Moonlight Becomes You: a short story Read Online Free PDF Page A

pragmatic. She was average-looking, and her hair was an ordinary dark blond that rarely did what she wanted it to do. She was usually between ten and fifteen pounds overweight, and there was a variety of clothes in three different sizes in her closet. Fat clothes, everyday clothes, and a handful of very nice I have a dream clothes.
    She was a failure where men were concerned. More rightly, they had always failed her, which was why she now satisfied herself with reading on weekends instead of dating or painting her toenails and shaving her legs for some man who in the end...
    But now was not the time for that old tirade. A very handsome man who was hard for her had promised her again and again. And maybe another again. She'd lost count. If she could just prove to herself decisively that he wasn't a vampire, he might be the perfect man. At least for a while. No man was perfect forever.
    "But you want the bed anyway, don't you," Simon whispered.
    "Yes."
    "Fine." Unsnapped and unzipped, still more dressed than not, Simon left the couch. He offered her his hand and she took it. He pulled her up and headed for the bedroom. It wasn't as if he had to search. The apartment was laid out just like his own, in a mirror image.
    Speaking of mirrors...
    She led Simon toward the bed, and when they were in the center of the small room she stopped and turned to face the mirror above her dresser. There he was, gorgeous and black-clad and somehow animalistic. He definitely had a wild magnetism. She was so happy to see him there, reflected in all his human glory, that she smiled... until she realized that she was there, too, in all her fifteen-pounds-overweight glory.
    "Yikes." She turned away and headed very quickly for the bed and the safety of a coverlet she could hide beneath. She jumped into the bed and pulled the lilac comforter across the plumpest part of her exposed body.
    Simon followed her at a slower pace, laughing. Not at her, at least, she didn't think so. When he peeled back the comforter that she'd grabbed to protect herself from his gaze, his smile disappeared and his eyes narrowed. "Don't hide. You're gorgeous."
    Claire knew she was anything but, but she didn't argue. At this moment, so turned on he was probably not seeing straight, Simon believed it to be true. That was enough for her. At the moment she didn't even care if he was a vampire or not. He'd brought her flowers and thought she was gorgeous and made her come so hard her head was still spinning. Nothing else mattered.
    He quickly shed his clothes, and she was not disappointed by the body he revealed. Lean and perfectly sculpted, he had a runner's body. And an impressive erection she couldn't look away from. If he was shy at all, she'd never seen any evidence of that shyness. If he had a single second thought or an ounce of hesitation, he hid it well.
    Even if it was their first time together, there would be no awkwardness, no uncomfortable moments where she wondered what he expected of her or they bumped foreheads. No, this was an extraordinary night, and Claire felt as if she were caught in a wonderful dream, as Simon joined her in the bed.
    The sensation of his bare body against hers was breathtaking, and when he kissed her on the mouth she held his head in her hands and gave the kiss all she had, because she could give him no less. Instinctively she wrapped her legs around him, pulling him close, pulling him toward what she craved.
    "Oh!" She twitched and pulled away slightly. "I'm such an idiot! Do you have protection? A condom?" Anything?
    "I can't have children, and I carry no disease." The words were pragmatic. Simply spoken.
    "Why should I take your word about that?" she asked, certain that many a woman had been fooled by similar promises.
    "I will never lie to you, Claire."
    She shivered to the bone. Those were important words, and he spoke them as if they were absolute truth. Of course, she wasn't sure any man was capable of never lying. Still, the expression