"Hey, Iz?"
Izzy was tossing dresses and sparkling mini skirts out of her closet to replace with—in Eva's humble opinion—dresses and mini skirts that looked exactly the same. According to her parabatai, they were out of fashion and she wouldn't be caught dead wearing them despite having worn them two weeks ago.
Izzy hummed, eyeing a backless silver dress. "What's up?"
"Can you give me some advice?"
"On what?"
When Eva remained silent, the dress went flying out of Izzy's hand and onto the enormous unwanted pile. Izzy turned around on her heels, her sharp eyes accentuated with perfect winged eyeliner studying her face. It only embarrassed Eva further and she sunk into the armchair, her arms hugging her midsection tighter in an attempt to disappear from Izzy's intense stare.
"Oh!" she let out with a knowing grin. "You want to get Raphael under the sheets, don't you?"
Eva could feel the wickedness brewing in Izzy like a gurgling cauldron. It made her cheeks flush and her muscles tense in nervousness. Feeling her voice would fail her, she only nodded slowly. Izzy threw her head back to laugh, obviously amused by her discomfort but also very excited Eva wanted to be naughty in that way for once. Izzy always thought Eva was a bit of a prude, but she insisted it would all change when she'd meet her Prince Charming—or her Count Dracula, in this case.
"Okay, I'm going to be honest," Izzy began with a flip of her hair. "Vampires are my least favorite lovers: they're cold—literally cold—and they don't breathe, which is really weird when you get into it, and since your blood pressure is rising, their fangs are always out which scares the hell out of me."
Eva didn't mind that Raphael's skin was cold, nor did she mind that he didn't breathe, and his fangs sometimes slip out when he's caught off guard which he's admitted—after a bit of prying and teasing—that it occurs because of how good she smells. Sometimes Eva wondered how Izzy could have flings and one-night stands and brush it off afterwards like lint off her sleeve. Just thinking about being completely naked in front of Raphael who she's been dating for months now was making her a nervous wreck. Isabelle has always been more confident than her and much more in tune with the power behind her feminine beauty, and Eva has always loved her for it, but it's just not in Eva's nature to emulate her parabatai. Eva is a slow-burner, while Izzy is an exploding star.
"So first rule, you have to wear sexy underwear—you have some, right?"
"I have matching sets, if that's what you mean."
That wasn't what Izzy wanted to hear. "When are you seeing him again?"
Today was a Thursday, so from eight to ten, he would be watching his telenovelas in the Four Seasons penthouse. Izzy knew of these so-called dates and was shocked to hear they never got past a make-out or two in that enormous penthouse. The most skin they've seen on each other was when they went to Rockaway Beach in the summer—it was nearly October and the start of sweater weather, and Eva has been longing to feel the cool touch of his skin again.
"I can see him today, if I want to," Eva said, avoiding Izzy's wide eyes.
"Okay, do you have anything lace?"
"I have lace panties, but no lace bras."
"You're a lost case, Eva," she sighed heavily. "But never fear, because thankfully, you've got me."
Eva wasn't so sure she'd be able to rock babydoll lingerie the same way Izzy does, but she insisted it would look great on her. They were almost the same size and while Eva was a bit shorter than Izzy, the worst thing that could happen was that the sheer dress would flow a little lower over her thighs. Izzy rummaged through Eva's underwear drawer, praising the Angel that the one lacey pair of panties Eva had went perfectly with the babydoll.
"Just don't wear a bra," Izzy said when Eva asked about wearing a matching set. "It'll be coming off anyway—it's one less thing to worry about."
She texted Raphael to pick her up for tonight. Getting a confirmation reply from him—a simple okay—she began to fold the lingerie into her purse carefully. Just thinking about what she was planning to do was having her heart pound in her chest.
He arrived at seven on the dot and immediately sensed her elevated pulse. "You okay?"
"Fine," she nodded quickly. "Let's go."
When they arrived at the penthouse, Raphael was quick to make himself comfortable.
"Tonight I find out if she's pregnant or not," Raphael settled himself on the bed. The telenovelas never had any English subtitles, so he always tried to summarize the episodes as best he could for her. She didn't really care much for the exaggerated theatrics of his telenovelas, but he was so invested in the many plots and characters that it always amused her to listen to his retelling of the scandalous events. "If you ask me, she's probably pregnant but it's not Armando's. She's been sleeping around with Miguel behind his back."
It was a miracle they watched so many steamy sex scenes in these telenovelas and never once tried to imitate them. Eva frighteningly thought Raphael maybe didn't find her sexy like those beautiful actresses, or maybe he just wasn't interested in her like that. She begrudgingly thought her inner turmoil would be great material for her own Mexican telenovela.
He flipped through the many channels on the plasma TV as Eva curled up on his side comfortably. She thought about the lingerie in her purse. How was she going to slip into it without him noticing? She was going through different scenarios in her head when Raphael suddenly let out a string of curses in Spanish.
"Tu puta madre!" he groaned angrily. "Cabrones!"
Eva eyed the television screen to see a game of soccer being narrated in rapid Spanish. Eva was utterly confused, "What's going on?"
"There's no novela tonight!" he scoffed bitterly. "There's a stupid soccer game on—this is why I hate sports! They don't even warn us!"
Eva was starting to think Izzy had magical powers that she hasn't told her about.
"I guess we could go grab some food, or a coffee," he suggested, turning off the TV with an aggressive push of the button. "Are you hungry?"
"Not really," Eva said. "Can't we just stay in? I'm sure there's a movie we could watch."
Raphael gave the suggestion a brief thought before nodding. "Good idea."
Back to square one, she thought bitterly. Now they were laying in bed watching an action movie he found while flipping through the channels and the more she got comfortable curled up on his side, the more her confidence dwindled. If she wanted to do this, she needed to put her foot down and do it. Raphael was obviously not going to make any moves—which was either a good thing or a bad thing according to Isabelle. A good thing because he respected her, but also a bad thing because it could mean he wasn't interested.
"I'm going to the bathroom," Eva said breathlessly and slipped away from him. He only gave her a brief nod, too engrossed in the movie to pay attention as she hurried into the enormous marble bathroom with a huge sonic shower and a hot tub. Eva leaned over the marble sink and eyed herself in the mirror, her deep breath fogging the mirror. What if he rejected her advances? She was flattered Izzy had so much confidence in her, but Eva thought it was a bit reckless to send her off on this mission without preparing her for the chance he might refuse her. How awkward!
And just when she thought things couldn't get worse, she heard Raphael knock on the door twice. "Eva?"
"I'm fine!" she called out.
"I'm sure you are. Open the door."
Confused, Eva opened the door to see him standing there with his arms crossed over his crisp button-up white shirt tucked into his expensive dress pants. He unwinded his arms to hold out her phone. Right then and there, she wanted to punch herself in the throat. How was she going to change into the lingerie if she left her purse outside?
"Izzy sent you a message," he told her. His tone was strange; a mix of amusement and flattery. When she took the phone from him, her stomach dropped all the way down to the subway system below the streets of Manhattan.
I put some of that tasteless vodka into Hodge's Earl Grey and he's out like a light in the library. I don't want to see you here at midnight, Cinderella!
"Um..." Eva looked up at him as he raised his eyebrows, curious to see what dumb explanation she came up with. It was dumb indeed. "I don't know why she would say that."
"Just so you know, I wasn't planning on opening the message," Raphael's lips were curled in a knowing smirk. He leaned against the doorframe of the bathroom casually. "I heard your phone and when I opened your purse to fetch it for you, I found the most curious little thing in there."
Eva's cheeks flared with heat. He chuckled, "You want to tell me what's going on?"
"It's a little obvious, don't you think?" she spat; her embarrassment was making her snappy and self-conscious. At least he didn't look disgusted. In fact, he looked like he was enjoying how terribly her plan to seduce him was going. She hated that he was so much older and experienced than her—his young face often made her forget he was older than her, Jace, Alec, and Izzy put together. The sudden thought of Izzy made her boil. This was all her fault! Sending that message! Then again, Eva should've taken her purse inside the bathroom and maybe none of this would be happening.
"You need to relax, mi cielo," he said. "Do you really think I didn't know something was up? Granted, I didn't think it was that, but I noticed you were nervous and your pulse was elevated. Now it all makes perfect sense."
"You probably think I'm an idiot." Her embarrassment was crawling over her skin like millions of ants.
"Not just an idiot, but a horny one at that; it's a good duo."
"Are you done making fun of me?"
"You laugh at me all the time; let me have some fun now that I have the upper hand."
Eva couldn't help but pout, which made him laugh. He took her chin in his fingers and turned her head to meet his eyes. "Is this something you want, or is this someone else's idea?"
"Izzy helped, but it was my idea," she said softly. "I don't know what I'm doing."
"Clearly," he teased again. When she glared at him, he quickly added, "Okay, I won't make fun of you anymore—at least not for now."
"That's very reassuring."
"I don't understand why you would go through all this trouble," he stepped back from her to point at her purse laying on the nightstand. "You know how I am; you could've just told me what you wanted."
"I didn't know that's how this worked," she admitted. "I didn't even know if you wanted to take the next step. You've never done anything to make me think you wanted to."
"I've never been really interested in sex," he said casually. "I feel that it's lost its meaning over time—people emphasize the physical aspect more than the emotional connection. I wanted to have something real with you, something that wasn't weighed on how well we satisfied each other in bed."
Eva blushed at his words and it only served to amuse him even more. He leaned down so he could be eye level with her. "I told you once before: we vampires are very patient. If you want to have sex, I'll be more than happy to make love to you, and if you don't want to, I'm fine with that too. We can finish the movie and I'll take you back—"
"Screw the movie," Eva blurted out. "I want you."
