Wanton With a Vampire

by Cassandra Lawson

  Wanton with

  a Vampire

  By Cassandra Lawson

  Copyright ©2015 Cassandra Lawson

  Smashwords Edition

  Cover Image © Can Stock Photo Inc./konradbak

  Proofreading by Kendra’s Editing and Book Services

  This book is a work of fiction. All characters and events are creations of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental.

  The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by federal law enforcement agencies and is punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Also by Cassandra Lawson

  Psy-Vamp Series

  Vampires and Vixens (Book 1)

  Safe Hex With a Vampire (Book 2)

  Vampires Prefer Blondes (Book 3)

  The Vampire Will See You Now (Book 4)

  Moon Virus Series

  Raven’s Blood (Book 1)

  Embrace the Heat (Book 2)

  Seducing Death (Book 3)

  Acknowledgments

  I want to begin by saying how grateful I am to have the best beta readers any author could ever hope for. Amber, Kari, Levenia, Ria, and Trista, you ladies rock! I also want to thank all of my wonderful fans who take the time to contact me. I love hearing from you. A very special thanks goes out to those who take the time to write reviews for my books. I know we all get busy, but the few minutes you take to write a review are more helpful than you know.

  As always, I am grateful to my wonderful husband for putting up with my weird hours and endless musings. Thank you to my dear friend Jessica for helping me with my girls when I have a deadline looming. With this cover I especially want to thank my fabulous cover design team, Daniel, Kari, and Levenia for putting up with my indecisiveness.

  Chapter One

  Even though it had only been a week since Trish had held Hope, it felt like months. She could already tell Hope was going to look a lot like her mommy, with dark red hair and full lips. The little girl also had Hannah’s sweet temperament. Hope’s eyes were the one thing she’d gotten from her father. Rather than being emerald green like Hannah’s, Hope’s eyes were the same icy shade of blue all the Draksel men had.

  Cuddling the drooling little girl close, Trish inhaled. “Oh, Hannah,” she said on a sigh. “Your daughter is perfect.”

  “Thank you,” Hannah replied with a huge grin. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you coming over to watch her on short notice. I have no idea where my mind has been this last week. Finding a sitter didn’t even occur to me until this morning, and this dinner is really important to Noah.”

  “Any time,” Trish assured her. “I guess I should say, any time I can.” As embarrassing as it was, she’d needed a ride out to Hannah’s house. “Lyd dropped me off. Do you think you could take me home later?” In one of her less graceful moments, Trish had stepped on her own glasses and couldn’t drive after dark until she got a new pair. Actually, she wouldn’t be able to drive after dark much longer even with her glasses.

  “Of course,” Hannah said. “I’ll have Noah drive you so I can nurse Hope when I get home. By that time, I should be about ready to explode.”

  Trish forced a bright smile and said the last thing she felt. “Sure, no problem.” Truthfully, she didn’t want Noah to drive her home, because Noah was one of the few guys she’d shown any interest in, and he’d been totally in love with Hannah at the time— a fact she should have picked up on right away. Things wouldn’t be as embarrassing if she hadn’t practically thrown herself at Noah. Trish turned away from Hannah so her friend wouldn’t see the blush that came whenever Trish thought about that humiliating evening. She’d gotten tipsy to work past her nerves and made a complete fool of herself. Noah was much too nice to bring up that awkward evening. Nope, he was still just as polite as always, but it played through Trish’s mind every time she was in the same room with him.

  After a much needed mental slap, Trish reminded herself she could handle fifteen minutes in a car with Noah without dying of embarrassment. He was living with one of her closest friends, so it’s not like she could avoid being around him.

  “You okay?” Hannah asked, her brow creased with worry.

  “Sure,” Trish said, turning with a forced smile on her face. “Just thinking about the doctor’s appointment I need to make Monday morning. I’m seeing a different guy and hoping I can get contact lenses. Maybe I’ll even get colored ones. Don’t you think I’d look great with blue eyes?”

  “You’re adorable with glasses,” Hannah said.

  “I’m short with a cute little voice,” Trish said as she adjusted Hope in her arms. “Adorable is the last thing I want to be.” Looking over at the clock on the mantle, Trish was surprised by the time. “Didn’t you say the dinner starts at six?”

  “Where is that man?” Hannah grumbled as she walked to the foot of the stairs. “Noah! We’re going to be late.”

  Just then Noah Christiansen, AKA Hannah’s man, AKA the man Trish had been crushing on, walked down the stairs looking too sexy in his green dress shirt with a tie hanging loosely around his neck. His blond hair was combed back neatly, and his hazel eyes were alive with adoration for Hannah. Trish was happy for her friend, but she couldn’t deny being a little jealous too— an emotion she hated.

  Noah’s surprise was obvious when his eyes landed on Trish. “Hey, Trish!” he greeted with a warm smile. “What are you doing here?”

  “Watching Hope while we go out,” Hannah explained.

  “Sweetie,” Noah said with a patient smile. “You told Nathaniel he could keep Hope overnight while we went out.”

  One finger raised in the air, Hannah was about to argue with Noah, when she suddenly looked a little embarrassed. “Damn,” she said. “I’m so sorry, Trish. Where is Nathaniel?”

  “He lost track of time, so he’ll meet us at the restaurant, but we need to go now or we’ll be late,” Noah said as he grabbed a diaper bag from the top shelf of the coat closet.

  “Would you mind waiting here until we get back?” Hannah asked Trish.

  “That’s fine,” Trish said, because there really weren’t many other options. While she could take a cab, she always ended up with a creepy cab driver hitting on her.

  The doorbell rang, and Noah went to answer it while Hannah strapped Hope into her infant seat.

  Standing in the doorway was Alek Draksel. Trish had met him just over a month ago, and he was what her friend Caitlin called the ultimate man-whore. Alek came on to her like most men, which was usually just a minor annoyance. The problem with Alek was, she got more than a little turned on when he flirted with her— something he did frequently to annoy the rest of the Draksel family.

  She was off-limits to all the Draksel men, so no matter how much Alek flirted, nothing was going to happen between them. That annoyed her even more, because she was tired of having domineering vampires try to run her life. Okay, they didn’t really run her life, but listening to them tell Alek to stay away from her, as if she couldn’t handle the situation herself, made her want to smack one of them.

  Normally, Alek was all flirty smiles and youthful vigor, but he was all business today.

  “Alek, we were just heading out,” Noah said before glancing at Trish over his shoulder, obviously hoping to keep Alek away from her.

  “This’ll only take a few minutes,” Alek insisted, as he arrogantly sauntered into the room uninvited. “I need to ask you some questions about Phoebe.”

  Phoebe Draksel was the real reason Alek was in town. The woman was a psychotic serial killer, and Alek was responsible for tracking her down. From what Trish had heard,
the family had tried keeping Phoebe under control for decades with little success. While Alek knew she was in the bay area, finding her was proving to be harder than anyone in the Draksel family had expected.

  “Can you come back tomorrow?” Hannah asked. “Noah’s giving a speech at the dinner ceremony, and we’re already running late.”

  Alek hesitated; he wasn’t a man who liked being told no. “I’ll come back at ten in the morning,” he said somewhat reluctantly.

  “Sure,” Noah said before turning his attention to Trish. “As soon as we get back, I’ll drive you home. I’m really sorry about the mix up.”

  “I’ll drive Trish home,” Alek offered, shifting into ultimate man-whore mode in the blink of an eye. His sexy smile was in place as his gaze moved across Trish’s body like a lover’s caress. He had the same icy blue eyes, chiseled features, and muscular frame as the other Draksel men, but his hair set him apart from the rest of his family. Rather than being a dark shade of brown, Alek’s hair was a lighter brown with blond streaks.

  Surprisingly, Trish was more than ready to take Alek up on his offer. Sure, Alek put her on edge, but it was only a short drive. Besides, being stuck in a car with Alek would be much less awkward than being stuck in a car with Noah. “That would be great!” she said a little too eagerly.

  Alek’s smile changed, and the only word she could think of to describe it was predatory. That smile sent a shudder of desire through her body. This was one of those moments she was glad the Draksel men were overprotective of her. If not, she was sure Alek would try something, and she wasn’t completely sure she’d turn him down.

  Chapter Two

  Trish was a positive and upbeat person by nature. She didn’t sit around feeling sorry for herself when life didn’t go her way, and she was the first person to encourage those around her to see the bright side. Still, even she had her limits. This day sucked! To be honest, the last year of her life had kind of sucked.

  Under normal circumstances, being the only single woman in her close-knit group of friends would be awkward, but it wouldn’t usually get her down. Trish wasn’t looking for a relationship, and she didn’t mind time alone. Of course, the circumstances of her friends’ relationships were far from normal. Her closest friends hadn’t gotten involved with ordinary guys; they were all involved with vampires— honest to God vampires! Unlike her friends, Trish didn’t have psychic abilities, so she couldn’t join the vampire-lovers club.

  At the moment, she was on her way to a dinner to discuss her friend Hannah’s upcoming wedding— a dinner she had hoped to miss. Stupid freakin’ Department of Motor Vehicles! That was supposed to be her excuse for missing this gathering. She had to renew her license and took the appointment for this afternoon, knowing there was no way she could make it from the Pleasanton DMV to Carmel for dinner. So, her friends had moved the dinner to a restaurant in downtown Pleasanton. Still, that wasn’t a problem since there was always a delay. Well, except for today, when the strangely courteous and efficient staff took her right on time. The text to Lydia apologizing for being stuck at the DMV was already in her drafts.

  If she hadn’t been forced to park three blocks from the restaurant, she might have even been on time. Instead, she was trudging along wearing cute shoes, one of which had a broken heel. The broken shoe was another thing she was blaming the DMV for. Had she not been left with enough time to go home and change, she’d still be wearing sensible flats. Despite it all, she was working hard to put a smile on her face.

  Alek was drumming his fingers on the table, bored out of his mind. Why did Phoebe have to pick this area for her latest killing spree? If she were killing people somewhere else, he could get away with avoiding these family gatherings. In all honesty, he hadn’t expected it to take this long to find Phoebe. When his brother, Roman, had asked for his help, he’d been happy to track her down and put an end to Phoebe’s life. The woman had been a serial killer before becoming a vampire and, despite countless warnings, had continued killing humans, putting them all at risk. Unfortunately, she’d been clever enough to avoid Alek’s traps up to this point, so this whole endeavor was taking much longer than he’d expected.

  Alek couldn’t hide his smile when he spotted Trish. He had to admit that not everything about these family gatherings was bad.

  Trish was nearly a foot shorter than him, with wavy brown hair that fell to the middle of her back and brown eyes that were always full of warmth. The woman also had breasts that could literally make a man drool. With her petite frame, she often looked like she might tip over, especially in the heels she frequently wore. Today, her hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail, revealing the tantalizing column of her throat. Delicate wire-rimmed glasses framed her eyes, and he found it impossible to look away. Damn he loved a woman in glasses! That had been one of the first things to catch his attention when he’d met Trish. Most people would accuse him of being drawn to her body, but it was the glasses and her smile. He’d known right away she was too nice for him to fool around with. Then his family had told him in no uncertain terms that he was not to have any involvement with her. Trish was like forbidden fruit, and everyone knew how that story always ended.

  “I see your friend, Trish,” he said to Hannah, who was seated near the end of the table.

  Hannah looked relieved. “Good, I was beginning to think she wouldn’t make it today.”

  Lydia snorted. “She didn’t want to make it today.”

  “That’s not true!” Hannah argued.

  “Yes, it is,” Caitlin said, sounding bored.

  Alek decided to ignore their argument and indulge himself a little. Bad idea or not, he wanted to be closer to Trish. Since he’d already broken his family’s rule regarding her, he figured he might as well push things just a bit more. This was a controlled environment, making it safer to flirt a little. After all, how far could he take things with his family in the same room?

  “Do you mind if I trade spots with you?” he asked his nephew, Isaiah.

  Isaiah shrugged and moved across the table to sit beside Ivy. Suddenly, Alek felt much less annoyed at his oldest brother for pressuring him into attending this dinner party. The purpose of this gathering was to discuss Hannah and Noah’s wedding, or more precisely, so his brother could pressure Hannah and Noah into getting married. Roman’s relationship with Noah never ceased to amaze Alek. Noah was Roman’s second wife’s son, and the result of an affair she’d had. Still, Roman treated Noah like his own son.

  Alek frowned when he noticed Trish was limping. Conversation continued around him as he excused himself from the table to make sure she was okay. It was entirely possible that she’d twisted her ankle trying to walk in her ridiculously high-heeled shoes.

  When he reached Trish on the sidewalk outside the restaurant, she looked more than a little frazzled. “Are you hurt?”

  Initially, Trish stared at him like he’d lost his mind, but then she seemed to catch on to his concern. “You must mean the limp. The heel on my shoe is about ready to fall off,” she explained, and he reached out to take her arm. “Thank you,” she said, smiling up at him.

  It came as no surprise that he was already getting hard, since that was what close proximity to Trish did to him. “Always glad to help a lady in distress,” he said, trying for a light tone. “Are those new glasses?”

  “Yeah, I guess I can take these off now that I’m not driving,” Trish said, reaching up to remove them.

  “Don’t take them off,” he said. “They look nice on you.”

  “Nice,” she muttered, her smile slipping. “That’s why I wear them. Oh, that and my eyesight is getting worse as I get older.”

  Trish talking about herself getting older made him laugh. Compared to Alek’s four and half centuries, she was little more than a child. Although, he supposed, to humans she might not be as young as he perceived her to be. “You haven’t even seen twenty-five years yet, have you?”

  “I’ll be twenty-nine in a few months,” she admitted.r />
  That shocked Alek— not that twenty-nine sounded particularly old to him. “I assumed you were younger.”

  “It’s the voice, isn’t it?” she asked, making an adorably sexy face at him.

  He chuckled. “No, it’s not your voice. I suppose it’s a combination of things. Your friends are all twenty-five or younger, and you’re a college student. I’ve noticed that most college students are younger.”

  “Not everyone is born with money,” she said a little angrily. “I’ve had to pay for my own college education. In fact, I had to get a job after high school before I even started college. Now, I can only take classes part-time because I have to work.”

  “What do you do?” he asked.

  “I’m a photographer,” she said.

  “What are you studying?” he asked.

  “I’m working on my Master’s degree in Anthropology.”

  Alek met Roman’s annoyed stare from across the room, which is when he realized he’d been standing just inside the restaurant talking to Trish for too long. With a sigh, he gestured toward the table. “We’d better head over there before they send someone to get us.”

  Trish glared at the table. “There’s this part of me that wants to stand here just to prove I don’t have to do what they say.”

  Alek chuckled. “Shall we stand here for the rest of the evening?”

  She sighed. “No, they’d just come over here to get us, and I’m not very good with confrontation.”

  With a hand on her lower back, Alek led Trish over to the table where his family was impatiently waiting. While holding out the chair for her, his fingers lingered on her bare shoulders for just a moment. He couldn’t help but take satisfaction in her shiver.

  “Sorry, I’m late,” Trish said, leaning forward to get away from Alek’s long fingers.