Free Luscious Craving by Cameron Dean Page A

casual clothes and walked with such an imperious air that I was surprised when he asked if he could take my drink order. I declined and turned another corner to face a three-story waterfall that cascaded into a pool filled with floating candles. I couldn’t understand how the candles stayed lit until I realized that the fountain was actually contained within a glass column. Another turn brought me to a room that was totally dark except for a light on the far wall that illuminated a huge red velvet mouth. The mouth was actually a door that led to another dark room, but I had seen enough. Gorgeous and unusual as it was, the longer I spent in Taste, the colder I got.
    I turned around, trying to retrace my steps, but the mazelike rooms, the darkness, and the pounding music were disorienting. Each room I passed through looked just like the one before it. And each one sent a shiver through my body. There were so many vampires here, my senses were on overload. I managed to lurch back to the main room where the dance floor was, but there was no comfort there. The music was louder, the dance floor was teeming with dancers. I was getting dizzy now. With all these bodies crammed together I had no idea who was human, and who was a vampire.
    Find Bibi and get out now
, I commanded myself.
    Then, all of a sudden, Theo was there. Over his shoulder, I could see Bibi , out on the dance floor. Dancing with abandon, her body gyrating, hands over her head. Even in that packed space, the other dancers had fallen back a little, to give her room to move.
    They’re watching her
, I thought. I might not be able to tell the humans from the vamps, but I was dead certain the vampires did not have the same problem.
    “What’s the matter, Candace?” Theo asked, moving his body closer to mine. “Don’t you like to dance?”
    “ Bibi and I have a deal when we go out together. We always keep each other in sight.” Kind of a lame answer, but it happened to be the truth. It also happened to be true that Bibi wasn’t abiding by the rule.
    “ Bibi’s just fine,” Theo commented. He laughed, and the sound grated in my ears. “Just look at her. She’s having the time of her life.” He pulled me out onto the dance floor and began to move his hips against mine. “Surely you don’t want her to have all the fun.”
    I don’t want her to have any fun at all in a place like this
, I thought. But being on the dance floor did get me closer to her. I let my hips begin to move in time to Theo’s and felt his hand move down my back to cup my ass. He urged me toward him, sliding one hip against my crotch, then turned me so that my back was against his chest. He wrapped his arms tightly around my waist, his hands sliding down my belly. I pushed my hair out of my eyes and came face-to-face with…myself.
    Dancing right across from me was a woman with wild and curly dark brown hair the same length as mine. She had a tight, athletic build. The dress slicking down her body, hugging her every curve, almost an exact match of one I had in my own closet. A vibrant bronze silk that clung close and plunged low. She smiled, showing gorgeous white teeth, ran her tongue along the bottom of them in a slow, seductive gesture. And in that moment, beyond a shadow of a doubt, I knew the truth.
    My look-alike was a vampire.
    Bile rose in my throat. If I didn’t get off the dance floor right now, this second, I was going to be sick all over it.
    I jerked away from Theo, began to push through the crowd, ignoring the sharp words snarled in my wake. I didn’t give a damn. I had to get out. Get away. Now.
    I have literally no idea how I found the ladies’ room. I kept heading away from the center of the coldness until I hit a door that opened. It closed behind me, and the pounding of the music abruptly ceased. It wasn’t piped in, thank God. The ladies’ room was even darker than the dance floor, illuminated only by a cluster of votive candles on the sink counters. I didn’t