by Amy Patrick
Shit. A hotel room alone with her was the very last place I needed to be right now.
Unfortunately, the sun didn’t care about the emotions currently swirling around my heart or what was happening below the belt. It was rising, and we had to get off the road and inside.
I pulled off at the next exit and drove to the nearest hotel. Parking close to the door, I grabbed Abbi’s bag, and we walked hand-in-hand to the check-in counter to book one of its blackout rooms. They were specially designed for vampires with no external windows and a mini-fridge for blood bags.
Please let them have a double room available. Please please please.
I was strong, but I wasn’t blind, deaf, and lacking a sense of smell. Plus, battle tended to get all the juices flowing, if you know what I mean. My warrior instincts didn’t know the difference between a bunch of drunken frat boys and a real threat, and I was still keyed up in every way.
In other words, a single bed was not going to work tonight.
We couldn’t take separate rooms because our cover story was that of a loving couple on vacation.
Besides, Imogen’s blood had altered Abbi’s appearance somewhat, but not that much. If you were really looking, which the federal authorities were, you could tell she was the same young female vampire who’d escaped the Merced Safety Center during an unexpected attack on the gates and mass exodus of inmates. She’d draw far more scrutiny traveling alone than as part of a “couple.”
She wore a ballcap that covered the top of her face and took a seat on a bench in the lobby while I did all the talking at the counter.
The clerk was very friendly, especially for someone who’d been up all night. “Hello folks. Checking in?”
“Yes. We don’t have a reservation,” I told her, “but we’ve been driving all night and really need to get off the road. Do you have a double room available?”
Glancing first at my eyes then down at her computer screen, she said, “Let me look.”
She tapped a few keys and looked up again, smiling. “I have one vampire room left. Looks like it’s a king. Will that do?”
I blew out a quiet whistle. “Actually, could you check availability on your other rooms? Maybe we could just draw the curtains tightly?”
When she gave me a quizzical you-don’t-want-to-sleep-with-your-hot-girlfriend? look, I hooked a thumb over my shoulder at Abbi.
“She snores.”
The clerk grinned and wrinkled her nose in amusement. “Okay, lemme see what I’ve got.”
Frowning at the screen a minute later, she said, “I’m sorry, sir, but it looks like all we have left are rooms on the east side of the building with exterior windows. Even with the curtains drawn, I’m afraid there’s a chance of some daylight sneaking in. I’d hate for anybody to get burned.”
“I understand,” I said.
Reaching for the phone she said, “I can call some of the other hotels at this exit for you and see if they have any doubles available.”
She really was a nice girl. I reached for my wallet. “No, that’s okay. We’d have to get back in the car and drive there, and the sun’s up already. We’ll take the king room. It’ll be fine.”
She smiled at me and processed the payment then handed me a key along with directions to the elevator. We thanked her and turned to go, but she called me back.
“Sir?”
“Yes?”
The clerk held out a small packet wrapped in plastic. “Maybe these will help? Earplugs.”
“Ah.” I smiled at her and took the offering, though of course my ears weren’t the problem.
12
Still Awake
Reece
As far as I knew, neither of us snored.
On the other hand, maybe Abbi did snore. I’d never slept with her—slept in the same room with her, I mentally corrected myself.
Too late. Parts of my anatomy that had taken a back seat for the confrontation with the beer buzz squad were once again awake and jostling for a spot at the front of the line.
“Thanks a lot. I’ll be sure to write you a great review,” I told the young woman behind the counter.
She beamed at me. “Thank you so much. That would be awesome.”
As we rode up in the elevator, Abbi yawned again. “I think I’m finally calming down. In fact, I feel exhausted now.”
“Conflict will do that to you. I’m usually wired for hours after any kind of situation, but then when I come down, I really crash.”
“Thank you again. I wasn’t sure what to do back there, you know? Nothing like that has ever happened to me. I mean, some of the guards in the Safety Center were kind of creepy, but you could usually avoid them, and they knew there were cameras everywhere.”
My aggression, which had just now started to dial down, kicked in again.
“There was this one guy, Gatlin.” She was quiet for a moment before saying, “He got what was coming to him.”
“Good.”
We got off the elevator on the third floor and stopped in front of a door on the interior side of the hall.
“Is this us, 335?” she asked.
“Home sweet home,” I said before thinking then cringed as I swiped the key card. We were not an actual couple, and this was not our cozy little abode.
Abbi didn’t seem to notice the faux pas. She stepped into the room and flicked on the lights. When she got past the entry area, though, she stopped cold.
“There’s only one... bed.”
Moving past her, I placed our bags on a low wood laminate table. I did my best to make my tone unconcerned. “Yep. It’s all they had.”
“They had no rooms with two beds?” Abbi asked in a small voice.
“They did not. Not interior rooms anyway. Besides, this is better for safety’s sake. At least it’s a king,” I added with exaggerated cheerfulness.
Her joints seemed to unhinge, and she stepped farther into the sleeping area. “Yeah. That’s true. It’s pretty big.”
“Huge,” I said then cringed again. I unzipped my duffle bag and rummaged around in it, just to have something to do. Finding our blood bag supply and the ice packs, I put them in the mini-fridge.
After another minute of silently staring at the bed, Abbi went to her bag and pulled out a travel toothbrush, toothpaste, and makeup remover. She also grabbed an oversized t-shirt and a pair of panties she balled up in her hand in an attempt to hide them from me.
As if it was a secret she wore panties. Red panties that appeared to be quite small and made of some sort of lacy fabric. Oh God.
“Mind if I use the bathroom first?” she asked. “I think I might take a shower. I know all I did was sit in the car today, but after that guy touched me...”
“By all means. Take your time.”
Of course she was grossed out after what she’d been through. It made me feel even worse about the thoughts that had been running through my head.
I may or may not have been fantasizing about accidentally-on-purpose rolling over to her side of the bed during my “sleep.” In that fantasy, the t-shirt had ridden up and exposed the red—
No. Just stop it. You’re torturing yourself and getting the whole make her fall in love plan ass-backwards.
Again.
Abbi wasn’t even trying, and she was twisting me into knots of frustrated desire. I was supposed to be seducing her.
Not tonight though. Not after what she’d been through at the gas station. Unlike that drunk idiot, I’d be keeping my hands and all other appendages firmly on my side of the bed. No matter what she had on under that t-shirt.
It promised to be more challenging than the most grueling of the Bloodbound recruit trials. Abbi emerged from the steamy bathroom, her hair and face shiny clean and the rest of her smelling so sweet and alluring I almost excused myself to go swim some laps in the hotel’s indoor pool.
Now her mid-section was covered, and it was her legs that were exposed to my hungry eyes. Long and curvy and silky smooth, they would feel incredib
le tangled with mine under the sheets.
“Your turn,” she said sweetly.
“Right. Thanks.”
My shower was ice cold. On purpose. And I made it extra-long. Maybe by the time I finished and was frozen solid, she’d be asleep.
When I got out, I realized I’d neglected to bring anything that could reasonably be considered sleepwear. I wasn’t used to sleeping in co-ed company, and I always went to bed in just my boxers.
Well, I’d make sure to slip into bed quietly and avoid waking her. Then I’d wake early and get dressed before she woke up.
Abbi looked so small in the large bed. She was still and quiet, and I slid under the sheets, grateful my desperate prayers had been answered.
But after a minute of lying there drinking in the scent of her skin and listening to her soft breaths, I realized she was still awake.
13
With a Whisper
Reece
She rolled over to face me in the dark. “Reece?”
My brain and body jolted into full alert mode. “Yeah?”
“I’ve never slept in the same bed with a guy before.”
And now my brain and body were high-fiving each other. That answered the question about Shane. He may have kissed her, but he hadn’t gotten any further. Maybe I’d let him live.
“I mean, I slept with Shane in the back of a big rig...”
Nope. He was a dead man.
“... but Kelly and Heather were there too, and we just... slept. And he was in handcuffs.”
And once again, Shane had a future.
This girl was giving me whiplash. I’d never experienced higher highs and lower lows than I felt when I was with her.
“Are you saying you’d like me to wear handcuffs?” I joked.
She giggled, a lovely sound that sent waves of joy rolling through my chest and then downward.
“No silly. I trust you,” she said. “I was just wondering... have you slept with many girls?”
At my extended silence, she quickly added, “I mean, I know you don’t sleep with anyone but Imogen now, but...”
After another long hesitation, I corrected her wrong assumption. “I haven’t slept with Imogen.”
Abruptly she pushed up to one elbow. Her long hair hung down, nearly covering half her face. The eye I could see was wide with shock.
“You haven’t?”
“No. She’s never summoned me to her chambers for that reason.”
Was it my imagination or had Abbi just let out a long sigh? That was when I realized she was jealous of Imogen. Not because of her unique beauty or her immense power.
Because of me.
Suddenly I was breathing like I’d just come off a thirty-mile training run. Abbi’s breathing had become audible, too. She was nervous. Or excited. Or both. Whatever it was, the palpable energy she was giving off was doing terrible things to me.
Her next question was so timid and breathy I almost didn’t hear it. “Are you... disappointed?”
“Disappointed?” Why on earth would she think I’d be disappointed about not sleeping with a two-hundred-year old woman?
“Yeah. You know, because she’s the only woman you can...” Her shyness prevented her from finishing.
I glanced around the dark, empty room, which was ridiculous. It wasn’t like we’d been followed, and we’d picked a hotel at random. There were no listening devices in here. But I was about to make a risky confession.
“No. I’m not disappointed. I never wanted her that way.”
“Oh.” A long pause. “And other girls?”
“There were no other girls.”
“Really?” I could tell she didn’t believe me.
“Really. I was a classic late bloomer in high school. Even if a girl had been interested in me, I wouldn’t have noticed it—or had any idea what to do about it.”
“And college?”
“I was in the middle of first semester freshman year when I met you at that bonfire. I dated some, but I lived in the athletic dorm with my teammates. We weren’t allowed to have girls in our rooms. And I guess I never went out with a girl who liked me enough to invite me back to her room.”
“I seriously doubt that.” Abbi’s tone was much lower than her usual speaking voice. The sound of it curled around my belly and made me feel like that awkward college freshman again.
“Well, they weren’t allowed to have guys in their dorm rooms either,” I said. “Maybe if I’d gone out with an upperclassman who lived off-campus, I would’ve gotten lucky.”
“Maybe,” she said, and we both laughed.
Abbi got serious again. “But I’m glad you didn’t.”
A flush moved through my body, raising its temperature by several degrees.
This was dangerous. Abigail Byler and Reece Hendrix had zero business discussing the topic of sex. Especially lying in bed together face to face. And yet I couldn’t seem to stop myself from probing further.
“And you... I guess your community standards sort of prevented pre-marital sex?”
“Not sort of. Completely. No opportunity. No one I was interested in that way, anyway.”
“So then...” Don’t ask, Reece. Do. Not. Ask. “Did you ever meet anyone you were interested in... that way?”
My heartbeat pounded so hard in my ears I was worried she could hear it too. She probably could, in fact.
Her eyes answered my question before her words did.
“I think you know the answer to that.”
And that was how my “master plan” to seduce Abbi and break her heart died—with a whisper.
Or maybe it had crashed and burned back at the gas station when she’d been threatened by those guys and needed my help.
How had I ever thought I could hurt this girl?
All I wanted to do was protect her from harm. Well, okay, that wasn’t all I wanted to do, but it was the extent of what I would allow myself to do.
And how had I ever believed I could get this close to her and spend this much time with her without falling head over heels back in love? Maybe I’d never stopped loving her.
Either way, I was screwed.
I couldn’t help how I felt, but I could stop this from going any further. We hadn’t done anything to earn Imogen’s death penalty—yet.
All I had to do was break this unbelievable soul-penetrating eye contact... and stop our breaths from mingling... and definitely stop myself from moving toward her mouth...
Abbi placed a small hand on my chest and stretched toward me, bringing her lips within millimeters of mine. My heart beat so hard and so fast it was literally painful.
Clenching every muscle in my body, I fought the overwhelming urge to close that miniscule distance and kiss her, wrap my arms around her, and pull her against me, under me—okay this wasn’t working.
I have to move away from her.
It took every ounce of strength I possessed, but I managed to roll over, turning to face the other wall and drawing deep, controlled breaths.
“Good night, Abbi,” I gritted out.
This time I was sure I heard a sigh. “Sleep well, Reece.”
14
Hail King Parker
Abbi
I wasn’t sure if Reece slept well, but I did not.
Not only did his massive size take up a ridiculous amount of the king mattress, his legs and arms kept wandering into my relatively small sliver of space. Every time I’d manage to calm myself enough to drift off, some part of him would touch some part of me, and I’d snap back awake again.
He seemed to be sleeping pretty soundly. Maybe it was that thing he’d mentioned about a post-battle let down. Perhaps the adrenaline crash explained why he’d rolled away and started snoring instead of accepting my pathetically obvious invitation to kiss me.
Or maybe he likes his head attached to his neck, dodo.
Right. The Bloodbound vows. Reece might not have slept with Imogen—yay yippee and yahooooo!!!—but he was still loyal to her.
&nb
sp; Not so yay. But reality rarely was.
The reality this evening was that we still had about six hours left to go to Sudbury. Unless we wanted to play another game of Russian roulette in another hotel room at dawn—not smart—we needed to pack up and get on the road.
I woke Reece then dressed and gathered my things as quickly as I could. To save time, we opted to bring our blood bags along and drink them in the car rather than enjoy them in the room.
Actually, I didn’t know anyone who enjoyed blood bags. There was just nothing yummy about the taste of cold blood. It was sustenance rather than satisfaction. The alternative was monstrous, though.
“Did you ever drink blood from the vein?” I asked Reece.
“What?” He whipped his head toward me, sounding like he’d been pulled from deep thought.
“Blood. From a person instead of a blood bag.”
His face, which had worn an almost dreamy expression before, turned sour. “Yes. Did you?”
“Yes. Just that once with Josiah. Since then I’ve stuck to the blood bags. Have you done it since you came to the Bastion?”
“Are you asking me if Imogen made me take the test?”
“I wasn’t exactly, but now that you brought it up... did she?”
He shook his head. “She’s not interested in whether I’ve got ‘the gift.’ I guess it has no value in the Crimson Court if you’re male.”
“Consider yourself lucky on that count. So then, when you’re out with the Bloodbound you never...”
“No. Why do you ask?”
“Well, when Kannon and his team rescued me at that border checkpoint, some of the guys, um... finished off the police officer and the border agent. I guess they decided not to let all that blood go to waste. I just wondered if sometimes on the job you drank from humans.”
“No,” he said in a definitive way. “I’ve had relatively little interaction with humans since becoming Bloodbound. My work has consisted mostly of tracking and bringing in rogues. Since Imogen made me captain of her queensguard, I rarely get out to do even that. I’ve been supervising my men, training new queensguard recruits, stuff like that.”
