The anger was back, but I was risking this nice and neat setup we had going. I still didn't know what Gavin was capable of. He had showered me with gifts, fed my every hunger sexually, but I knew nothing of his background, how he had become a vampire, if he had any family. Nothing. How did I know that he wouldn't up and murder me because he could? Who would care beyond neighbors? I had no family of my own left.
Gavin was quiet as he paced the floor at the foot of my bed. His erection stood stark from his body, making me want to grab onto it and taste as he had been about to offer earlier. Wracking my mind for words to lure him back to the bed without losing the fire in his eyes, I slid to the edge of the bed. Suddenly, Gavin stopped pacing and moved to slip into his clothes. My eyes widened.
"What are you doing?"
He didn't look at me. “I'm getting dressed."
"But."
When he was fully clothed, his hard-on tucked away to my bitter disappointment, he turned back to me. “Jenna, you are a beautiful and desirable woman, and I understand that you have your own mind, love your independence and the life you've chosen for yourself in this,” the look of distaste on his face was plain, “small town. But, I will not share the woman who is my lover. Ever. When and if you decide I am enough man for you, I will return to your bed."
He leaned over and kissed me before strolling to the balcony. I jettisoned off the bed to follow. “How will you know I've changed my mind?"
I must have blinked or turned my head without realizing or something because when I stepped naked into the evening air, my perfect lover was gone. Pressing a hand to my mouth, I burst out crying, something I hadn't done for years.
Chapter Seven
Gavin had meant it. I was sitting alone night after night, wanting him, aching for him, but he didn't come. And even had I been able to muster some interest in the stranger from the supermart over losing my vampire, the bastard had destroyed the business card. Had I come to the conclusion that Gavin was a lost cause and maybe the stranger was my best bet, I would have to travel to the next town to hope I ran into him. And since I did not own a car, that meant bringing Mrs. Landry, which was not a preference at this point. The sexual neediness Gavin had brought to life and now was unfulfilled was making me bitchy. I'd already snapped at several customers. This couldn't continue.
When two weeks passed with no sign of Gavin to even check on whether I'd changed my mind, I became angry. And in defiance of the man who thought nothing of treating me like property, I arranged to borrow another neighbor's car to travel to the supermart. I made sure it was a time when Mrs. Landry was knee deep in preserving so that she wouldn't think I was slighting her, even though I was.
After several hours, I'd plopped every item I might need over the next month into my cart, and had even strolled at the slowest pace possible past the lingerie aisle. The stranger was nowhere to be found. When my feet were aching and my stomach growling from missing lunch, I called it quits. I paid for my items and packed them into the trunk of Mr. Nole's old jalopy and headed across the street to have dinner before heading back to Littleton.
By the time I finished my dinner, the sun had gone down and I paid for my food and left the restaurant. Too late, I realized it was a Sunday night and the supermart closed earlier than usual. The parking lot in front of the store had rapidly become a ghost town. There were only two cars parked in it, including Mr. Nole's car. Glancing both ways, I skipped across the street. A small town's crime rate was extremely low, but I didn't want to push it. A woman alone in a deserted area was just irresponsible.
As I walked at a clipped pace across the lot, I pulled my keys from my pocket and readied the key that would unlock the door. Only now did I regret bringing Mrs. Landry or at least borrowing her more modern vehicle with its button to unlock the door. At the car, I jammed in the key and turned. A second after, a hand closed over my mouth from behind, and I was slammed into a wall-like chest.
Trying to remember the self-defense training I'd taken two years before to deflect some of the abuse my husband had doled out to me, I laced the keys between my fingers and then jabbed them against my assailant. I thought I would vomit up my heart when he didn't even wince when the metal obviously pierced the flesh on his arm.
Terror rocked me when I realized he was dragging me toward the back of the supermart. I fought like a wild animal, stomping on his feet, kicking him, trying to bite. Nothing worked. The man was inhuman. And that thought made me nearly wet my pants. If he was something like Gavin, undead or worse—what could possibly be worse than undead—I was in terrible trouble.
In a spot of darkness, the man pushed me against the back of the building and pressed himself against my body. Bile rose in my throat when I felt his erection straining against his pants. Advice had been to look your attacker in the eye, that it would disorient him and possibly make him run off. How silly that seemed right then, being that I couldn't see his eyes. At first. A glow started, and my stomach dropped knowing what I was up against. I had seen that same glow in Gavin's eyes. Unbidden tears fell from my eyes. The man who was now lifting my chin so that my neck was exposed, was a vampire.
A fevered brain had me imaging I could hear his fangs split his gums as they extended in readiness to bite me. I dragged in a breath to scream, but he pressed a hand hard against my mouth. Bringing up my knee did no good since he caught it in a vice-like grip. There was no escape.
Thoughts of Gavin filled my mind as I realized the pain in my neck was an instant long before a numbness spread throughout my body. My legs gave, and consciousness left me along with the life-giving blood.
* * * *
The stench of bad meat woke me. I was laying face down in a dark alley. Glancing toward the horizon, I realized the sun was coming up. Panic filled me. My neighbor would be frantic to know what had become of me. Suddenly, the memory of what had happened came rushing back. I examined my neck with my finger tips. I couldn't feel anything, not even pain at having been bitten.
On weakened legs, I stumbled to the car and turned on the overhead light to examine my neck in the mirror. Nothing. No holes like in the movies. I was beginning to think I'd imagined it all. But then I hadn't imagined Gavin, had I?
With a Herculean effort to stay alert, I made it home, parked the car and dragged myself up to my bed. The last thought I had before I went to sleep was if I really was becoming a vampire, the bright sun I'd always loved coming in through my balcony doors would fry me to a crispy critter.
Chapter Eight
Again, I woke confused and disoriented. I wasn't in my bed. Trying to roll over from my stomach, something above me stopped my movement. I freaked, imaging all kinds of bad things, including being buried alive. If I had died and been discovered, maybe Mrs. Landry had coordinated my funeral and I was underground. Terror ripped through me. “Gavin..."
For the first time in two weeks, I considered giving in and pleading for him to come to me. I didn't even know where he was, but I knew if nothing else, he'd know what to do. In the darkness around me, I dragged in deep breaths to try to calm my racing heart.
"Okay, Jenna. Think rationally,” I whispered. Common sense said the guy who attacked me had given me some drug to knock me out and rob me. I hadn't found my purse in that alley, though my keys had been in my pocket. Exhausted from the manhandling, I drove home and ... then what?
Best thing to do was to get out of the hole I was in. “Don't say hole,” I whimpered. I pushed against the thing on top of me and found that it was easy to budge. Another few minutes and I knew just where I was—in the closet beneath the stairs. The thing on top of me must be that hideous suitcase fit to hide a body in that Mrs. Landry had offered for me to use when I'd planned a trip last year. Turns out I had to cancel, but it was just as well. The suitcase was hidden, and I didn't know how to tell the woman I wouldn't be caught dead using it.
Night had fallen again. My house was empty, but I found a note from Mrs. Landry informing me of how worried she was about me. �
��Me too,” I muttered.
I hesitated to call her. She might demand an explanation, and right then, I didn't have one. My only recourse was to find Gavin, not only for an explanation, but because I missed him with all my heart. Who knew I loved him so much. Being separated from him was harder than I thought. And I had the fear that he had already moved on. After all, how could a man with his appetite have gone this long without a woman to make love to? My heart cried at the thought.
Moving to my balcony, I glanced out over the town of Littleton. My bedroom was situated on the third floor of the house and the spire that my balcony was built onto sat so high, I could look over rooftops for miles. “For miles?” My eyesight was good, but not that good!
I gasped, then shook my head. “Oh no, Gavin! Where are you? Something's wrong with me."
"Jenna."
Spinning around, I searched my room. I know I had heard his voice, but no one was in the bedroom or anywhere else around me. It was late, after one in the morning. All of Littleton was asleep. This was it. I was cracking up after that attack.
A sound behind me caught my attention, and I turned again to find Gavin touching down on my balcony. His muscled form, hypnotizing eyes, manly scent, drew me into his embrace. I cuddled close, only now realizing I was trembling.
Gavin tipped up my chin and kissed me gently. I couldn't get enough of his mouth, like I was a woman starving. “Gavin, I've missed you.” I didn't mean to blurt that out, but the words tumbled from my lips.
"And I've missed you,” he whispered into my ear.
The smart decision was not to ask, but I had to know. “Have you been with another woman while we were apart?” The whole argument was about me deciding to see other men, and yet here I was wanting to know if he had done the same. I was whipped.
He chuckled. “No.” I heard sorrow in his voice. “I smell another man on you, Jenna."
"I—"
A finger pressed over my lips, he cut me off. “It doesn't matter. I've come to the decision that if you want to be with other men, I will not stop you. And I will reframe from ending their lives as I had also thought to do while I was away."
I stared silently at him.
"The bottom line is that if you are willing to keep me as your lover, than I will have to be content with that.” He kissed me again, and after drinking his desire from him as if he were my nectar, I nuzzled into his chest. There would be time enough to discuss what happened to me.
A squeak of excitement escaped me when Gavin showed off by lifting us both inches above the floor and gliding into the room. We landed as feathers on the bed, laying in each other's arms. I ran a hand down over his pants to locate his thick erection. Desire engulfed me as I stroked him.
"The last time, you didn't let me suck you,” I accused.
"I'm sorry, darling. You will have that first."
I watched in fascination as my lover removed his clothing to uncover his cock. As soon as it sprung free, I pounced, stroking and licking my prize. The taste of him was so delicious, I squeezed and tugged, wanting him to cum in my mouth right away. While my mouth closed over the engorged flesh, I teased his balls, mentally coaxing them to give me what I craved.
Gavin moved his hips forward and back, groaning, “Ah, Jenna. Darling, I've missed your sweet mouth. Swallow me, all of me."
I tried. He was so big, it wouldn't all fit, but boy did I try. Moving my hands below him to his buttocks, I squeezed and shoved him upward toward my mouth, pushing his cock deeper down my throat. The slick wetness was a tight squeeze.
My lover gasped, “Careful. I don't want to hurt you."
He must be crazy. I had a ravenous need I couldn't seem to reach. And then his balls tightened and the luscious explosion I had been waiting for filled my mouth. I drank all of him and sucked for more. My tongue curling around his shaft for the last drippings, I watched Gavin from the corner of my eye. His head had gone back, and he was panting.
With no forethought, I moved to his thigh, kissed it, and with fangs I had no knowledge of having grown, bit down into the well-developed muscle. Blood filled my mouth, the perfect chaser for Gavin's cum.
He shot bolt upright, “Jenna! What the hell?"
Chapter Nine
"Well at least I know it wasn't you who attacked me in that alley,” I sighed, after explaining to Gavin all that had happened to me.
He cast me a look as if that didn't make much difference to the disaster before us.
"What? You wanted to turn me. Now I'm like you and my life is ruined.” I slumped in a chair to stare at the moon. No more sun for me. Depression weighed heavily. And all my lover could think about was that he wasn't the one who made me a member of the freaking undead.
Gavin moved to pull me up from my chair and then sat down to sit me on his lap. His arms wrapped around me and drew me back to his bare chest. Since I had also removed my clothing in preparation for a night of lovemaking—after I'd fed from his thigh—it stuck me as odd that I was so comfortable sitting outside without a stitch on my person.
"Had you given me permission to turn you, we would have made all arrangements for you to leave this town, to step out of your living existence as it were. Everything would be planned well to bring about the least amount of suspicion. Now, from what you tell me, your neighbors are worried about what happened to you. We will have to come up with some excuse, and then you can come live with me."
I stiffened. Not because I didn't want to be with Gavin permanently. I'd already crossed that decision bridge. There was no turning back, because if I wanted a contented life to any degree of what I had before I met him, then I needed to do what it took to be with my vampire. The fear of just where he lived was the thing. “Um, where do you live? In a graveyard? A coffin?"
He laughed, “Don't be silly. In a house, a mansion actually. But..."
"But?"
A breeze stirred my hair, and I brushed it from my eyes to see the man who had tried to pick me up in the supermart standing in front of me. I gasped at his boldness, and wondered where he came from. “But,” he said, “he doesn't live alone."
Gavin, seeing the man, tossed an arm over my breasts and one between my legs, to cover my nakedness. Other than that, he made no move.
My eyes widened. All kinds of imaginings at the man's words went through my head. My lover was the first to speak. “This loser is my half-brother, Richard. He is the bastard that tried picking you up in the store."
"I was feeling her out,” the man protested.
"You were being an ass, as usual.” The two men sparred with words while I stared at them both. They looked nothing alike, except maybe for the enigmatic eyes. Since they were related, it did away with the unlikely coincidence that two handsome men were after me in our tiny community.
Richard turned to me, reached out for my hand and then withdrew at the threatening look from his brother. “My younger brother has been hesitant about choosing a mate to walk at his side. I did only what I've been doing all of our lives, even when we were both mortal."
"W-What are you saying?” I gasped. He hesitated, and I looked back at Gavin. “What's he saying, Gavin?"
The man I loved sighed. “Jenna, vampires in our family can be a bit high-handed regarding their women I'm afraid. The norm,” he cast his brother a dark look, “is to choose a woman, make her his and then spend the rest of their lives together. I wanted to take it slower, to help you to fall in love with me. Needless to say my brother thought I was being weak."
I blinked. Suddenly something occurred to me. “So you knew all along who it was I had met in the store. And I'm guessing it was Richard who turned me because you were taking too long. And left me in that alley alone!"
Richard spoke up in some annoyance. “I was nearby. I was going to bring you back to our home for Gavin, but you left. When I got here, you were sleeping on top the bed with the balcony doors open. I imagined that my brother would not appreciate it if I let you burn with the coming day, so I put you in a safe pl
ace."
"You put me in a closet, you bastard,” I snapped. “And I would thank you for saving my life, but then you were the one who took it in the first place.” I turned accusing eyes on my lover.
Defeat was plain in Gavin's eyes. He said nothing. I knew his heart was hurting, probably thinking he'd blown the whole thing. As suddenly as it sprung up, my anger drained from me. I leaned in to him and placed my lips to his ear. “You said you wanted me only for my body."
"I lied."
"Send him away."
Gavin's eyes sparked to a glow as I'd seen them before. His brows dropped low over his eyes, and his fangs lengthened. Excitement grew inside me. “Get lost, Richard. I need to claim my mate more fully now that she is a vampire."
"Finally,” Richard grunted. “See you back at home.” In a flash, the man was gone.
With a hand on each side of my face, Gavin looked into my eyes. “I love you, Jenna. I'll do whatever you ask. If you want me to go away, I will. If you'd prefer to live in this awful town, then I'll do that too. Just tell me."
I glanced down at my hands and then back into his glowing eyes. Taking a deep breath, I let him know what was on my mind. “I want you to put me against the wall and spank me. I want you to use your tongue in places I never imagined a lover would go, and I want you to fill me so full and so often I can barely walk the next day."
Gavin's gaze dropped to my nipples, and he licked his lips. “Your wish, darling, is my command."
THE END
About the Author
Brenda Steele loves all things out of the ordinary. She writes to gratify the cravings of her own sexual drive, and then for her dear readers. Hopefully, the two won't be far apart and all who read her work will come away satisfied. Look for her other hot title, “My Werewolf Lover."
Also available from Amira Press
My Vampire Lover Page 3
