by E. A. James
And Earth... well it was nice and all but surely there was more out there. The universe was open and beckoning and I was stuck at home feeling sorry for myself that I'd gotten my heart broken by a man that I really just wanted to be with.
I ran to my bedroom and found the suitcase I'd shoved into the back of my closet. I opened it on the floor and started throwing in clothes. I grabbed what I wore the most, make-up, toiletries, a brush. What did you pack when you were leaving your planet? I didn't know and I was running out of time. It would have to do.
I left my phone on my nightstand. I doubted my service provider offered roaming in other galaxies. I half-laughed at my joke and ran out of the door.
I got in my car, threw the suitcase on the passenger seat and floored it. I flew out of town like a maniac, nearly driving over Mrs. Hodge and her little fluffy dog. The darkness was blinding and I shouldn't have been driving that fast when I couldn't see more than three feet ahead of me, but I had to get there before it was too late.
My stomach turned with nervous. I was giddy and I was scared and I was free. I was making my way to a future I actually chose. When last had I been able to say that?
I headed off the road and into the fields. I knew where the spaceship was. It wasn't visible until you were right there next to it - some fancy technology we still had to invent. I drove through the knee-high grass and heard it swish and scrape the bottom of my car.
It could ruin it for all I cared. I was leaving it behind.
The darkness was complete, the grass blocking my lights so that I could see very little.
When I came closer I heard a droning sound so loud it rumbled right through me. I nearly threw up. It was a very low frequency and it shook all the way down to my bones. A moment later blinding lights shone in every direction and I couldn't see, but then it lifted and the lights shone over me. I look up. The space ship was in front of me and it was rising.
They were leaving.
"Wait!" I shouted and yanked open my door. I grabbed my suitcase and started running to the place where the door was. The ramp was closed now, the door shut, the ship seemed impenetrable. I ran, my suitcase banging against my legs, nearly tripping me. I waved with my other arm.
"Don't leave without out me! Mick, wait!"
The loud droning sound swallowed my voice. The ground underneath me shuddered and then the ship was airborne. I watched the lights in a ring around the bottom of the ship. It got smaller and smaller. A whining sound took over and then the ship shot forward and within a moment it was gone.
I fell to my knees and cried. Tears streamed down my cheeks and sobs racked my chest. I sat alone in a field with a suitcase. I'd just watched everything I cared for leave. Forever.
It took me a while to scrape myself together, but bit by bit I rebuilt myself. I got up and dusted my jeans. I looked around me. It was pitch dark with nothing for light but the stars. I turned my face to my car and walked to it. I heaved myself in and shut the door. It took everything I had to drive home again, but where else would I go?
I unlocked the front door. My legs felt like lead and my stomach was heavy and uncomfortable. A sharp pain had wedged itself between my ribs and it hurt every time I breathed. I flicked on the light.
"I was wondering when you were going to come back."
Mick sat on my couch. He had ditched his coat but he still wore the weird suit. His hair was wild and messy and his eyes flashed silver. I didn't know what he'd done to get here.
"What are you doing here? I watched you leave." I was in a daze. I didn't know what I was feeling anymore. My emotions struggled to keep up with events.
Mick stood up and walked toward me. He had his lazy gate back, the one I'd come to know.
"I had to tell you I lied to you."
I frowned. "About what?" Everything that had happened the past two days ran through my head and I couldn't figure out which part he was talking about.
"I didn't just date you because it would make me fit in with the humans. I mean, I did at first. But then I fell in love with you, and everything changed."
I shook my head. "I don't understand. You're an alien. How is this going to work?"
He pushed his hands into my hair, brought his face close to mine and my mind muddled a bit.
"Who says I can't give up everything I know to stay with you here, on earth?"
I swallowed. "You would do that for me?"
He smiled at me, the kind of smile that made me melt all the way down to my core. God, this was the man I knew, the one I'd thought I would never see again. What would it cost to be with a man like this? I wanted to make it work with him.
He shook his head and brought his lips closer. Just before he kissed me, he mumbled, "Angie, babe. I just did."
***THE END***
The Billionaire Vampire King’s Baby
CHAPTER ONE
Rebecca sat in the large, sparsely furnished reception area of the Dalton Research Facility. She was waiting for her interview with the company’s Vice President. After four years of undergrad and two years of graduate school, Rebecca finally had the qualifications needed to be considered for a job at one of the leading research facilities in the country.
No one knew, however, why it was exactly that Dalton Research Facility was one of the leading laboratories. Their work and findings were rarely released or published, but still, they were one of the best funded and most state of the art institutions in their field.
Rebecca looked down at her watch. She still had a few minutes before her interview. It would be her last, and if the VP gave his stamp of approval she would be starting the next day.
She glanced around the room. No one else was there. That only made her more nervous than she already was. Dalton Research was a very secretive place, there was no denying that. Their hiring process was intense, and consisted of more than five separate interviews with more than five different people, slowly going up the chain of command and ending with Dr. Hanks, V.P.
They never went as far as to reach the big boss, though. Charles Dalton, owner and founder of Dalton Research was rarely seen. The only thing anyone knew about him for certain was that he was extremely wealthy. He, alone, provided the research facility with over 75% of their funding.
“Ms. Cunningham?” a dry voice called her forward.
Standing quickly to her feet, Rebecca walked towards the office, her hands shaking and her head spinning.
“Have a seat,” Dr. Hanks said motioning to a small wooden chair positioned in front of his desk. “I’ve been looking over your application,” he said flopping open a file in front of him. “I have to admit, it’s very impressive. Undergrad in Chemistry and a Masters in Biology, graduated valedictorian from both of those programs,” he said absently reading her credentials.
“Thank you, sir,” she replied meekly.
“I trust you plan to continue on to do a Doctorate?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Very good. And you did your Masters thesis on Hematology?” he asked.
“Yes,” Rebecca answered quickly, “and I plan on carrying that over into my future studies.”
“All right,” he said snapping her file shut and leaning over the desk staring at her intently. “You’re being considered because your specialty fits into the lab’s current project—synthetic blood.”
“Synthetic blood?” she asked, surprised.
“Yes,” he straightened himself up and continued speaking. “We are looking to create a synthetic blood substance.”
“That would be amazing,” she gasped.
“We are looking for fresh, educated young minds to come in and lend a hand to our already established research team. We are very selective with who we bring in to work with us.”
“I’m honored to be considered,” she said.
“There only one thing you need to tell me before I can officially offer you the job.”
“What’s that?”
“We will need you to sign a non-disclosure contr
act.”
“Of course,” she agreed. It was common practice that laboratories wanted to keep their developments secret, and their scientists were expected to comply with that.
“That settles it then!” he said. He slammed his hand down joyfully on the desk. He then extended it to her adding, “Pleased to have you on board, Ms. Cunningham.”
CHAPTER TWO
The next morning, her mind was still reeling with the realization that within just a few hours she would be starting her dream job. Just as she sat down to eat breakfast; there was a sharp knock at her front door.
Wondering who would be showing up at her apartment so early in the morning, Rebecca hurried over to answer. The moment she pulled the door open, she immediately took a quick step back.
Standing there in front of her was easily the most attractive man she had ever seen. He was tall, muscular, and his very presence demanded attention. His eyes were a shade of blue she had never seen before—dark, but with subtle flecks of silver running through them, adding a hint of light to his stern, and focused expression. His dark black hair was slicked back, pulled away from his face, making his predominant cheekbones and strong jaw line appear even more defined.
“Ms. Cunningham?” he asked, his voice deep and yet somehow soothing at the same time.
“Yes,” she croaked, barely able to speak.
“I’m Charles Dalton.”
As soon as he said his name her heart quickened even more than it had upon seeing him.
She must look so pathetic to him—her light red hair pulled back into a loose bun, her green eyes still heavy from sleep. She looked down, feeling terribly embarrassed.
She felt his eyes follow her gaze and rest on her nearly completely exposed chest. He eyed her slowly, his gaze running up and down her.
In addition to her just-out-of-bed look, her pajamas did very little to cover her. She had a curvy, voluptuous figure, and in that moment she felt him inspecting every inch of it. Suddenly, she didn’t care how overwhelmingly handsome he was. She was angry.
Looking up quickly she cleared her throat, forcing him to also lift his gaze. He looked at her, a hint of embarrassment on his face.
“I should have called before I came,” he said.
“Yes,” she said bluntly, “you should have.”
He seemed taken aback by her response.
“I can come back later,” he said, reaching into the briefcase he was carrying and producing a large packet. “I just came to drop this off.”
“What is it?” she asked, taking it from his hand. The harsh tone was still in her voice.
“It’s the contract.”
“This is the contract?” It was big enough to be a book.
“That’s why I wanted to deliver it personally,” he explained. “So I could sit down and highlight some of the more important points with you.”
“Well, you might as well come in, then. Since you’re here already.”
She left him in the kitchen while she ran to her bathroom for a robe. She also took a few minutes to fix her hair and splash some water on her face. Just because his staring creeped her out didn’t mean that he wasn’t still absolutely gorgeous and her new boss.
“Do you always hand deliver these things?” she asked when she returned to the kitchen. She pulled a chair up next to where he was sitting and reached for the large stack of papers.
“Yes.”
“I hope you don’t always do it at the crack of dawn. It’s not the best first impression to make on your new employees,” she said as she scanned the pages.
He shifted his weight around and let out a soft grunt. She assumed he was getting angry with her dismissive and borderline disrespectful attitude.
“This doesn’t just talk about the project,” she said, running her finger over the words, “it talks about the entire place. All of the facilities, all of the tests, everything.”
“It does,” he said leaning over to read the section she was indicating.
“It says I’m not allowed to talk about the other employees with someone who isn’t employed by Dalton?” she asked, turning to look at him.
She hadn’t realized how close he had gotten to her. He turned to her, his face only a few inches away from hers. He didn’t pull back, but answered softly, “That’s what I wanted to make sure you were clear on.”
His eyes locked on hers, and soft silver flecks in them suddenly seemed more predominant. She felt her hands begin to shake slightly as she held his gaze.
“Here,” he said, reaching out and taking the contract from her hands. Their fingers brushed just slightly. His touch was cold, but it sent a warm tingling running through her.
He turned his attention to the papers in his hand, but didn’t pull away from her. “This section here,” he said indicating a paragraph that had a little yellow flag marking it, “it states that you are not to discuss what is said between employees, regardless of content.”
She leaned in to get a better look at the page. As she did, she was consumed by the smell of him. It was a musky, almost sweet smell. “What does that mean?”
“It means exactly what it says.”
“So, anything said by anyone at Dalton I can’t repeat?”
“Exactly.”
She leaned back, and pushed her chair away from the table. Between the proximity, the mesmerizing, sweet scent that seemed to hang around him, and the memory of his fingers brushing against hers, she was having a hard time focusing.
“Is there anything else in there that I should know about?” she asked, trying not to let her voice reflect the flustered feeling building inside her.
“Everything important has been marked,” he said. “That one topic is the most important, so if you’re clear on it I’ll be on my way.”
“It’s clear,” she answered.
Pushing himself up he began making his way to the door.
She followed behind him, contemplating him as he walked. Her feelings towards him seemed to shift back and forth with each step he took. Remembering the way he eyed her upon first meeting her filled her with a slight disgust. Why did he show up that early anyway? What did he expect to find? For God’s sake—the sun wasn’t even up yet!
But she couldn’t deny it to herself that she was attracted to him. And, from the way he had looked at her during their talk, she had a feeling he was attracted to her as well.
CHAPTER THREE
The inside of Dalton Research Facilities was brightly lit and had a very pristinely clean feel to it. The lab where she would be working had rows of fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling and pure white walls. The equipment was top-of-the-line, and some of it she had never seen before. She was so impressed by everything she saw that it took her awhile to realize that she hadn’t seen one window in the entire place.
“The sunlight damages our samples,” her partner explained to her.
There was only one other person working in the lab she was assigned to. They were in charge of testing the new samples produced. The main concern of their specific team was to look at the capacity of the samples to carry oxygen.
“It’s still entry level stuff,” Heather explained to her. “But, if we do well with this, they’ll bump us up to one of the labs where the real action takes place.”
Heather was amazing beautiful. She was slender, with long blond hair and light green eyes. At times, when she turned her head just right, Rebecca thought she could see the same silver flecks in her eyes that she saw in Charles’.
Her first day went extremely well. Heather was nice and friendly, and although she didn’t have much contact with anyone else, they all seemed pleasant enough.
By the time she left that evening, though, she was exhausted. Her head ached from absorbing all the new information, and her feet hurt from standing all day.
All she wanted to do was collapse on her couch with a glass of wine, a good book, and relax until she went to bed. As she pulled into her building’s parking lot, however, what she
saw waiting for her let her know that her relaxing was going to have to wait.
Her heart raced in her chest as she parked her car and walked to where Charles was waiting. The sun had just set, and had she not recognized the outline of his very muscular frame leaning against his car, she wouldn’t have known it was him.
“What are you doing here?” she asked him roughly.
“Is that how you talk to your boss?” he asked her. His voice was light, instead of carrying a harsh scolding tone that would have fit his words.
