“Are you feeling better, Em?” Dante asked.
“Yeah. I don’t know what came over me. Just a sudden attack of nausea.”
I felt a slight sense of relief. At least Dante hadn’t been lying to me about Emilia being sick.
“Maybe I can help. Do you have any other symptoms?”
“Not really. Well, there is one thing, but I don’t want to be rude.”
“I’m an ER nurse,” I said. “Believe me, I’ve heard it all.”
“Would it help if I left the room for a minute?” Dante asked.
Emilia laughed. “I have no secrets. It’s just that Erin and I just met.”
“Like I said, I’m a nurse. But if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine.”
Her fair cheeks pinked, but just a little. More from her laughter than embarrassment, it seemed. “Well…it’s just that…I’ve had to pee a lot.”
“Sounds like a urinary tract infection. All you need is some antibiotics, and it will go away in a few days. If you’re having any pain, you can go to the drugstore and get some OTC meds that will help.”
“Can you give me the antibiotics?”
“Sorry, I can’t. If I had some samples on me, I’d give them to you, but I shouldn’t even do that. I’m not a doctor.”
“Some nurses give out prescriptions.”
“Nurse practitioners can, but only under the direct supervision of a doctor. Unfortunately, that’s not me.”
“I understand,” she said. “Just would’ve made it easier. When the heck am I supposed to find time to go to the doctor?”
“For God’s sake, Em,” Dante said. “If you’re uncomfortable, go to the doctor. You have insurance.”
“He’s right,” I said. “UTIs are really common and rarely serious, but if they aren’t treated, they can turn into a kidney infection, and you don’t want that. It’s best to get it taken care of as soon as possible.”
“Listen to the nurse, Em.” Dante smiled.
And I almost melted. That smile. It seemed made for me. He was the best-looking man I had ever laid eyes on.
Emilia yawned. “I should get going. I’m beat.”
“Em works a night shift too,” Dante said.
“Oh, yeah? What do you do?”
“I’m a night manager at the Cornstalk Hotel.”
“Such a small world. My brother works nights too. In fact, he works with your cousin River.”
“Really? You’re Jay’s sister?” She inhaled. “No wonder you look so familiar.”
“You know Jay?” I said.
“Not well,” she said, color rising to her cheeks. “He came in to the hotel one night asking questions on a case. Riv really likes him.”
“He’s a great guy. A great brother.”
“Then how do you know Dante?” Emilia asked.
Dante and I looked at each other, both saying nothing.
After what seemed like an eternity passed, I decided to go with the lie River had told Jay. But before I could, music blared from Emilia’s purse.
She pulled out her cell phone. “Sorry, I have to take this. I’ll see you all later.” She walked out the door.
I silently thanked whoever had called her.
“She seems…nice,” I said.
“Em’s great.” He smiled. “A little nosy, but great.”
“Sorry about the UTI talk,” I said.
“Don’t be. I’m glad you were here for her. And Em doesn’t know the meaning of the word embarrassed.”
I let out a nervous laugh. “I like her. I like people who know who they are.”
Silence for a moment.
Then, “So why are you here?” he asked.
I shook my head. “I wish I knew.” I could tell him how attractive I found him, how his kisses were unlike anything I’d ever experienced. How I wanted more than my next breath to finish what we’d started in my bedroom a day ago. How he was always on my mind. How I didn’t seem to care that I’d found him covered in blood, and how the fact that I didn’t care disturbed yet aroused me. How I’d forgotten all about safe sex when I’d been ready to bed him. How I was wet just being in his presence.
But those words wouldn’t form.
“It’s okay if you just wanted to see me,” he said.
“I don’t want you to think I’m the kind of woman who chases men. I’m really not.” God’s honest truth there.
“Then I’m flattered.”
“I mean really. I had no intention of chasing you. I just wanted…” God, I sounded like a complete idiot.
He trailed a finger down my cheek. “What did you want?”
“To see you.” I let out a breath. “To…just see you.”
“That’s not so bad. I want to see you too.”
“Then why did you run away this morning? You came to me. Wanted to meet me at my place. Then you just left.”
He smiled. “Believe it or not, I’m not the kind to chase women either.”
“Then why?”
“I don’t know. There’s something about you. You’re beautiful, of course, but it goes deeper than that. You didn’t turn me in when you found me in the hospital. That means a lot.”
“I’m still not sure why I didn’t.” Again, God’s honest truth.
“I’m not sure why you didn’t either, but I’m beyond grateful. And I’m sorry about this morning.”
“It’s okay. If you’re not interested—”
He sighed. “I am interested. It’s just that I’m not in a position to get into a relationship right now.”
“So you just want sex?” I could live with that. For a little while, anyway.
“I want you. I want sex with you, yes. I even might want a relationship with you. I just can’t right now. Not until I can contr— I mean, I just can’t right now.”
“Dante, we’ve known each other for about five minutes. We don’t need to talk about relationships quite yet.”
He laughed. “That’s true.”
“Then what? Do I leave? Do we never see each other again?”
“God, that’s not what I want at all. I don’t know how to do this, Erin. I’m not all that…experienced.”
“How is that possible? Have you looked at yourself lately?”
“For the first time in a long time, actually.” He looked to the ceiling. “It’s complicated.”
How well I knew to stay away from a man who said anything was “complicated.” That meant baggage. Not just regular baggage, but tonnage. Like another wife somewhere, or it got blown off in the war.
Of course I already knew the latter wasn’t true. The erection under his jeans had been substantial.
Run away, my mind said. Run away and never look back.
But my body and heart didn’t agree.
“It doesn’t have to be,” I said, stepping forward. “It can be very, very uncomplicated.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled his lips toward mine.
Chapter Nineteen
Dante
At least I’d had some blood this morning. Still, though, my gums began tingling. If only I could surrender to Erin’s kiss, to kiss her back the way I longed to without being afraid of what might happen.
She’d already nicked her tongue on my tooth once. If it happened again, she wouldn’t be able to explain it away for long.
And God knew I wouldn’t be able to stop if I had even the tiniest taste of her blood again.
I didn’t pull away, not at first. I relished the warmth of her lips, how they swelled as the blood rushed into them, the muffled snap of her tiny vessels bursting, painting color into her skin…
My left cuspid began to descend.
As much as it pained me, I broke the kiss and pulled away from her warm body.
“You have to go,” I said.
She bit her lip, clearly struggling for composure. As beautiful and captivating as she was, she probably wasn’t used to being turned away. I ached for what she was feeling, for what I was making her feel.
If only she knew how much I truly wanted her in every way. Ways she could never imagine.
“I’m sorry, but I—”
“I said leave!” My voice came out harsher than I’d meant it to. But she did have to leave. Now. Or I couldn’t be sure I wouldn’t harm her.
“I’m really sorry about this,” she said. “I won’t bother you again.” She turned and walked out the door.
My chest tightened with a sharp pain. Was this what heartache felt like? Pure heartache? What if I never saw her again? Could I live with that?
No. I couldn’t.
I had to figure out how to deal with this.
Bill had gone into his study. We weren’t supposed to disturb him while he was working, but this was an emergency as far as I was concerned.
He’d been wanting me to talk. Now I was ready to talk, although not about what he wanted to know.
I knocked hesitantly on his door.
“Come in,” he said.
I opened it and walked in.
“Who was at the door, Dante?”
“A woman,” I said.
“Oh? What did she want?”
“She came to see me.”
“You’ve been back two days. Who would come to see you?”
“She’s a nurse. I met her the night I… She helped me.”
“And…?” The glint in his eye indicated he knew where I was going with this.
“I’m…interested in her. Sexually.”
“I see.”
“I…only did this once before. And I wasn’t all the way…mature. I don’t know how to…” God, how would I get through this uncomfortable but necessary conversation?
“Yes. How to control yourself when you mate with a human woman.”
“Mate? I’m not planning to mate. I just want to…” Fuck her senseless, smell her all day, never leave her presence. “I… I’m not a virgin, but for all intents and purposes, I have no experience.”
“Dante, I don’t mean to sound patronizing, but have you considered that maybe you’re not ready to become involved with a woman yet? You need to work through what happened to you. If you don’t want to talk to me, you have to talk to someone else.”
Impatience tugged at me. Bill meant well, but he didn’t understand the urge overtaking me.
Did he?
He’d been my age once. Of course he hadn’t been held against his will for ten years.
Damn her! What more was she going to steal from me?
I stood. “You don’t understand, damn it. No one will ever, ever understand!”
He was at the door, blocking my exit, in a flash.
“Help me understand, son. I want to help you. We all want to help you.”
No. No. Couldn’t say the words. Couldn’t even bring myself to think the words.
My vision blurred, a red hue overtaking everything. My fingers curled into a fist, a fist that landed on Bill’s left cheek. He slammed against the wall, his eyes bulging.
I’d hit my grandfather. Punched him like a thug. Hadn’t felt it at all. What was happening to me?
“Bill, I—”
“Leave this study,” he said calmly. “And leave this house. Do not come back until you’re ready to accept my help.”
Chapter Twenty
Erin
I went home and sank into my bed, covering my head with my blankets. I’d just made a ridiculous fool of myself. I’d never be able to look at Dante again.
What did I want with a fling anyway? I could do better. A young resident in the ER had shown interest in me. Logan Crown, MD. He was handsome in an understated way. Kind of a sexy geek with tortoiseshell glasses and a lean build. He had amazing green eyes, much darker than my own.
My interest had never been sparked. He’d pursued me for several weeks, but I couldn’t get behind the idea. Even if I could, I tried to never mix work with pleasure, though sometimes the handsome residents had made it difficult. Lucy and I argued about my stance all the time. She thought I was being overly rigid.
Finally, Dr. Crown had asked Lucy out, and she’d accepted. They only went out once—“What a bore!” she’d complained—and now it was just too weird to date a guy who’d been out with my best friend. Lucy had probably screwed him, no matter how boring he was. The woman had the sex drive of a teenage boy.
Even if I was willing to bend my rule, our chief resident was a woman. Our nurses were all women. Our orderlies were all women except for Steve, who, though he was gorgeous and I loved him, had no interest in me for obvious reasons. He and his boyfriend had been together for almost a year now. Two of our ER docs were men, but they were both married.
Even my former boyfriend, Cory, whom I’d followed to New Orleans, had never sparked the feelings in me that Dante Gabriel did. And I’d been in love with him. Or so I thought, anyway.
Dante Gabriel—a virtual stranger. And frankly…an asshole.
He’d rebuffed me, after pursuing me in the first place.
What had I done wrong? Was it too presumptuous that I’d gone to his place without asking?
It was so not like me. I’d never been so forward in my life, not even with Cory. He’d asked me to move here with him. If he hadn’t, I probably wouldn’t have. Being forward was not exactly my style.
So what was different about Dante Gabriel?
Even thinking his name ignited sparks within me.
His rejection stung like a scorpion’s bite. I hardly knew the man, yet I felt like we’d been together a lifetime and he was ending it for no apparent reason.
I squeezed my eyes closed, willing sleep to come.
I went to him in the night, clad only in a translucent white robe. How I had gotten there I didn’t know. Perhaps I’d floated on a cloud. My nipples protruded through the material, dark pink buttons against the silky fabric.
He lay in a large bed covered in dark red silk. He was naked, his dark hair fanned out on the pillow.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” he said, his voice raspy with desire.
“I heard you calling. Not in words. I heard something else.”
“My blood. My blood calls for your blood, and your blood has answered.”
His words made no sense to me, but something within me responded, and I walked forward.
“Remove the robe,” he commanded. “Present yourself to me.”
I dropped the white gauzy garment to the floor and stood before him naked, my nipples puckered and hard, the rest of me tingling.
Something would happen tonight. Something I would learn to understand.
His cock was erect and jutted out magnificently from his black curls.
“Come to me. Sit on my cock and ride me.”
I sank down onto his magnificence, and he filled me so completely.
“That’s it. Ride me. Make love to me. Show me how much you want me.”
“I do want you. I want nothing but you. You’re all I think about.”
“As it should be.”
I undulated over him, moaning, embracing the completeness of our joining, until the tickle between my legs magnified and my orgasm exploded through me.
He pulled me toward him.
“Come, my love, and I will bring you to true completion.”
My eyes shot open.
Dante.
I hadn’t called him by name, and he hadn’t called me by name. Our faces had been colorless blurs, but it had been him.
I’d dreamed of going to him, making love to him.
It had seemed so real!
It had been dark, a little twisted, but it had been amazing. Wonderful. He’d commanded me, and I’d obeyed. I hadn’t even thought about it. I was far from submissive, but disobeying him hadn’t entered my mind.
And when I’d climbed on top of him, sunk down on that beautiful cock…
It wouldn’t happen. I had to accept that.
Why couldn’t I get this man out of my mind? It was crazy. I barely knew him.
Time to go to work. At least I’d gotten s
ome sleep, infested though it had been with dreams of Dante, but it was more than I’d had the previous day.
Driving in, I stared at the full moon in the clear night sky. I’d always loved the nighttime. I’d been a night owl all my life. When I became a nurse, I had been one of the few people who actually requested the night shift. Lucy, I found out later, also preferred the night shift, which surprised me, given how sexually active she was. She thought nothing of having a one-night stand and then never seeing the guy again. She was my best friend, and I certainly didn’t judge her, but that wasn’t the life I wanted.
Or was it? I hadn’t been able to get Dante Gabriel out of my mind. Maybe what I needed was an old-fashioned fuck. It had been a while. I also needed some girl talk with Lucy.
But she was nowhere to be found once I left the locker room and went up to the ER. I grabbed Steve. “Hey, where’s Lucy?”
“She called in sick earlier. Said she has food poisoning or something.”
“Crap. I want to talk to her.”
“Talk to me instead.” Steve smiled. “At least the hag isn’t working tonight. It’s Dr. Thomas and that resident who has the hots for you.”
“Dr. Crown?” I shook my head. “He’s over me.”
“I doubt that, Erin, since he just asked me a few minutes ago if you were working tonight.”
“Really? I just figured, after he went out with Lucy…”
“They didn’t click, according to both of them,” Steve said.
“How do you know that?”
“Girlfriend, do you think there’s anything that goes on in the hospital I don’t know? I’m the Perez Hilton of this place.”
“True.” I laughed. “But Lucy never even told me whether they slept together.”
“Did you ask?”
“Well…no. But Lucy usually volunteers information with me.”
“Yes, and she usually fucks every man she goes out with. But not Dr. Crown. Said she wasn’t feeling it and neither was he. So I’d say the door’s wide open if you want to go through. He’s still hot for you.”
“Are you sure?” Normally I wasn’t so insecure, but after being thrown out of Dante’s home this morning, I was feeling a little low on the self-esteem meter. I sure as heck wasn’t going to open myself up for more rejection.
Unchained: Blood Bond Saga: Volume One Page 8
