Her Secret

by Tara Fox Hall

  “I’ll be a while,” I answered haltingly. “I’d like to shower first.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Devlin purred temptingly. “I’ll be back shortly.” He gave me a smoky look, then descended the stairs.

  Though my loins had me longing to follow, I shook off my desire and quickly tidied up the kitchen and living room. Although three beings had fed on me here, there were no blood spatters visible. Relieved, I settled the pets for the night, including giving the dogs a couple bribery Cheweez each for patience and understanding, then quickly stuck the flowers into two vases, leaving them on the bedroom dresser.

  Devlin hadn’t returned. Instead of starting the shower, I decided to make the most of his absence. He’d marked me tonight and I wanted to celebrate it.

  I went to the linen closet and got the satin sheets that Theo had hated. Vindictively, I put them on the bed upstairs, then pushed open the closet door to survey my lingerie choices. My eyes went first to the matching slip.

  No, I’d worn that for Theo. I yanked it off the hanger and stuffed it into the garbage.

  As the minutes stretched, it became apparent that Theo aside, I didn’t have anything that hadn’t either come from Danial, or that I hadn’t worn for him in the time we’d been together. This wasn’t a night for recycling outfits. I wanted something that was Devlin’s alone, something he didn’t have to share...Yes!

  I went to the spare closet, cursing as I shoved boxes of books out of the way. Opening the door, I pushed my old prom gown and my wedding dress aside, and pulled out a protective bag way at the back. Quickly, I brought it into the bedroom and unwrapped it.

  I’d worn this long ivory slip gown only once: on my wedding night for Brennan, years ago. The top of the bodice was silk with satin and lace inlay, beads and sequins all down the front in a V-pattern. The lightly gathered sheer skirt scalloped on both sides like an upside down tulip. I’d felt beautiful once wearing this. It would be perfect if it still fit.

  “Sar,” Devlin called from downstairs. “Come down, please.”

  Curious, I hung the gown on the back of the door, grabbed one vase of roses, and went downstairs. Dev had just finished making up the large bed with new sumptuous sheets. Instead of the expected black, they were a silvery gray color. I put the vase of flowers on the nightstand, and helped him finish putting the comforter in position.

  “These are beautiful. I’ll take the old ones upstairs and wash them. Do you have any clothes you want me to wash?”

  Devlin looked at me in surprise. “No. They weren’t really dirty; I just prefer my own.”

  He hadn’t commented on my odd need to plow; I wouldn’t comment on him needing his “security” sheets. I nodded assent.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked.

  “What?”

  “Aren’t you hungry?” he repeated, concerned. “I’d expect you would be.”

  “Yes, but I really want a shower first.”

  “Shall we go take one then, Love?” He offered me his hand.

  I took it, following him upstairs with the used sheets under my other arm. “We can use the guest bathroom. The master bathroom’s too small for more than one person.”

  “You can tell I don’t live here,” Devlin said with a grin. “We’ll have to enlarge it. No one should shower alone.”

  I cast him a look, then rolled my eyes. “You can start the shower. I’ll be back.” I carried the clothes into the laundry room, embarrassed that I didn’t have a shower for two in the master bathroom. Until now, it hadn’t ever been a problem. The Jacuzzi tub took up most of the master bathroom. Theo hadn’t minded...

  Angrily, I made myself put him out of my mind. I was not on his mind, and it was stupid to waste time thinking about a man who was cheating on me, no matter that technically I was cheating on him now, too. This was a time to enjoy myself and to hell with the consequences.

  I returned to the bathroom, then Devlin and I stepped into the running water. Devlin had adjusted the water temperature so it was almost too hot. The heat was just that edge of too much, and more than enough. It felt delicious pouring down on us, as we stood holding each other in its spray.

  “Does this warmth feel good to you, Sar?” Devlin said softly, sliding his hands over my body. His skin was much warmer, though not as warm as the water.

  “It feels better than good. It feels better than almost anything,” I said, closing my eyes to luxuriate in the feeling. “Just feeling the sensation is completely satisfying.”

  He laughed in a rich low way as he brought his hands up from my waist over my breasts to cross over my chest, pulling me tight against him. “That is how you feel to me, Love,” he purred, kissing the side of my neck gently. “Being in you is better than almost anything.”

  I leaned into him and took a long shuddering breath. There was the slight pressure of Dev’s fangs as he nibbled my neck, then soft kisses. I closed my eyes, wanting nothing more than to be with him like this forever, to never not feel the press of his skin on mine. We’d had sex many times in the past day and a half, yet my longing for him only seemed to increase.

  “I want you, too, Love,” he whispered. “Regrettably, that must wait for now. Would you please hand me the shampoo?”

  Startled, I put some in my hair and then handed it to him. We both scrubbed ourselves with soap quickly, then rinsed off,

  He finished much faster than I. “Take your time with your lovely hair.” Devlin stepped out, giving me a quick kiss. “I’ll be right here.”

  I finished washing and conditioning my hair, then went out after him. He was standing near the sink, having finished shaving.

  “Better?” he asked, glancing over at me.

  “If you mean me, I feel better now I’m clean, yes. If you mean you, I told you before I don’t care if you shave or not.”

  “I’ve been told I’m more handsome cleanly shaven.” He smiled ruefully. “But actually, I meant you.”

  Something made me think Anna had preferred him that way. “You couldn’t be more handsome,” I said derisively. “How could you worry I would find you anything but to die for?”

  He pulled me to him, and turned me to the mirror. “Look at yourself,” he breathed in my ear. “You are to die for.”

  I looked into the mirror, amazed. I was no longer the ghost I’d been the last two months. My skin was pale, but my cheeks were flushed. My eyes were bright, the green of them standing out in the bathroom light. My lips were a dark red-pink. My skin shone softly, with just the edge of the luminosity of Devlin’s. His choker glittered in the light at my throat, the emeralds shining. Even with the new scars that now adorned my neck, I was beyond the picture of health: I was supernaturally striking.

  “You are breathtaking, Sarelle,” he said with absolute delight.

  “Call me Sar,” I purred, then kissed him passionately.

  Kissing me ardently back, Devlin dropped his razor into the sink, and lifted me onto the bathroom sink, maneuvering between my thighs as he began to slide his hands lower.

  I pushed him back gently. “Wait.”

  He pulled back from me. “What?” he asked, worried.

  “Did you mean what you told your friends about getting an Oath from me?” Would he deny he’d said it? Had it just been to make Lash behave?

  “Of course, or I’d not have said it,” Devlin replied, looking in my eyes. “I want you to make me a promise.”

  I looked away from him uneasily, and eased off the bathroom sink, gathering up my clothes and his. “Then we need to talk. I need to dry off,

  and—”

  “As do I,” Devlin said curtly. He pushed me out the door, and shut it abruptly behind me.

  In a daze, I went into my bathroom. After applying some Victoria’s Secret lotion, conditioning my hair, and dressing in polar fleece, I emerged to find Devlin waiting for me on the satin sheets, wearing only the guest robe from the bathroom.

  I let my eyes linger on him. “You’re going to have to settle for me smelling se
xy. It’s too cold to be walking around in lingerie.”

  “I’ll keep you warm,” he said with a smile. He slid his hands over the comforter. “This was a nice surprise. I didn’t take you for the kind of person who had satin sheets, Sar.”

  “Am I too rustic?” I said sarcastically.

  He grabbed me and pulled me down to sit by him. “Not for me,” he said throatily. He began to kiss me again, then moved to push me onto my back.

  Resisting my urge to strip off my clothes for another round of Paradise, I pushed him back. “Wait. Listen, Dev, I can’t promise myself to you. I’m already married to Theo. Despite he’s a jackass, I can’t jump into whatever it is you want with me until I deal with that.”

  Devlin leaned back, a considering look on his face.

  “I love you, and I’m tired of resisting how I feel. But I can’t promise you anything until I talk to him.”

  “You don’t owe him anything,” Devlin said casually. “I hope you realize that.”

  My eyes narrowed. “He is my husband, and I took my vows seriously. I owe him a chance to explain himself.”

  “When I told you that you didn’t know the whole story, I didn’t mean that Theo had anything to explain. He loves this other woman. He’s abandoned you twice now in her favor.”

  That stung. “I’m not saying I’ll take him back. I’m saying I’m on the rebound, and this is probably the worst time to get seriously involved with someone else. I don’t want to hurt you.” And I’m not sure you’re over Anna, even if it has been two hundred years.

  “I’m not afraid you’ll call me by his name,” Devlin said sarcastically, narrowing his golden eyes.

  But what if you call me by hers? “I just want to be honest with you. I want to make sure you know where things stand. I should have said this to you before, and I’m sorry I didn’t.”

  “Sar, no matter what else happens, Theo is going to know when he returns that you and I are in love. He’ll also have to accept you having a vampire lover. All I need to know from you is whether you’ll want Theo in your bed or not.”

  I gaped at him. “What? You said you wanted a promise from me.”

  “That won’t affect Theo’s affection for you if he thinks this is an Oath you took a long time ago, back when he was gone. I can work towards that end, if you want me to.”

  “I don’t see how you think you can manage this.”

  “Perhaps you would if you let me finish a sentence or two,” he said in mild annoyance.

  I flushed. “Go ahead.”

  “Sar, I don’t want Danial to cover this up. I don’t care anymore if Theo knows. In fact, I want him to! I don’t want to hide anymore what I feel for you or for you to hide what you feel for me. We have crossed a bridge, and we’re not going back, we are going to burn it behind us. You are going to have to take a vampire lover, be it Danial or me. Theo will have to accept it or let you go.”

  “He’ll let me go,” I said sadly. “He couldn’t handle it last fall and that was only for a weekend. This is for the rest of my life.” Shock suddenly hit me. “You don’t want my Oath to be just to you?” I added in disbelief.

  “No,” Devlin replied, amused. “I don’t even want you to swear you’ll love me for all time.” The amusement left his face. “I want you to swear to me tonight that you’ll never take another vampire lover unless Danial and I are both dead.”

  “That is morbid and disturbing.”

  “You’ll understand better with time,” Devlin said sadly. “Theo is not immortal. You may well live to see him die, Sar. I don’t begrudge you whatever happiness you find in his arms in the years he has left.” He paused. “Danial or I are not truly immortal either, despite being vampire. You’ll need another vampire to sustain you, should something happen to us.”

  “Why are you talking about your death, about Danial’s death?” I said, upset. “The Oath I took to Danial was nothing like this.”

  “Yes, and yours to him lasted how long?’ Devlin said sarcastically.

  “I understand you’re being realistic,” I said slowly. “But that doesn’t make it less upsetting.”

  “Let’s come back to this later,” Devlin said, rising. He offered me his hand. “You said you were hungry, and I want to make sure you eat. There will be time tonight to discuss this further.”

  I took his hand. “What about you? Despite your past cracks about my being a poor hostess, there’s likely not enough of my blood left to offer you any more of it tonight.”

  “You are endearing,” Devlin said, pushing a strand of my hair back from my face. “Tomorrow will be soon enough, Love. Come.” He took my hand and led me into the kitchen.

  I quickly made and devoured a sandwich with chips, then made another one, and ate that, too. Next was ice cream, chocolate, and some M&Ms. Happily full at last, I stretched out on the couch, satiated.

  “I’m glad your appetite’s returned,” Dev said, watching me with a smile. “I remembered your desire for food from the hotel, and it seemed to me that if you were feeling normal, you should be eating a lot more that you did yesterday.”

  What was he saying exactly? I let it slide. “It’s good to be hungry again.”

  Devlin picked me up, carrying me to the bedroom to lay me on the satin sheets. “There are many types of hunger, Sar.” He kissed me slowly, then whispered, “Some can never truly be sated.”

  I moved to pull him atop me, and the phone promptly rang. “Damn it.”

  Devlin sat up and leaned over to look at the phone. “It’s Danial.” He handed me the receiver.

  I took it. “Hi, Danial.”

  “Sar, where were you today?” he exclaimed, worried.

  Shit, I hadn’t heard the phone ring. “I’ve been here all day.”

  “Terian called and got no answer. He almost teleported to your house, but didn’t want to leave Theoron alone.”

  That would have been a bombshell. “Why didn’t he leave a message?” I said, getting angry. “There was none on the machine. He must have called when I was in the shower.”

  “Do not get all riled up. He is just worried and nervous. We all are.”

  “Look, I’m sorry for worrying you. Next time, tell him to just leave a message.”

  “What have you been doing today?”

  Getting marked. Having a weresnake drink my blood. Having a former denizen of Hell tell me that I’m part demon. Having sex with your brother. Thinking about having sex with you.

  “Doing laundry, cleaning, napping, and walking the dogs,” I answered.

  “I will see you on Friday. I’ll be coming back early. I’d like to make a plan now for marking you, if you’re amenable.”

  “Theo called you and gave you permission?” I asked scathingly.

  There was silence.

  “You wouldn’t have said all this if he hadn’t,” I persisted. “What else did he say?”

  “He told me to mark you, that he thought it was best for you.”

  Theo had fought too long against me being with Danial to give in unless he was letting me go. This wasn’t Theo being understanding. It was the way he cut himself loose.

  “Sar, I—

  “Come to me Friday night,” I said abruptly. “My house. I’ll be waiting.”

  “I’ll be there, Sar,” Danial said sadly. “I’m sorry.”

  “Danial, don’t be sad about this. Theo made his decision. He has to do what is right for him.”

  “You sound very understanding,” Danial said suspiciously. “Too understanding. What is going on that you are not angry?”

  “Because I’m getting the better deal.” That was true: now that I didn’t have to worry about being turned, the thought of being with Danial again was intoxicating.

  “We were here several months ago,” Danial said angrily. “Don’t say we’ll be together if you don’t mean it. I’m tired of getting my hopes dashed—”

  “This isn’t going to end in any way but us together,” I said happily. “Come to me Friday n
ight. If you want to send someone to watch the animals, I’ll come to you—”

  “No, I will come to you. I have many memories of you in those first months we were together and of that summer we spent with Elle at your home. If I’m later than usual, I’ll use my key.”

  “I’ll see you Friday,” I said sexily. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too,” he said eagerly. “And I’m going to have you as soon as I am there with you, Darling, so be ready.” Click.

  I clumsily hung up the receiver, excited and filled to the brim with adrenaline rush.

  “He’s got it bad for you,” Devlin said in my ear.

  I let out a yelp. “You were listening?”

  “I wanted to hear what my brother had to say,” Devlin said. “I’m glad you still love him. It will be safer for you if you have more than one source of what you need. That is why I proposed including him in your Oath to me.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Devlin, is this really done? I have never heard of two men, much less two vampires being willing to share one woman. Someone always gets hurt.”

  “That might be true if Danial and I were human, but we aren’t. There will always need to be other women for us.”

  The way he’d said it indicated the other women might not just be for blood. I took a deep breath. “If I do what you’re asking, I know Danial will be faithful to me. I need to know if you’ll take other lovers, Dev. Answer me, and be honest.”

  “Would you be angry if I did?” he asked, gazing at me with his melting gold eyes.

  This all seemed so sordid suddenly. “I’d be upset, of course. I don’t like to think of you with someone else. But if I’m going to have two men, and you’re only going to have one woman between you—”

  “So you want to let me have another woman, to be fair?” Devlin supplied.

  I blushed furiously. “It’s unfair not to agree to that, but I’d ask that you limited...yourself...um...” I couldn’t get the words out, my tongue tripping over itself.

  Devlin chuckled. “I’ve had over fifty women since that day in the hotel with you, Love. None of them looked at me as you did. None of them said they loved my eyes.”