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"Yes, I had Brit buyin the shops downstairs I’ll be okay" He nodded toward the bedroom "You should clear it with Blade first"

"No Just do it Brit, go get his stuff V, you can shower and change in Nate’s room Is that okay with you, Nate?" I could see Ray’s friend andArray silk tie

"Yeah, sure I’ve got the two tickets Flo and Richard were going to use Brit and Valdez can have theet in and sit up there in the balcony" Nate pulled the tickets out of his jacket pocket and handed theet in that shower, Glory Clock’s ticking"

"Right" I grabbed underwear and my robe and ju forward to this night for ages and I was going to wear the lorious dress My picture would be in the tabloids and they couldn’t possibly say anything nasty about me for once By the ti one of Ray’s tunes

Then the glass door opened and I wasn’t alone Jerry, naked and reaching for ood idea, Jer" I ran my hands over his chest, then looked behind hie with a stake in his hand

"Don’t worry Your fiancé is in the living rooer There are television people there too I’h the bathroom " Jerry leaned down to lickto do" I enjoyed the sensation of his mouth on my nipple for a breathless moment, then reluctantly pushed him away "I can’t do this now" I reached behind me and turned off the water "The crew fro"

"Let therab s, lass, and let me inside"

"Jerry!" I gasped as he lifted me until my back hit the tile wall I closedme My eyes popped open Bastard What had happened to foreplay? He stared into aze fierce and determined as he held me

"I’ll not come for you, damn you" I raked his shoulders with my nails

"Aye, ye will" He bent his head and teased the vein init with his fangs All the while he kept up his rhythm, deeper and faster

"You’re jealous, aren’t you? Of Ray?" I pushed ht, I aan to kiss h approach Too late "I ain," heto coax a response from me

"Not your call" I could see that bathroom here I’d cried for the dawn and all the pieces of my mortality I’d left behind Jerry had selfishly taken those fro, so blinded by lust and a grand passion that I hadn’t realized what I’d be giving up He’d known but had wanted me with hih I used th to shove him off of me and down to his knees The look on his face would have been funny if I hadn’t been so near tears

"Gloriana! What--"

"Beg me for it, Jeremiah" I kept my hands hard on his shoulders "You want it so daainst the tile, s still wide "Say the words ‘Please, Gloriana, please let me inside you’"

"Are you mad?" His eyes were cold as they raked up et it But this is why I never " I was suddenly sick of this It was so late in the gaot to go This isn’t the time or place for this"

He stood and put his hands on the wall on either side of my head "Oh, no Spit it out You’ve run me a merry chase for over four hundred years I deserve the truth You say you love ot ave up my mortality for you, Jerry" I put my hand over his heart, that heart that died every sunrise "You took ry? All this time? But you knew" Jerry looked honestly confused

"It’s complicated I need time to sort it out"

"Damn it, Gloriana, you’ve had four hundred years!"