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“Stupid man,” Madison mumbled into her pillow.
“I heard that,” Ephraim whispered in the other room.
“I know,” she said testily. “Jackass. ”
He groaned. “Are you going to be quiet any time soon so I can get some sleep?”
“Jerk. ”
“I’ll take that as a ‘no’. ”
She tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable. Great, he even ruined sleep for her. He made her dependant on him to fall asleep. She needed his warm body to curl up against. She curled up on her side and hugged his pillow, hoping it would be a good enough replacement to allow her to sleep. It wasn’t.
“Can’t sleep?” his soft voice asked.
“Shut up, I hate you. ”
“Yes, so you keep telling me,” he said dryly.
“Jerk. ”
She heard him move on the couch. He was just as uncomfortable as she was. That made her smile. Good. If she wasn’t going to get any sleep neither was he.
“Are you going to work tomorrow?” he asked suddenly.
“Yes, there’s only one week of school left. No point in missing it. Not that it’s any of your business what I do anymore. ”
“Just try not to bite anyone,” he said mockingly.
She sat up in bed, growling. She grabbed his pillow, wishing it was him and threw it across the room. “Jerk!”
“You know what I think?” he asked.
“What?” she snapped.
“I think you still love me. ”
“Ha!”
“You’re pissed I’ll give you that, but you still love me and you know what else?”
“I bet you’re going to tell me. ”
“You want me. ”
“Ha!”
“I bet your body is missing me right now. It needs me. Think about it, Madison. You know it’s true. I’ve got your body trained to expect me four or five times a day. You haven’t had me in a week. You’re desperate for me. ”
“Wow, someone sure thinks highly of himself. I can assure you that sex with you is the last thing on my mind. ” And it wasn’t until he mentioned it. Now she was thinking about it. Damn him!
“You want me, Madison. Admit it. ”
“Ha! I think it’s you that wants me!”
“Oh, you have no idea who badly I want you at this moment,” he growled. “I want to come in there and yank that sheet away from you and tear your panties off with my fangs. Then I want to ram my tongue into you over and over again the same way I’d f**k you and I wouldn’t stop pounding into you until you squeezed me dry. ”
What was she supposed to say to that? He sounded so intense that it sent shivers throughout her body. She wanted him so badly now that she had to squeeze her legs together, hoping to stop the ache.
He chuckled deeply. “Now I know you want me. ”
She turned and buried her face in her pillow. “Jerk!”
Chapter 26
Madison stared in the mirror with her handy tweezers ready, but there was nothing to tweeze. Nothing. It had been three weeks since the last time she tweezed her eyebrows and by now she should have caveman brows, but no, they still looked as they did the morning she was abducted.
She tossed the tweezers onto her small, but expensive, pile of useless cosmetics that she no longer seemed to need. Her skin looked healthy and radiant. She couldn’t find anything to touch up or that needed toning. Damn him, she thought as she picked up her pink razor and tossed that onto the pile.
After her forced transformation she decided to stop shaving in hopes that he would be repulsed enough to stop leering at her every time they were in the same room. It should have only taken a few days to grow some decent stubble, but her new change took care of her need to ever shave again. She wondered if her body was frozen as in death from the transformation, never changing.
That thought ended a week ago when she realized her hair was still growing. Her body it seemed was selective on what changed and what didn’t. When she decided to ask Ephraim, one of the very few times she’d spoken to him over the past couple of weeks, the jerk had the nerve to run an appreciate eye over her body.
None of this made sense since he still shaved. She knew he did. A few times she'd shaved him herself. According to Mr. Highhanded the body would keep itself in what it deemed perfection. Hair and facial hair were things of added beauty. A Pyte’s greatest weapon was its ability to attract its prey. So, the body kept itself accordingly.
Not that she was complaining about having an hour a day freed up, but she really was. She didn’t like this at all. Her life was changed forever because she fell in love with the wrong man. The only thing good that came out of this was the baby in her stomach.
She never thought she would want a baby of her own after raising Jill and Joshua. Joshua still had eight more years before he would be out on his own. She always thought when that time came she would be free to live her life and do what she wanted. Now it seemed another ten years would be added to her time line. Not that it mattered in the grand scheme of things now. Thanks to that high-handed bastard she had eternity to live her life. She groaned aloud, no doubt after the first century she would get bored and settle into a life of soap operas and bonbons, correction, blood filled bon bon’s. The jerk.
At least it was summer time and she had the next two months off. Her days were filled with sunbathing, swimming and walking. Oh, and of course sneaking away so she could drink a few pints of blood. She learned early on the more she drank the more self-control she had.
The first day had been hell sitting in a classroom full of hormone driven kids. Every kid gave off a different mouth watering aroma. It had taken everything she had not to jump over her desk and partake of the buffet. Stupid Ephraim. He had the nerve to show up during her free period with five bags of blood for her. Stupid thoughtful jerk.
He was always doing stuff like that. Whenever they were in the pool swimming, which she never invited him to join her, the kids did, the traitors, he always brought two coolers. A large one with juices, waters and sodas for her and the kids and the other was small and locked, filled with bagged blood. He always distracted the kids so she could go off and drink. He never fed until she did and never until he made sure she drank as much as she wanted.
At night he hummed a lullaby in the office for as long as it took for her to fall asleep. He was attentive and sweet when it came to her comfort and care. Other than that he seemed to avoid her just as much as she was avoiding him. It was annoying. She was supposed to be mad at him not the other way around. She was the one who was changed against her will, forced to live a life of a bloodsucker, albeit a bloodsucker with really good pores, but a bloodsucker nonetheless.
The bathroom door off the office opened and Ephraim, na**d as usual, stumbled into the bathroom. She kept her back to him and pretended he wasn’t there, which was their normal routine. Her eyes followed his movements of their own accord and dropped down to his hips. Her mouth watered as it did every time she saw him na**d and fully erect. She was starting to think that he was doing that on purpose.
Her hands gripped the edge of the counter tightly as she tried to force her mind to think of puppies and kittens playing with a ball of yarn, anything to keep her mind off of sex. She might lust after him, but that didn't mean he needed to know.
Tall, Dark & Lonely Page 72
