Night Song

by Sharon Cullen

  “It’s so hard to keep the kitchen clean,” she said. “Seems every time I straighten it up, it’s a mess again.”

  She chuckled and turned around, then gasped when she knocked into him. Wine splashed out of the glass and splattered her hand.

  “Oh.” Her face turned red. “Sorry.”

  He took the glass in one hand and her fingers in his other. Lifting her hand to his lips, he kept his gaze trained on her wide, amber eyes. Slowly he sucked the sweet liquid from her fingers and palm, running his tongue along her palm. He closed his eyes, biting back a groan at the salty-sweet taste of her skin. He skimmed his fangs across her palm and she inhaled. His gaze flew to hers where a desire mixed with trepidation and a longing that nearly matched his shone back.

  Quickly, before he lost control, he let go of her hand. She held it to her body, cradling it close to her breast. Aiden licked his lips, wanting more. Wanting it all. He took a step back and sipped his wine, studying the rise and fall of her breasts, hearing the small little pants that escaped from between her lips. He could smell the heat rising from her body, the woman scent that had him rock hard.

  Not tonight. If he were smart, not ever. But sometimes his intelligence took a back seat to other, baser instincts, and he had no doubt this would be one of those times.

  She wanted him. He could see it in her eyes and in the way she leaned toward him. But she also didn’t want him. That was in her eyes as well, evidenced by the confusion. He placed his glass on the kitchen table and took a step in her direction. She held her ground but her eyes grew wider and the pulse in her carotid picked up speed. Keeping his mouth shut, he licked his incisors, nearly tasting her warm, sweet blood. Would it taste like she smelled? Vanilla and flowers? God, he wanted to know.

  He reached her in another step and stood so close her warm breath heated him through his shirt. With slow movements, he lifted his hand and caressed her neck. There. Right there he could kiss her, feel her pulse, know that her blood flowed through her. His mouth watered. He was so hard now that his erection strained against the zipper of his jeans. She licked her lips and he groaned, bending his head and taking her mouth with his, licking the line where her upper lip clamped over her lower, asking for entry.

  She opened and he dove in, tasting her, testing her. He was a master at kissing while hiding his elongated and very sharp fangs. His hands cupped the sides of her face while his body screamed for him to drill his hips into her. He didn’t. He stayed his course, unwilling to frighten her. Tentatively, slowly, she raised her hands and placed them on his waist. Her fingers stroked little circles, making his skin tingle where she touched him.

  “Mama?”

  With a gasp, Amy pushed away, staring at him with wide eyes, her lips rosy and soft. She swiped a hand across her mouth and tore her gaze from his. With a muttered curse, Aiden ran a shaky hand through his hair and turned away in an attempt to hide his arousal.

  “Lydia, what are you doing up?” Amy asked her daughter.

  “Why are you kissing the boogey-man?”

  Aiden spun around, the question hurting more than it should. Lydia stood in the doorway in feeted pajamas two sizes too big, a ratty blanket clutched in one hand with the two fingers of the other inching toward her mouth. She looked at him with wide blue eyes.

  “Lydia. Apologize to Mr. Reed. You don’t go around calling people boogey-men.” Amy turned to him, her look apologetic. “I’m sorry. Robby likes to fill her head with scary stories until she’s seeing monsters around every corner.”

  He lifted a corner of his mouth in a semblance of a smile. “It’s okay.”

  Amy waved her hand toward her daughter. “I, uh, need to put her back to bed.”

  “Take your time. I’ll refill our wine and meet you on the deck.” Maybe by then he’d have control over his body.

  She stared at him for a moment. “Are you sure? I mean, it might take a while.”

  He reached out and tucked a stray hair behind her ear, loving to touch her. “I’m sure.”

  Ten minutes later she stood at the sliding glass doors, hovering between the outside and inside. Aiden looked up at her with a closed-lip smile.

  “She won’t go to sleep. Says the boogey-man’s here. I’m sorry, Aiden, but I’m… She won’t go back to sleep unless she knows you’re gone.”

  His smile faded and he got to his feet. “Sure. No problem.”

  Amy placed a hand on his arm, her expression regretful. “It’s the age. And her brother’s influence. She doesn’t really think you’re the boogey-man.”

  If only she knew. He patted her hand and stepped away. “I understand.” Better than she thought. Lydia wasn’t too far off the mark. The boogey-man was here.

  Over the next several days, Aiden threw all his pent-up sexual energy into pursuing Cerian, but the rogue vampire couldn’t be found. The good news was that no bodies had been found either. So that meant Cerian had either left the area or was biding his time. If he had left, then Aiden would be forced to follow him.

  He wasn’t ready to walk away from Amy or her kids. Each morning he stood at his window and watched them leave for school in their beat up van, and each evening he watched Amy run herself ragged picking kids up, dropping them off, and hauling in groceries. Yet he knew he didn’t belong in their life. It’d taken a four-year-old’s honest words to make him understand that. He was here only on a temporary basis. As soon as he eliminated this newest threat, he was on to the next assignment, the next killer who stalked the innocent.

  And even if he didn’t travel, what business did he, a vampire who killed other vampires, have getting involved with such a normal family?

  Despite those thoughts, he went to her anyway. Four days of being apart didn’t cool his need for this woman. It went beyond sex to something he wasn’t ready to identify, but knew he couldn’t live without. She didn’t see him at first, but then he felt her eyes on him, tracking him. Both remained silent, he because he wanted to enjoy the sight of her wind-blown hair, the reckless abandon in her eyes.

  He wanted to lean down and kiss her but sensed she still reeled from their kiss days ago. He stopped at the top step. “Are the kids in bed?” He didn’t want to scare them, especially Lydia.

  She nodded and he walked toward the chair next to her, folding himself into it, and took her hand in his.

  “I missed you,” she whispered, as if she were afraid to make the confession.

  He brought her knuckles to his lips and kissed them, flicking out his tongue and tasting the salt of her skin. “I missed you too.”

  “I thought you would come back.”

  He closed his eyes and pressed his lips to her fingers. “I had work to do,” he said. How could he tell her that it scared the crap out of him to return? That she scared him?

  She angled her body to look at him, curiosity in those amber eyes. “And what do you do for a living?”

  He settled their joined hands on the arm of the chair and looked out over the trees. “I work security for a private company.” The lie easily tripped over his tongue because it was the line all the Rogue Hunters used.

  “You work at night? What are you, some kind of security guard?”

  He smiled. He was far from a guard. “No, I’m not a guard and sometimes nighttime is the best time to work. So you never did tell me, what had you crying the other night.” Her tears had stayed with him all the days he’d been away from her.

  “I told you, life.”

  “That tells me nothing. I want to know. I want to help you.” I want to spend eternity with you, learning about you, raising your children with you.

  Chapter Five

  Amy laughed, certain Aiden didn’t want to hear a list of her mundane problems.

  “You laugh,” he said, little crinkles appearing at the corners of his eyes. “Why? You don’t believe I want to know?”

  She shook her head, feeling for the first time in years like the weight of the world didn’t sit on her shoulders. “Exactly.”
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br />   He held his free hand to his heart and gave her a shocked look. “You wound me.”

  She snorted. “Hardly.”

  “And why, sweet lady, would I not want to hear your tale of sorrow?”

  She wanted to giggle, wanted to feel like that young girl she’d been oh so many years ago. Instead, she frowned and looked down her nose at him. “Because it’s boring and mundane.”

  The teasing fled his eyes and his expression turned somber as he squeezed her hand. “Somehow, I doubt anything having to do with Amy Carmichael is boring and mundane. Tell me. I really want to know.”

  She didn’t want to think about the last several nights, how she’d sat on her deck, telling herself she needed the peace and quiet but secretly waiting for him. Secretly disappointed when he didn’t show up. Secretly reliving that kiss. The man sure knew how to kiss, but it went beyond the physical. For the first time in a long time, Amy felt protected. Ridiculous, considering she didn’t even know the man. And what was she doing kissing a man she barely knew anyway? But tonight wasn’t about kissing. Tonight Aiden was a different man, concerned about her. When was the last time someone had been concerned for her?

  She stood, pulling her hand from his. “How about that glass of wine we never got to finish the other night?” She hurried into the kitchen without waiting for his answer, trying to control her erratic breathing. What was she going to do? This man touched things deep inside her that she’d walled off the day Robert walked out. He was a threat to her well-being yet something she feared she needed in her life.

  When she returned with his full glass of wine, he was staring out at the trees, his long legs stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankles. He’d left his hair down tonight and the blond highlights caught the flickering light from the tiki candles.

  She handed him his wine and settled into the chair beside him.

  “So where’s Mr. Carmichael?” he asked, his voice tight.

  Startled, she stared at him until he turned to look at her with heated eyes that melted her every single time. “Uh. Mr. Carmichael is with the current Mrs. Carmichael.”

  He raised one blond brow in silent inquiry, and to her great horror and relief, she found herself spilling the entire story. “Robert got bored with our marriage, deciding kids and a wife were passé. The day he walked out of our front door for the last time, he walked into his mistress’s. They married several months ago.”

  She’d tried to keep the hurt out of her voice but it cracked on the last word, destroying her composure. Those hated tears returned. She’d cried buckets in the months after Robert deserted her and the kids, but occasionally they would return, usually when she least expected it.

  “But you said he thought a wife and kids were passé.”

  “Yeah, that’s what he told me. I guess I was just passé.”

  “I’m sorry.” Aiden’s voice was devoid of the pity that she’d feared hearing.

  She shook her head, wiping her tears with her fingers. “Don’t be. Not for me at least. It’s the kids I get angry for. Robert didn’t just leave a marriage, he left parenting behind as well. The kids don’t see him. He doesn’t pay child support.”

  “Was child support part of the divorce settlement?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then you need to take him to court. Force him to pay up.”

  Her laugh was bitter and she took another sip of wine to keep from getting too hysterical. “Yes, well, that’s all well and good in the fantasy world. But in real life I can’t afford the fees. It’s everything I can do to make the mortgage payment, put food on the table, and pay for extras like scouts and soccer.”

  Amy cringed and stood, too mortified to believe she’d revealed so much. Again she hurried into the sanctuary of her kitchen, afraid what would spill out of her mouth next. For several long moments she stood in the darkness, head bowed, trying to regain her composure. God, she was so stupid. Men like Aiden didn’t want to hear about her problems.

  “Amy?”

  Aiden stood at the threshold, his expression concerned. She wiped away the tears but couldn’t stop the sniffles. He moved to step in then stopped. With a wave of his hand he indicated her kitchen. “May I?”

  She nodded, appreciating his gallantry and good manners. But he didn’t step inside. A pained expression crossed his face as he hesitated. He licked his lips, his gaze devouring her. “I don’t want to intrude on your grief.”

  She laughed, the sound bitter. “It’s not grief. Not anymore. Come in, Aiden.”

  He stepped inside and quickly gathered her in his arms. Against her better judgment she tipped her head forward and rested it on his chest, inhaling his woodsy scent. He placed a kiss on the top of her head and rubbed his stubble-roughened cheek against her hair.

  “Amy.” His voice was tortured, strained, revealing his pent-up emotions. The same emotions that assailed her. She didn’t know why or how this man had found her. She just knew there was something in him that called to her. She wrapped her arms around him, pressing her cheek against his chest, feeling the rapid beat of his heart.

  She could come to love this man. That thought was so ridiculous she wanted to both laugh and cry. She didn’t even know him and her younger daughter was convinced he was the boogey-man.

  He tilted her head up by placing a finger under her chin. His black eyes flashed a fire of sexual need so intense it stole the breath from her lungs. For so long, she’d relied only on herself, carrying the burden of raising her little family and making sure they had decent clothes, a hot meal, and a roof over their head, that she’d neglected herself.

  She stood on tip toes and placed a kiss on his jaw, then another farther down, feeling the rapid beat of his pulse beneath his skin. He groaned and his erection pressed against her stomach, inciting a riot of butterflies inside her. This was insane. This was ridiculous.

  This was so right.

  “Please, Aiden.”

  He took her mouth with his, delving deep. Teeth scraped against teeth, tongues mated, danced together, then retreated. Need roared through her, turning her insides to liquid and her knees to jelly. She both feared and needed this.

  “This is nuts.” He barely pulled away from her, murmuring the words against her hot skin.

  “I know.”

  “But I can’t stop.”

  “Please don’t.”

  He groaned, the sound rumbling through his chest, into hers. “I won’t. God help me, but I can’t.”

  God help them both.

  Without breaking the lip seal they had on each other, Amy reached between them and unbuttoned his shirt, plunging her hands inside and feeling the silky soft chest hair and the hot skin underneath. She teased his nipples, bringing them to hard points. His breaths hitching in his throat, Aiden pulled her shirt up, breaking away only to pull it over her head and toss it. Swift movements had her bra unhooked and, with a reverence that brought tears to her eyes, he touched her breasts, fondling her nipples until she moaned with the need to experience more.

  She reached for the button of his fly, her hand skimming his erection. With a strangled breath, he pressed his hips against hers. She made short work of the fly and pushed his jeans down. Good Lord. He wasn’t wearing underwear. That turned her on like nothing ever had. If she’d known that while sitting on the deck with him she wouldn’t have been able to concentrate.

  The hard length of him sprang forth into her hands. Satin over steel. She caressed it and he clenched his eyes shut, his breath raspy, hips bucking until his hand snaked down and grabbed hers.

  “Enough,” he panted. But she didn’t stop and he groaned again, his head dropping so their foreheads touched. His complete lack of control inflamed her, making her hot, needy. She’d never had this much power over anyone.

  With a feral growl and a flash of teeth, Aiden pulled away and shucked her pants. Amy stood there, stunned. For a moment, a small moment, she’d thought she’d seen a wild beast in his expression, complete with fangs. Then it
was gone and Aiden took its place, his eyes heavy-lidded with sensual yearning.

  He backed her against the wall and placed small kisses down her neck, stopping at her pulse and licking, then grazing it with his teeth. She shivered as her blood turned to burning embers and she tilted her head back, wild with a longing she didn’t understand but that drove her to heights she’d never reached before. For some unknown reason she wanted him to bite her. She’d never been into that kinky stuff before, but then again she’d never had wild sex with her next door neighbor before either. Come to think of it, she’d never had sex in her kitchen.

  Once again he pulled away and Amy whimpered at the loss of heat. He made short work of donning a condom he’d pulled from his wallet, then had her pinned against the wall while he lifted her and slid inside. She wrapped her legs around his waist and gasped as he filled her to capacity and then some, stretching her until she feared she would rip in two. But it didn’t hurt. Oh, far from it.

  He pulled out, the muscles in his neck straining, eyes tightly closed, lips locked in a grimace of pain and pleasure. Amy followed the movement, meeting him thrust for thrust.

  She could count the number of orgasms she’d had on one hand. One finger actually, and it hadn’t been with her ex-husband. This time her orgasm came out of nowhere, exploding around her in a bright light that stole her breath and made her cry out at the same time. Aiden locked his lips with hers, swallowing her cry of release. Still he rocked into her. In and out. In and out until another orgasm built.

  She shook her head. “No. Please. Aiden—”

  “Shhh, sweetheart. Ride it out. I’m right with you.”

  Her head whipped back and forth. No. She couldn’t take another one. Not like the last. She whimpered as he pulled out again and thrust forward. This one built and built and built until she couldn’t stand it anymore and begged him to release it, using words she’d never let pass her lips before.

  Her talk seemed to inflame him for he grew bigger, harder, and he increased his pace. She threw her head back as her world exploded, bright colors flashing behind her closed lids, her nerve endings singing with such intense feelings she feared she’d go crazy if it kept up. Her muscles contracted around Aiden and he arched his back with a feral growl, then froze, his penis throbbing, stroking her already tender muscles, inciting her to a smaller but no less intense orgasm.