ordinary man, you see.” He slipped two fingers inside me and I swear my eyes crossed.

“Yes, I do see, sort of.” I put my hand around his cock. “Not ordinary at all.”

“You won me twenty guineas that night.” He grinned, stroking me just the way I liked. I returned the favor, moving my hand in a rhythm that had him pushing into my hand.

“So glad I could help.” I sent him a mental message. Harder. Deeper. I moaned when he slid his fingers even farther inside me.

“You were bold that night.”

“Aye, and I got my face slapped for it.”

“As you should have.” Blade had come backstage and, before I’d known what he was about, he’d thrust his hand down my bodice and up my skirt.

“You held back, lass. I know a love tap when I feel one.”

I kissed his cheek, rough with evening beard. “Mayhap I like bold. And you did offer to buy me a late supper. I was a greedy wench.” Still am, truth be told. I leaned into his open-mouthed kiss, greedy for him. I’d been easy for him too since the moment I’d seen him. He’d fed all my hungers, wining and dining me until I was stuffed like a Christmas goose. I hadn’t known he was vampire at first. When he’d finally taken me, I’d been so hot for him, he could have bit off my left tit and I would have begged for him to take the other one. As it was, I found the blood drinking incredibly erotic. Feeding him, feeling the pull from my neck to my womb. My body clenched, remembering.

Little wonder I’d finally begged him to make me vampire. So we could live together forever. Forever is a long, long time. Jerry pulled me up his body until I sat astride his clever mouth. Oh, God. I leaned back, turning my face to the sun. When he stroked me with his tongue, I shuddered and made those stupid little sounds I make when I’m close to coming. He held me to him. I bucked when his tongue darted inside and his fangs touched me. Then he sucked. Oh, sweet Lord. I held back when I wanted to bounce on him like a pogo stick.

“I . . . I can’t. I’ll crush you.” I felt him smile against me. He lifted me slightly, just to prove he could, I guess.

“You’re a feather, lass.”

A feather? Don’t I wish. You’d think a vamp’s liquid diet would make you thin. No such luck. I’d been supersized when he’d turned me. I’d be supersized forever.

“Quit thinking, Gloriana.” Of course he’d read my mind. My insecurities. He looked up, his eyes twinkling. “And if you crush me, lass, know that any man would be happy to die with his face buried in—”

“Jeremiah!”

Jerry grinned, then slid me down until I felt his erection between my thighs.

I quivered and opened my legs. I needed him, inside me. Now.

“Not yet, lass. Patience.” He flipped us until I was beside him on that damned blanket.

“When did you become a tease?” My mood was deteriorating. I nudged his erection with my knee. “I want you, Jerry.”

“Of course.” Arrogant Scot. “First, tell me something you’d like to taste.”

I looked down at his erection. “Well . . .”

He growled and gave me a hot look. “Careful, lass. You’re going to undo me.” He took a breath, visibly taking control of himself. “I’m not through with this fantasy. Food. Tell me something you never got to taste when you were mortal.”

I grinned. We both knew I’d tasted him back in the day. So I took about half a second to think about mortal treats. “Ice cream. Chocolate.”

“Ah, a challenge. And a mortal favorite. I’ve heard a few moaning with pleasure over such a simple food. You’d think they were having great sex.”

Before I could blink, he had a double scoop cone of rich deep chocolate ice cream in his hand. I swear my taste buds tingled. I know my thighs did.

“Taste.” He held it inches from my mouth.

I inhaled, then sighed. “Forget it. What good would it do? Lemon? Yes. Strawberries? Of course. But chocolate ice cream? It wasn’t even thought of when we were alive. You can’t possibly know—”

“But I can. When I saw those mortals, usually women, crying out with pleasure over the dish, I probed their minds. A man needs to know these things. What gives a woman such satisfaction.” Jerry made a show of stroking his tongue over the ice cream. “Ahh. I think I see the appeal. ”

“Vicarious eating. Wow. Now that’s something I have to try.”

“But not now.” Jerry shifted so that I leaned against his chest. I couldn’t take my eyes off the cone in his hands. Chocolate ice cream melted down his fingers. “Come now, lass. You know you want a taste.”

I reached out with my tongue. Sweet, dark and as erotic in its own way as the man smiling at me, his eyes sparkling with pleasure. At my pleasure. I took a greedy bite, then licked his fingers clean before I tossed the cone aside to kiss him. How could I waste my time on food when I had a man ready to satisfy a much deeper hunger? A dear man who knew how to please me and, better yet, took the time to do it. I wrapped my legs around his hips and finally, finally he let me take him in. I shuddered. He fit me like no else ever did. No one.

“Gloriana,” he whispered as he moved over me. “Blind yet?”

I pretended to grope for his face. “Not yet. But everything’s going dark.” I squealed when he pulled me up until we were faceto-face, still connected. The new position shocked me into an orgasm.

“I think this may be better than chocolate,” I whispered.

“You think?” He touched me just right to send another jolt through me.

“Okay,” I said when I caught my breath again. “This is better than chocolate, way better.” I kissed him and held onto him when we moved together. So good, so good, so incredibly, unbelievably good. I closed my eyes, my world went black and I broke apart.