Forgotten Kisses (SuperNatural Sharing Series Book 1)

by Rena Marks

“Good afternoon. Are you having a good lunch?”

  “Mr. Horntrey, how nice to see you again.”

  His sharp eyes looked over at Leo, not missing a detail.

  “Aren’t you Dr. Freedman?”

  Leo was a doctor in the human world? I’d nearly forgotten.

  “Yes, I am.” Leo's voice was smooth.

  I spoke next. “Leo is a very good friend of mine.”

  Horntrey didn’t miss a beat. “How is Julian?”

  “He’s fine but prefers that Leo take me to lunch today. He is—resting—during the day. You understand. I’ll join him tonight.”

  Horntrey nodded. The answer seemed to satisfy him.

  “Well, enjoy your lunch then.”

  He nodded once at Leo and left.

  “I like that we are very good friends, Anjelia,” Leo said.

  I smiled and tipped my glass to him.

  * * * * *

  That evening I dressed for my night at Bang’s. I would have to be more careful tonight, since Horntrey would more than likely send spies to the club. Julian sent a car for me and to my surprise, instead of Johnny, my girls stepped out.

  I’d missed them and truth be told, they were the closest things to friends that I had. I shrieked, holding my arms open wide.

  Anna admired my lipstick, which made us late because then the four of us had to go back inside to retrieve it. When we were finally in the limo—all of us with our matching lips—Lily said Julian was requesting marking me tonight. He wished to show vampire bites, unsealed. A show of a true relationship between couples, almost like a human hickey, except any other beings with a sense of smell could tell I belonged to Julian. Unfortunately, a bite is quite the orgasmic experience. And the last time when I chose the pain over the orgasm, he didn’t pay attention.

  Long ago, when vampires were discovered living among us, blood banks were set up for the express purpose of donating blood to vampires. One sole human conceived this concept of attaining a billionaire status, dreaming of blood bank chains across the world. He went broke, however. It was discovered that humans had an orgasm when bitten by vampires and there was no blood donation from that point forward. Let’s see, painful needle—ultimate orgasm?

  Me sporting fang marks is pretty good proof that our relationship is as fine as it always was. But damn it, I sure didn’t want an orgasm from Julian. Not if it wasn’t necessary, like when I had to give blood. This was a pretend relationship, or had he forgotten?

  I dreaded his tactics, and it was ruining the party mood that the girls and I were in. We rummaged through the limo cabinets and opened a bottle of pretty expensive stuff that belonged to Julian.

  “Leah, don’t worry about it. You can show some bites that aren’t Julian’s if you trust one of us to do it,” Nicki suggested.

  I tried to raise my eyebrows and the wine made me giggle from the effort. “Can you imagine Julian’s face when I’m already marked and claim it’s his?” This struck me as really funny and I decided I was feeling more than a little tipsy. “Okay, let’s do it. But whomever does it, be gentle.”

  It was Anna, and she was. I barely felt her fangs slice into my neck, they were so sharp. It amazed me that vampires don’t slice off their own tongues when they speak. She withdrew little blood, just enough to mark my neck.

  The limo pulled up and we giggled our way to the front of the line. The girls were teasing me about being a lesbian. I joked back that Julian would have their heads if I switched sides. They didn’t find this as funny, which made me laugh even harder.

  A buxom biker chick in line watched with hands on hips.

  “Why the hell do they get in without standing in line?” she yelled at the bouncer. Anna flashed her boob at the biker before flipping her off. The bouncer, a new one with dark, upturned Asian eyes, yanked us in quickly.

  “Thanks, Chen.” Anna called out.

  We stood in the club, our eyes adjusting to the flashing lights. The music pounded throughout the room. Dressed to kill, we were feeling very sexy. Or at least those three were. On a sober night, I would probably say that we were looking slutty.

  We made our way to the center of the floor and all four of us wriggled to the music. That was when Julian and Mr. Jack Horntrey of the Enterprise found us. Julian caught my eye first and I strode over to him, my hips still swaying in tune to the music.

  “Hello, my love,” I whispered for Horntrey’s benefit. I pressed tightly against him and wrapped my arms around his neck. The lock and choke hold. My favorite position.

  Julian looked a little shocked, and then leaned down to kiss me. He had no other choice with his head so trapped. One whiff of my alcohol-laden breath and acknowledgment registered.

  “My sweet, I was looking for you. Mr. Horntrey had hoped for another interview.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I was just having fun with the girls.”

  Julian smiled. “How much fun?”

  “Try a five-hundred dollar bottle of fun from your limo,” I whispered, and hoped it was softly.

  I turned to Mr. Horntrey. “Nice to see you again.”

  He looked at Julian at the “again”, trying to register if Julian was aware that we’d met earlier.

  “Remember?” I continued casually to Julian. “I told you I ran into Mr. Horntrey while lunching with Leo.”

  “Oh, that’s right. I forgot your lunch with Leo was today.”

  “Julian,” I chided. I looked over at Horntrey. “Tell me you are more attentive to your girlfriend. It was just this morning that we discussed it, already he’s forgotten. Of course, he had other things on his mind,” I added suggestively, fingering my neck bites.

  Julian narrowed his eyes at my bites. I smiled sweetly at him.

  He glanced at the other girls. Each of them smiled back, waving from the dance floor. He drew me close as if pretending to kiss my neck but was sniffing my bites.

  Too late. I’d doused them with perfume in the limo. It stung like hell.

  I turned back to Mr. Horntrey. “What's your interview about? Is it personal?”

  He nodded.

  I was still encircled in Julian’s arms. He kept kissing my neck near my bites. They were feeling a little warm and tingly with his breath. I was getting turned on and fighting it.

  “I don’t suppose my friends can answer your questions? They’re employees of Bang’s. A different perspective, maybe?” I asked.

  He looked at me shrewdly. “Is there a reason why you won’t?”

  I laughed seductively. “Julian has other things on his mind.”

  Julian raised his head from my neck. I leaned back, resting my weight comfortably against his body. Just like old times. “And to tell the truth, I do too.”

  Mr. Horntrey nodded, satisfied. “I’ll talk to your friends.”

  We flagged the girls over, and I wrapped my arm around Julian’s waist. We left the four of them standing there and went up the back stairs.

  No sooner had we gotten to his office than he fed. When his appetite was appeased, he demanded, “Whose bites, Anjelia?”

  I was still in my sweet mood. “Can’t remember, sugar. Might have been yours.”

  He growled. I’d have expected that from Leo. “Don’t play games with me.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “You don’t have the right to know. You threw that away.”

  “Dammit. It had better be one of those girls.”

  I smiled. “It might have been. But, would I rather do a female...or a male?”

  He growled again.

  “You’re wasting a good drunk, Julian. We’re supposed to be happy. Do you want to go downstairs and dance happily, or do you want to stay up here and growl at me?”

  His mood changed easily.

  “You’re right, of course. Let’s go downstairs and dance.”

  I expected a little more jealousy, maybe some sulking. But I was okay with a happy Julian, and a happy night it was going to be.

  Back downstairs, we stood arm in arm. Johnny motioned him o
ver, holding his hand at his ear in a gesture that meant Julian had a phone call.

  “Johnny wouldn’t interrupt me unless it was important. I’ll take this in my office and I’ll be right back, all right?”

  I nodded and he pressed a kiss to my forehead. So familiar. Damn, that was distracting. I watched him walk away, the broad shoulders tapering to a narrow waist. The perfect backside. I sighed. I certainly missed seeing that magnificent body naked.

  I turned back around and was startled by Danielle invading my personal space.

  Chapter Eight

  “Keep away from him.”

  Well, wasn’t that original? I raised my eyebrows. “How do you propose I do that? Insert a ten foot straw into my neck and he can slurp from across the room?”

  “Damn you. He was with me until you snapped your fingers. You don’t even want him, why the hell are you here?”

  “How do you know what I want?” I asked.

  “Back off, Danielle. She’s protected by Julian.”

  We both turned our heads to Anna’s voice.

  Danielle looked at her hatefully. “Sticking up for her, too?”

  “Yeah. I’ve got her back.”

  “You don’t want to align yourself with the wrong people, Anna. Stay out of it.”

  Instead, Anna draped her arm over my shoulder. “I’ve already chosen. Maybe you missed it?”

  “So be it.”

  Danielle moved so quickly, I never even saw it. She was there one minute—in the next she was gone. I released the breath I didn’t know I was holding, and sagged into Anna. Adrenaline made my legs quiver and my knees weak.

  “I think you made an enemy,” I said.

  “We were always enemies. She just chose to acknowledge it. Come sit with me until Julian gets back.”

  We sat at her table and I hate to admit I’m a chicken, but an angry vamp is scary. I still trembled and sat as close to her as I could. She let me, occasionally rubbing her hand up my arm, trying awkwardly to comfort me.

  I would never tell her, but she wasn’t very good at it.

  “I think you need to tell Julian about Danielle. Obviously she hasn’t learned her lesson regarding you,” she said.

  “I don’t know. It seems a lot like tattling, doesn’t it?”

  “Tattling? She’s ten times as strong as you, if a little tattling is on your side, so what?”

  I leaned my head on her shoulder. She wrapped her arm around me. It was more comforting than that annoying rubbing.

  “Leah, trust me.”

  “I don’t know, Anna. I can’t go crying to Julian every time a fingernail gets broken. I don't want to be beholden to him.”

  “How about your neck getting broken?” she snapped. “I won’t tell. But I’m going to stick really close to you from now on. I don’t trust her one bit. Never have. She’s a bitch and a half and I ought to know. I’m half a bitch.”

  The half part was debatable and I raised my head from her shoulder to look at her. It made her snigger. She didn’t think I’d call her out on it.

  Johnny interrupted. “Ooh, I like this female cuddling. Can I watch?”

  “Like you haven’t watched before. Go away,” Anna snapped again, her patience at an end.

  * * * * *

  I continued my friendship with Leo. I didn’t know how far the friendship would extend as we grew closer to the full moon. I know that Julian didn’t like it but I enjoyed myself as I learned about the wolves.

  Especially when I learned something rather interesting. It was speculated that my ex-husband’s death wasn’t an accident like I originally thought. Although, no one had ever stepped forward to admit to it. I wasn’t upset. Did I mention my husband was an ass?

  I still refused to be Leo’s “queen”. He continually asked. I avoided him as gently as I could during the full moon. When he was normal, he was very intelligent and quite pleasant. We became good friends but this wasn’t without its drawbacks. The more I was around him, the more I noticed how handsome he was, so different from Julian. Leo was tanned and his muscles were bulky, like those of a bodybuilder. His hair was a sun- streaked gold with brown and he always had a darker, sexy stubble on his jaw. A lot of women angled for his eye and yet he never seemed to notice.

  I met him for lunch and even dinner often. Julian didn’t say much about it but his mouth tightened whenever he saw me leave with him. Especially since I mentioned that I now thought the idea of any bodyguards was a waste of time. I'd never seen any to begin with, so I don’t know if they were dropped or not.

  One night while, Leo and I were at dinner, I noticed Anna in the restaurant. I waved her over and introduced her to Leo. I asked her what she was doing there.

  “I was meeting Johnny but now he can’t make it.”

  “Leo,” I turned my head, “would you mind if Anna joins us?”

  He nodded his head.

  Anna smiled serenely.

  “How are the furries?” she asked Leo.

  His jaw tensed. “Quite fine. How are the vamps?”

  She leaned in. “Diverse enough to attract humans.” She looked at me as she said it.

  “Do the two of you know each other from elsewhere? Neither one of you told me you’d met previously,” I said.

  “We haven’t,” Anna said.

  “You’re sensing a rivalry for your attention, Anjelia,” Leo said.

  “Rivalry? I’m friends with both of you.”

  “Yes. And both of us would like more than a plain friendship with you.”

  Anna didn’t dispute it, but watched me steadily.

  “Oh. Well. Leo, I’m flattered. I value our friendship and I wouldn’t want to ruin it with anything further. Anna, I value our friendship also. And I’m just so stunned, I don’t know what to say.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Leah. Dr. Freedman shouldn’t have mentioned it to you. It makes you uncomfortable. We must remember, you are a sweet human.”

  Touché. Leo’s eyes narrowed at her and she smiled serenely, in that Anna way.

  When we finished with dinner, she asked if she could give me a lift. I agreed since my house was on her way. I smiled at Leo, hoping he would understand.

  “Anna, it was a pleasure meeting you,” he said and then turned toward me. “Anjelia, I’ll call you.”

  I grinned. As far as I knew, I was the only one he willingly called. He grinned as well. I kissed him on the cheek and he hugged me briefly.

  “Let’s go, Leah,” Anna said abruptly.

  We got to her car and Anna got into the driver’s seat. We drove to my house but she surprised me by turning off the engine.

  “Um, would you like to come in for coffee?” I was forced to ask.

  “Gee, I’d love some, thank you very much,” she replied as if touched that I’d asked.

  I sighed. She was as persistent as Julian sometimes.

  We got inside and hung up our coats. Anna made herself comfortable in the kitchen, kicking off her shoes.

  “Okay. Spill it. Why were you really in the restaurant?” I asked her.

  “Meeting Johnny?”

  “Leo didn’t know Johnny was a vamp. He thought you were having dinner with a human. I knew otherwise, and neither of you need to eat.”

  “Wow, Leah. Sometimes you’re as smart as Nicki.”

  “Cut it out. And don’t give me that crap about being in league for my affections. We both know Julian would've had your head on a platter.”

  “Leah.” Anna looked surprised. “Of course I’m in line. You're so attractive...”

  “Anna. Cut the crap.”

  “Oh, okay. It was my turn to watch you tonight. I slipped up and you saw me.”

  “I’m still being watched?”

  She nodded and then put her shoes back on. “And by the way…”

  She was walking to the front door. I followed her. She was halfway out before she turned back.

  “I do find you attractive.” She leaned forward and kissed me smack dab on the lips. Then sh
e was gone.

  I fought against the laughter that threatened.

  I locked the door behind her and got ready for bed. Suddenly exhausted, I collapsed as soon as I hit the pillow—and dreamed.

  I knew it was a dream. I had on a white nightgown, silk, nothing more than a drape, really. I was looking through the curtains at the moon. A full moon.

  I knew instantly whom this dream would be about.

  I sensed when Leo entered my dream. I felt it when he stood behind me, not quite touching but so very close. I watched his reflection and saw his eyes hungrily sweeping over my body. He then brought them up to meet mine in the window. His eyes never broke contact and he reached around my body to bring his warm hand up to press against my abdomen. I sucked my breath in, my eyes shutting briefly at the splendor of the contact.

  “Open your eyes,” he whispered.

  My eyes flew open to meet the warmth of his gaze in the window. His eyes burned, a bright glowing amber full of desire. He brought his lips down to the side of my neck.

  I moaned at the connection. His breath blew hot and moist and his tongue traced lightly across my skin, teasing me as he tasted.

  Oh, hell, it was my dream. I could do what I wanted, couldn’t I? I reached for his hand still on my abdomen and pushed it down, down to my thigh, then back up but this time under the silk nightgown. His palm was against my skin now and I could feel more of the heat contained in his hand. I brought the nightgown up to my waist as I lifted it higher. He cupped my aching breast and then brought his other hand around me to my other breast. He lifted both simultaneously, pressed them together, and massaged gently.

  They were heavy and full, peaked for his attention. His mouth nibbled on the sensitive skin under my ear and he pulled my body against his, so I could feel his bulging erection. He was hard and hot and perfect.

  Perfectly mine. The mate I should have had.

  “Leo,” I moaned.

  “Can I pleasure you, Anjelia?”

  “Mmm. You can do anything you want to me, sweetie.”

  He grinned at me in the reflection.

  “But not during the daylight?”

  I shook my head regretfully, dreamily. “Not during the daylight. Too complicated right now. You’ll be my secret, my fantasy. My dream.”