by Jenna Kernan
Sonia’s embarrassment grew as she continued until she glanced up and saw Brianna pale and wide-eyed, gripping her hands together so tightly that her knuckles had gone white. Then Sonia recalled that Brianna couldn’t go to her, couldn’t offer physical comfort without also causing Sonia physical harm. Brianna nudged a box of tissues in her direction and then fetched a glass of water.
Her hostess set the water on the black lacquer coffee table before Sonia. “Travis says Johnny is doing really well today. Strong as a bull, that’s part of the condition. They retain that strength, acute hearing and enhanced sense of smell even when in human form. But no one is sure if Johnny has reversed back into human form permanently or if he will be able to change between forms. I know he still smells like a wolf.”
Sonia lifted her face from the tissues and gave a questioning look.
“It is one of my powers, the sense of smell. I can also see in the dark.”
Sonia knew her eyes must be the size of saucers but she could think of nothing to say, so she reached for her water and took a sip.
“Did you see him?”
Brianna rubbed her palms together and stared absently at the floor and then met Sonia’s eyes, forcing a smile. “Last night. No one saw me. He seemed human but there is that darkness clinging to him. I only feel that around werewolves. Travis says that it is because they are my natural enemy that I sense them. In any case, no one is sure if it is possible to make a werewolf truly human again.”
Sonia’s disquiet grew as the unease rippled over her like a hot breeze and she availed herself of a tissue to wipe her eyes.
“Travis is going to try to teach Johnny how to transform today. At first it takes a few minutes and it is not pleasant to watch.
Sonia remembered witnessing Johnny’s change and shivered.
“Travis can change very fast now. I asked him once if it hurt and he said, ‘Hell, yes.’”
“If Johnny learns to change at will then he won’t need sign language anymore,” said Sonia.
“That’s right,” she said brightly. “He won’t.” Brianna’s smile faded as she regarded Sonia’s glum expression. “Oh, I see. Has anyone spoken to you regarding your future?”
Sonia’s breath hitched. “Do you know something?”
“No. But I understand your concern.”
Sonia shifted uncomfortably on the pristine white sofa. With no visitors it might always look this sterile and new, she realized. There were no children here, no pets, no life other than the vampire and her werewolf husband.
“Johnny seems very comfortable with you and you seem fond of him. I don’t think his new condition will change that.”
“It will if I’m reassigned. I don’t expect them to keep me here with no job to do.”
There was an awkward pause and Sonia realized Brianna was glancing at the door. She hurried to get to the reason for her visit before this strange woman sent her away.
“We have a date tonight. I promised him that when he changed back he could take me dancing.”
Brianna smiled brightly. “How romantic.” Her smile flickered and faded. “But I didn’t think marines were allowed to date one another.”
And they weren’t. Sonia groaned. Why hadn’t she remembered that rule when she had promised Johnny that they would go dancing.
She cradled her head in her hands and exhaled. “He was so angry after the last lab failure. I was just trying to cheer him up.” It wasn’t exactly true. She was trying to give them both hope.
“Well, I suppose you could get permission. Does Travis know?”
“He must. I was talking about it when Johnny was unconscious.” Sonia wondered how she was going to get out of this one and then felt a sharp tug in her heart. That’s when she realized she didn’t want to get out of it. She wanted to go out with Johnny so much it hurt. She lifted her gaze to Brianna issuing a silent plea.
“I’ll call Travis. These are hardly ordinary circumstances. He’ll have to understand.”
When Sonia didn’t return her smile Brianna cocked her head.
Sonia rose and took a step toward Brianna, thinking to throw her arms about her and the vampire lifted a hand again to stop her. Sonia halted.
“I’m sorry. I forgot again.” Just thinking of going out with Johnny made her heart ache and her blood rush and she knew that marines weren’t allowed to fraternize, but she was thinking of fraternizing him right out of the clothing that he now needed. Her original problem now rose in her mind. She rubbed her neck and said, “I have nothing to wear.”
“I’ll handle that. Is that the only reason for the long face?”
Sonia shook her head. “He’s so different, like another person.”
Brianna’s brows swept lower. “Sonia, I never knew him before he was a werewolf. But I know he is the same inside.”
“But not outside. You’ve seen him. He’s gorgeous. And he doesn’t need a translator and as for a date, he could have his pick.”
“And he picked you.”
“I don’t know what will happen next.”
“If you mean what will happen tonight, that will be up to you. He’s been in wolf form a long time, but he is still a gentleman. You only need to say no.”
If she could say no. Johnny was so appealing it frightened her more than the first time she’d seen him.
“Sonia?”
She glanced up and noticed that she had torn several tissues into tiny little pieces.
“Oh! I’m sorry. I’ll clean that up.”
“You have dated men before. Haven’t you?”
She didn’t really consider them dates. She’d met men in a variety of places. She’d even slept with a few. But she never went back for seconds and made sure that they couldn’t, either.
“Not exactly a date.”
“What exactly?”
Sonia held it in a while longer and then decided that Brianna was as good a sounding board as she’d likely find.
“I’m not a virgin. But I’ve never had a steady boyfriend by choice.” She was careful and always very clear that she was not interested in a relationship. In that way she had satisfied her needs. “I don’t like the idea of being trapped in a bad relationship and I don’t like the idea of being vulnerable. I’ve got baggage. Bad home, yada, yada. Anyway, it feels safer to just keep to myself but sometimes...” She glanced up and saw the pain reflected in Brianna’s eyes. If anyone understood the need to keep apart, it was this vampire. She chose her own company, as well, but for different reasons, selfless reasons.
Brianna nodded. “Funny, before I knew, I was just the opposite. I’d do just about anything to switch places with you, be able to have friends, go out in public. I’m lucky my husband is immune or I’d have no one. And here you are able to make connections and you don’t.”
“Maybe I just haven’t found the right guy.”
“Or you prefer to be safe and alone. But Johnny slipped under your radar because he wasn’t really a man, more like a nine-foot Labrador Retriever right?”
“I never thought of him like that.”
“Well you clearly didn’t see him as a man or you would have kept him at arm’s length.”
“That wasn’t possible with Johnny. He wouldn’t... I didn’t... Well, he was very stubborn. And he knows stuff about me that no one else does.”
“You can trust him with those secrets, Sonia. He’ll never betray them.” She rubbed her hands together in anticipation. “So, what time is the date?”
Sonia glanced at her watch. “At six. I hope you don’t mind, I told him to pick me up here.”
“We have to get you ready!”
Brianna herded Sonia into the bedroom and had her try on a series of a half-dozen dresses. Demure midnight blue, sleek short black, shimmering silver sequins, elegant gold halter, regal purple, a crazy black and white shredded silk number and then a slim, high-waisted poppy-red cocktail dress.
“Why do you have so many dresses when you...” Sonia stopped herself too late.
“When I don’t go out?” Brianna’s smile never reached her eyes. “Travis does my shopping. He likes to see me in dresses. We have date night at home, order in.”
Sonia thought her captain would also like to show off his beautiful wife. But he couldn’t.
“That’s the one,” said Brianna pointing at the red. “It looks lovely with your skin tone and with a red lip you’ll look like the kind of woman that every marine in the world wants to take out for dinner and dancing.”
What kind of woman, Sonia wondered, did Johnny want her to be? As she stared at her reflection in the full-length mirror it suddenly hit home that Johnny had not been with a woman for many months. Did he hope that she and he... Sonia blanched, not because she could not imagine sleeping with Johnny but because she could imagine it in great detail and it made her skin flush and her body grow damp.
She wanted to sleep with him. What she didn’t want was a relationship because a relationship meant trust and she didn’t trust her heart to anyone. Besides, it couldn’t last. He was a war hero and she was, well, the opposite of all that. Johnny didn’t need her anymore and she’d be stupid to let herself need him. Sonia knew she was many things but stupid was not one of them. Realist, pessimist, whatever you called it, she knew it wouldn’t work out between them. So she told herself to keep it light and casual. So why did her heart ache with the dread at their impending breakup? And how did she get out of here with her dignity? She didn’t do relationships, but now, because of her work with Johnny, she already had one and it was about to get complicated. Johnny’s condition had caused her to lose her secrets. He knew her deep down and now he was a man, an alluring man who wanted to take her out.
She closed her eyes and imagined Johnny’s hand low at the center of her back.
Brianna’s voice came from behind her. “Sonia, are you all right? You look a little flushed.”
She met Brianna’s gaze in the mirror. “What if he wants to...”
Brianna’s eyebrows lifted. “It’s up to you to decide if and when you and Johnny do more than dance.” She turned toward the door and paused in the opening. “Feel free to use any of the makeup in that drawer.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The flutter of excitement in her stomach told her she really wanted to have Johnny’s arms about her and not just on the dance floor. But she’d never been with someone she really cared about.
Brianna returned with three perfumes. Sonia gave her a panicky look.
“It’s only a date,” said Brianna.
“Yeah. Just a date.”
Chapter 10
Just a date, Sonia thought as she returned to Brianna’s home hours later to prepare for her evening with Johnny.
But it was more, much, much more. Sonia felt the truth of that in her heart. He was tall, dangerous and his very presence threatened her nice, safe world. And now that he was human, Johnny stirred all her sexual fantasies.
He’d come through this nightmare. But his experiences must have scorched him. Had it been too much? Had they ruined him the way the drink had ruined her mother?
Some hurts are too big to heal, her mother had once said. Your only chance is to drown them.
Weren’t Johnny’s sorrows bigger than her mother’s, bigger than her own? She knew Johnny and respected him. But now he was human and her confidence fled.
Whatever happened tonight, there would be consequences. She just didn’t know what they would be.
Sonia went to work applying eyeliner and curling her eyelashes. Then she applied a red lip that made her mouth look lush. Brianna insisted she tuck the tube of lipstick in her borrowed clutch.
When her makeup was finished, Sonia began pacing in her silver high heels, borrowed from Brianna, as well. They shared a similar foot size, dress size and an affinity for werewolves.
But Brianna had sought and had achieved a lasting relationship with the captain. That took a kind of optimism Sonia had never had.
She paused to regard her reflection in a full length mirror. Their dress size might be the same but their body type was not. Sonia was sure that the dress that looked elegant on Brianna’s willowy form but it looked like an invitation on her curves.
What would Johnny think? He’d seen her in a bathing suit, but not in makeup and red lipstick. He deserved a pretty, feminine date. Besides, Sonia wasn’t a girl to be dressed in pink, but neither was she the confident sexy woman who stared back. She’d never wore red before in her life and now she knew why. Brianna’s reflection appeared behind her in the mirror. Sonia met her gaze but did not return her encouraging smile.
“I feel like the cape that the matador waves before a bull,” she said to Brianna.
Brianna chuckled. “Yes, I can see that. I reached Travis. He’s given his permission.” Brianna searched Sonia’s expression and opened her mouth to say something before cocking her head. “They’re here.”
Sonia stopped as if suddenly frozen and her heart jolted along at a gallop.
“I don’t hear them.”
Brianna shrugged and tapped one ear. “Super hearing,” she muttered and headed for the door but she paused close to Sonia and smiled. “Have a wonderful evening and please come and see me again soon. You’re welcome anytime.”
Sonia felt a welling of gratitude and a sense of how very few people Brianna would welcome into her home.
“I will. And thank you for the dress and, well, everything.”
Brianna smiled, reached toward Sonia and then drew her hands back, folding them tightly before her. “I hope they play a slow dance.” Then she opened the door to an empty driveway, but a few moments later a Jeep appeared. Brianna waved her inside. “Go into the bedroom. Make an entrance for goodness’ sake.”
Sonia did as she was told but watched from the window as the captain emerged from the driver’s seat, wearing his beige cammies. Her gaze flipped to the passenger seat but the glare prevented her from seeing Johnny until he stepped out. His dark head appeared first, his hair pulled back at the nape of his neck. Her breath caught at the sight of him. Tiny sparks of electricity fired inside her belly as he straightened. He was still tall, over six feet, surely. The last time she’d seen him he was in a hospital bed attached to various machinery. Now he stood in a charcoal-gray suit and crisp white dress shirt that made his skin look dark by comparison. His tie was red and he stroked it once as he glanced toward the house. She held her breath and backed away from the window. Had he seen her? Sonia checked her lipstick and added more. Her lips and mouth felt so dry all of a sudden. Then she checked the contents of her borrowed bag and found everything in order, brush, lipstick, tissues, money, credit cards and— Her fingers brushed something cold and unfamiliar. She drew out a green foil packet and realized it was a condom. Several condoms that Brianna had added to the bag. Sonia pictured sliding the rubber sheath over Johnny’s erection and felt dizzy all of a sudden. She sank to the bed and fanned her hot skin belatedly realizing she held the spread of three condoms like a fan. She tucked them deep into the purse and exhaled.
“Just a date.”
There was a gentle tap on the door. Brianna stepped in and Sonia made an attempt to fiddle with the silver buckle on the high-heeled sandals.
“He brought flowers!” the vampire squealed in a hushed voice. “Red roses. Are you ready? Sonia, pinch your cheeks you’ve gone pale again.”
“First time I’ve ever gone out with a man who knows my last name.”
Brianna’s brow wrinkled and she chuckled, then glanced at Sonia and stopped as she must have realized Sonia wasn’t joking. “Well, not the only first tonight, I suppose.” She worried one hand with the other until Sonia stood and made for the open door. She preceded Brianna out and found the men in the living room. Johnny spoke to the captain who spotted her first and frowned. Her commanding officer did not look happy as he shook his head and glanced to his wife who shrugged. Johnny stopped speaking and turned in her direction. He was so handsome in his new suit she felt her throat close.
She stopped and Johnny came to her, hands extended and a smile growing on his generous mouth.
“Sonia, you look so beautiful.”
She didn’t need to pinch her cheeks because she felt the heat flooding them now. “And you look very handsome.” She reached for his tie, straightened the knot then slid her fingers down the silken fabric. When she lifted her gaze to his she found his eyes blazing and his stare intense. He leaned in and kissed her cheek, lingering as his warm mouth brushed her skin. She flushed right down to her toes. His rich spicy scent lingered after he drew away.
“Don’t forget these,” said Brianna handing the roses over to Johnny.
He presented them to her and she cradled them as if she was Miss America. The florist had arranged them in a spray intended for carrying and had mixed in just enough tropical greenery that she would not forget that she was now on an island paradise.
“They are lovely, Johnny. Thank you.”
“Ready?” He offered his arm.
She clamped the tiny silver shoulder bag against her side and nodded, wondering why all she could think about was those damned green foil packets. Brianna handed her a brightly colored shawl at the door and kissed Johnny goodbye. The captain drew her aside and leaned in.
“Put this phone in your purse. Call me directly if you need me. I’ll be close and get him back here safe.” He straightened and gave her a forced smile.
Sonia swallowed back her anxiety, gripping the phone. He’d be close? What did that mean exactly?
Johnny helped her over the rough ground and guided her into the Jeep, shutting the door and then dashing about the front with such speed she could almost believe he was half vampire.
The captain stood stiff with disapproval as Brianna waved from the steps. Johnny helped Sonia into the passenger seat and then took the wheel, backing out and then left the captain and his vampire wife behind as they headed down the mountain. The silence between them was new and unfamiliar. Finally she asked about his day and discovered that he had failed at changing back to his werewolf form.
