Up in Smoke

by Alice Brown

  She went into the stall and pulled her panties completely off. Cleaning herself up the best she could, she threw her soaked thong into the trash can on her way back out. It felt weird wearing a skirt with absolutely nothing on underneath it, but it just couldn’t be helped. She would just have to suffer through it.

  The other ladies were waiting for her at the front door. She noticed both women were wearing smirks on their faces, but decided she wasn’t going to open her mouth until she had to. She figured she had until they were sitting down at the restaurant, and with any hope, after their orders were taken before the grilling began.

  Sure enough, she bet it hadn't taken all of fifteen minutes from the time they left the office to the time the waiter had picked up their menus after taking their order when Sissy leaned forward, linking her hands together and resting her chin on her fingers. “So, I hear you met Nathaniel today.”

  Susan gave her good friend a scowl. “The man is a pig-headed jerk.”

  Sissy just cocked an eyebrow at her. “Really? I heard you made quite the impression on him earlier. As a matter of fact,” she stopped and leaned forward as if she had some big, dark secret to spill. “I heard you made a big impression on him. He likes you.”

  Both Meredith and Sissy looked at each other and burst into giggles. Then, Meredith proceeded to give her best impression of Sandra Bullock from Miss Congeniality. “He likes you, he wants to hold you, he wants to kiss you, he wants to loooovve you.” She strung the “L” word out way longer than necessary.

  *****

  Forty-five minutes after the office door had been shut, both Nathaniel and Walter walked out laughing and slapping each other on the back. All was good. They had worked things out quite easily once Nathaniel had a few minutes to stop and think about his less than stellar performance at the staff meeting this morning. He immediately apologized to Walter, feeling like a complete heel. Back as town sheriff in Wyoming, he’d had a couple of deputies under him and he knew damn good and well he would have never tolerated that sort of behavior out of someone working under him. He counted himself lucky that his brother was sometimes a bit more levelheaded than he was.

  He turned toward the front desk, ready to go make amends with Susan, only to find it empty. Fisting his hands at his sides, he growled, “Where is she?”

  Walter simply turned his head to see the unoccupied front desk and shrugged his shoulders. “She’s probably at lunch. You honestly didn’t expect her to listen to you, did you?”

  When Nathaniel glared at him for a moment, Walter gave him a tsk, tsk sound. “You need to brush up on lady etiquette, my friend. One, she didn’t listen to you, because you gave her an order. And two, she’s a woman. The only way they listen to us is if we make it not sound like an order. Try asking next time. That will at least get you a fifty/fifty shot.” He chuckled at his brother’s dumbfounded look and shook his head. “Come on, I think we can find some answers fairly easily.”

  They soon came across Lucas, Walter’s second in command, who seemed to be full of information. “Yeah, Sissy stopped by about thirty minutes ago and her, Meredith, and Susan all went to lunch together. They were heading over to that café they like to go to so much.”

  So, after directions were given, Nathaniel asked for the afternoon off so he could hopefully straighten a few things out with his wayward mate. He’d also been nice enough to request the remainder of the afternoon off for her, as well. His brother chuckled, “Tell Susan to take all the time she needs. I know that a newly mated pair typically doesn’t come up for air for days. Things can easily wait until next week here if the two of you need the time off. I can get Sissy and Betty to fill in for Susan.”

  Nathaniel had heard about Sissy’s sister, Betty, but had not met her, yet. She, too, had just relocated. Only, she came from California after almost being beaten to death by her so-called drunk ass boyfriend. He had also gone after Betty’s little boy, Timmy, who was currently staying with his grandfather in Atlanta.

  From what Walter had told him, Betty was in such bad shape when they arrived that arrangements were made for Sissy to turn her almost immediately. They had waited until she was fully recuperated, and then brought her home with them.

  Besides, even though Betty was now a vampire, her drunken ex-boyfriend had been heard threatening that if he ever found her, he would kill her for sending him to jail. It didn’t matter that she had been too injured and close to death to ever pick up the phone and call for help, that an outside source had actually heard her son screaming for help and had taken action. Evidently, the man still blamed his lot in life on her. And Walter didn’t like that at all.

  Nathaniel arrived at the little café in record time and parked in the side parking lot. As he entered the front door, he easily spotted the group of ladies. He was thankful that for the moment they were too busy talking to pay any attention to who was walking in or out of the establishment. He asked for a small corner booth on the other side of where the women were and sat down with his back facing them. Where he was seated, Meredith and Sissy were facing him, but he didn’t think either of them noticed him. If they did, they certainly didn’t let on about it.

  He ordered a steak that he knew would be going home to his dog and sat back to listen in on the conversation. Knowing how women could talk, he was not disappointed.

  “You know, you are his mate. The other half of his soul.” This came from the woman with long, dark hair that he assumed was Lucas’s mate, Meredith.

  “His mate!” Susan almost yelled, to the point that he didn’t even need his vampire hearing for the comment to travel across the café.

  “I don’t even know him. And he’s a Neanderthal! And he’s…” Nathaniel could imagine her eyes getting wide as she whispered, “He’s huge!”

  “Oh, so you’ve already checked at his package? You naughty girl. And here I thought you weren’t interested. Don’t hold back, hon, we want details!” This came from Meredith. Nathaniel wanted to both chuckle and throttle the girl at the same time. What was it about women wanting to know about guy’s package? And she was mated! If Lucas ever heard her talk like that, Nathaniel would lay down good money the vampire would come unglued.

  He continued listening and heard her gulp down some liquid before continuing. “When he walked in this morning, he had…well, you know…”

  “A hard-on? A boner? An erection? A baseball bat between his legs? A bazooka? A weapon of mass loving?” All three women seemed to fall into a fit of giggles.

  “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and hell yes!” Susan stated, trying to catch her breath from giggling. “You two are going to be the death of me, I swear!”

  “Oh, come on, hon. It’s not like you haven’t already been married and seen one before.” This came from Sissy.

  “Well yeah, I’ve seen one, and I do mean one in the literal statement. But good heavens, I’ve never gotten wet down there like that and never have I ever imagined doing some of the things my overactive imagination had me contemplating earlier.”

  So his little mate had been thinking about him, huh? That was good to hear. Maybe he hadn’t screwed things up as bad as he initially had thought.

  He listened back in on the conversation as Sissy asked, “You mean to tell us that you’d never done anything before marrying your husband?”

  “No, we actually dated in high school and got married shortly after.” She sighed, going down memory lane as she started to wonder why in the hell she had stayed with Joe as long as she had. “You know, it wasn’t a perfect relationship by any means. I catch myself looking back and wondering why I didn’t get out long before his murder, because I was so unhappy. I guess I just thought that was the way it was when you got married. My parents seemed to do nothing but argue and fight, so when Joe and I started arguing I thought, ‘Well, you know, you’re married now!’”

  “Oh, hon, I’m sorry you had a rough go about things. And no, that is not how normal relationships are supposed to work. Not even our kind of relati
onships,” Sissy stated. She gave her a second before continuing, “Can I ask you a personal question?”

  “Sure,” Susan replied.

  “Have you ever experienced an orgasm?”

  While no answer was forthcoming, Nathaniel heard two gasps and he knew he had his answer. Hmmm, this might be easier than Walter had led him to believe. Sissy had been human when Walter met and fell in love with her, as well. He and Nathaniel had discussed some of the things that had worked and hadn’t worked in the early days with Sissy. The one thing in Nathaniel’s favor was that Susan already knew about vampires, whereas Sissy had not when she initially met Walter.

  However, if his little Susan had never experienced pleasure from a man before, well, that was something he could change, and fast.

  He quickly snagged the waiter’s attention and told him he needed the steak to go. Placing a fifty in the man’s hands, the young waiter quickly scurried off to take care of things.

  Nathaniel stood and walked over to the girls’ table. He’d heard enough. As he walked up behind Susan, she had no idea he was standing behind her. Her two friends didn’t give her any clue either, even though they both knew he was there.

  He walked up just in time to hear his mate state, “I don’t care if the man is a sex-god, there is no way I can be his mate!” Ohhhh, this just kept getting better! So, his mate found him sexy. That was all fine and good, because he thought she was the most adorable thing on the face of the planet.

  He leaned down to her ear, just barely able to hold himself back from nibbling on it as he whispered, “Hello again, sweetheart. I think we got off on the wrong foot earlier and I want to make it up to you.”

  She whipped her head around so fast he had to jerk his head back or risk her being injured. Her face reminded him of a fish out of the water. Her mouth was moving, but no words were coming out. He took the opportunity and reached over her seat, plucking her up out of it with ease. Once he had her cradled to his chest, he glanced over to his sister-in-law to see a wide grin on her face.

  “Hey, Sis, Walter said to stop by before you head back to the library. I think he wants a kiss.” Not waiting for her to reply, he turned and strolled out of the restaurant, only slowing down long enough to pick up the to-go bag waiting at the front counter.

  Chapter Two

  Susan was too shaken up to utter a word. She’d just been lifted out of her seat in a public place and carried out by a man she had only met a few hours ago. Even though she knew her friends would never have allowed him to cart her out of there if they thought for a second she was in danger, her heart still pounded with fear. Where were they going? What were his intentions? Even with her heart pounding, a gush of liquid made itself known down in her nether regions. Oh, great. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to embarrass herself even further and leave a wet spot on his seat. But her body ignored her mind. It knew what it wanted and that was one very tall, very built, very obnoxious vampire.

  She watched as he climbed up into his big pickup and finally found her voice as he cranked the engine. “Where are you taking me?”

  She noticed he was gripping the steering wheel tightly as he glanced over to her. “We’re going to my place. And don’t even think about saying no, because, baby, I can smell your cream from over here and it is driving me abso-fucking-lutely crazy!” He then shifted the truck out of park and pulled out of the parking lot.

  Susan sat in shock for a moment. What the hell was she supposed to say to that? Not only was she sitting in the truck of someone she hardly knew without any underwear on and cream dripping out of her, her nipples were so hard they were almost painful. She would have given anything to pull her bra off at that moment.

  Closing her eyes and leaning her head back, she concentrated on breathing steadily and trying to calm her racing heart. It didn’t work. Was he expecting her to have sex with him? Did she want to have sex with him? Her mind gave her a hundred different reasons why she shouldn’t, but her body paid no attention to what her mind had to say. Her body said, ‘Hell yes, ride that cowboy!’

  His voice brought her out of her musings and she snapped her eyes open to see that he had pulled into the driveway of a lovely, two-story house. “Baby, come on, I’m not going to attack you. I just want to talk to you, so we can get to know one another a bit better. And please, don’t even think about lying to me and telling me you’re not turned on, because I know better. Unfortunately, I can also smell your fear and that is something I can’t tolerate. Yes, you are my mate, and as such, it is impossible for me to hurt you in any way on purpose. I know you are scared, I get that, and I am willing to slow things down until you feel comfortable. But, darlin',” he stopped and moved closer to her so their faces were only an inch apart, “don’t run. Because I will find you, and when I do, I can’t promise I’ll be this nice. Once a vampire finds their mate, they need to be close to them more often than not.” He stopped and gently ran the back of his fingers down the side of her face. “Just promise me you won’t run. We can take everything else one day at a time, until you are comfortable.”

  His voice was whiskey smooth and she watched those sensual lips of his move as he spoke, wondering how they would feel wrapped around her nipples that were currently throbbing. Unable to speak at the moment, she merely nodded her head in consent and he gave her a quick grin before turning and getting out of his truck. A huge dog came bounding around the corner of the garage to greet him. It seemed very friendly until Nathaniel walked around to her door and opened it. The dog took one look at her and went from a friendly, playful big teddy bear to a snarling, teeth-baring, vicious, take-no-shit guard dog. Nathaniel issued a one-word command, “Halt!” and just like that, she watched as the dog immediately stopped barking and sat down next to his owner. Nathaniel patted his head and stated, “Jake, it’s okay. She’s a friend.” The dog watched Susan carefully as Nathaniel helped her down out of the truck, but he never budged from the spot where he was sitting.

  *****

  Nathaniel mulled over everything he had learned about his mate today. Once Walter realized Susan was his brother’s mate, he wasted no time in filling Nathaniel in on all of her troubles over the past few months. Then, he had gotten an earful at lunch eavesdropping on Susan and her two friends.

  If she had never experienced an orgasm before, even after being married for almost ten years, it was no wonder she was scared to be alone with him. Her asshat of a dead husband obviously had no idea how to please his wife, or he didn’t care enough to.

  Oh, but he wanted to taste her cream so badly. His fangs continued to push forward, trying to press downward, but he was able to keep them up and put away. Barely. Now, as he placed his hand on her lower back and escorted her up to his house, he noticed she kept eyeing Jake dubiously. “Don’t worry about Jake. Once he knows you are a friend, he’ll be a big lap dog to you.”

  He couldn’t help but notice the appreciative look she gave his front porch. It was a wrap around. It covered the front of the house and wrapped around to cover half of one side of the house. There was a second door leading to porch from the kitchen.

  He put his key into the lock, but held still for just a second. Turning to face her, he requested, “Please, excuse the mess. I just arrived yesterday and haven’t had time to unpack everything, yet.”

  They walked into the house a few seconds later and Susan gasped out loud. Nathaniel’s home was gorgeous. She shook her head as she quickly glanced around. There were a few boxes here and there, but other than that, his home was spotless. Even the boxes not unpacked yet were stacked neatly in a corner of the room, probably arranged in order based on where they belonged. The pieces of furniture were big and comfy looking. From where she was standing in the entryway, the room to the left looked to be a formal living room that he had turned into a library. Two walls were filled with nothing but bookshelves, and even then, the room still held a decent number of boxes in it. To the right of the front door was the dining room, and on past that was the
kitchen. The entire back end of the house was a great room with large, sliding glass doors that lead out to a beautiful, two-tier deck. A large grill was on the deck, which she found a bit odd. Why would a vampire own such an expensive grill? Was it for show? He came up behind her and answered her unasked question. “I use the grill to cook Jake meat for dinner. That way, it looks normal if any of the neighbors are being nosy.”

  Susan finally allowed her eyes to take in the remainder of the backyard, which was large in her opinion. Her eyes landed on the next surprise and she gasped. “You have a pool?”

  He shrugged as if it were no big deal. “It came with the house. I figured with the Texas heat and all, I’d probably want one to cool off in when I’m not working. We can go for a swim later if you’d like.”

  Her eyes grew as round as saucers as she glanced up at him. “Oh, umm, I would love to, but I don’t have a bathing suit with me.”

  “We could always wait until it’s dark. Then, you could wear your undergarments. Covers you the same as if you had a bikini on,” Nathaniel reasoned.

  If he thought her eyes were big before, they damn near popped out of her head now. She stammered out her reply. “Uhhh, nnnn-ooo no,” she shook her head as her face heated up, bringing her cheeks to a rosy, red color.

  Nathaniel shook his head and turned away from the sliding glass doors. Women. He didn’t see anything wrong in her wearing undergarments to swim in. Unless…he could see she was wearing a bra, but her little skirt was too long and too dark to see through. He couldn’t see if she had any panties on. Hmm, maybe that was why he was smelling her lovely cream as strong as he was.

  He walked over to the sectional sofa and sat down. “Darlin', why don’t you come on over here and sit down so we can talk a bit.” He cringed as he heard his own words and wondered if he was the only man on earth that had asked a woman to “talk”.

  Susan walked over and sat down, leaving enough room between them for about three other people to sit. The thought of her not trusting him didn’t sit well, however, he had to look at things from her viewpoint. They had just met earlier that day. She had just recently discovered that most of the stories about things that go bump in the night held a certain amount of truth in them. And last, but not least, her own husband had betrayed her. She was probably feeling like she couldn’t trust the male population in general.