A/N: Takes place before Guy Talk chapter 16, A Change Is Gonna Do You Good.
Josef's fencing salon now doubled as a dojo when he and Mick did their jujutsu training. Afterwards they showered and changed and ended the evening as usual with blood and conversation. Mick even fed from freshies sometimes. Mick left early enough to join Beth in bed for awhile before working or going to his room freezer.
Josef, waiting for Sandrina to return from her newly purchased greenhouse, decided to drive out and surprise her. There was no sneaking up on a vampire, of course. She would hear his Land Rover and smell him approaching. He watched her through the glass door for a few minutes before going in.
"I like watching you work," Josef said. "I like watching you do anything or nothing."
"Watch me finish," Sandrina replied. "Just a few more minutes."
Josef sat on a work table. Sandy was misting plants. She was wearing jeans and a tee shirt, so different from her business suits but just as enticing. The fine spray drifted a little, dampening her top. She wasn't wearing a bra tonight. She had no need of one and never would.
"Are you looking at my breasts?" Sandrina asked.
"Only when you're facing me," Josef replied. "The rest of the time I'm looking at your ass."
"Just so you're sexually objectifying some part of me."
"Absolutely. Done?"
Sandrina shut off the water and hung up the sprayer. "Yes."
"Come here." Josef spread his legs as she walked over to the table. They kissed, fangs extending, scraping lightly but not puncturing. Josef cupped her breasts, thumbs pressing the nipples. He sucked her through the thin cotton, leaving wetter spots on the damp material. He pushed the shirt up, enjoying as always that first glimpse of her bare breasts, pale porcelain with ripe nipples. His mouth on one and his hand on the other, he continued. He was aware of the sounds and movements Sandy was making but didn't realize the intensity until she arched against him and cried out and he knew she was climaxing. He wrapped her up and pulled her close, her head against his shoulder. He sighed with pleasure when he felt her fangs in his neck.
"Did you do that?" he asked afterward, wondering about her quick release. "Did I do that?"
"You certainly helped."
"I'm not sure I did. I barely touched you."
"Well, I had been thinking about you touching me all evening."
"So you started without me."
"I think you started without me, too. Aren't these the jeans you wear without underwear?"
"Mmhm."
"You went commando with Mick at the house?"
"I was safe. He only puts out for Beth."
"I was worried about Mick."
"He was safe because I only put out for you."
Sandrina cupped him through his jeans. She pressed the heel of her hand against him and rubbed slow circles. "We should trade places," she said, still standing between his legs.
"I don't think I can move in this condition."
The bulge in his jeans was sizeable. Sandrina undid the button and began easing the zipper down, slipping her hand in to keep the zipper teeth from catching. Josef was unzipping her jeans as well. He got off the table and lifted Sandrina to its edge, removing her jeans and thong. The table was the exact height to enter her and provide support. They came together this time.
Josef licked one last drop of blood before the bite healed and asked, "How can we do this so often and it's always this good?"
"We're attuned," Sandrina replied.
"It was a rhetorical question but I should have known you would have the answer. Explain."
"Sex is generally pleasurable physically. It's a reward for the biological imperative to procreate."
"But vampires don't procreate through sex."
"Neither do homosexuals or women after menopause or men and women who are sterile. The urge isn't based on the outcome."
"So everyone gets to enjoy sex. That's nice."
"Very nice. And if you know and like your partner, a mental connection of comfort and familiarity can make it even better. If you add an emotional attachment, you get what we experience."
"So you have to be in synch on all levels?"
"You don't have to be but the sex seems to be better if you are."
That made sense to Josef. He had always enjoyed sex for the physical pleasure if nothing else. When he was young, both as a human and a vampire, often that was all there was. Back then societal restrictions made it difficult to get to know the opposite sex and Josef was never one to believe himself in love from afar. In the past century it became easier to interact with women and the sex got better. He recognized that the mental connection was the reason. He chose women that he liked talking with. Simone the lawyer, Holly the artist, Andrea the professor ... or was Holly the architect and Jessica the artist? The list stretched back, including the actresses of a bygone age. He was suddenly aware that he was with Sandy, trying to remember women he no longer cared about. The point was that he hadn't been in love with any of them but he liked them and they were all smart or interesting in some way.
What he and Sandrina had was much more. He was reminded of those brief months with Sarah. But even that was a faint echo of this, now. He and Sandy had been together no longer than Charles Fitzgerald and Sarah Whitley but he and Sandy had travelled farther in their relationship.
"Will it always be this way with us?"
"You mean will we fall out of love? I don't know, Jo-Jo. Are you worried about us?"
"I don't have a great track record."
"How many times have you been in love? Really felt that you were in love forever?"
"Twice. Well, three times if you count that chambermaid when I was 16 which in retrospect was based on physical attributes only."
"I think being 16 lets you off the hook on that one. So Sarah and I are the two times you were in love. In effect, Sarah died long before she was actually gone. You didn't fall out of love with her while you were together. That's not a bad track record. Don't confuse sexual relationships that you enjoyed but knew wouldn't last with failure. As for us, or for any couple, there are no guarantees. The way we feel now, we'll be together forever. But in our case forever is likely to be a very long time."
"You don't seem upset at the idea that this might end."
"I'm not. Because right now it doesn't seem possible that it will end. We're past the point of breaking up like we did last year. If it ends, it will be something that we can't control, like death, or something that means we no longer care in which case there's no reason to be upset. Because we won't care."
"What if only one of us doesn't care anymore?"
Silence for a moment. "I didn't think of that," Sandrina said.
"I don't want to be the one that still cares and have you leave anyway," Josef replied.
"Neither do I. Why did you have to bring this up?"
"You're the one that started me thinking about things. Thinking leads to worrying. I never used to worry. That was Mick's deal."
"I don't think Mick worries so much now that he and Beth are together."
"Why should he? I've taken it over."
"It's actually more balanced this way. Mick worried too much and you didn't worry enough."
"That's not comforting to me."
"You're standing here, still inside me, and getting hard again. How bad can you be feeling?"
Josef started thrusting slow and deep. "It can't be good that arguing with you excites me sexually."
"And yet you haven't stopped."
"I'm not that worried about it."
