by Mara Leigh
Selina
I jump into Rock’s arms, the instant he walks through the door into Gray’s foyer. The big man’s hearts beat hard against me, and surrounded by the warmth and strength of his huge body I’m safe, I’m home. Tonight is the first time I’ve seen the inside of Gray’s house, but now that Rock’s here it is home.
“Welcome.” Gray claps Rock on the arm while the latter still holds me aloft.
“You live here all alone?” Rock asks scanning the huge foyer with its marble mosaic floor and the twin oak staircases that lead up to a balcony-style hallway on the second floor. Across from that, high above us, are a series of massive stained-glass windows.
As he looks around, Rock whistles through his teeth. “Guess you two will have to keep clear of this space once the sun comes up.”
“Nope.” Gray shakes his head. “Every window in the house is treated. Less UV light than what reflects from a full moon. Want the grand tour? Selina insisted we wait until you got here.”
“You guys have been standing here in the entrance?” Rock looks at me with skepticism.
“We just got here.” I press a quick kiss to Rock’s cheek. A place I’d never be able to reach if he weren’t still holding me in his arms. “I’m so glad you’re safe,” I say against Rock’s neck. “When I heard you’d gone to find Xavier…”
“The entrance was sealed.” He shakes his head. “The only one Astrid’s informant claims she knows.”
“You don’t believe her?” Gray asks.
“To be honest, I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
The tall, elegant vampire leans against the round table at the center of the room, his fingers strong against the highly polished wood surface. “Shall we do the tour?” He gestures to his left. “I’ve got five guest bedrooms, each with an en suite, so you can each choose your favorite room, or… share if you prefer?”
Rock grunts and it vibrates through my whole body. “Haven’t said I’d move in yet. Don’t know that Selina has, either.”
“Let’s look around.” I stroke the back of his neck.
I’ve already decided that I want to move in, and hope Rock will choose to live here too. Living above ground, with daylight—safely—is like a fantasy, but I can’t bear the idea of no longer sleeping in Rock’s arms. The last two nights were long enough. Never again.
“I don’t use these principal rooms much.” Gray flips on the lights in a large sitting room to one side of the foyer. “Guess this is the parlor?”
“Set me down?” I whisper in Rock’s ear.
He lets me slide down the side of his hard body, and I brush my hand over his chest as I step away from him to explore the beautiful space. “Did you decorate this yourself?”
“No.” Gray laughs. “The place came furnished. Why? Does it look like me?”
“It kind of does.” I wink at him. “Victorian elegance.”
“That’s how you see me?” Gray plops down in a soft-looking sofa upholstered in red velvet. “How old do you think I am?”
Rock is at the edge of the room, checking out a beautiful piece of furniture, so I plop down next to Gray, and the sofa’s so soft that I’m tossed against him.
“If you want to jump me, princess, all you have to do is ask.” He kisses my forehead.
I place my hands on his chest for leverage to put some distance between us. “How old are you?” I ask.
“Which age to you mean?”
I shrug. “Both, I guess.”
“I was twenty-four when I turned. And it was 1967.”
I cock my head to the side, trying to decide if he’s pulling my leg. “But you said your Maker was one of the Ancients.”
“She was. Doesn’t mean I’m one of the Ancients.” He laughs. “Did you really think I was thousands of years old?”
I shrug. “How did it happen? When you turned?”
“I was traveling in Morocco, doing what young men and women did at the time—smoking hash, eating couscous and trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life.”
I turn toward him on the sofa, bending up one leg. Rock sits down on a leather chair opposite the sofa.
“What was your family like?” I ask. “Did you have brothers and sisters?”
Gray shakes his head. “Only child. And I suppose that made it even harder.”
“Made what harder?”
“Disappointing my father.” Gray looks away from me.
I touch his shoulder. “How?”
He jumps off the sofa. “Enough about me. We’ve got a house to see.” He points to the right and I spot a small door hidden in the paneling.
He opens it and steps through. “Servants’ staircase.” He points to the stairs, then starts down a hall leading right.
“You have servants?” I haven’t seen anyone since we got here.
“Nah.” Gray shakes his head as he leads us through the narrow corridor.
“Not even blood slaves?” Rock’s voice booms in the small space that his shoulders nearly fill side to side.
“Rock.” I nudge him, shocked at his rudeness.
“The servants’ staircase leads up to the attic,” Gray says. “The only part of the house that’s not fully sun proofed. Don’t go up there in daylight.”
I nod, and he takes us about ten feet to the right, through a door that leads to a room lined with shelves and cupboards.
“Pantry.” He strides through it. “I don’t use this room. Actually haven’t been in here for ages, but it’s a shortcut to the kitchen.”
We turn the corner into a large kitchen with two gas cooktops, three ovens and a modern fridge with glass doors revealing not much inside.
“Guess we’ll need more food once the giant moves in.” He grins back at Rock who just grunts, but I can tell he’s impressed.
There are windows above huge ceramic sinks, and moonlight peeks through the leaves of massive maple and oak trees in the yard.
“Those windows are treated for daylight too. In case you ever want to use the kitchen.” He points toward a door. “Back garden is through there. And the stairs to the cellar.”
“What’s in the cellar?” Rock asks.
“Gym. Screening room. Boiler room. Laundry. I’ve been thinking of finishing more of it, maybe putting in a billiard table. Now I’ve got a housemate—” Gray smiles at me.
Rock grunts, and I stroke his arm to reassure him that even if I move in here with Gray, I’ll still love him. Always.
Gray leads us through a narrow space housing more counters and cupboards filled with beautiful dishes and glasses.
“Butler’s pantry,” he says, and then we step into an incredibly beautiful dining room. Moonlight streams through an intricate stained glass window that fills most of the back wall and reaches up to the ceiling that must be at least twelve or more feet tall, given how high it rises above my giant’s head. I could probably stand on Rock’s shoulders without hitting the ceiling.
The table’s long enough to seat at least twenty, and three crystal chandeliers hang above the table, the one in the center the largest of the three.
“Do those work?” I ask, and within seconds they’re on. Light dances through the crystals to brighten the room, and it’s marvelous. “They’re amazing. How do you keep them clean?” I try to imagine Gray housecleaning, but can’t.
“I’ve got a housekeeper. She comes in Tuesdays and Thursdays.”
“Does she know?”
Gray shakes his head. “She came with the house. She gets a full-time salary, even though I’ve cut her hours to two days a week.”
“She’s not suspicious about that?” Rock folds his arms over his chest. “I thought you said Selina would be safe here. That no one would see her.”
“Do you want to clean this place?” Gray asks. “Because you’re welcome to do it.”
“Where do you go when the housekeeper’s here?” I ask.
“She thinks I work nights.” He shrugs. “Which I suppose I do. If I’m here and sl
eeping, I leave her a note letting her know which room to skip that day. Besides, I don’t need much sleep.”
I nod. I’ve noticed that I can get by on fewer of hours of shuteye since I fed from Gray. I’ve felt so much stronger, more powerful since that night, and I wonder when he’ll let me feed from him again.
The idea makes my fangs ache and wakes a stronger ache between my legs.
I take Rock’s hand. I want him inside me in any way that we can. He claims we aren’t compatible, that we can never have sex, but although the obvious size of his cock is intimidating, the mere idea of having him inside me makes me wet. So wet.
Squeezing my legs together, I know that my panties are soaked, and I resist the urge to pull Rock’s hand and put it between my legs. Something I plan to do the moment we’re alone.
The dining room has huge French doors that open into a front room that’s even more elegantly furnished than the one on the other side of the foyer. A large, leaded-glass bay window opens to the front garden, with half-moon-shaped, stained-glass windows above.
“Well, that’s the main floor,” Gray says. “Maybe we should have a party sometime, so I can actually use it.” He smiles back at Rock and me. “What do you think, roomies?”
Rock’s hold on my hand tightens.
“Once Xavier’s dead, of course.” Gray goes back into the foyer and I notice the massive chandelier hanging there, too.
It’s even more intricate than the ones in the dining room, with sculpted glass arches and more crystals than I could ever count.
Gray heads up the stairs, six at a time, and I drag my hand along the polished oak banister as Rock and I follow.
He turns to the left, into the farthest bedroom. My insides pulse as I see the big bed, wanting both of these men at the same time. My cheeks flush at the notion and I remember my erotic dream.
In my dream Pike had five or six hands—at least. What would it be like to be with more than one man at the same time? To be pleasured in so many ways at once? Pleasured by men I love?
I shake my head. Rock might tolerate Gray as my lover, but there’s no way they’d ever make love to me together. At least, I don’t think…
“Princess?” Gray wakes me from my lustful daydream.
“Sorry?” I shake my head. “What did you ask? I was distracted.”
“I could tell.” His grin is full of heat.
I look away and lean into Rock’s chest.
“I was saying that the bed in here is the biggest. Might work for you two?”
Gray is assuming that Rock and I will share a bed while under his roof, and it makes me feel safe and respected, but also hurts. If I ever needed proof that Gray doesn’t love me, that he’s my lover but nothing else, this is it.
“Do you like this room?” I ask Rock as I come back from peeking into the bathroom. “The shower in the en suite is huge. I think it would work for you.”
“Let’s see the other rooms,” Rock says. “You need to be in the one that’s safest. I don’t like the idea of those windows.” He gestures around the room. “You’d be safer at my place.”
“I’m not going to sleep in a dungeon again.”
My words hit him like a punch.
“I didn’t mean that.” I shake my head. “No, sorry. Maybe I did mean it a little. I don’t want to live underground. I’ll feel trapped. I can’t—”
“Acushla, it’s okay.” Rock gathers me into his arms. “I understand. I will stay here too and keep you safe.”
Chapter 9
Selina
The girl fumbles with her phone as she staggers down the alley, zigzagging, doing the unmistakable dance of the drunken club girl. Her hair is brassy—the way dark brown hair turns with DIY bleach jobs, her shoes too high and her skirt too short.
Hatred builds inside me as I follow her down the alley, hatred I don’t understand. I don’t even know this young woman.
I feel strange, inside and outside my body at the same time. My surroundings grow fuzzy at the edges, blurred, even though my focus on the woman is crystal clear.
Her ankle turns as her stupidly high-heeled shoe tips to the side. Her phone clatters to the pavement, and she follows it down hard, landing on her knee. I can instantly smell the blood from her scraped skin.
Sitting, she sways forward and back like she’s not really certain what happened, and then she reaches for her phone.
Stepping up beside her, I offer my hand. She looks up. Her Chinese ethnicity is disguised under heavily contoured makeup that makes her look like a Kardashian, and her mouth moves like she’s speaking, but I don’t hear any words. All I hear is the sound of her blood.
She takes my hand. I pull her up quickly and then plunge my fangs into her neck.
I wake, thrashing, my heart rate soaring, and I have no idea where I am.
Quickly I remember. I’m not in the alley location of my dream, nor am I trapped underground by Pike. I’m safe at Gray’s house and in bed with Rock.
Propping myself up on the bed, I watch Rock sleep, his blond eyelashes fluttering slightly against his skin, his breaths slow and deep. He looks so peaceful like this, but the solid expanse of his body and the rise and fall of his chest allude to the power of Rock. Even though we’re not touching, heat emanates from him like a furnace and I know that with him I will never be cold or afraid.
And I have to believe that he’ll get over whatever is holding him back from making love to me. If it turns out we’re incompatible, fine, but at least we should try. I slide my legs together, my sex pulsing with renewed need. A deep need that has been nagging at me since I fed from that human, since my erotic dream about Pike.
Early this morning when Gray showed us the bedrooms—all except one, which he claimed was his private space and then quickly added that it was too messy—it was obvious Rock needed sleep. Me? I needed something else—and still do.
My desire for Rock must have brought on my vivid, feeding dream, although I’d expect this current hunger more likely to bring on a sex dream.
I could go to Gray now and get what my body craves. With less than subtle hints, the vampire made it clear where I could find him if I wanted. But as much as my body needs sex, I long to be next to Rock more. Maybe he’ll be in the mood when he wakes.
Rock stirs, his huge body shifting, moving the mattress between us. His eyes slowly open, and when he sees me he smiles and pulls me down for a kiss. Hallelujah!
“Acushla,” he says while taking a breath. “I dreamed that I’d lost you again.”
“Never.” I kiss his nose, the edges of his mouth. “I had a bad dream too, but you’ll never lose me. I plan to stay glued to your side.”
He sits, and the massive wooden headboard creaks as he leans against it. “All joking aside, I’m not letting you out of my sight, you know. Never again.” He shakes his head. “Shite. The bar. I can sell it, but I need to go in tonight—before dark.” He glances at his watch. “My liquor vendor needs to be paid, and it’s Kevin’s night off, so I should at least handle the open and close….” He shifts his arm around me and I lean into his warm chest. His fingers dance on my upper arm, and even that light contact fuels sparks inside me.
“It’s fine, Rock.” I nestle in, stroking his chest, lightly dusted with thick blond hairs. “Go to work. And don’t sell your bar. Not on my account. You love that place. I’ll come over as soon as it’s dark.”
He shakes his head. “It’s not safe. Stay inside. I’ll make sure Gray stays with you. And Astrid can assign a team to watch the house.”
My body tenses and air locks inside my chest. “Don’t you think that’s a bit over the top?”
He squeezes me in more tightly. “No. It’s not. You insisted on moving out of my basement, but you’ve got to stay inside here, where it’s safe.”
“Rock.” I try to fight my irritation. “I need some freedom. I need to go outside. I need to live a normal life.”
“Acushla. That’s not possible. Not until Xavier’s dead.”
“So, you want me to stay in the house—all the time?”
“Of course.”
I push back from him. “No. Rock, I can’t bear the thought of being trapped here. If you insist on that you’re no better than Pike.”
He pulls back. “How’s that, now?”
“Pike claimed he was holding me captive to keep me safe. I won’t let you and Gray do that to me too.”
He frowns. “I guess I can understand that.” He sighs. “I actually understand more than you know, but Xavier’s Guard found us at the warehouse. What if they know about my bar, too?”
“Then you’ll be there to protect me.” I do get that my life’s at risk, but I also know being a prisoner feels like another kind of death. Even if I choose to stay here in Gray’s house all night, it needs to be my choice.
His fingers stroke high on my chest. “You know, there’s another reason you should stay away from O’Malley’s.”
“What’s that?” I trace my hand up this thigh, my mind back on sex. I want to coax Rock into at least letting me give him some pleasure.
It’s working, because he groans, but he catches my wrist before my fingers land where I want. “That cop,” he says huskily. “He’s been hanging out at the bar.”
“What cop?” I ask, although I know who he means. He means Colton, that handsome blond man who looks like the quarterback character from a Hollywood movie.
“The one who was pumping Chelle for information about vampires.” Rock pulls my hand away from his thigh, up to his chest, and holds it there, warm under his.
“Maybe the cop just likes your bar,” I say. “Maybe he likes a beer after work.”
Rock draws a long breath and I love how his chest expands beneath my hand. “At least where he’s concerned I know I can protect you.”
“My hero.” I rise up on one knee to kiss him. “My big, brave hero.”
“Don’t mock me, Acushla.”
“I would never.” I grin mischievously and slide my other hand toward the massive bulge under his pajama bottoms.
He shifts to the side. “None of that. I really do need to go to work.”
