Vitus clicked off the light next to them. Darkness shrouded them. She didn’t fear the night, though, not with him beside her.
Grace yelped as his arm reached out and slid her against his body. He hissed slightly as he lowered his arm around her shoulders.
“Am I hurting you?” she asked.
She felt him shake his head. “Side’s still a bit sore,” he said. “That fucker got in a few good hits.”
She ran her hands gently along the side of his ribs, her fingers finding the blue tattoos there. She watched as they lit up under her fingers, making her whole body buzz with a strange warmth.
“What is this?” she asked.
Vitus shrugged. “The touch of the Vestal. A sign of our connection. Sometimes it can help. We don’t completely understand it ourselves.”
Grace placed her whole hand against the spot and watched as the tattoo blazed bright blue. Her body filled with the warmth.
She pulled her hand away and stared down at the spot, still not quite believing what she’d seen. And that what she’d just witnessed was the least strange thing of the night.
“I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
Vitus chuckled. “Not in the way you might think.”
She blushed. Grace knew she should move away, but feeling him there, she couldn’t make herself leave. Vitus was right. They were connected somehow, and she didn’t want to lose that.
“I didn’t get to say it earlier, but thank you for saving me,” she said. “I think if you hadn’t been there, he might have…”
Vitus’s arm tightened around her. “Never going to happen,” he said firmly. “You are not his to take.”
“What about you?” she asked, her breathing somewhat erratic. “Am I yours to take?”
Vitus grunted, and she wondered if she’d pushed too far.
“Go to sleep,” he said after a moment.
Grace sighed and placed her head back against his powerful chest, loving the skin-to-skin contact.
His hand came up to play with locks of her hair as she started to drift off.
“You are not mine to take. I am yours,” he said softly just as sleep overcame her.
Chapter Eleven
A loud thump woke Vitus from his deep sleep. His body stiffened as he peered through the darkness around and patted the bed next to him only to find the sheets cold and empty. His blood ran cold as fear pulsed through him.
No. She couldn’t be gone. He couldn’t have failed her like that. He had been so tired from the fight and healing that he’d let something happen to her as she slept in his arms.
Another thump came from the other room, and he glanced toward the door. A low growl escaped. If anything had happened to her, he didn’t care if every Glycon in the area was in the other room, he’d make them pay.
A small sliver of light came through the opening. Grace’s sweet Vestal scent floated to his nose, but there was nothing of the harsh stink of a Glycon. His pulse began to drop back to normal.
Vitus climbed out of bed. He headed into the living room still wearing only his boxer briefs. Apparently, he wouldn’t need to dispense bloody vengeance that night.
Another thump caught his attention from the kitchen. He glanced that way.
Vitus spotted Grace standing there wearing the shirt he had given her and a very large pair of sweat pants that hung low on her hips. They outlined the perfect swell of her ass as she leaned over into the fridge.
He forced down a growl. Parts of him stirred at the sight before him. Vitus took in deep breaths as he tried to ignore his already semi-hard cock. He didn’t want things to happen like this. After everything Grace had been through, he needed to show some restraint.
Grace turned around and gasped loudly, nearly dropping the eggs in her hands.
“Geez Louise,” she said, taking several deep breaths.
Grace’s gaze roved over his body, eventually landing on his lower half. Her cheeks reddened, and she looked away. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one appreciating a surprise sight.
A small smile played on his face. There was something almost comical about the way she avoided curse words but could look at him as if she wanted to swallow him whole.
He grunted. Maybe comical wasn’t the right word considering his current predicament. If Grace kept looking at him like this, there was no way the situation could end without them steaming up his room.
“What are you doing up at five in the morning?” Vitus asked.
Grace moved around his tiny kitchen, not looking his way, in fact doing anything she could not to look over at him. She pulled a large mixing bowl from the cabinet and started cracking the eggs inside.
“I thought I would make you breakfast before I went into work,” she said as she continued to work. “I figured you’d be hungry.”
A frown spread across his face. How could she even think about going back to work after what had happened the night before? He stepped over to the opening of the kitchen.
“What are you thinking?” Vitus said. “You can’t go to work.”
Grace stopped her whisking and turned to look at him. Her soft hazel eyes narrowed.
“I’ve got a business to run,” she said. “Unless is a national holiday, we’re open for business. I have people who depend on me. Trucks that are coming to deliver food. I have to be there. That’s what it means to be an important part of a small community.” She pointed toward a window. “Considering how you all live here, I thought you of all people would understand that.”
Vitus stepped into the kitchen and leaned on the counter next to where Grace was whisking the eggs. He watched as she chopped up a few vegetables on the wooden cutting board. She only stopped when he placed a hand on his shoulder and turned her around to look at him.
“I understand that,” he said softly. “You’ve only had a few hours of sleep. I can see the exhaustion on your face. Not to mention everything that happened last night. You should spend the day resting. That’s what you should be doing.”
“What about the store?”
“You have employees, right?”
“Yes.”
“And I’m guessing they must know how to do at least some of the things you need to do to run the store.”
Grace sighed. “You don’t understand.”
He arched a brow. “Then explain it to me.”
“Yes, I have employees.” She shook her head and went back to chopping the vegetables again. “I’m well aware of what happened last night,” she said. He could hear the waver in her voice as she spoke but continued. “But if I let him run me out of my store, what does that leave me? I’m not going to let something destroy what I’ve built. What my parents built.”
Vitus wasn’t certain he had an answer. She did have employees, but she was the owner in the end. He knew that the longer she avoided it, the greater the risk of a problem arising that one of her employees couldn’t handle.
The store was her livelihood, and if she abandoned that, he wasn’t certain what else she would have. Still, he couldn’t let her just roam around like Thrax hadn’t just come to take her. At least not right away.
“Look,” Vitus said, moving his body closer to hers. He wrapped an arm carefully around her shoulders and pulled her back against his bare chest. “It’s dangerous going back to work. I’m just worried.”
Grace took in small breaths as she leaned her head back against his chest. There was something about the movement that felt so intimate, like standing in the kitchen with one another was the most natural thing they could do.
She turned in his arms and stared up at him. Her cheeks tinted pink as she glanced down at his bare chest.
“I have to go in,” Grace said. “Maybe my employees can handle it for a few days, but that’s not the point. That store is who I am. The store is all I have.”
Vitus shook his head. “That’s not true. You have me.”
Grace opened her mouth in surprise, and for a moment, he thought she might kiss him again. Instea
d, she turned around and went back to working on her eggs. He watched as she dropped a pat of butter into the skillet and slid the eggs into the pan. She scooped the vegetables on one side of the eggs and let them simmer.
“I’m going into the store, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me,” Grace said firmly. “It’s not like Thrax is going to show up in the middle of the day with tons of witnesses. He might be a monster, but he’s not mindless, right?”
Vitus sighed and let his hands drop from her shoulder. He turned and made his way to the bedroom. “Finish making breakfast, and I’ll get dressed.” He glanced over his shoulder as he spoke and found her staring at him.
“What are you going to do?” Grace asked.
Vitus shrugged. He really didn’t have much of a choice. “I guess I’ll be going to work with you,” he said.
Grace quickly flipped half of the egg over the vegetables and stomped over to where he stood. “You can’t come to work with me. People… will ask questions.”
Vitus snorted. “What the hell do you think I’ve been doing these past two weeks?”
She opened her mouth and closed it again. This time he turned fully and backed her up against the counter. Vitus pressed in, his body touching hers as he did so.
“There is no way in hell I’m letting you go spend all day at the grocery store unprotected,” he said quietly. “We don’t know what Thrax will do. He’s convinced you’re his mate.” He frowned. “I’m coming with you, and that’s all there is to it.”
Without waiting for a response, Vitus leaned down and placed a soft kiss against her lips. He pulled back to stare down at her.
“I plan on protecting you no matter what,” he said. “That is nonnegotiable.”
Grace gave a small nod, her lips pink from the kiss and face flush with excitement. Everything in him called to finish what they started, but instead he stepped back, not allowing himself the opportunity to pursue what he really wanted.
She would need to come to him. That was the only way he’d have any chance of truly winning her over. Vestal instincts were one thing, but he wanted her to choose him freely, not just because of their bond.
Vitus made his way into the bedroom. It was time to get dressed for his first day on the job.
Chapter Twelve
Grace stood in the produce aisle stacking the melons as neatly as she could manage. Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. She turned to spot Vitus bringing out another case of cantaloupes from the back. He hauled them over with little effort and placed them near the display.
She let out a contented sigh. Everything about him working beside her felt so normal.
It had been nearly a week since he’d started working with her. Since then they’d had no sign of Thrax.
Vitus thought maybe the monster was healing from their fight. She couldn’t really say, but it made the most sense to her. In the end, she didn’t care as long as he didn’t show up.
Despite the quiet, Grace had settled into an interesting and satisfying routine with Vitus. Each day he came to work with her and stayed until she left. And each night they would sleep in the same bed together. Just sleep though. They never did anything more physical than the occasional kiss.
She knew he was waiting for her to make the first move, and she appreciated that he was showing her that kind of respect. The only problem was Grace wasn’t exactly sure how to make the first move.
It wasn’t exactly like she had the most experience, and even if she did, the situation was more than a little unusual. Most people didn’t have to deal with someone who might literally be their soulmates. Everything in her told her that it was right for her to be with Vitus, but she still couldn’t bring herself to believe the world worked like that.
Every day Grace felt her frustration mounting with no outlet. It didn’t help that every woman in town had suddenly decided they needed groceries every day from her store. Most of the them only came in to flirt with Vitus.
He wasn’t exactly cold toward them, either. Then again, it wasn’t that she wanted him to be. She didn’t need him driving customers away, but he didn’t have to be so darn friendly.
Grace glanced over to where Vitus stood stacking the melons onto the shelf with ease. His large masculine hand gripped them as if they weighed nothing. All other things aside, it was helpful having such a strong man around.
Two younger women breezed past her, their gaze clearly set on Vitus.
“You sure know how to handle your melons,” one woman said seductively. She looked to be just around twenty. Her makeup and hair were completely on point. The woman wore a short denim skirt and V-neck t-shirt that clearly exposed her cleavage.
Grace glanced down at her own outfit. Despite her normal feelings, she had been putting forth a little more effort. She had picked out a skirt that was a little more form-fitting than the broomstick skirts she normally wore. Even her blouse was one that showed off a bit more than she normally would dare. Her mother would’ve had a fit if she’d seen her.
Vitus smiled widely at the young woman. “I’d be happy to help you pick out a ripe one,” he said. “It’s all about the feel.”
Jealousy sparked in her, something Grace had never really known before Vitus. Up until that point, she never really thought much about conversations with men or what they meant. But when it came to Vitus, she was completely aware of everything he did, everything he said, and his smallest movements. His presence was always right there in front of her.
The girl giggled loudly as she pressed in closer to him. Her breasts touched his arm as he squeezed the melons in the stand.
Grace frowned and grabbed the empty box on the floor. She had seen about all she could tolerate for now. It went against her nature, but it was time she fought a little bit for a man she was interested in. With very little care, she brushed past the two women, making sure her box accidentally bumped into the flirting woman.
“Hey!” the woman said.
Grace turned around with a fake smile plastered to her face. “Sorry, couldn’t see around the box.”
The younger woman scowled but kept her mouth closed, her lips pressed together in a fine line.
Grace let her gaze briefly dart over to Vitus. He raised an eyebrow in response.
She huffed loudly and turned around. She didn’t need his judging stare right at that moment. She’d had about all she could take of everyone toying with her feelings and annoying her.
She hurried her way toward the swinging doors in the back, glad that Tina was out front and could take over. She needed a break, and the cooler was the best place for just that. It’s not like customers were going to wander into the staff area and then come in there.
She stormed her way through the cooler door and let it close behind her. She dropped the box she’d been carrying on the floor and kicked it hard. Her ankle throbbed as she did so.
Grace sighed and leaned against the rack as she rubbed her sore ankle. Now she felt even more idiotic than she had before. She was acting like some sort of catty teenager, not a grown woman.
Vitus was not hers. No matter how many nights they spent together, and what he said she was to him, it didn’t change the fact that she had no real claim over him. She couldn’t demand he pay attention to her because of some strange claim that she was a Vestal. Even if Vitus believed it, it might not actually be true.
She’d been convinced they had a special connection because of how she felt, but she was inexperienced with love and dating. Maybe everyone felt that kind of pull when they were strongly attracted to someone.
Vitus would get bored with a plain and boring woman like her eventually. In the end, things would go back like they had before. Grace would be left with only her store, and Vitus would go off with his own people. She’d be alone and in even more pain.
Just thinking about it made her heart ache. It was clearly a sign she had grown more than a little accustomed to the man in her life.
Grace leaned forward agai
nst the cold metal bars lining the cooler and placed her cheeks there. Anything to help ease the irritation.
She jumped when the door sprang open and was surprised to find Vitus standing there. Grace jerked in the opposite direction and started moving boxes from one shelf to the next.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
She heaved another box of vegetables down to the middle shelf and shrugged. “Just rotating inventory. Nothing special.”
Her heart hammered in her chest as the door closed firmly behind him.
“Grace…” he began.
Vitus must have seen it in her face before. Had seen her at her worst. Jealous because two younger girls were flirting with him. She was ashamed to have shown him that side of her.
“I’m fine,” she said, the last word wavering as she said it.
“Grace, look at me,” Vitus said softly.
Tears filled Grace’s eyes now. She didn’t want to look at him. Didn’t want him to see the shame she carried. She shook her head and breathed in deeply. “Really, I’m fine—”
A firm hand gripped her shoulder and spun her around. His fingers dipped under her chin and lifted so she peered up into his face.
“Tell me what’s going on,” Vitus said softly again. “When you’re in pain, I’m in pain.”
Grace looked away from him, blinking back the tears that wanted to come. She shook his hand from her shoulder and stepped out of his reach.
“I can’t keep doing this,” she said.
“What?” Confusion spread over his face. “Keep doing what?”
“You saying one thing and then doing another. I’m not that kind of girl.”
Vitus crossed his arms over his wide chest. His thick muscles strained against the black t-shirt he was wearing. His eyes narrowed as he stared at her. “How am I saying one thing and doing another?”
She could hear the anger in his voice as he spoke. It was almost easier like this, having him be angry. It would make it easier for her to get out her own anger.
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