“That’s because—” She held her breath to stop herself from blurting out her secret.
“Because why?”
Angelina stared into his eyes and wanted to tell him. Wanted to say that they had been together three years ago and had a child together. That Tommy, the boy he had saved, the boy who had rapidly become attached to coming to work, to see ‘Mr. Rainy’, was his son. How would he react? Did he want children? Did he have other children? He was four hundred years old, it made sense that he’d have had other children.
Had he lost other children?
Her throat was so dry she felt parched and so picked up her water bottle and gulped down a few swallows. Her hands shook as she considered it. If he didn’t want anything to do with his son… would it really affect her? Well… yes. It would. Because when Tommy got older and asked about his father, what would she tell him? That he didn’t want anything to do with him? It would be less heartbreaking just to tell Tommy that his father didn’t know about him.
What if Tommy seeks him out when he’s older and that’s how we find out he doesn’t want anything to do with him?
And if Rainer did want Tommy? If he wanted to have his son? Could she share custody? Yes. But what if Rainer doesn’t?
She didn’t know him well enough to trust him. What were his thoughts on parenting? He was from a different time, a time when hurting children was considered the best way of teaching them. Was that how he’d parent Tommy? With slaps, spankings, beatings? And then there was the drinking. The women. Was that the sort of thing Angelina wanted her son exposed to?
What if Rainer was just giving her a line? What if he was only saying this because she was the one he’d been seen with. She was the one who was most likely to get him that kingship?
“I just have one of those faces.”
Rainer laughed. “No. No, you do not have ‘one of those faces.’ You are unique.”
Her heart warmed, but she didn’t allow herself to believe it. “So you want me to pretend to be your girlfriend so that you can become king.”
“I want you to be my girlfriend for real so that I can be your boyfriend for real.” He pointed at their phones. “Listen. Even this dating agency matched us up. And…” His smile faded away as he looked at them again. “Oh.”
“Oh?” Angelina moved a little closer despite herself. “Oh what?”
Rainer sighed as he picked up his phone again. “You didn’t know it was me.”
“Oh.” Angelina hesitated a moment. How was she meant to get to know him, to know if he was someone she wanted in her child’s life unless she spent time with him? “I… When you said where you worked, I thought it might be you. I tried to convince myself it wasn’t… but I hoped it was. I wanted it to be you.” Heat flared in her cheeks as she glanced away, unable to bring herself to look at him any longer. “And that’s why it was a mistake. Because I was thinking about when I thought I was with someone else.”
Rainer touched her chin, making her look at him again. His thumb brushed over her lips and then he kissed her. Lightly, briefly, as soft as a baby’s sigh.
“You have nothing to feel guilty about, Angel.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You’re still stuck in the twenties when it was all ‘live big and try to forget the horrors of war’. You’ve got four hundred years of changing moralities. Me? I have only what feels right for me. And it didn’t.”
Rainer sighed as he pulled back. “I thought you were enjoying yourself.”
“I was. But there’s a difference between in the moment and then afterward.” She folded her arms and studied him before she nodded. She didn’t seem to be able to pull herself away from him, anyway. Why not walk into this with a level head, rather than always giving in to her desires and then feeling bad about it? “Okay. We can date. But if I decide it ends, then it ends. Understood?”
Rainer beamed at her. “Understood! And to start with, I am taking you to dinner tonight. Someplace chill and relaxed for our first official date.”
“I can’t tonight, I have—”
“Bring Tommy, too.” He grinned widely at her. “If you’re going to be my girlfriend, then I can’t very well ignore the fact that you have a son, can I? The way I see it, every date has the potential to become more. And so, I have to prove that I’m a good enough choice to be a stepfather one day, right?”
Angelina nearly changed her mind right then. No, she wanted to say. You will never be his stepfather. She managed to hold her tongue. He was joking. It was way too early to even start thinking about marriage and besides that, she certainly wasn’t ready. No. He was joking, and she couldn’t take it too seriously because then he’d be suspicious.
And it was too early to tell him that he had a son by her. She had to wait, to get to know him better.
Although if he made a good stepfather, that would mean he’d make a good father, too. The nerves that had blossomed with his words faded as she nodded. Yes, this was the perfect way to see what sort of man he was. If he was good to her and Tommy thinking that she was just a single mom and he was just her son, without knowing that Tommy was his son, that would mean he’d be good to them after he knew.
So it’s a test, she thought, to know if a man who brings women back to his office and sleeps with prostitutes can be a good father after all.
***
Angelina’s interview with Kavan McBride exploded with views as soon as it was launched on the site. Other media outlets had articles on her interview or brought it up in the newscasts just to try to get a fraction of the response she got.
When Rainer scrolled through the comments attached to it, he was pleased to see a healthy debate on the topics presented. There were the idiots who attacked Angelina’s character for simply asking questions, and of course, the people who proclaimed that Weiman was one step closer to taking over the world by making people sympathetic to mass murderers (when Kavan had not been charged with a single murder), but for the most part, the comments were what Rainer wanted to see—people looking at both sides of the issue. People looking at the systematic way the paranormal community was excluded from human society, forcing them into the fringes and then being punished for that.
He had a few more interviews lined up for her to do, too. Her name was getting quite well-known and with Phoenix, her craft was improving, too. Angelina was a remarkably fast learner.
Tonight, though, he didn’t want to think about all that. It was his third official date with Angelina, and he had plans.
You know what they say about third dates.
He grinned at her where they sat in the corner booth of a restaurant. This was the fanciest place he had brought them yet. The thing about Angelina was that she was proudly independent, and Rainer had to be careful about how much money he spent on her. For one thing, she didn’t like to feel like the relationship was any more lopsided than it was. She didn’t want to feel dependent on him or accept gifts that she had no possible way of reciprocating. Add to that, she was still uncertain about the relationship. He could see it in her eyes whenever they were together.
Although that uncertainty always disappeared when they kissed. She had made it clear to him before they started this that she didn’t want it to get too physical. And since then, it had ended up being him more often than not having to enforce her boundaries.
He understood, though. With how they ended up making love before, Rainer knew that Angelina just wanted to be certain it wasn’t just her hormones talking.
Tonight, though, Tommy was being watched by his usual babysitter and Rainer had snuck her an extra couple hundred, telling her not to be surprised if she had to stay overnight. Angelina had heard and scowled at him, but he could still smell the arousal on her.
“So,” he said, trying to sound casual as he watched her dig into her shrimp and steak with gusto, “there was something I wanted to talk to you about.”
Angelina smiled at him. “What’s that?”
“Remember how I said that I was go
ing to need to drink fresh from the vein soon?”
Her smile faltered.
“It’s getting to a relatively urgent point now.” He paused to check her reaction. She looked a little uncertain but not afraid, so he moved ahead. “If you’re not comfortable with it I can find another volunteer—”
“No.” Her eyes flashed, and he grinned at her.
“A little possessive, are we?”
Angelina snorted as she sipped at her wine. “Don’t tease me. I know exactly what it means to have a vampire drink from you. So, I know what it would mean if you found another ‘volunteer.’ If you’re going to drink from anybody, it’s going to be me.”
Rainer would have continued to grin, only he knew what she meant. Another vampire had drunk from her. Tommy’s father. It was something he had tried not thinking about, but every once in a while… He knew he shouldn’t be jealous. She never talked about him and in the rare times when he did come up, she had been evasive, and it was clear that she did not have fond memories of that vampire.
All the same, Rainer knew one thing. If Tommy’s father had been human, he’d be able to erase him from her mind easily. Human men were just no match for someone with his years of experience, his stamina and the added pleasure that two compatible people got from the drinking of blood (in his opinion, it was the most intimate act of all. However, since she had had all of that with another vampire…
“I do look forward to tasting you,” he said, trying to repress his jealousy. “You look sweet and spicy. Blood has different flavors, and I can’t wait to see what yours tastes like.”
He let his gaze drift over her curvy figure. Large, soft breasts with deep cleavage exposed by the sweetheart neckline of her fitted blue dress. Ruching at the waist emphasized her narrowest point, while her hips flared teasingly. Her legs were exposed, her calves looking amazingly tempting in those high-heels. Her hair was swept back and hung loose and glossy in large curls. He wanted to bury his face into her neck, to suckle those magnificent breasts, to taste her clit as it hardened.
Her pupils dilated as she gazed back at him, but there was uncertainty there, too. She chewed on another shrimp before setting her silverware down. “Before I agree to be your… volunteer, though, you should know something. It’s…”
Before she could finish, Marcus Smith had sat down in the booth, physically moving Angelina aside. He grabbed a shrimp from her plate and popped it into his mouth as he grinned. Rainer stiffened, glaring at Marcus as he sat there, completely at ease.
“What are you doing here?” Rainer snarled.
“I saw my dear friends having supper and decided to come say hello.”
Rainer glanced at Angelina. It was clear she was uncomfortable being so close to the other vampire, and Rainer quickly scooted over, giving her more room to put distance between herself and Marcus. Seemingly oblivious to it all, Marcus took her wine glass and finished off the wine.
“I must say,” he giggled, “I’m surprised. Not to say I’m not pleased. I mean, if Rainer here has a chance, then we all do.”
Rainer was about to snap at him to leave, but Angelina spoke before he could. “What do you mean?”
Marcus pointed at her. “I mean you. It’s surprising, is all. That the two of you are so, so very happy together. I am happy for you both, for certain. Happy indeed.”
“You keep saying it like that and I might not believe you,” Rainer growled. “Marcus, this is a private evening between my girlfriend and I—”
“Oh, I noticed. No rug rat tonight. It’s the first time the two of you have been seen out in public without him, as I recall.” He grinned and stole more shrimp. He chomped them with an open mouth as he glanced at Angelina. “Don’t look so shocked, I pay attention to the tabloids. Not much else to do, really. Guess it’s time for this to go to the next level. I’m surprised, I really am.”
Rainer clenched his fists. “So you’ve said.”
“And why’s that?” Angelina spat at him, her eyes flashing.
“Because of what happened to his wife, of course. But you already know all about it.”
Rainer’s blood ran cold.
Marcus grinned. “It was in all the papers at the time. An awful, bloody business it was. A woman grieving for the loss of her infant boy. Found brutally murdered.”
Rainer clenched his fists so hard his knuckles cracked. His heart pounded shallowly, and the urge to rise up and tear off Marcus’ head surged through him. He wanted to punch his smug face in, he wanted to roar that that wasn’t how it happened. But the memory of Jennifer’s body, lifeless, and all that blood… her wrists slashed open and the note on the pillow. I want to hold my son again.
It was all she wrote and all she needed to write. Pain coursed through him, as though a stake had been driven into his heart.
“Well… I always thought it must be suicide, really. The papers all said that Rainer here,” Marcus nodded at him, “lost control while feeding on her and killed her. But I never believed it. I mean, who drinks from the wrist? You bite at the neck. If it had been him losing control, he’d have torn out her throat—”
The table cracked as Rainer slammed his fists into it. The dishes rattled and everybody within their vicinity turned, startled, to stare at them.
“You have no right to come here and try to terrorize—”
“You do.”
Rainer turned to Angelina in surprise. She was staring at him, her eyes wide. Her chest heaved as she cringed back from him. Moving closer to Marcus than Rainer. Her horror was palpable, rolling off her in waves. He hated seeing her look at him like that. Afraid. He wanted to reassure her, tell her the truth of what happened.
He was going to tell her. Someday. But it was something that he didn’t even like to think about, let alone talk about!
“Angelina—”
“You drink from the wrist.” She drew back, pressing her hands firmly against her sides as though he was going to attack her right there. “You drink… when you’re getting low, when you need to drink and it’s urgent, you drink from the wrist.”
Rainer stared at her. “How… how can you possibly know that?”
Marcus looked between them; his eyes lit up as though this was the best he could have hoped for. Rainer tried to ignore him as he focused on Angelina. She had to know. He had to tell her.
“It wasn’t like that,” he said. He’d find out how she knew that he preferred the wrist to the neck some other time. It wasn’t common knowledge—he rarely drank from the women he met at clubs and none of them had said anything to the media! “Angelina, please listen—”
“You didn’t even know he was married before, did you?” Marcus purred into her ear. “Makes you wonder why he never brought it up, doesn’t it?”
Rainer jumped to his feet. He seized Marcus by the arm and dragged him to his feet. Marcus only laughed and clapped him on the back as he dragged him away from the table. People looked on uneasily, but Rainer ignored them all. He all but threw Marcus out the doors. Barely able to stop himself from shouting at the other vampire to never come back, he spun on his heel to go back to the table.
Only his Angel wasn’t there.
Panic seized his throat. Where was she? He had to explain to her, had to tell her what had happened. Had to let her know that the reason he had never brought Jennifer up was guilt—guilt for not being able to save their son, guilt for not seeing the signs of her impending suicide—and the pain. Even after all these years, it hurt so badly he couldn’t bring himself to look in the mirror at times.
She had to know it wasn’t because he’d killed her. He would never have hurt his wife! And he’d never hurt her. Angelina had somehow become central to his life. The best part of going to work was seeing her at her desk. Watching her eyes light up when she was telling him about completing whatever assignment he’d given her.
Quickly, he rushed to find her. She had her coat under one arm and was moving toward the second entrance. Rainer reached for her arm.
&
nbsp; “Angel—”
“Don’t touch me.”
Rainer froze. He swallowed as she kept walking away and followed. “Angel, it’s not like that.”
“You didn’t tell me.”
“No. I didn’t. Because it hurts to talk about. It hurts to think about, Angel. Please. Please, you have to listen to me—”
Angelina stopped. She turned to him and shook her head. “No. I don’t. There was always something… something that I didn’t know about. I have to trust my gut. You said that you went too far last time, because it was too easy for you to lose control. And now? It’s too much for me to deal with. Let me walk out of this restaurant and don’t contact me until I contact you or I will tell everybody about this.”
Shock and betrayal swept through him. He couldn’t quite believe what she was saying. Angelina turned on her heel and walked away and this time he let her. If she didn’t want to listen to him… he couldn’t make her.
And the last thing he wanted was his greatest shame plastered on every newsstand across America.
Chapter Nine
When he’d drunk from her, there hadn’t been so much as a scar left behind. Angelina rubbed her wrist, feeling the twin pricks of pain that had flashed across her skin three years ago when he took his first gulp. It hadn’t hurt as much as she had thought it would, and when he started to drink, it had been… explosive. It only got better when he had moved from her wrist to her neck.
She had thought that, since he drank from her wrists rather than her neck, it was less dangerous. That he had better control over himself…
Her hands fell to her lap as she stared at the yellowed pages of the newspapers from fifty years ago. She’d had to search through a few libraries before she found one that had archives that had what she wanted. Now, she felt like crying and screaming and being sick.
In Bed with the Vampire: A Paranormal Romance (Shifter Dating Service Book 3) Page 10
