Flushing under my attention and quite confused, she stuttered out, "Uh, I'll have a water and a glass of the rosé
."
Phillip scrambled to write down our orders and then everyone else's. When he left, Piper flicked my nose, making me flinch. "What was that for?"
Pursing her lips, Piper scowled. "You know what. Keep out of people's heads. You about gave that poor waiter a heart attack."
"Yeah," Drake added in with a grin. "Or at least let the rest of us in on the fun. It's like being invited to a party but not being allowed to dance."
"You like to dance?" Piper leaned over me to ask, putting her boobs right against my chest. "I love to dance."
"You do, huh?" Drake purred, leaning on his elbow so he was practically giving me a lap dance right there. "I'll have to take you some time. My brother and I are the best dancers."
Wynn made a rude sound. "If you call grinding your pelvis against a lady dancing."
Drake moved back to his seat so he could glare at Wynn a few chairs down. "I do. The ladies love it." He shot Piper a wink.
"In my day, a man kept a foot between him and his dance partner at all times," Wynn explained with a lazy grin. "It was all about the buildup. The teasing of it all."
Piper's scent spiked next to me.
I placed my hand on her thigh, happy she had chosen to wear a dress tonight. She froze under my touch, but then relaxed as I played my fingers along her inner thigh.
Clearing her throat, Piper put her elbow on the table and fiddled with her dangling earrings, keeping her eyes off of me. "Oh, really? That sounds like fun. What about you Antoine? What was dancing like when you were hu—" The waiter returned with our drinks and Piper rushed to change her words. "When you were a humanitarian." She let out a nervous giggle. "You know, those big parties you threw for...uh...the donors?"
I chuckled under my breath at her fumble, squeezing her knee beneath the table. Piper gave me a chastising glare before thanking Phillip for her drink. When the waiter finished passing out our drinks, we ordered our food and then waited for Phillip to leave once more.
Antoine lifted his red wine to his lips and took a long sip before saying, "Dancing was more of an art and less of a way to find one’s mating partner." His eyes locked on to Drake and Wynn. "The ability to move your body in sync with the music as well as your dance partner was the goal. Not who could get away with fucking on the dance floor."
Piper's scent spiked again. Her thighs clenched together beneath my hand. So she likes it when prim and proper Antoine says fuck, huh? I held back a grin at my discovery.
"So, what else?" Piper glanced around the table. "I know you guys all came from Boris, right? I mean, he made you all? Sired? Is that the right word?"
"Yes," Antoine answered, and then tilted his head to the side. "And no. Our master changed all of us except for Rayne, who I changed but he does not have any pull over us. You see, while we might have a multitude of powers, our master—Boris—doesn't have any powers over the ordinary."
Piper's nose scrunched up in a cute manner. "Why not? I would think you'd have to be pretty powerful to make all of you." She gestured around the table.
"Not so," Wynn continued, taking over for Antoine. "A child doesn't inherit a parent’s talent, nor does the parent have all of the child's abilities. It's the same basic concept. Except in this one, we're vampires." Wynn flashed her a fang toothed grin.
Call me selfish, but I wanted Piper's attention back on me and not on my brothers. It was the excuse I used when I slid my hand between Piper's thighs and inched my way up her panties. Keeping my eyes forward, I listened with a growing smirk to the thoughts running through Piper's head.
Rayne. What are you doing?Out loud, Piper cleared her throat and took a long drink of her wine. "And what about the house sigil? You all have it tattooed? Even you, Darren?"
I stroked across the front of her panties, the fabric becoming wet, and she opened her legs wider for me.
Darren—none the wiser of what was happening beneath the table—met Piper's gaze. "No, only the masters of the house wear the sigil."
"Why?" Piper's word caught at the end as I circled her clit. By now, Drake and Marcus were glancing this way, fully aware of what was going on.
Antoine answered for Darren. "Because to be branded by one of the masters with the house sigil is to mark you as our property. I have far too much respect for Darren to do such a thing."
"Regardless of my opinion," Darren interjected. It was clear to everyone that Darren would have happily wore our sigil, but what he saw the sigil as wasn't the same thing as Antoine did. I didn't blame him one bit. Antoine didn't see Darren as his property and the other vampires wouldn't allow Darren to think for himself. They'd defer everything to Antoine, as if Darren was a slave of sorts. Not someone anyone who cared for someone would do to another person.
I quickened my pace over Piper's clit and watched as the entire tables’ noses flared while Piper stifled a moan.
"Are you alright, lovely?" Wynn asked, amusement pulling at his lips. "Are you going to be sick?"
Gasping, she smacked the table with her hand and shook her head. "No, I'm...I'm alright. Just hungry." She gave a weak smile that wasn't fooling anyone.