by Eden Robins
Carrying her glass into the other room, she noticed for the first time that her TV was on. Had she left it on and gone to sleep? The last thing she remembered was eating some stew with Jonathan. After that things were fuzzy.
Then she saw Christian. The glass slipped from her hand and crashed to the floor. She would never forget the look in his eyes as he swung his head towards her and shot to his feet. For just an instant, his gaze looked haunted with pain and suffering. She barely held back the urge to run to him and hold him close. Whatever he was watching on the television had profoundly affected him.
Then it was gone.
“Surprised to see me, palomita?”
Christian shuttered his eyes so that they held nothing but casual interest. Alyssa wasn’t fooled. Forgetting about the broken glass, she took a step forward, then gasped when a sharp pain shot through her foot.
“Don’t move. I’ll get you.”
As he closed the distance between them, Alyssa couldn’t help but notice how Christian looked. It almost made her previously dry mouth water. She forgot about the pain in her foot. He wore his hair loose. It spilled in dark shining waves around his shoulders. She really, really wanted to run her fingers through it. He wore a charcoal-gray, ribbed T-shirt that strained against the wide expanse of his shoulders and clung to his muscular chest. She had to swallow as her gaze lowered. His black jeans hugged him in all the right places. She could almost see the play of muscles in his powerful thighs as he drew close. Her thoughts scattered as he picked her up and brought her to the couch. He set her down gently and then hovered over her. His eyes were glued to her foot. Alyssa followed his gaze.
Uh oh. Blood. Vampire. It took Alyssa a second to figure it out, but the minute she did, she stood up and started to limp quickly towards the bathroom.
“I’ll go clean this up. Then we can talk about why you’re in my apartment.”
She tried to make her voice sound calm, relaxed. Instead it came out a high-pitched squeak.
“Stop.”
It was only one word. But Christian’s compelling voice pulled at her. Made her want to listen. She hesitated and then fought against it as she tried to move forward.
“Now.”
That was it. Her feet stopped. She wanted to get to the bathroom, needed to close the door and lock it. She didn’t want to see Christian’s eyes glowing red or his teeth grow.
“Don’t move.”
His voice lured her, enticed her. Made her want to do whatever he asked of her. Before she realized it, he was standing directly in front of her. She stared at his chest, refusing to look up. Christian tilted her chin up with his finger. She closed her eyes tight. She didn’t want to see the vampire…she didn’t want to see the vampire…she didn’t want to see the vampire.
“Look at me, palomita.”
It was a command. She knew that now. He asked and she wanted, no needed to obey. Still, she fought it as long as she could.
Her eyes fluttered open. She met Christian’s stare and saw only his rich mocha eyes. No red. No glowing. Just Christian’s desire-filled eyes. The breath she had been holding came out in a rush. This she could deal with.
“I could never hurt you, Alyssa. Do you understand that?”
She silently nodded her head. She believed him. Knew in her heart that his words were true.
His head descended and their lips met. She forgot the rest—the pain in her foot, the glowing red eyes, the teeth. None of it mattered as they touched. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. Gently worshipping her mouth, he told her without words that what he said was true. He wouldn’t hurt her.
After what seemed like only seconds, Christian broke their kiss. She moaned her protest. She wanted more. Wanted him.
He scooped her up and cradled her in his arms as he carried her to her bathroom. Alyssa kept her arms wrapped around him. Savored their closeness and the feel of him holding her. No one had carried her this much since she was a child. She wasn’t a lightweight either. Even if they wanted to, most men wouldn’t find carrying her an easy endeavor. Yet Christian held her as if she weighed nothing. Made her feel delicate and cherished.
He set her on the edge of her bathtub. The image of the two of them in the bath together blossomed in her mind, wet and soapy, their hands sliding over each other. She would wash his back and—
“Where do you keep the tweezers, Alyssa?”
Christian’s question broke her seductive reverie. She looked blankly up at him. What had he asked?
One of Christian’s eyebrows rose and a mischievous grin spread across his mouth. His eyes danced with amusement and something else, an arrogance that she didn’t want to examine too closely. One that told her he knew he could take her there and then and she would welcome it.
“Your bathtub is very big isn’t it? It could easily fit two people, don’t you think?”
Christian’s grin spread to wolfish proportions. Alyssa felt herself blush. She never blushed! But she suddenly felt like she had been caught with her fingers in the cookie jar.
“I-I never really thought about it,” she lied.
She tried to act nonchalant, as if his words hadn’t sent fingers of desire throughout her body.
Christian threw back his head and laughed. It was a joyous sound. It made her feel better, just hearing it. But she was so shocked by it that she forgot about her embarrassment. She could only stare at him in wide-eyed wonder.
His laughter slowly died down. But the smile remained as he shook his head.
“Palomita, you truly please me.”
Alyssa couldn’t help herself. She smiled. His words pleased her.
“Now, let’s take care of that cut. Where are your tweezers?” Christian asked again.
“In the medicine cabinet behind you. Why do you need them?”
Christian retrieved the tweezers, antiseptic spray, gauze pads and bandages from the cabinet.
“In case there’s still some glass in your foot. That’s why I didn’t want you to move. If there was glass in your skin, it might have become too deeply embedded to pull out. Do you have a clean washcloth?”
“Yes, under the sink.”
He took out the cloth and turned on the hot water. He plugged the drain, squirted some soap into the sink and filled it with the hot water. After soaking the washcloth in it for a minute, he wrung it out and brought it over to where she sat.
Christian knelt down in front of her and gently grasped her calf. His touch made her flesh burn. When he lifted her leg up and slid his fingers towards her foot, tingles of pleasure shot through her. She had a thing about her feet. She loved to have them massaged. She could sit for hours enjoying it.
He held the heel of her foot in his hand, while gently washing the area of the cut with the other one. Alyssa had to bite her lip to hold in her groan of pleasure. She was forced to lean back slightly as he lifted her foot higher. He examined it closely.
“I don’t see any glass. I’m going to press lightly on the area. Let me know if it hurts when I do.”
Why did Christian’s voice sound deeper all of a sudden? She looked at his face, but all his attention was focused on her foot. She forgot about it a second later as he probed her cut lightly with his finger.
“It’s tender when you touch it, but I don’t feel any sharp pain.”
“Good. That’s good.”
That was all Christian said. But it was enough. She could hear the roughness in his voice. She could feel his hand tighten around her. Something had changed. He had changed.
Before she knew what he was going to do, Christian dropped the washcloth and grasped her calf with his free hand. He slowly pulled her foot closer to his face, closer to his mouth. She tried to pull away, but his hold on her was firm. It didn’t hurt her, but she wasn’t going anywhere until he released her. She steeled her body for whatever was going to come next.
“What are you doing?” she asked in a shaky voice.
“Your sweetness calls to me. I have to taste you
.”
His breath tickled the bottom of her foot as he spoke. The hoarse sound of it slid over her like honey to her senses. Soothing her fear while leaving waves of pleasure in its wake. Her thoughts grew fuzzy and unfocused.
“Don’t worry, palomita. You will enjoy it. I promise you that.”
Alyssa watched in frozen fascination as Christian touched his mouth to her foot. At first she felt nothing. Then his tongue flicked lightly over her cut, once, twice and again. Its hot roughness burned her. His teeth grazed her injury. Then his mouth pressed tightly against it, while his fingers played along her calf, caressing it.
It should have hurt. Somehow she knew that. But it didn’t. Instead, the pull of Christian’s mouth sent lust crashing through her. The feel of his fingers running up and down her leg, the sight of his head bent over her, the silky curtain of his hair covering his face and brushing against her. It was too much. Desire climbed up inside her. Alyssa tilted her head back and closed her eyes tight. She tried to fight it. Tried to deny what was happening to her. But it was no use. She was helpless to stop the wave of pleasure that crashed over her. She splintered into a million pieces.
* * * * *
Christian carried a still unconscious Alyssa to the couch and laid her down on it. He didn’t trust himself in her bedroom right now. She was too much of a temptation. He quickly applied the antiseptic to her foot, although he knew it wasn’t necessary. Like all vampires, he had something in his saliva that promoted fast healing. Alyssa’s cut would be healed by morning.
She looked peaceful in sleep. Content. He smiled at that. Content. That’s exactly the opposite of what he felt right now. He had thought one taste of Alyssa would satisfy him. He should have known better. Instead it had increased his hunger tenfold. Although her sweetness had tasted like nectar, his true pleasure came from watching Alyssa lose herself in his touch.
Since joining up with Vlad, Christian always used mental transference on those he drank from. He made the experience comfortable for them and then left them forgetting it ever happened. But he had never taken it a step further. The way Bazhena had done with him, that first time. Leaving him gasping with pleasure, begging for more as she brought him over. She did this with her “special” victims. Bringing them intense pleasure while draining them completely, until their heart stopped beating.
He had always made those he fed from comfortable, but this was the first time he had let himself go. Let his power bring pleasure. He had taken Alyssa. Not in the traditional human sense, but nevertheless they had shared something. And it had been incredible. He had felt every emotion she did. And when she finally let go, let him bring her to her peak, he had almost lost it.
He stood up in an effort to make himself more comfortable. His body was strung too tight, to the point of pain. Pacing back and forth, he struggled to get himself under control. Once he calmed down, he sat in a chair facing Alyssa.
After what he had learned last night from the mortal woman at Twice Charmed, he knew he needed to watch over Alyssa as long as possible, until the sun was close to rising. Bazhena meant to have her. Christian would never allow that.
Alyssa was his.
He wished he could stay longer. Wished he could watch the sunrise with her, share the day with her, not just the night. But he knew that was impossible. Apples and sunshine. They were no longer part of his life. Now only darkness and death belonged to him.
* * * * *
Alyssa’s eyes fluttered open. She looked around in dismay. Why was she lying on her couch? She could tell by the light pouring through her front window that it was morning. Why had she slept on her couch all night? She sat up slowly, gently removing Jonathan from where he lay on her chest and noticed that the TV, showing nothing but static, was still on. She tried to clear the fuzz from her brain. What had happened last night? She looked down at the coffee table in front of her and saw the video cases. That’s right. She had spent the evening at home, watching a video vampire marathon.
Vampire? Christian! Now she remembered! Grabbing her foot, she pulled it onto her lap. She searched the bottom of it. Where was it? There was no cut! How was that possible? Had it just been a dream? No, it had been too real. She jumped off the couch and ran to the kitchen. She looked in the garbage can and saw the shards of glass in there. It had really happened.
It all came rushing back. Christian was in her apartment. She dropped her glass and cut her foot. That’s when things got strange. He carried her to the bathroom. Then he…he—she couldn’t even admit to herself what she’d let him do. And more to the point, how she reacted to what he had done.
She had sat there like a helpless ninny and allowed Christian to take what he needed from her, even wanted him to take it from her. Without an argument or fight. And if that wasn’t enough, she had not only lost control of the situation, she had also lost control of herself. Just like she had always promised herself she would never do. Just like her mother had always done, letting Alyssa’s father take over her life completely. Memories of her mother’s dependent behavior filled her head.
Shame washed over Alyssa.
Then anger.
She would not let this happen! She was stronger than that. She could handle the situation. It was a momentary lapse, nothing more. And she would tell Christian that when she saw him tonight. The thought of looking into those seductive mocha eyes and hearing his husky voice made her heart race.
No. It wasn’t going to be like that. She would be in control of herself. He was a vampire. Yes, that was very unsettling and kind of freaky, but she needed to get over that. Move on.
Alyssa had one more engagement after tonight and then she would be done. Hopefully between now and then, Christian would find the creep responsible for stalking her and put a stop to it. Those two issues should and would be the focus of her relationship with Christian from now on. She would concentrate on getting through her next two speeches and he would protect her from her stalker, possibly discovering who it was.
That’s all she could handle right now. That’s all she would deal with. She was not her mother. She would never be her mother. She was an intelligent, independent woman, who was doing just fine on her on. She made that her mantra over the next hour while she ate breakfast, then showered and dressed. As she was brushing her teeth, the phone rang. Spitting out as much toothpaste as possible, she raced to the phone.
“Herro?”
“Alyssa? Is that you dear?”
Her aunt’s voice sounded confused.
“Yesh. Hode on.”
“What?”
Alyssa ran back to the sink and quickly rinsed the rest of the toothpaste out of her mouth. She heard her aunt asking, “Hello? Is anyone there? Alyssa? Are you there?”
Drying her mouth she put the receiver back up to her ear.
“Yes, it’s me. Hi, Aunt Joyce. Sorry about that. I was brushing my teeth.”
“That’s all right, sweetie. Are you almost ready?”
“Ready?”
“Yes, you know, for our shopping trip? Remember you and I are going to hit the secondhand shops today to find that special dress for the reception tonight?”
As her aunt spoke, Alyssa remembered about tonight’s speech. Her aunt had set up tonight’s engagement with the Arizona Women’s Chapter Against Domestic Abuse. Women from all over the state would be coming and then a cocktail reception was being held afterwards.
Alyssa had wanted to wear one of her usual business suits for the speech, but her aunt insisted that she wear something dressier for the reception afterwards. She had explained that many of the women in this group were prominent business, political and social leaders. This event was a black tie event so Alyssa had to dress accordingly.
“Oh, no! I forgot to mention this to Christian. He’s going to feel out of place if he’s not wearing a tuxedo. Aunt Joyce, I need to call the agency and leave a message for him—”
“Don’t worry, Alyssa. It’s taken care of. I called your publicist yesterday and g
ot Sundown Security’s phone number. I spoke to a Mr. Maksimovitch and mentioned it to him. He’ll make sure Mr. Galiano is properly dressed.”
“You talked to Vlad, uh, Mr. Maksimovitch?”
“Well, yes. I had a few questions for him.”
Alyssa tried not to let the irritation come out in her voice. Sometimes her aunt still treated her like a child.
“That really wasn’t necessary, Aunt Joyce. I could have called myself.”
“I know that, dear. But you have to humor me sometimes. You’re always so busy and I worry about you. After all, you are my only niece. I just wanted to make sure they were taking good care of you. That’s all.”
Alyssa irritation melted away at her aunt’s caring words.
“Thank you for taking care of that, Aunt Joyce.”
“You’re welcome, dear. Now, are you ready to shop?”
“When am I not ready?”
“Isn’t that the truth?” Alyssa’s aunt chuckled. Shopping was an activity they enjoyed doing together.
Twenty minutes later her aunt picked her up at her apartment. Alyssa loved to browse at secondhand and antique stores down in the Willow District. That area of downtown Phoenix was revitalized with little antique and clothing shops as well as galleries. She liked the atmosphere and selections available, especially when it came to dressing for special occasions. She always managed to find clothes that were more to her tastes, instead of the latest fashions.
They spent almost all day shopping, with only a small break for lunch at Willow Bakery. The fresh breads and pastries were always a temptation that she and her aunt had a hard time resisting. After lunch, Aunt Joyce managed to pick out several outfits. Alyssa bought a beautiful antique pillbox at one shop, but no outfits until the very last shop they visited.
Her aunt discovered the dress first and rushed over to show it to her.
“This would be perfect for tonight.”
“It’s not very professional looking.”
“You aren’t supposed to look professional tonight,” her aunt reminded her. “Just try it on. Please?”
Alyssa looked at the frothy creation and doubted she would like how it fit. Her full figure made her very particular about which outfits she wore. But she would try it on for her aunt. She went into the dressing room and started undressing. Her aunt passed a pair of shoes and sheer scarf under the stall door.