Haven’t we been through this? she thought with annoyance. This mind control business doesn’t work on me!
But this wasn’t vampire hypnotism, she soon realized as the burn settled down into a numbing warmth in her belly, and lethargy began tugging at her eyelids. It was just plain Kiefer-magic—and apparently it was irresistible. Jessica’s mouth closed over the end of her sentence and she collapsed against Nathan, slipping and sliding down the tilting walls of her darkening consciousness, tumbling headlong into the deepest sleep she had ever known.
◆◆◆
Aaron was quiet as Lucy drove him away from the bookstore. He stared out the passenger’s side window, seemingly lost in thought. She glanced at him from time to time, admiring what she could see of his profile, but he didn’t say a word for several blocks. Finally, she cleared her throat. “Um. Do you want me to drive you by my place before I take you home?”
He jumped as he turned to face her, as though the sound of her voice had startled him. “Your place?”
“So you can pick up the stuff you left there.”
“Oh. Oh, yeah. Sure…that’ll work. Thanks.” A clumsy smile flitted across his mouth, and he quickly glanced away again, as though looking at her had made him uncomfortable for some reason.
Lucy rearranged her grip on the steering wheel and drove on, floundering inside. She and Aaron had just survived a harrowing adventure together, one that very few other people in the world would ever believe, much less understand. That should have brought them closer together, right? Bonded them in some way? Instead, she felt as though a gulf had opened up between them, and all the closeness they’d experienced over the past few days had mysteriously tumbled into it, maybe never to be seen again.
She tried not to worry about it too much, but the awkward tension only stretched on once they were back at her apartment. There, Aaron silently picked up his gym bag and went into the bathroom to gather up his things.
Lucy waited for him in the bedroom, where she changed into a clean shirt. She took down one of the blankets she’d hung over the window and cracked open the blinds. She stared outside, watching the cypress trees across the parking lot sway gently in the autumn breeze. What if Aaron had only liked her while he was a vampire, she wondered? Sure, he’d called her and left her that voicemail before he’d been turned, but…he’d been drunk at the time. Maybe now that he was himself again—no longer under the influence of either alcohol or supernatural forces—he’d remembered he was way out of Lucy’s league and realized it made more sense for them to only be friends. Well, it didn’t matter, she told herself. She should just be glad Aaron was okay. She had helped him because it was the right thing to do, not because she expected him to pay her back with his affection. He didn’t owe her anything.
“Hey, Lucy?”
It was her turn to jump. She spun around to find Aaron standing in the bathroom doorway, clutching his bag in one hand and a wad of fabric in the other. It was the bloodstained shirt he’d been wearing when she’d first found him in his office, hiding behind his desk. Dying of a vampire bite.
She had been there, of course, had seen it all with her own two eyes, and yet…the events of the past week were already beginning to blur in Lucy’s mind, warping like the disquieting memory of some feverish nightmare. How had this become her life, she wondered? Her life, which she’d always striven to keep so neat and clean and carefully ordered? She was positive she’d never marked a square in her planner for “fending off a vampire attack,” and yet she had done it tonight. In some ways, it was exciting to know the universe operated differently than she’d always believed. In other ways, it terrified her more than anything she had ever experienced before.
“What’s up?” she asked, forcing a smile to her lips.
He didn’t smile back, but instead leaned against the doorframe and looked at her solemnly. “Can I stay here with you? Just for the next few hours, until morning comes? I’m not suggesting anything you know,” he added, glancing at the bed. “I just don’t really feel like being alone right now, and…well, I’d like to be with you when the sun comes up, seeing as how you’re the only reason I’m going to get to see it again.”
Hope reignited inside Lucy, and her heart felt like it was melting. “Yeah,” she said, smiling more genuinely, “yeah, of course you can stay. As long as you want.”
He dropped the shirt into the bag and tossed the bag into a corner. Lucy took off her glasses and settled them on the nightstand. As if by some silent agreement, they both climbed onto the bed and stretched out, facing one another.
He looked so handsome lying there in the cheerful glow of her lamp. He was obviously tired, but the shadows had dissolved from under his eyes, and his lips were no longer dry. Instead, his mouth, like the rest of him, appeared supple and inviting. He had his health back. He looked wonderfully, gloriously…human.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” she said, her heart in her throat.
“I don’t even know what to say to you, Lucy,” he said, his eyes brimming with wonder and gratitude. “If you hadn’t believed me…if you hadn’t gone to Jessica and she hadn’t gone to Nathan…who knows what would have happened to me.” He paused and then added with awe, “You knocked a freaking vampire off me tonight. I’m literally only alive right now thanks to you.”
She smiled. “Yeah, well, you’re a really good boss.”
A chuckle broke from him, but it was more disbelieving than humorous. He watched her for a second before saying, “So, I never did get an answer to my voicemail. Do you want to go out and grab a pizza with me next week?”
Lucy’s heartbeat picked up. “You remember all of that?”
“Do I remember calling you and making a drunken idiot of myself? Yeah, of course I do. Unfortunately.”
She laughed. “You didn’t make an idiot of yourself. It was…a really sweet call. Assuming you meant everything you said in it. I wasn’t sure if you did. You never mentioned it again.”
“I got a little distracted by being turned into a nosferatu,” he said. “But yeah, I meant it. All of it and more. Would you like to go somewhere with me?”
Lucy felt her heart hurling itself against her ribs. “Sure, but I hope you’re only asking because you want to, not because you feel like you owe me for tonight or anything.”
He winced like the suggestion had offended him. “I asked you before all this happened because I wanted to. I’m asking you now because I still do. More than ever.” He traced a finger down the side of her face, making her skin sing.
“Oh,” she said. “Okay, then. Y-yes, I’d love to have dinner with you.”
He smiled, but the look in his eyes intensified. She had the impression there was something more he wanted to say, words on the tip of his tongue he was only barely holding back. She waited, hardly breathing, for him to come out with it. Instead, he brushed the pad of his thumb along her lower lip. Then he bent closer and kissed her there.
Lucy tensed, every muscle coiling with excitement, even as her insides turned all warm and fluttery.
“Is this okay?” he asked against her mouth. She nodded, and he sat up, peeled off his t-shirt, and lobbed it aside.
Lucy’s eyes bugged. Her breath caught in her throat. Suddenly, vampires and magic spells were no longer the most mind-blowing things she’d seen all week. Although, truth be told, she’d seen Aaron’s naked torso once before already. A few days ago, she’d caught a glimpse while he was heading into the shower. But he’d been ill then. Vulnerable. It would have been wrong for her to ogle him, and so she hadn’t. She had averted her eyes. Mostly.
Now, though…
He was displaying himself in front of her, and she suffered no compunctions about taking in all the sights. The smooth, compact muscles and lightly tanned skin. The nipples that called out to be licked, and the treasure trail that begged to be followed. Goodness, he was even more beautiful than she’d remembered.
“G-gyah,” she murmured incoherently. “Is this really hap
pening?”
He grinned. And then he was on her, shifting her onto her back and bracing an arm on either side of her body. “Does it not seem real to you?” he asked.
“No,” she said, and he laughed.
“Well, here, let me see if I can’t convince you.”
His warm weight came down on top of her, and his lips rediscovered hers, sending shocks of pleasure skittering through her nerves. His tongue teased the seam of her lips, and she opened to him, sighing when she felt the first silken sweep of his tongue across hers. Soon, their mouths were slanted firmly against one another, and her tongue was matching his, stroke for passionate stroke.
A delicious heat blossomed inside Lucy and unfurled, spiraling out to kindle every inch of her being. Awed, she ran her hands over Aaron’s shoulders and chest, tracing the hard, sleek lines of a powerful body she’d spent so many hours at her desk daydreaming about, never really believing this would happen.
He was a contradiction in sensations, she realized with a thrill, all steely muscles and silky skin. His touch, too, was a mind-spinning fusion of strength and tenderness, making her feel sheltered underneath his control, even as it reminded her of his primal manliness, the fundamental brawn that could easily overpower her if he chose to exert it.
His mouth travelled to her neck, his lips caressing the hollow of her throat. “Lucy,” he said, and she’d never dreamed he would say her name like that, so gravelly and shaded with lust. “Lucy, Lucy…you’re so freaking sexy. You drive me crazy, do you know that?”
“No,” she said, and it made him laugh again.
“Mmm. The way you bonked that vampire over the head tonight,” he went on in a smoky voice. “It was so loyal. So…hot.”
“Heh,” Lucy laughed. “If I’d known this is what would happen, I’d have beaten the tar out of a monster for you a long time ago.”
“You’re so funny, Lucy.”
“I’m really not.”
“Yes,” he said, “you are. And it’s a total turn-on.” His large hand engulfed her small breast, palming it gently. He worked her legs apart with his knee and settled himself between them. Then he angled his mouth over hers again, kissing her until her lips started to feel swollen, but in a delicious way. He touched her—in ways no one had ever touched her—until she felt her resistance fraying around the edges, very nearly unraveling, and she knew she needed to stop him soon and tell him about herself. Assuming he hadn’t already noticed how awkward she was at all this, and her hesitation.
“Lucy,” he was murmuring in low, sensual tones. “Lucy, I want you...”
“Aaron.” She wriggled underneath him, placing a cautionary hand on his chest. “Aaron, please wait for just a second.”
“What’s the matter?” he teased. “Don’t you like kissing me?”
“Um, yes. Yes, I do. In fact, I think it’s my favoritest thing I’ve ever done in my life. Ever.”
“Excellent.” He gave a low chuckle as he grazed his lips along her earlobe, sending another blissful buzz skating over her skin.
“I just…I don’t…I mean, I’ve never…Oh, geez.” She could hear the anxious catch in her own voice, feel the heat pouring into her face.
“It’s okay,” he murmured between kisses to her neck. “It’s okay.”
“You don’t know what I was going to say.”
He pulled back to look at her. A perceptive smile nudged up one corner of his handsome mouth. “You were going to tell me you’ve never done this before.”
“Oh. Yeah.” So he had noticed. Awesome. “How’d you know? Am I a terrible kisser or something?” It wasn’t as though she’d had a lot of practice, and not for years now.
“No, not at all. It was…just a guess.” His smile was gentle, as was his touch as he stroked the backs of his fingers down her neck and over her breastbone.
But she still wished she could sink away from him and hide inside the mattress. “Sorry,” she muttered, draping her hand across her eyes.
“Don’t be. It’s cool.”
“Yeah, really cool.”
“It is. Cool with me, anyway.”
She peeked at him from between her fingers and found him watching her with an attentive gaze. Gradually, she uncovered her eyes. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, absolutely.”
“But you just said…”
“What? That I want you?” That smolder of craving she’d seen earlier in the night flashed in his eyes again, surprising her just as much now as it had then. “I do.” He rocked his hips, nudging the hot, solid proof against her, and sent a shockwave of desire pulsing through her abdomen. “But I don’t mind taking things slow.”
She stared at him, not knowing what to say. Still not sure if she should believe him.
“Lucy,” he smiled, “when you sleep with me, I want you to enjoy it as much as possible, okay? And I doubt that’ll happen if you feel rushed into it. Am I right?”
When you sleep with me.
When, not if.
He said it, and looked at her, as if there was no question in his mind he would eventually have her. Which aroused some wanton region of Lucy’s mind that wanted little more than to tear off all her clothes and just let him go for it right then.
But in the end, sanity reigned, because she knew he was right. Crazy as she was about him, she wasn’t ready for this. Not yet. She was actually relieved he’d realized it, too, and a small breath she hadn’t known she was holding slipped out of her lungs. Nodding, she said, “R-right.”
He dropped another kiss on her lips and then moved off her, leaning his weight on one elbow. “Roll over,” he commanded.
“What?”
“Roll over,” he gestured for her to turn onto her side. “So we can spoon.”
Spoon? Lucy thought. Well, she’d never done that before, either, but it sounded heavenly. She rolled over. She felt the mattress move, and then Aaron was behind her, his strong arm bent around her waist and his naked chest pressed against her back. He splayed his hand on her belly and shifted her closer, so that her bottom was settled firmly against his thighs and she could feel how excited he still was. Because of her.
Well, that was just crazy.
“That was, um…that was really nice,” she said, emboldened by the fact he could no longer see her face.
“Yeah,” he chuckled against her shoulder. “Good. I’m glad you liked it, too.” He swept aside her hair and brushed his mouth along the back of her neck. Then he fell silent and went still, simply holding her against him as if she belonged there—as if he never wanted to let her go.
“Aaron?” Lucy asked. “Is this what your dream was like? The one where we were cuddling-?” There was no answer, but his exhalations were soft and steady, warm and comforting as they feathered against her skin. Lucy closed her eyes again, sinking into the phenomenal feeling of being safely cocooned within his arms. She let the rhythm of his breathing soothe her mind and soul, let it carry away the frightening images of rapacious vampires and a world gone mad, let it lull her to sleep right alongside him—as, outside her window, the sun finally started to climb over the horizon…
Chapter Twenty-Two
Dara Donovan was naked in her bed, kneeling over her husband. Two days had passed since Nathan had destroyed Celia, and Dara was still attempting to demonstrate to Jason just how grateful she was that he was still alive. Or, rather, that he was alive again.
Her husband tugged at her hair and groaned. She tasted his satisfaction, and felt an answering thrill of her own. She clambered up the bed to lie beside him, nestling in the crook of his arm.
“I love you,” she said. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if I had lost you.” Just the thought sent tears trickling down her face, and she dashed them away with a trembling hand.
“Shhh, I’m fine,” he said, his voice drowsy and contented. “Everything’s okay.”
She lay quietly for a moment, listening to his heartbeat and running her hand over his naked body. A body that bore no sca
r from where it had been stabbed, but which was still stronger, and moved so much faster, than before it had ever been corrupted by a vampire’s bite. “Do you think you’ll miss them?” she finally asked. “The powers you still have, once they’re gone?”
Jason shrugged. “Maybe. Not really. I did just fine without them before, so…” He finished with another shrug. “I do sort of feel like I should use the powers while I have them, though.”
“Use them for what?”
“Well there are still those other vampires that got away the other night, running around somewhere in the city.”
“Nathan said he’d take care of them.”
“I can’t help but think I should be helping him.”
Alarm spiked in Dara’s chest. She drew her arm across his waist, clinging to him as if afraid he’d disappear any second. “It’s dangerous, Jason. You almost died.”
“Yeah, I know, but…”
She screwed her eyes shut and tightened her grip on him. “But there are other people out there in peril,” she finished for him, “and they don’t even know it.”
“I feel like we should do something, if we can.”
Dara let out a breath. She knew he was right. “I want to help out, too,” she admitted.
He was quiet for a while, sinking his fingers into her hair and then reaching down to fondle her breast. “Kiefer gave me his number before we left the store the other night,” he reminded her. “I think I’ll call him and at least ask how things are going.”
“Okay.”
He shifted her onto her back, and his fingers trailed lower down her body, slipping between her thighs. Dara let out a short cry as the first tinges of pleasure spiraled through her. “But not until later,” he added with a wicked smile.
◆◆◆
Nathan sat in Kiefer’s newly restored and tidied office, across from the security guard, Frankie Lam. Normally, no one but Nathan was allowed inside this room. When Kiefer had “donut-related business” to conduct, he did it from another office across the way, one not guarded by wards or containing magical implements and spell books. But seeing how Frankie was already privy to so many of the sorcerer’s—and Nathan’s—secrets, he didn’t see any reason to try and hide things from him. He had agreed to let the man in for a private meeting with the vampire.
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