Paige couldn’t bring herself to meet his gaze. “He’s found me before, he’ll find me again,” she murmured.
Ian placed his drink on the bar. “The vampire from last night was the same one who left those scars on your neck?”
He’d left more than scars on her neck. He’d scarred her soul, her body, her entire life. “He is and he’s found me since he gave me those.”
He almost didn’t recognize the lost eyes locked on his; she’d been a fighter since the second he’d laid eyes on her. Now he could almost see the ghosts of her past hovering around her, threatening to bury her beneath their haunting presences. “How many times have you run into this vampire?”
“The other night was my third encounter with him.” Again, not a lie, it had only been the third time she’d encountered her father as a vampire. “He will find me again.”
“I can assure you no one followed us, Paige.”
She nodded, but she didn’t believe him. Her father would come for her again. “Who knows, maybe he can track me through my blood or something.”
Ian shook his head. “I’ve never heard of that happening.”
“And up until four years ago I’d only heard of vampires in movies and books, but there’s a whole ton of shit out there none of us knows anything about.”
“True,” he murmured. “But while I’m here, he won’t get anywhere near you. If your hunter friend hadn’t shown up, your attacker would have been dead.”
Paige bit back her reminder that she wouldn’t always be with him. She’d lost the battle in the alley, but next time she’d be better prepared. And no matter what Ian said, she knew there would be a next time. There always was.
“You were looking for him when you were in the bar,” Ian deduced. Paige refused to look at him. “You couldn’t have been looking for me, I don’t leave a trail of bodies, and I don’t leave evidence of my feeding habits.”
“You don’t,” she agreed. “I actually believed you were just a drunken, college whore.”
The small vulnerability she’d allowed to show had vanished beneath her steely exterior again. Walking over, he sat on the couch beside her. “You don’t pull any punches, do you?” he asked.
“You’re being honest with me, I should do the same.” I also have to remember who and what you are, she thought as she took another swallow of her drink. Because sitting next to him right now, feeling all warm and out of sorts, she was finding it extremely easy to forget.
“Thank you,” he replied. “I guess.”
He gave her a halfhearted smile that did nothing to ease the heat of her body. She hopped to her feet. Her abrupt rise caused her to take an unsteady step forward. She didn’t see him move before his hand wrapped around her elbow and he steadied her.
“Are you ok?” he demanded.
“I’m fine,” she assured him. She batted at his hand, but he continued to hold onto her elbow, heating her further. “I need another drink.”
“I’ll get it for you.”
“No, I think it’s better if I move around a little right now.” Her bare feet sank into the plush white carpet as she walked to the bar. It was even more comfortable and inviting than it looked; she dug her toes into it before stepping onto the wood floor again. “What happens if you somehow end up falling in love with one of these girls, and then you have to explain what you did to her, or what you are?”
“Not possible.”
She paused in the act of searching the labels on the bottles to look up at him. “What’s not possible?”
“I won’t fall in love with one of them.”
She placed her hands on her hips as she stared at him. “How do you know that?”
He grinned at her as he leaned back on the couch and crossed his long legs before him. The firelight playing over his golden skin and chiseled body did little to ease the desire he’d stoked in her earlier. A desire she’d assumed buried by the reminder of her past.
Dear Lord, his smile was unbelievably luring, especially when it made that little dimple in his right cheek appear. The loose fitting jeans and baggy sweater she wore suddenly felt stifling and far too burdensome. She glanced at her drink, but no matter how badly she wanted him right now, she could never blame it on the alcohol in the morning if she gave into her urges. If she jumped him, it would be one hundred percent her decision, and no matter how tempted she was by him, she could not allow that to happen. She’d never forgive herself.
“That’s one more thing about us you don’t know,” he replied.
“And what exactly is that?”
“When vampires fall in love, it’s forever. When we find our mates, it’s a bond that can never be severed. We may not recognize what another is to us right away, but the connection is there from the beginning. I’ve never encountered that with any of the women I’ve slept with.”
“And you’re so certain she hasn’t already walked out of your life?”
“Positive.”
She grabbed the bottle of Scotch. She contemplated slugging shots out of it as she stared at his frustratingly, tantalizing body. “How can you be so sure?”
Her hand shook, causing the bottle to clink against the glass as she poured her drink. She hoped he wrote the shaking off to the effects of the Scotch, but she knew the truth. It was the alcohol’s fault she didn’t hate herself over what she was feeling for him right now, but he didn’t need to know that.
“I’ve seen what the connection is like, what it does to two vampires or a vampire and a human. I’ve seen the connection in the beginning stages, and then later when the bond between mates has been completed. I grew up in a household where the true, intense love between vampires was a constant part of our everyday lives. You can believe me, or not, but it’s a beautiful thing.”
She couldn’t tear her gaze away from the intensity of his sky colored eyes. “It sounds… interesting.” She didn’t know what else to say to him about it, didn’t know how to take his revelation.
“It is far more than that. Believe me, none of the women I’ve been with have aroused more in me than what was necessary, and after we were done screwing, all I felt for them was the urge to get them out of my room.”
This time she couldn’t stop her mouth from gaping at the bluntness of his words. He kept his eyes locked on hers while he leisurely took a sip of his drink. The idea of him with another woman made her want to barf, but the thought of his body moving over hers made her skin feel too tight and caused her heart to race.
“I… uh… I see,” she managed to stammer out.
“Good, because believe me, it is one more astonishing thing about my race that you’re overlooking. We’re actually quite loving and very protective when it comes to those we care for.”
“And when someone you care for is threatened?”
“You’d prefer the fury of Hell to be unleashed upon you then.”
Paige swallowed heavily. He pulled his legs in and rose to his impressive height. She hadn’t realized it until then, but his head nearly brushed against the ceiling when he moved. He placed his empty glass on the bar and leaned his elbows on it. The woodsy scent of the outdoors, and this cabin, filled her nostrils when he leaned closer to her. Even his smell was entirely alluring.
“So, are you going to tell me how you became involved with the hunters?”
Those words had been better than any cold shower ever could have been to douse her lust. “No.”
He leaned so close she could see the individual flecks of cobalt blue in his azure eyes. See the dark blond bristle lining his chin and cheeks. She had to clench her hands in order to stop her fingers from stretching out to brush against his hair roughened jawline. She could feel the warmth of his breath and smell the spicy agave of the tequila. Her eyes fell briefly to his mouth before shooting back up to him.
Ian hadn’t missed the direction of her gaze. His pulse quickened, blood flooded his cock as her eyes lingered on his mouth before meeting his again. He pushed his empty glass toward her. �
��You’re asking to know my secrets, but won’t reveal any of your own?”
“I have no secrets, only personal information that’s personal,” she retorted.
“You don’t find my sex life to be personal?” Now the heat was blazing back through her body and burning her cheeks. She appreciated his candor when answering her questions, but she hated it when he turned it on her in this unnerving way. “That means your sex life is fair game too then.”
“No it does not!” she retorted.
“If you wish to know any more about me, you’re going to have to give up some juicy tidbits about yourself too.”
“Who said I wanted to know any more about you?”
He grinned at her, enjoying watching her squirm and the way the blush warmed her face. “Don’t pretend you don’t,” he teased. “And believe me there is plenty more to learn.”
Oh, she believed him. She had no doubt there was far more to this massive, sex with two fangs, man. “What would you like to know?” she croaked out.
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
“No.”
“Have you ever had a boyfriend?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“We dated all through high school and broke up when he went to college.”
His head tilted to the side, his eyes narrowed as he studied her. “I feel like there’s more to that story.”
She poured him another glass of tequila. “Not really. It was a mutual breakup. We didn’t pretend to kid ourselves it would work, not when he was going to college in Florida, and I… well I wasn’t. We loved each other, but we’d been friends since childhood. It had seemed natural for our relationship to develop when we were in our early teens.”
“You were better friends than lovers,” Ian guessed.
“We were,” she admitted. “But L.J. was a great first boyfriend to have. He treated me well and we had a lot of fun together. There just wasn’t any…” She tried to think of the right word for it.
Ian found his teeth grinding together. He’d been enjoying needling her. He hadn’t expected the thought of her with another man to irritate him so much and turn the tables on him. “Passion?” he suggested, trying to keep his tone casual though he felt like breaking his glass again.
“Yeah that’s it,” she said with a smile.
“Is he the only man you’ve been with?”
“You’re really nosey,” she accused.
“It’s a simple question, is he?”
“He is,” she confirmed.
“See, it’s not difficult to open up and play nice after all.”
She shot him a disgruntled look. “What about you? How many women have you been with?”
For the first time Ian didn’t know how to respond to her; he finally went with the truth. “I’m not sure.”
Her eyes fell to her hand before she finished her drink off. “Doesn’t it bother you that you don’t know?”
It never had before, and truthfully it still didn’t. It bothered him she didn’t like it, but she didn’t understand what it was like to deal with the impulses and urges he had to deal with day in and day out. “No, things are different for me.”
“Let me guess, the whole ‘I’m a man and I have needs’ thing.”
“No, it’s far more than that. I’m also inhuman and have needs. I do what I must to get through the days and nights.”
“Oh.” She didn’t know how to respond to that; she could never understand what drove him to behave the way he did.
“I’m not ashamed of it, but I don’t like that my history bothers you.”
“Pfft,” she said and waved her hand through the air. “Your life is your own. You can bang as many women as you want.”
She said the words, but she couldn’t shake the strange sense of hurt she experienced as the words passed her lips. It made absolutely no sense to her; what did she care what he did in his spare time, or who he did it with? She had to keep her guard up around this man. She refused to become one of the many he would never remember. What was wrong with her that she was attracted to such a man, and a vampire no less?
“How old are you, Paige?” Ian inquired, looking to change the topic.
“Twenty-two, you?”
“Twenty-two.”
“Is that including vamp years?” she blurted.
The rumbling sound of his laughter caused a smile to tug at her lips. “Born this way, remember? Every year is a vamp year for me.”
“Oh yeah,” she mumbled, feeling more than a little stupid for asking the question. She could blame that on the alcohol, she decided.
He grabbed his glass from the bar and turned away from her. “I saw a deck of cards in the kitchen, want to play a game?”
She would have agreed to just about anything if it meant a distraction from her thoughts about him. “Ok,” she said and returned to the couch.
The warmth from her buzz had returned by the time he came back with a deck of cards, a pad of paper, and a pen. He set them on the table and pulled the cards from the box. She watched in amazement as his fingers shuffled through the deck with the speed of the undead. The flashing colors and numbers made her already fuzzy head spin so much she had to look away or risk getting sick to her stomach.
She turned back as he dealt the cards out. “What are we playing?” she asked.
“Five hundred rummy, and be warned, I don’t like to lose.”
“Neither do I.” She gathered her cards and held them before her.
A strange sense of comfort settled over her as the heat of the fire danced across her skin, and the alcohol seeped into her system.
Chapter Nine
Paige cracked one heavy eyelid and groaned at the sunlight filtering around the closed curtains. Demented little elves were inside her head, chipping away at pieces of her Scotch soaked brain. She’d definitely lost some of her brain cells to the alcohol last night. Actually, she would bet some of her cells were still floating around in the liquid right now. Her stomach was most certainly floating in it.
She pulled the pillow over her head, moaning when the movement caused her belly to lurch. “Not going to throw up,” she said aloud, but a good minute passed where she was completely uncertain about that.
Had she really spent last night getting drunk and playing cards with a vampire? God, she had, she really had, and the worst thing about it was she’d spent a lot of time laughing with him too. What had made her think to drink Scotch? She’d been trying to prove she didn’t do girly drinks, which she didn’t, but it had been months since she’d sat down and done anything more than sip at a drink or two.
Her stomach rolled, her head beat out a tempo that would have made Korn proud as she swung her legs over the side of the bed. The possibility of not being able to stand up crossed her mind, but she somehow managed to push herself to her feet. She didn’t know if it was the booze still making her sick, or that she’d stayed up till four in the morning with Ian, the vampire.
She shuddered, a flush covering her from head to toe. She yearned for a shower, and then maybe she’d crawl back in bed and stay there until tomorrow. Opening her door, she poked her head out to search the hall. She didn’t see Ian anywhere, nor did she hear him moving about.
This could be it; her chance to run. It was early enough in the day that she might be able to make it to a town before nightfall. That’s assuming she was lucky and went in the right direction. She’d had enough training from the hunters, not a whole lot, hence her embarrassing blood loss and subsequent capture by a vampire the other night, but enough so she should be able keep herself alive. Probably not against a grizzly, but that was if there were grizzlies in the area. He’d probably been lying to her. There were most likely mountain lions though.
Paige shuddered at the thought. She’d already looked for a weapon, but she knew she’d never be able to take Ian down, even if she had a stake, maybe not even if she had a bazooka, the man was huge. She wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to take him down anymore
anyway; she found him almost pleasant, sometimes. Ugh, that made her feel like throwing up all over again. The idea of even attempting to run right now was enough to make her want to crawl into bed again.
Yeah, you’re doing a great job at learning more about vampires and figuring out a way to escape, she silently berated herself.
Captivity and Scotch had turned her brain to mush, she decided as she turned the shower on. But it wasn’t only captivity, it was everything she’d witnessed and learned since she’d been attacked in the alleyway. Ian and his family could have killed her. Instead he’d saved her life. She could understand him saving her if they’d proceeded to try and get information out of her about the hunters, but he’d only asked a few questions before letting it go.
He hadn’t made one move to injure her, and she didn’t feel like a prisoner in this small cabin. She still wanted to go home, her small apartment may not be much, but it was hers. She would most likely lose her receptionist job at the gym. It hadn’t been the greatest job in the world, but it had paid the bills and she’d gotten a free membership out of it.
Oh well, maybe it was time for her to move on anyway, to find somewhere new to live, and some new people to associate with. She wasn’t about to let go of her mission, but for the life of her she still couldn’t remember where Nabel had gone, or what had happened in the alley the other night. Trying to recall it now did nothing to help with her hangover, and only turned the evil elves in her head into dwarves with mining picks.
She believed Ian when he told her she would be let go. Maybe she shouldn’t, everything she knew about his kind told her she shouldn’t, but she couldn’t bring herself to see him as the monster she knew him capable of being.
Resting her hands on the wall, she bent her head and let the water wash over her hair. Maybe lust was clouding her judgment. She’d loved L.J., she hadn’t been lying when she’d said that, but their relationship had been more a friendship than anything else. Her breakup with L.J. had been amicable, but she’d been the one to initiate it. They still remained friendly, and when they’d spoken last month, he’d told her he was planning to propose to his girlfriend. The sex between them had been enjoyable, but it had lacked fire. All she had to do was look at Ian and she could feel heat licking through her body, her toes curled and a deep ache spread through her.
The Vampire Awakenings Bundle: Books 1-5 Page 93