“That is very true. But let’s not talk of such grave matters. Tell me about your people. Your family and friends.”
“Well, I have two sisters. Sondra and Rhea. My parents live upstate. They are still married after thirty years together.”
“You sound sad when you talk about them. Why?”
“Only that I wish…” She stopped and felt her cheeks warm. “I suppose I wish I could have my mother’s luck and find someone I can tolerate for thirty years. But time is running out. Who’s to say I’ll even be alive in thirty years?”
“How old are you? You cannot be more than thirty.”
“I’m twenty-nine. Thirty in March.”
“You’re still young. You have plenty of time to find a lover worth giving a lifetime to.”
“What about you? How old are you? Haven’t you found anyone worthy of your heart?”
His face seemed to shutter closed at that and she knew she had asked a sensitive question. But she wanted to know more about him and this was the only way.
“I am older than I like to admit,” he replied after long moments. “And I have not found a woman worthy of my time and efforts.”
“Have you ever come close?” she heard herself pressing. It was the detective in her. She had to dig until she had all the answers.
“There was one woman. Once. A very long time ago.”
“What happened?”
He frowned and looked away from her.
“She died.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said, feeling sympathy for his obvious pain.
“Good evening, can I get you something to drink?” the waitress said as she suddenly popped up tableside.
“Is absolutely everything you serve organic?” Rafe asked her, speaking calmly, as if they hadn’t just been talking of deeply emotional things.
“That’s what we strive for!” the waitress said sunnily.
“Strive…but do you succeed?”
“Yes. Quite famously. The owner is a real freak about the food being organic. You needn’t worry.”
“All right then, I won’t. I would like some sweet tea to start. Renee?”
“The same please.”
“Give us a moment with our menus please. I’m afraid my date is so engaging that I have not had a chance to look at it yet.”
The waitress grinned and said, “All right. I’ll get your drinks and be back in a bit.”
She left and Rafe made a show of perusing the menu. “Would you like an appetizer?”
“I’ve had the stuffed shrimp before. It’s delicious.”
“Then I will take your suggestion. Any others?”
“The pasta Alfredo or the penne a la vodka are good pasta dishes. If you prefer meat you might try the chicken piccata.”
“They all sound delicious. You choose for me.”
Renee was surprised by that, but she smiled. So, she thought, he was not the type who had to be in control of every detail of his life.
“I think you’ll have the chicken piccata and I’ll have the pasta Alfredo.”
“Excellent idea to choose two competing dishes. That way I can try both.”
“How do you know I won’t mind you eating off my plate?”
“Do you?”
“No,” she said with a smile. “As long as you play fair and let me eat off yours.”
“Deal.” He reached his hand across the table and they shook on it.
For Renee, the touch of his warm hand around hers was electric. His hands were surprisingly calloused, more than she would expect from a man who probably spent most of his days in an office. Perhaps, she thought, it was from some kind of sport he played. All in all it was a very masculine hand and it swallowed hers up almost completely. His strength was unmistakable in his grip.
No. He was not a soft man.
“Do you like sports?” she asked as he released her hand. “I only ask because you seem very strong. Or perhaps you work out?”
“I like to maintain top physical condition,” he said. “I am a very active man. I work out and engage in several forms of self-defense.”
“As do I.”
“I imagine you’d have to to be good at your job. Physical activity clears your mind. Keeps you focused. At least, that is what I find to be true.”
They chatted lightly about things, ordered their meals, and chatted some more. Renee discovered that the more she found out about him, the more she liked him. When their food came, she began to tell him funny stories about the quirky people in her life, like Emily and her sisters. They shared off each other’s plates, but instead of simply cutting a piece of his chicken and sliding it onto her plate, he speared a piece with his fork and fed it to her across the table. It seemed so intimate, as if they had been dating for ages. But she did not balk and readily closed her lips around the delicious food and his fork.
One thing that made an impression on her as they ordered some dessert was that he never once looked at his phone. She heard it chime frequently, indicating he had gotten a text, but he ignored it easily and continued to converse with her. She didn’t know that she could have been equally as polite. Like most people, her phone pulled at her the moment it made a sound. She had been conditioned to respond to it. Then again, her job required her to always respond.
“So, we’ve reached the end of our meal,” he said to her smoothly. “Am I too bold to ask for another one?”
She smiled and laughed.
“Not at all. I had a good time. Although I fear I did most of the talking. You’ve hardly divulged any information about yourself.”
“Untrue. I have told you more about myself than I have told any one person in a very long time. Let me give you my number. That way you can call me to schedule our next date. If you do not call, I will just have to assume you did not have as good a time as I had hoped.”
He took out a business card and laid it on the table before her. It was a simple card, almost barren. It was ivory with an embossed frame around the edges. In the center was a number and beneath that was his name. It said nothing about who he was or what he did, which was unusual but not unheard of. She took the card and tucked it into a pocket of her jeans, taking care so she didn’t lose it. She really had had a nice time. And, she realized, she would be happy to repeat it.
They finished their dessert, and Rafe paid the bill even though she tried to insist on paying her part.
“What kind of man allows a woman to pay for herself when he takes her out?” he said. She eased off when she realized it might insult him to insist further. She smiled to herself when a pleased part of her realized that wasn’t such a bad thing. Renee thought of all the dates she had been on where she had paid her half and the male involved had thought nothing of it. Sure, she was supposed to be an independent woman who could make her own way in the world, but still it was nice to be treated so well.
They stood up and, in another display of manners and charm, he was there to pull out her chair and help her into her coat. He turned her to himself and engaged her zipper, zipping her up snugly, all the way to her chin. It was a strangely intimate act but she didn’t even protest as he closed the jacket over her gun.
“Would you like my number?” she blurted out. She realized she should have offered when she had been given his card.
“I will get your number when you call me,” he said pointedly.
“And will you answer a strange number?”
“I do it all of the time. I do not have the luxury of ignoring calls.”
“There’s always voicemail.”
“True. And I access my voicemail quite frequently. I will answer your call. If I am in a meeting leave me a message and I will get back to you.”
“All right.”
He guided her outside where it had begun to snow in earnest. During their time in the café almost half an inch had accumulated on the ground.
“It promises to be an intense storm,” he remarked as they walked toward her home.
“Yes. Th
ey say it’ll last days. I’m glad we decided to do this now. I might have lost my nerve otherwise.”
“Do I seem that much of a creep?”
“I am not in the habit of picking up strange men in the supermarket. I merely would have come to my senses.”
“Well then, I am also glad we did this now. Now you know there’s nothing to be cautious of. I am not so overwhelming, am I?”
“It takes a great deal to overwhelm me. I simply…I don’t go out much. Not many people can cope with what it means to be a cop.”
“This does not concern me. Of course your safety is paramount, but I see you to be more than capable of taking care of yourself.”
“Yes. Yes, I am,” she said with a sunny smile.
Before she realized it, they were standing in front of her building. He followed her up the outside stairs and she searched her pocket for her keys. She made a concentrated effort of it, trying to avoid the perils of the moment. Would he try to kiss her? Would he ask to come inside?
No, she realized with some relief. He wouldn’t ask to come inside. His manners were such that he would not press his luck.
But a kiss? She had only met him a couple of hours ago. Should she be expected to kiss him? Did she even want to? Maybe he didn’t want to. Maybe he had not enjoyed his time with her as much as he had said he had and he was just being polite.
Suddenly his gloved hand came out and closed over hers where it was inserting her key into the top lock of her door. She went still and looked up to meet his eyes.
“Renee, I have one other appetite that needs to be satisfied tonight,” he said as he stepped closer to her. He reached out with his free hand and caressed her neck beneath her hair.
“I-I’m not certain—”
“That’s all right. You do not have to be certain. Just…let me kiss you,” he said softly.
She felt her heart kick into overdrive as she turned her back against the door, avoiding his descending mouth for as long as she could before finally giving in to the base need building inside of her. She sighed at the last minute and tipped her chin up to meet him. His firm mouth covered hers and she felt the warm, moist kiss on a soulful level.
What began with reluctance quickly morphed into heat. The long length of his body leaned into her, pressing her back against the door. His hands came into play, sliding around to her back and acting as a buffer between her and the hard door. Then he pulled her forward off it, deeper into the bend of his body.
He edged her mouth open, slipping his tongue into play. He tasted so good. Like butter and masculine warmth. The kiss grew deeper and deeper and she forgot all about caution and what she should or should not be doing. His hand left her back and went for the zipper of her coat. He slowly unzipped it. When the zipper disengaged at the bottom he parted both sides of the heavy coat and drew her close again so now their bodies were touching more intimately. His hand slipped inside the coat and she felt her nerves jangle with anticipation.
Rafe lifted from her mouth with a savage-sounding growl.
“This is only making it harder,” he said roughly.
“Making what harder?” she asked. Then she pinked up as she thought about what he might be talking about. But it seemed a strange way to put it.
He didn’t answer her. Instead he ravaged her mouth again, drinking deeply from her lips and tongue. He jerked open his own coat and brought her flush to his body, her breasts crushing to his chest and her abdomen connecting with his. She felt heat radiating from all points of contact and swelling from deep within her.
Rafe growled softly in his throat as he demanded more of the feel of her. She was on the tips of her toes as he pulled her hips into contact with his. He was hard and unyielding, strong and nearly violent as his hands roamed over her waist and down to her hips to hold her to himself. She felt his fingers digging into her bottom and his stellar erection through the soft material of his pants and hers. It sparked an equal reaction in her, her panties growing damp and her body growing expectant. It was a fierce reaction to get from simply kissing. It was like lighting a match to tinder…dry, dry tinder that was begging for a purpose. Begging to become fire.
Rafe tore his mouth from hers, gasping for breath in tandem with her. He pressed his lips fiercely to her temple. She heard him whisper, “I must stop.”
She was crestfallen immediately. She didn’t want him to stop. She wanted more. It had been so long since she had felt this way…if indeed she had ever felt this way. She couldn’t recall a time when she had become aroused so quickly. There was something about him, something savage underneath all of that polished exterior.
Yet, contrary to his statement about stopping he began to rain fierce kisses down the side of her face and neck. Looking to encourage him further, her hands slid over him. She didn’t know why she hadn’t employed them earlier. She had perhaps been too stunned to react. Now, however, threatened with him stopping all that was making her feel so good, she stroked her crooked fingers up over the thick definition of his pectoral muscles. He wasn’t a bodybuilder, but she could suddenly feel just how strong he was…how buff he was. It excited her even more and she began to trade kisses with him. Every time he rained a kiss on her forehead, ear, or neck, she did the same. She brought one hand up over his shoulder, then crept it up his neck and around until she was raking her stiffened fingertips through the hairs at the base of his neck. He jerked and she heard him gasp in a hard breath. Clearly her touch compelled him when suddenly he returned to her mouth, kissing her savagely. It was as if she had caressed him in the ultimate erogenous zone…and was reaping the ultimate reward.
Clearly he wasn’t going to stop.
Good, she thought heatedly. She didn’t want him to stop. She didn’t ever want him to stop. The wild thought shocked her even as they drank from each other’s mouths as deeply as two people could.
His body surged into hers, crushing her against the door. She agreed with his attempt to get closer to her, so she lifted a leg and hooked it high up on his thigh, opening for him more than a little, allowing him to settle his hard heat against her softer one. This time when he broke away from her mouth it was with a more savage sound. He jerked her body tightly against his even as he brought a hand up to sweep her hair forward over her shoulder, exposing the back of her neck. All the while he chewed at her neck in sensuous bites, sending shivers of heat and excitement down through her body. Suddenly he jerked her forehead forward until it was touching his collarbone and he whispered, “I’m sorry…I can’t help myself.”
Then he lowered his head to her neck and kissed her there. She felt his tongue lick at her and a wild thrill washed through her. He held her tighter, practically strangling her, and she loved every minute of it. She went limp in his hands as he first stroked the back of her neck and then fastened his mouth to the top vertebra where her spine met her neck.
He opened his mouth wide and sank his teeth into her skin until they were caught around that bone.
She gasped at the shocking pain of it. She jerked in his hold trying to free herself, but then, suddenly, all of the strength seemed to bleed out of her body.
The sensations that followed would have been hard for her to describe. Her entire spine lit with jolts of electricity, as if all the signals being sent out from her spinal cord were suddenly halted and thrown in reverse. All that electric sensation made her extremities go numb and weak, and he had to hold her up with all of his significant strength. Then it felt as though that electricity were leaving her body, all of it exiting at the spot where his mouth was affixed to her spine. Occasionally she felt the flick of his tongue, as if he were licking up the very last drops of an amazing delicacy.
Then he disengaged his mouth from her and all of her weight dropped down. She was truly nerveless now, unable to coordinate. He had taken her strength. He met her dazed gaze with his and as she stared into the strange darkness of his eyes she felt herself sinking deeper into some kind of strange spell.
“You won’t
remember any of this except the kisses,” he said softly.
“I want to remember all of it,” she argued numbly.
“All but the bite,” he pressed.
“All but the bite,” she echoed, all of her will taken by his hold over her mind.
“Tomorrow you’ll not notice the marks on your neck, but you’ll wear your hair down to cover them.”
“I will,” she said numbly.
“Good girl.”
He bent with her against him to retrieve her purse, then scooped her up into his arms and opened the door of her brownstone.
“Which apartment is yours?” he asked her.
“Top floor,” she mumbled thickly, hardly able to coordinate her tongue in her mouth to speak.
How he got in the outer door, up the stairs, and then through the door to her apartment, she did not know. She didn’t recall him taking her keys. Then again, she was barely aware of her surroundings and she was feeling incredibly sleepy. Once they were inside her apartment he carried her into her bedroom and laid her on her bed. He then stripped her of her outer garments, until she was in nothing but her T-shirt and boyshorts. She let him do it all without even a sound of protest. She didn’t even have the energy to blush.
Her gun he put on the bedside table.
When he was done he slid her between the covers of her bed and laid her head down on her pillow with the gentlest of care. She looked into his hypnotic dark eyes as he sat beside her on the bed. He lifted one of her limp hands to his lips and pressed a kiss to her palm.
“Tell me,” he coaxed her, “what have you found out about the attack this morning?”
“Attack?” she asked dumbly.
“The man who was bitten on the back of the neck on Park Avenue.”
“Oh. We don’t know anything yet. We’re waiting for the coroner’s report. All we know is the witness thinks it was a vampire.”
“And what do you think?”
“I think it’s a lot of hooey.”
“Hooey?” He chuckled. “I don’t know if I’ve ever heard that word before but I get the gist of its meaning. Why do you not believe in vampires?”
Thirst Page 4
