Natalie smiled slowly. It wasn’t a question, but she didn’t mind. She was too riveted by the thick muscles padding his shoulders and arms, the flat planes of his chest tapering down to a perfect set of abs and a flat belly. She sighed with pleasure at the sight of him, and he laughed. It was the sound of unabashed male pride, but she couldn’t blame him. Not with the way she’d been ogling his body. Her smile widened. “I’m ready for that shower.”
Two minutes later, they were both naked under the pounding rush of some really hot water. Natalie stood under the spray, washing away the slimy feel of Anthony’s touch. Not to mention the traces of the vampire who’d dusted all over her when Christian killed him. Yuck. She’d just slathered shampoo over her hair, when Christian’s strong fingers took over the job, massaging her scalp as he rubbed it into her hair. Natalie leaned back against him, stretching her arms behind her to wrap around his hips, and caress the strong curves of his firm butt. The position also had the side benefit of pressing his equally fine erection against her butt, which she didn’t mind at all.
“I could get used to this,” she murmured, mostly to herself.
“Rinse,” he said, reaching over her head to unhook the removable shower attachment. Natalie turned around and tipped her head backward, enjoying the combined pleasure of the hot water and his strong fingers as they threaded through her hair.
Once he was finished rinsing, she patted his chest. “What’s next?”
He got a wicked grin on his face, and said, “I thought I’d fuck you up against that wall until you screamed.”
Natalie felt a rush of heat low in her belly that quickly sank even lower. Her cheeks flushed, and she admitted to herself that she wouldn’t mind that scenario at all. But that’s not what she’d meant when she’d asked him. She stomped a foot impatiently, laughing when he instinctively twisted to protect his balls from her knee. She reached between them, and cupped his balls in her hand, giving them a fond caress that ended with a firm stroke of his cock. “You don’t have to worry about protecting these guys,” she told him. “I like them way too much.”
Christian snorted. “That’s good to know, but I’ve seen you in action, chére. A man can never be too careful.”
Natalie patted his chest again. “What I meant to ask was, what happens next with your vampire stuff? Will you move to the estate now?”
“Hell, no. We’ll stay here in the short term, but I have to start building a security force, and that will mean a much bigger house. The estate is the right size, but I hate that place. I’m thinking of moving to Santa Fe. I like it there.”
Natalie made a noncommittal noise. She wanted to know what came next with them, too, but she wasn’t going to ask about that.
“Hey,” he said, lifting her chin with one finger. “You want to help me pick out a new house?”
“You mean like, as a financial expert? That’s not really—”
“No, Natalie. Like . . . as my mate. I love you. I want you to stay with me.”
Natalie’s heart leapt so hard, it felt like it was lodged in her throat. Tears filled her eyes, and Christian’s eyebrows rose at the sight. She forced herself to swallow, in order to croak, “Happy tears.”
“Ah. Does that mean you’re saying yes?”
She nodded, glad that she’d already showered her mascara off, because the tears were now streaming down her face. She gathered herself enough to say, “My father will want a real wedding.”
Christian threw his head back and laughed. “A wedding he’ll have then.”
“You mean it?”
“Of course. All I care about is having you by my side and in my bed every night.”
Natalie rolled her forehead against his wet chest. She was so happy she could hardly contain it. “I love you,” she whispered, then looked up at him and said it again. “I love you.”
“Je t’aimerai á jamais, ma Natalie.” I will love you always.
Christian bent his head to kiss her, then said against her lips, “Now, about fucking you up against that wall . . .” He reached down and grabbed her butt, lifting her as he backed her against the tiled wall of the shower.
Natalie sucked in a surprised breath, but responded quickly, wrapping her legs around his hips and squeezing, pulling him against her. Christian growled his approval, hitched her a little higher, then gripped his cock and slipped it into her slick and ready pussy, going deep with a single, gliding thrust.
“So nice and wet for me,” he murmured, his deep voice a hum of sound over her wet skin.
She shivered and tightened her hold on him, wrapping her arms around his neck, and locking her ankles over his butt, pulling him even further into her body. Her nipples scraped the soft hair on his chest, and she lowered her mouth to his shoulder, kissing the thick skin over solid muscle, licking her way up to his neck.
He did the same to her, his tongue a hot rasp over her flesh, until his mouth closed over her vein, and she felt the hard brush of his fangs.
She moaned in anticipation, sucking the strong tendon between his neck and shoulder, giving in to the temptation to bite, her teeth sinking in until she tasted blood. She froze in shock at what she’d done until she heard Christian’s groan.
“That’s it,” he ground out. “Taste me.”
Natalie’s whole body shook with desire. She bit down harder until her mouth was filled with his blood. She swallowed automatically. The orgasm came from nowhere, storming through her body, and shaking her bones, until she thought she’d break apart. Her nerves were on fire, her body clamping down on Christian’s cock, as she cried out again and again, ecstasy rippling over her in growing swells until she could only cling to Christian and ride it out. His arms were banded around her like steel as he slammed his cock into the tight glove of her pussy, until, with a shout, he plunged deep and stayed there, the hot wash of his release filling her, as his fangs sliced into her vein and sent her screaming into climax all over again.
Natalie bucked helplessly, her emotions spilling out in sobs while she clung to his massive shoulders, her face buried against his neck. Christian hummed his pleasure as he drank her blood, and in the midst of her orgasm, she found a sensual satisfaction in knowing that she was keeping him strong and alive.
Eventually, the tremors slowed, and stopped. She felt the warm scrape of Christian’s tongue on her neck, and then he lifted her away from the wall, and reached out with one hand to turn off the water. Stepping out of the shower, he grabbed a huge, fluffy towel and wrapped it around her, then carried her into the bedroom. He pulled the covers back and laid her down on the bed, then joined her.
Natalie stirred enough to say, “We’re all wet.”
“And soon we’ll be dry,” he replied, unconcerned. “Come on, you’ll catch a chill.” He wrapped her in the towel, tugged the covers over them both, and pulled her into his arms.
Natalie snuggled against him, too exhausted to do anything else. She’d worry about wet sheets later. Right now, she just wanted to curl up against Christian and sleep.
“Natalie,” Christian said softly, forcing her tired eyes to open again. “Where’d you get the gun?”
“Cynthia Leighton sent it to me,” she mumbled. “I think she wanted me to kill you, though,” she added without thinking, then froze, realizing what she’d said.
But Christian only snorted, and said, “That woman really knows how to hold a grudge.”
“A grudge?” Natalie asked, feeling her consciousness slipping away.
“Later,” he murmured, rubbing a soothing hand up and down her back. “Go to sleep.”
CHRISTIAN KNEW the moment Natalie drifted off. What little tension had been left in her body disappeared, and she slept curled up against his chest as if she couldn’t get close enough. Which was fine with him. His need to protect her was stronger than anything he’d e
ver felt before, stronger even than his feelings for Marc. He had to fight against the urge to hold her closer, for fear he’d break something.
Rolling over to his back, he pulled her against his side, and laid his head on the pillow. The sun was already tipping over the horizon. It was a testament to his power that he’d been able to remain awake this long. But he’d wanted to see Natalie asleep before he fell himself.
Once the full power of sunrise hit him, he’d be literally dead to the world. He only hoped she would sleep until he woke. If she didn’t, if she woke before he did, she’d learn the hard truth of sleeping with a vampire lover.
NATALIE OPENED HER eyes in the unfamiliar room, her memory slowly coming back to fill in the blanks. This was Christian’s bedroom, and they’d gone to sleep together. She rolled over, expecting to find him sound asleep, and admittedly curious to see what he looked like when he did his vampire sleep thing.
Except . . . he wasn’t there. She blinked in surprise. If he was already awake, that meant it was after sunset, and she’d slept through the entire day—something she’d never done before. Of course, she’d also never been kidnapped, shot her way out of a locked room, and then helped kill a powerful vampire before either. Add sex in the shower with Christian, and suddenly, she wasn’t all that surprised she’d slept so long.
She heard voices outside the room and rolled out of bed. She made a quick trip to the bathroom to take care of necessities, then moved over to the sink to wash her hands and face. Once there, however, she got a good look at her hair and had to stifle her shriek of horror. Her hair had been wet when they’d gone to bed, which meant it now looked like someone had shocked her with a few hundred volts sometime while she slept. And all she had with her was her toothbrush and her purse.
Her purse, at least, had a brush in it, so she managed to tame her hair into a tight braid against the back of her head, tying it off with a scrunchie, also from her purse. She brushed her teeth, washed her face, and put her clothes back on from last night, minus the underwear. She didn’t mind pulling on the same clothes, but she drew the line at day-old underwear. Besides, it was only until she could get upstairs to change.
Checking her reflection one last time, she opened the bedroom door, and walked out into the hallway, which was now completely empty. The voices were still there, but they’d already moved upstairs. In the kitchen, probably, where Christian’s beloved espresso machine lived.
She considered stopping at her room to change first, but then she caught Alon’s voice among the others, and rushed into the kitchen instead.
“Alon!” She ran right into his outstretched arms, hugging him tightly as he rocked her from side to side. When she finally pulled back, she had tears in her eyes. “Are you okay? Really okay?”
“Never better, Nat. I feel great.”
Natalie was hugging him again, overcome with happiness at seeing him alive, when she heard a dry cough from behind her. She glanced back and found Christian staring at the two of them with eyes that were deadly serious.
Oh, right. Vampire possessiveness. She turned, and gave Alon a smacking kiss on the lips, then spun around with a grin and walked over to Christian.
“Good evening, my lord,” she said teasingly.
His arm snaked out to snag her around the waist and yank her against his body. One hand dropped to her butt with sharp smack, before stroking it possessively. He gave her a knowing look, obviously feeling the absence of underwear, and a hot blush crept up her face.
To cover her embarrassment, she went up on her toes and kissed his unresponsive mouth. “I missed you when I woke up,” she murmured against his lips. His expression softened, and he kissed her back, this time with feeling, uncaring about who was watching. When he finally released her mouth, Natalie was a little wobbly, and had to cling to his shirt. His smile said he knew the effect he had on her, but she didn’t care as long as he held her the way he was now. She turned in his arms, and took in the other two people in the room.
“Hi, Marc,” she said.
“What? No kiss for me?”
Christian growled a warning, but she just laughed. The other vampire standing with him was vaguely familiar, but she didn’t know his name.
“Natalie, meet Scoville,” Christian said. “Formerly in Anthony’s service, now sworn to mine.”
Natalie nodded her head politely at Scoville, not really understanding what the vamp was doing here, when he’d been the one whose lie got Christian down to Laredo. But if Christian was okay with the guy standing in his kitchen, she had no complaints.
“What happened to Jaclyn and Cibor? Are they still sleeping?”
“No,” Christian said. “They left already. Jaclyn needed to be with her own people.”
“But she’s okay?”
“Fully healed, but it may take a few days before she’s feeling that way. She was hit pretty hard.”
“I should call her later, and ask if—”
They all stopped at the sound of the doorbell, turning almost as one to stare in that direction.
“Are we expecting company?” Marc asked, glancing at Christian.
“Not that I know of.”
Christian’s hold on her tightened when Marc went to answer the door, almost as if he was preparing for the need to defend her. Natalie glanced around the kitchen, and saw that the house was still at DEFCON 1, with shutters over all the windows and doors. She also noticed that Alon and Scoville had both gone hyper alert, their attention riveted on the doorway that Marc had taken. It made her long for her gun.
Marc opened the front door, which Natalie took to mean that the person ringing the bell posed no threat. The vampires all seemed to read it entirely differently, though, if the shift in their body language was anything to go by. Christian pretty much shoved her behind him, not relaxing until the door closed again, and Marc came into view down the hallway.
“Express delivery,” he said, indicating the FedEx-type envelope in his hand. Except the colors were wrong, and it couldn’t be FedEx because they didn’t deliver this late in the day. Not usually anyway. Maybe vampires had their own version of a guaranteed delivery company. VampEx. Natalie stifled a laugh. Somehow, she didn’t think Christian would see the humor right now.
Marc stared down at the envelope, as if wishing he had x-ray vision, then looked up at Christian with a shrug. “Seems innocuous enough.”
Christian lifted his chin at Alon, and passed Natalie into his care, despite her protests. Sure, she was the most vulnerable person in the room if that envelope decided to blow up or something, but Christian could at least talk to her before passing her off like a football.
“Relax, Nat,” Alon murmured in her ear. “He’s just protecting you.”
She elbowed him in the side, hard enough that he grunted. “I know that.”
Christian’s concern was infectious, and her fingers pinched Alon’s arm as she watched him pull the zip strip on the envelope, and tip it upside down until the contents fell into his other hand.
It was a white envelope, about the size of a nice greeting card, and made of quality paper. It looked like an announcement of some sort to Natalie, and she wondered briefly if this was how vampire lords were welcomed to the fold. But Christian’s puzzled expression told her that wasn’t it.
He ran a finger under the sealed flap, pulled out the heavy stock card inside, and started laughing.
Natalie frowned, then shoved away from Alon, walked over to Christian, and pulled the card out of his hand. She’d read only the first few words, “Ms. Lana Arnold and Lord Vincent Kuxim request . . .” before Christian hugged her close and told everyone, “We’re going to a wedding.”
Chapter Thirteen
Mexico City, Mexico
CHRISTIAN WAS THE last to arrive, and he suspected his fellow Vampire Council members had planned it t
hat way. He scanned the gathered vampire lords. Sophia was missing again. And there was no Rajmund, but Lucas was here this time, his long frame slumped over one of the big conference room chairs, looking like a bored teenager. Aden stood against the far wall. Christian wasn’t a small man, but Aden was huge, and he was eyeing Christian with thinly veiled hostility. Christian had never met the Midwestern lord, so this had to be more carryover from someone else’s crimes.
“Christian,” Vincent said, speaking first as the host of this gathering. He came over and offered his hand. “You’re looking better than the last time I saw you,” he added with a grin.
“A hot shower does wonders,” Christian joked, shaking hands.
“You know everyone, of course.”
Christian nodded, then walked over to greet Raphael. The North American Vampire Council was, strictly speaking, a council of equals. But everyone in this room knew who was really in charge.
“Raphael,” Christian said, with a bare tip of his head. He would have loved to know how much Vincent had told Raphael about Hubert’s death, and Christian’s talent. But he wasn’t about to ask.
“Christian,” Raphael responded, smiling. “Congratulations on your victory. A double victory from what I’ve heard. Hubert and Anthony both in one night.”
“I had a good team.”
“And hidden talents,” Raphael said, telling Christian all he needed to know.
Christian eyed him carefully. “It’s always best to hide one’s skills from one’s enemies.”
“But not from one’s allies.”
Christian nodded, conceding the point for the present. But then, they hadn’t been true allies before tonight, had they?
“No Sophia?” Christian asked, changing the subject. He waited to see if Raphael would follow his lead, or push for more.
“We’re all worried about her,” Lucas called from across the room, sounding completely alert despite his less than attentive posture.
Christian (Vampires in America: The Vampire Wars Book 10) Page 35
