by Elisa Adams
“Are you out of your mind?”
Her voice took on a high, almost desperate tone. “Wil, please. Listen to me. We should run away together, just the two of us. Go to some tropical island and sit in the sun all day. We could live there. We wouldn’t ever have to come back.”
Yeah, that would do him a lot of good. It’d probably kill him in a week. “And how do you suggest we support ourselves?”
“You’ve got plenty—” She snapped her mouth shut, but he didn’t need her to say any more to know what she’d done.
“You’ve been snooping into my finances.”
She glanced around the room, growing more skittish by the second. “I’m sorry.”
“How did you manage it?” He grabbed her arms when she tried to hurry out of the room, turning her around roughly. “Tell me, Michelle.”
She stared up at him, her eyes filled with fear. “Jake Brighton at the bank. I used to date him.”
“Jake Brighton.” He had a feeling it wasn’t as over as she pretended. “I think you need to leave.”
“That’s right! We both need to leave. Let’s go together.”
“No. I don’t think so. You need to get out of this house before I do something I’ll regret.”
“You love me,” she said forcefully, as if telling him so would make it true. He shook his head.
“No, I don’t. I was very clear on that from the beginning.”
A panicked expression took over her face. “You can help me, Wil. I need you. I need your help.”
“I don’t think so.”
“You’re going to be sorry. I can promise you that.” Her foot caught on a chair leg as she turned to run, knocking her to the floor. She jumped up before he could help her, rubbing her elbow. “Look at what you made me do.”
She pulled her hand away from her elbow and lifted it inches from his face, her fingertips bloodied. Wil’s gut clenched at the sight of the blood. Something he usually kept control over snapped inside him. How he wanted to taste it, to feel it running over his tongue… He shook his head and turned away before she saw that his fangs had started to elongate. “You’d better leave, Michelle. Now.”
“You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
He turned to her, rage and hunger overpowering everything else. “Fine. Don’t. But I can’t promise I won’t hurt you.”
Her eyes widened and she stumbled back a few steps. “Your teeth…they’re…what the hell is wrong with you?”
“Haven’t you ever heard of vampires?” He advanced on her, backing her into the wall next to the door.
She shook her head furiously, her face going pale. “No. It’s not possible. There’s no such thing as vampires.”
He lifted her slack wrist in his hand and brought it to within inches of his mouth. “I can prove otherwise.”
She jerked her hand away and put her palms on his chest, shoving hard. He didn’t move much, but enough that she could slide past him and hurry out of the kitchen. Chest heaving, stomach clenching in hunger, he chased her to the door. She was quick, though, and he didn’t catch her as she ran down the rain-covered front steps and jumped into her car.
As he listened to her car peel away, he sunk back against the doorframe, cursing himself for his lack of control. She’d tell everyone what had happened. Even if no one believed the vampire story, she could still file assault charges. In one moment, he’d just ruined his entire life.
Chapter Eleven
Not long after Merida and Royce had left the house to give Wil some privacy, it had started to rain. The warmth in the air combined with the fat drops of rain felt refreshing after the terrible morning she’d had. She lifted her face toward the sky, eyes closed, letting the cool water wash over her.
“Maybe we should go inside,” Royce said. “You’re not in top form and I don’t want you to get sick.”
She pushed away his hand when he tried to lead her back to the house. “Don’t be silly. I love the rain.”
“I thought cats didn’t like water.”
“Housecats, maybe. I love it.” She turned to him leaned up and kissed him. “Are you afraid of getting wet? Afraid you’ll melt?”
“I know I won’t. But I worry about you.”
“Well, don’t. I need this. I need to forget what happened earlier.” The Aparasei and its touch lingered at the back of her mind. She couldn’t push it away, no matter how much she tried, but she didn’t want to think about it right now. “Want to help me forget?”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“So don’t,” she told him before she pulled him down for another kiss.
After a few seconds, Royce pulled back. He stared down at her, worry in his eyes. “Are you sure about this? Your arm.”
“My arm is fine.” She lifted the sleeve of her shirt and showed him. The red welt had faded to a light pink, shiny raised scar. “I don’t know if this’ll ever go away, but the pain is gone.”
Royce ran his finger gently over the scar. “I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t do it.”
“I brought you here.” He sighed and turned away, walking a few steps across the yard. “You could have been killed.”
Did he think she was some helpless twit? “Listen, Macho Man. I’m fine. Obviously. I wouldn’t have gone into the situation if I thought I’d risk my life.” Liar. “I don’t take risks like that.”
He turned slowly, his hands shoved in the pockets of his faded jeans. “I should be protecting you. None of that should have happened.”
“Knock it off.” She watched him closely as a myriad of emotions played across his chiseled features—regret, anger, sadness—anything but the lust and desire she wanted, needed to see. He shook his head and turned away again, facing the woods at the edge of the yard, his shoulders shaking with emotion. Didn’t he get it? She didn’t want this kind of emotion. Not from him.
And then it hit her. Everything slid into place and she realized why he was acting the way he was. She walked up to him and punched him in the arm. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Taken aback, Royce glared at her. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m not your wife.”
He opened his mouth, but snapped it shut again before he spoke. He ran a big hand through his hair, slicking the wet strands back from his face, as his expression darkened. When he finally responded, his angry tone made her stomach clench. “I’m well aware of that. No one in their right mind would ever compare you to Sarah.” He shook his head and started to walk back toward the house.
“Where are you going?” she taunted. “Just like you to run away when things get too personal.”
He spun and stalked back toward her, his hands clenched into fists at his sides and his blue eyes so dark they looked almost black. “Where do you get off talking to me like that? I told you before and I’ll say it again—you don’t know me. You don’t want to know me, kitty, so I suggest you back off.”
“No.”
His eyes widened and his nostrils flared. He let out a harsh breath. “What the fuck are you trying to do?”
“I’m trying to get you to face your emotions, for once in your life. You’ve been shut off from the rest of the world for so long you don’t even know how to open yourself up. I’m trying to be your friend. Every time I think you’re starting to let me in, you pull this shit and push me away again.”
“I didn’t push you away. I didn’t start this. You did, by even thinking I’d make the mistake of comparing you to my wife.”
She opened her mouth, but he held a hand up to keep her from speaking. He continued his tirade, stepping closer until she started backing across the yard. “There is nothing similar between you and Sarah. Nothing. Sarah was soft and sweet. Most of the time, you’re a nasty bitch. Sarah never talked back to me. You seem to get off on it.”
He drew another deep breath and let it out on a shuddering sigh, backing her against the metal shed in the corner of the small yard. He stopped inches from
her, not touching but still crowding her with his big body, his intense presence. She gulped. Maybe provoking him hadn’t been the best idea.
“Okay, you’ve made your point. Sarah was wonderful. I’m not. End of discussion.” She tried to duck away, but he grabbed her wrists and pinned them to the cold metal, next to her head.
“We’re not even close to done here.” He leaned in, his heated breath feathering across her cheek. She shivered from the cold, from fear of what he could do to her, and from the arousal he stirred in her just from being so close—so in her face. “You really should think before you open your mouth. Your impulsiveness is going to lead to a lot of hurt someday, kitty.”
She nodded, squirming under the intensity in his gaze. “I’m sorry if I—”
“Sorry? Do you think I’m stupid? You’re never sorry.” He barked a bitter laugh. “You know what? That’s what you and Sarah have in common.”
“What?” she asked, her voice shaky. She’d never seen him like this, and she didn’t know if she liked it. Her pussy dampened at his forcefulness in the same way it had when he’d tied her up and spanked her. It shook her to think something like this would turn her on.
“She screwed me over. Left me for my brother. Made me not want to feel again. Ever.” Royce’s breathing grew jagged and his hands shook as he held her wrists to the side of the shed. He pressed closer, his body less than an inch from hers. “You…you’re worse. You took the numbness away. You made me feel again. And now you continue to rub salt in the wounds you reopened. You’re going to leave me raw.”
“Sarah and I aren’t that much alike,” she told him. “I’m still here. I’m not going to leave you for someone else.” She wanted to bite back the words as soon as they left her mouth. She didn’t want to promise him things she wasn’t ready to keep.
“It’s not the same.” He shook his head, spraying cold water over her face. “I’m not in love with you.”
She sucked in a breath at his too-vigorous declaration. “Who are you trying to convince?”
“No one,” he growled, and from the look in his eyes, she knew he lied. Desperate to change the direction of their concentration, she pushed against his hands with her wrists.
“Fine. No one ever said this was about love. We’re using each other, right? A little mutual satisfaction. So how about it? Why don’t you let me go and we can satisfy each other.”
“Sounds like a plan to me. I’m in the mood to be used.” He dropped his hands to her sides and, without giving her time to react, pulled her against him, and crushed his lips to hers. His kiss was demanding, dominating—devastating to her senses. His clean masculine scent filled her lungs, his taste hot in the mouth. He pressed her into the shed, lifting her legs around his hips and grinding his rigid cock against her. She cried out as he bit her lip, his fangs puncturing her flesh. Her body went boneless and she dug her nails into his shoulders to keep from sliding to the ground.
He broke the kiss and let her go. Her feet hit the ground and her knees almost gave out. She tried to grab onto Royce for support, but he backed away a step. “Take off your jeans and panties.”
“Excuse me?”
“Take them off before I rip them off. I don’t think you want to walk back into the house and parade around naked in front of Wil and his girlfriend. Lose the pants, Merida. Now.”
Oh God. Her cunt quivered at his harsh, raw tone. Her legs barely able to hold her, she unzipped her jeans and dragged the heavy, wet fabric down her legs. Her panties followed and she dropped the soaked clothes into a pile on the grass. She started to lift her shirt over her head, but Royce wouldn’t let her. “Don’t bother,” he told her as he pushed her back against the shed.
He unzipped his own jeans and freed his cock, rubbing the head over her aching pussy. “Don’t tease,” she moaned.
He laughed. “Teasing isn’t want I have in mind right now.” He grabbed her ass in his hot, damp palms and pulled her up higher, thrusting his cock into her cunt, all the way to the hilt. He was huge and so hard she almost couldn’t take it. She cried out and wrapped her arms around his neck to steady herself as he pumped into her. His thrusts were vicious, primal, feeding her lust on a level she hadn’t experienced in too long to remember. She lost herself in the feel of him, the way he moved against her so perfectly right. It had never been like this for her, and she knew it never would be again. She’d never find a man to satisfy her the way Royce did.
It shook her to think that he satisfied her in an emotional sense as well as a physical one. She tried to push the thought out of her head, but it wouldn’t budge. If she didn’t control her emotions, she would fall in love with the guy. What a disaster that would be.
He ground his pelvis against her in a way that had her forgetting why any of that would be a bad idea. She could barely even remember her name. Her orgasm took her by surprise, slamming into her with the force of a hurricane and causing just as much damage. Her mind spun, her muscles clenched and slackened, her ears buzzed. Her heart swelled and ached, knowing she needed him but she’d never fully have him. He’d devoted his life to one woman—a woman who had walked away from him and destroyed his soul. He kept his heart so guarded now that she would never be able to get close. It hurt, but she’d get over it. She’d have to.
She collapsed against Royce, her head falling to his shoulder as he stiffened and came inside her. Much too soon he set her down on her feet. He bent down and picked up her clothes, handing them to her with too much regret in his eyes. “Here.”
“Thanks.” She turned away to dress, hoping he hadn’t seen the tears welling in her eyes.
* * * * *
“You’re losing it, buddy,” Wil told Royce as he walked into the living room an hour later.
“Yeah. No shit.” After a long, hot shower and good deal of time pacing the bathroom floor, he’d come to a realization. He’d been a complete asshole to Merida. She hadn’t deserved any of what he’d said to her. She’d been wrong to try to press him to talk to her, but it hadn’t been necessary for him to go off on her like that, either. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m letting my control slip a little too much lately.”
“Ya think?” Wil shook his head as he flipped through the TV channels. “You could have hurt her out there.”
“No. I never would have—wait a second. You saw?”
“Yeah. After Michelle, um, left, I went looking for you. I almost told you to cut the crap and stop scaring her, but I figured you would have tried to beat the shit out of me.”
He nodded in agreement. “I didn’t scare her, though.”
“Yes, you did.” Wil turned the TV off and glanced at Royce. “I saw it in her eyes. She looked ready to pass out for a minute there.”
Royce narrowed his eyes at Wil. “How much did you see?”
“I watched you pull your caveman act, pinning her to the shed like some kind of prey. I left after that.”
Royce let out a sigh of relief. Merida would kill him if she thought Wil had been watching.
“She deserves better than you,” Wil told him, his expression darkening.
“Yeah, like I don’t know that already.” Royce leaned back against the couch cushions and closed his eyes, drawing a deep, shaky breath. His body had yet to recover from the way Merida broke him down every time they touched. She did deserve better, but he couldn’t stay away. He’d been fooling himself if he’d really thought having her under him again would make him forget about her. Her willingness to do whatever he asked, at least sexually, surprised him—but it also branded his mind with her presence. There would be no forgetting. At least not in this lifetime.
“But you aren’t going to let her go, are you?” Wil asked.
“The hell I’m not.” Royce sat up and snapped his eyes open, the muscles in his shoulders bunching at the thought of letting her walk away again, but he didn’t have a choice. She’d do it, and he’d let her. That was how it was supposed to be. “She doesn’t want me. We’ll get sick of
each other soon, and then we’ll go our separate ways. We’re just having fun.”
“Giving in to a little chemistry, huh?” Wil asked, an eyebrow raised.
“That about sums it up.”
“That’s bull, and we both know it.”
Royce glared at Wil, his jaw clenched. “Whatever,” he mumbled.
Royce sank into silence as he mulled over Wil’s words. He couldn’t accept them as the truth. Not yet. Not when he didn’t know what she wanted out of the chemistry between them. Probably nothing. He needed something to focus on besides the issues clenching his heart. “Merida had an interesting encounter.”
He detailed the events at the duplex as Merida had described them to him. Wil sat in an unnatural silence the entire time. When he finished speaking, Wil shook his head.
“That doesn’t sound promising.”
Talk about an understatement. “I think it affected her more than she’ll admit to. She was a mess when I found her on the couch.”
“Can she handle it?” Wil asked, his expression clouded with doubt.
Royce shrugged. “Probably. I have faith in her. If she can’t figure it out, she knows some people who can. She’s strong-willed, but she’s not stupid.”
“She’s not nuts, either,” Wil said softly. Wil shook his head and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, Royce saw the same regret he felt mirrored in Wil’s eyes.
Royce frowned. “What happened?”
Wil let out a harsh breath. “She wanted me to go away with her. She was planning to leave Caswell and go to some island in the tropics.”
Royce snorted at the thought of a vampire in tropical paradise. “That would have been fun.”
“My thoughts exactly. I told her it was over. Again. But she wouldn’t listen.” He grew silent, his gaze drifting to the other side of the room, his expression flat. “She fell. Cut her arm. She bled, and I snapped.”
A cold chill ran through Royce as he thought about the times in the past Wil had snapped. There hadn’t been many, but the end results had never been pretty. “What did you do?”
