She didn’t hear him enter the room or realize his presence until his strong hands gripped her shoulders and that delicious spicy scent reached her. It was like nothing she had ever smelled before. He smelled of the perfect blend of spices and the outdoors with an underlying hint of citrus. It was amazing – and she was pretty sure that it was not any cologne, but purely him.
“Is something bothering you, my pet?” he asked; his lips at her ear. “I sense that you are troubled.”
Abby shook her head, desperately fighting the urge to lean back against his muscular frame and feel that perfect chiseled chest against her back. “No, nothing’s wrong,” she whispered without any conviction what-so-ever. All she wanted to do was to turn around and bury her face against his strong chest. To lose herself to the feel of him against her.
Desmond kissed her neck softly, his lips leaving a trail of white-hot heat along the way, and she shivered.
Suddenly his entire body tensed - the hands on her shoulders tightening.
Desmond had wanted nothing more than to touch Abby as soon as he had entered the bedroom - and he couldn’t stop himself from kissing that delectable silken neck - but when he got the scent of wolf on her skin, jealousy surged through him. “Abby,” he ground out slowly, his voice controlled and icy. “Why do you smell of mongrel?”
“I smell of what?” She asked, clearly confused.
Oh, Lord! Was he telling her that she stunk? Her heart dropped at the thought and her cheeks flushed red - but after only a moment, realization dawned on her, and she smiled softly. “Oh, that. Luke and I ate dinner together. I had cooked so much and he stopped by, so I asked him if he was hungry.” She explained and felt him relax…slightly. He was still stoic, and she knew she should tread lightly, now was definitely not the time to bring up what she and Luke had discussed. For some reason, her having spent time with Luke seemed to bother him.
Wishful thinking, she silently chastised herself. She could not let herself even toy with the idea that he was jealous. It was most likely that he feared Lucas would tell her things he didn’t want her to know – which obviously, he had. “I want to thank you for the clothes,” she said, trying desperately to change the subject and lighten his mood. “They’re beyond incredible. I’ve never had anything like them and I can’t thank you enough.” Desmond took a step back and turned her around to face him. When she did, she found him eyeing her up and down, that damnable grin twitching at the corners of his mouth - making her muscles clench and her belly grow warm.
“I must say, they do look nice,” he replied, his voice once again that silky timber that caused her toes to curl, “although – if I am to be honest, I do still prefer my shirts on you.”
“Well I can’t very well keep walking around in them.” She laughed lightly, thankful that his mood seemed to be improving. She didn’t know how to handle the angry, brooding Desmond, she decided with a small sigh – no matter how disturbingly sexy he was.
“Especially not if you intend to keep the company of curs,” he replied, the sharp edge coming back in an instant.
Desmond silently cursed himself as his temper flared once again. He had no claim to this woman, and if she wanted to spend time with Luke or any other man for that matter, it was of no concern to him - but even as the thought entered his mind he found the jealously flaming up inside him once again with a vengeance. Damn it! What in the hell was wrong with him! Just the thought of another man touching her sent his body into pure predator mode – his fangs itching to burst from his gums and rip apart any man who dared to lay a finger on her, whether it be friend or foe. Shit! This was not good.
“You were right though - he really is pretty harmless,” she offered – hoping to once again lighten his mood. “But Desmond, he did tell me that you expect the demons to attack soon. And that they know that I’m here? How did they find me?” The fear in her voice was evident and Desmond’s anger instantly melted away.
Damn, the woman could make him forget his name when she looked at him like that. Her eyes shining with that pure, innocent vulnerability and he had the overpowering urge to pull her into his arms – to hold her and tell her that he would never let anything happen to her. That he would protect her forever.
“Abby, it is nothing for you to worry about,” he said softly - settling on lifting his hand to cup her face, his gaze holding hers.
The last thing he wanted was for her to be concerned. He would protect her with his life and there was no need for her to experience a moments worth of fear. For whatever reason, he felt a deep need to ensure her safety – that she was his to protect. And he would – with his very existence. He would not let harm come to her.
Before Abby could stop herself, she tilted her head into his palm, her eyes sliding closed – her lips parting slightly as she took a long, quivering breath. His touch was just much too good to pass up. It calmed her and aroused her all at once, and even though she knew she had no right – she couldn’t stop herself. She needed this contact. She had been miserable all day without him and now that he was here, she felt safe and secure. Damn his loyalty to her father -she wanted to feel him! To feel that comfort and peace she felt as soon as he entered the room. To feel his mouth on hers – his hands caressing her skin and she shivered again at the image that instantly came to mind - her body heating with her wayward thoughts.
“I’m not worried,” she murmured, “not as long…” Desmond stiffened and whispered the word demon in the same instant that Abby felt a sharp pain shoot through her from where the gash on her neck had been to the pit of her stomach - feeling as if someone were prodding her with a white hot poker. All the color drained from her face as an agonized scream burst from her lips.
“Holy, Christ!” Desmond gasped as he pulled her into his arms and against his chest. “Marcus!” he yelled – true panic in his voice.
“I’m on it!” she vaguely heard him answer from somewhere downstairs.
She grabbed onto the front of Desmond’s shirt as the pain continued to rip through her – reverberating through her body like a runaway freight train and she clenched her teeth together to keep from screaming again.
“Oh… oh my God!” she gasped, her body beginning to tremble uncontrollably – her teeth beginning to chatter. Her eyes held his - silently pleading with him to make it stop.
Desmond swept her up and carried her over to the bed. Bracing his back against the headboard, he kept her cradled in his arms, as he desperately tried to soothe her. If Desmond’s heart had been beating, the sound of Abby’s screams would have surely stopped it right then and there. He held her close as she moaned against him – rocking her gently, and would have given his very existence to take the pain from her. He had never before felt so helpless in all of his two hundred and fifty years and the feeling was utterly terrifying.
“Easy,” he cooed, his hand stroking her hair as he kissed the top of her head, over and over. “It’s going to be all right, sweetness. I swear to you.” She shuddered against him, her skin beading with perspiration - her breathing becoming shallow as her heart pounded erratically in her chest.
“Come on Abby,” he gently urged, “take a deep breath for me, baby.” She did as he asked, and he felt her body relax ever so slightly, but still - he could hear her heart racing and her body still trembled against his, which only caused his panic to rise. He felt completely helpless and it was not a feeling that he was at all comfortable with. What the fuck was happening?
After what seemed to Desmond an eternity, she took another deep breath and let her head fall back to look up into his eyes - which were glowing brightly with pure fear.
“I think…I think it’s passing,” she murmured, so softly that if it hadn’t been for his vampire hearing, he would not have heard her at all.
“Thank all that is holy,” he breathed, burying his face in her silken hair and inhaling her wonderful scent greedily - his body finally relaxing with the rush of his breath.
After a few minutes, he felt
her stir slightly in his lap. “Yowza,” she said, snuggling a little closer to him – loving the feel of being held securely in his strong arms. “What in the hell was that all about?”
Desmond leaned back and looked into her face, his brows knit together tightly in concern – his eyes taking in every aspect of her flawless features . “I’m not certain,” he murmured, “the only thing I can guess is that the poison has not yet completely passed through your system, and your fey blood is warning you of the danger when a demon is near.”
“Well, that was one hell of a warning.” She replied, her brows furrowing. “Couldn’t it have just been a smell or something? I mean, those things stink!” she said in disgust, her nose wrinkling with distaste in an way that had Desmond’s body tightening with awareness. “Holy Hell.”
Desmond chuckled in relief as he tightened his arms around her, hugging her fiercely – needing more than anything to know that she was safe and secure in his embrace - and there was a very large part of him that never wanted to let her go. He would be content to stay here as they were now – for eternity.
“You amaze me, little one,” he laughed, as he placed a lingering kiss against her temple.
Abby thought about that night in the bar with a shiver as she realized that the reason for her instant, blinding migraine had been the demon being in the bar and touching her - and she wondered if this pain would only get progressively worse as time went on. That thought was not comforting in the least.
“So this will stop once that stuff is out of me?” She asked, looking up into his face, her eyes reflecting the fear she was feeling.
“I believe so,” he replied honestly, silently praying that he was right.
Abby let out a sigh, her lips turning down in a slight frown. “Let’s hope so. This really sucks. I thought the migraine was bad.”
“What migraine?” Desmond questioned instantly, his face tightening with worry and Abby shrugged.
“That night in the bar,” she explained softly. “When that asshole touched my arm, I just got this horrible headache, like… instantly -but it seemed to ease once I was away from him.”
“He touched you?” Desmond ground out - his blue eyes flashing a luminescent silver with his anger. Just the thought of one of those vile bastards touching her made his body shake with rage.
Abby nodded. “Only my arm, and it was only for a second before I pulled it away - and that was when the migraine hit me.”
Desmond seemed to consider this a moment - his expression troubled. “That was before he cut you,” he mused quietly – almost as if he were merely speaking aloud and Abby watched his face closely – but he was unreadable other than the fact that he didn’t look happy with the news.
“Desmond?” she questioned softly, her heart rate picking up with the look of worry on his face. “It won’t go away - will it?”
He gently kissed her temple again, his breath against her ear as he spoke. “I believe that it will - but you might feel pain if one of those bastards touch you.”
Which was something that he was going to make damned sure never happened again, he thought angrily. “Abby, I swear to you – I won’t let that happen. I won’t let anyone near you,” he promised, and her heart skipped a beat.
Suddenly the bedroom door burst open and Marcus stood there. “Is everyone all right?” He bit out - concern clouding his features . “I heard Abby scream. What in God’s name happened?”
“She’s all right,” Desmond answered, pulling her as close to his body as he could while his hands gently stroked her back. Christ, he thought with a shake – he couldn’t get close enough to her. “How many?” he finally asked, his eyes locking with his brother’s over the top of Abby’s head.
A huge grin came to Marcus’s face that Abby couldn’t help but notice made him look like a two hundred pound five year old. “Six.” He proclaimed happily. “The wolves are still chasing the few that are left off of the grounds. But I got two of them,” he boasted proudly, “turned those sons of bitches into ash!”
“Well done, Marcus,” Desmond said softly, his lips skimming across Abby’s hair as he spoke and she closed her eyes, sighing happily as a delightful shiver ran up her spine. She was feeling utterly spent, and the warmth of being in his arms was like a soothing balm to her body. She fought off a yawn as she felt her eyelids growing heavy. She didn’t want to think about Demons and poison and pain anymore – she just wanted to enjoy the feeling of being held in Desmond’s arms. To drift off knowing that she was safe and sound in his arms.
“They’ll think twice about attacking again.”
“Never underestimate the stupidity of a demon, brother,” Desmond replied softly.
“You do have a point there,” she heard Marcus say, laughing. “Those assholes are about as sharp as marbles. Damn, but that was fun! I can see why you…”
“Marcus, why don’t you go downstairs and make sure everything is secure. Abby really needs to rest.”
“Oh, yes… of course,” he agreed, smiling at the sight of his brother holding this tiny woman in his arms so tenderly.
It was a side of Desmond that he had never seen before – and it was a pleasant surprise. One that he didn’t want to intrude on, so he turned and quickly left the room.
Desmond shifted his weight and laid Abby back against the pillows of the bed. Standing, he gently pulled off her boots and socks. His hands went to the button of her jeans and hesitated. When he looked up, her eyes were closed and she seemed to be asleep, so he ever so slowly pulled them off - desperately trying not to dwell on the silky smoothness of her skin - even though a certain part of his anatomy had jumped instantly to life. She was flawless and he had to fight the overwhelming urge to trace his fingers along her exposed thigh to what lay beneath the silk panties that she wore.
He silently cursed himself for his weakness and covered her with the sheet – trying unsuccessfully to swallow the desire raging within him. She was just too damned perfect and every nerve ending in his body was painfully aware of that fact.
“Desmond?” she whispered, her eyes now half open and searching his. He met her gaze and the air around them seemed to crackle and snap with electricity.
“Yes, my pet?”
“Will you….will you stay?” She asked - her voice, barely audible was like a warm breeze against his skin.
“Of course, Abby,” he replied, turning and walking toward the chair beside the fireplace, but her softly spoken plea a moment later, stopped him cold.
“No… Desmond. What I mean is…will you – will you stay here with me?” Her voice was low and tentative and he felt a tingling run up his spine and an even more uncomfortable tightening in his pants. Christ, he was already as hard as granite.
He turned and saw that she had lifted the edge of the sheet and a groan formed deep in his chest. There was nothing he wanted more than to lay beside her - to feel her warm skin against his. He knew that he was treading in extremely dangerous waters - but at the moment he couldn’t have cared in the least, the sight of her lying there was just too damned tempting and every part of him demanded to be near her - and it was an order he was either unable or unwilling to disobey. And at the moment, he couldn’t have cared in the least which one it actually was. All rational thought had left him! He walked back over to the bed and kicked off his boots as he removed his shirt. His hand went to the button of his pants, but he stopped - knowing full well that she was looking for comfort -not to be frightened by his raging desire -so instead he left the pants on and stretched out beside her. Covering them both with the sheet he pulled her into the circle of his arms and sighed with contentment as she burrowed herself closer – thinking to himself that this must be what Heaven would be like.
“Thank you,” she whispered - her warm breath blowing softly against the cool flesh at the base of his throat and he swallowed back the moan that wanted to burst from him.
“Believe me, sweetness, it is my pleasure,” he replied thickly. And extreme tortu
re, he silently added with a soft chuckle – not knowing how he was ever going to make it through the night with this goddess in his arms and not have her body beneath his as he drove her to the brink of ecstasy. Christ! This was beyond any torture he could ever endure – and yet it was the sweetest of tortures. Her soft, warm curves fit perfectly against the hard plains of his body – as if she had been molded for this sole purpose and he swallowed again with difficulty, trying desperately to curb his wayward thoughts – but it was proving to be more difficult than he had even imagined.
Abby chewed at her bottom lip as she lay there quietly in Desmond’s arms – every nerve ending in her body tingling at the sweet contact of lying against him. She knew that it was insane to be this close to the vampire, but she found that she just didn’t care.
Whether he felt an obligation to protect her or not - she wanted this man as she had never wanted anyone or anything before. It was a need that gnawed deep within her and refused to be ignored. She knew that he could never care for her the way that she was beginning to care for him - but Holy Hell! She just didn’t give a damn!
She had spent her entire life not wanting to get too close to anyone, yet this man had changed all that in an instant. Even Eric had just been a moment’s lapse of judgment and by the time she had realized that she had had no feelings for him - he had become abusive and frightened her so badly that it took her a long time to get up enough nerve to finally end it. But Desmond was so different from anyone she had ever known. He was kind and considerate – not to mention earth shatteringly sexy. And she found that she wanted to be near him – if for only one night.
A Vampire's Saving Embrace Page 7