by Heidi Betts
“Absolutely. I love Spongebob. He’s my favorite.”
Jake beamed. “Me, too. I have more, you know.”
“You do?” Aidan said, feigning awe.
“Uh-huh.”
Running to the dresser, Jake pulled open one of the drawers and started pulling out every set of pajamas he owned. Well, the ones they kept at Grandma’s house, at any rate.
“Spongebob, and Elmo, and Buzz Lightyear . . .” As he ticked them off, he laid them over Aidan’s lap so he could get an up-close-and-personal look at every animated character known to man. “. . . and cowboys and trains and motorcycles. I have Finding Nemo at home, but I don’t like them as much anymore. They have a hole in the knee Mommy keeps saying she’s going to fix.”
Aidan cast her a glance, and she pulled her mouth to one side, caught between amusement and chagrin.
“Little Suzy Homemaker, I’m not,” she muttered with a shrug.
Better for him to find that out now, before he started expecting her to cook and sew and walk around with a feather duster permanently attached to her hand. Yeah, she was so not going to be that kind of wife, regardless of what she’d thought she would be willing to do before he’d actually slipped a ring on her finger.
Besides, he was rich; let him hire a cook and a seamstress and a maid, if he wanted that sort of work done. Come to think of it, she might ask him to hire a few of those folks so they could do that stuff for her, too.
If they remained married, of course. Nothing had been decided for certain yet. Although, if his interaction with Jake so far was anything to go by, the Magic 8 Ball was definitely bobbing around all signs point to yes.
A shiver stole through her at the thought. When had she started leaning toward making their impromptu marriage permanent? When had she begun to think that maybe being tied to a vampire for life—hers, his, however that whole deal worked—might not be so bad, after all?
Turning back to Jake, Aidan fixed him with a solemn gaze. “Can I ask you something, Jake? It’s kind of important, so I’m going to need an honest answer.”
Jake’s eyes widened slightly and his face got tense, the way it did when he thought he might be in trouble.
Chloe went tense, as well. She didn’t know what Aidan was about to say, but if he did anything to hurt or scare her child, she would not only hand him divorce papers on his way out the door, she’d also hand him his head on a silver platter. Maybe even literally, if he was telling the truth about the whole vampire thing, and that’s what it took to kick his undead butt.
Mimicking Aidan’s serious demeanor, her son nodded.
Aidan waited a beat, then lifted one of the pairs of pajamas from his lap and said, “Do you think they make these in my size? I’d really like a pair. Especially if they were just like yours. Then we could be pajama buddies.”
For a second, Jake didn’t respond. Chloe knew that hadn’t been what he’d been expecting at all. Neither had she.
Then he threw back his head and laughed, and Aidan chuckled with him. So did she. She couldn’t believe how well they were getting along. Or how good Aidan—a selfprofessed vampire who drank human blood and had been around for what she assumed was a really, really long time—was with her little boy. He didn’t mind getting down on Jake’s level, both literally and figuratively, and seemed to know just what to say and how to say it.
Yes, he could be playing a game, being nice to her kid only long enough to convince her he was father material. Behind her back, he might be a total jackass, the kind of guy she never, ever wanted anywhere near her son.
But something told her that wasn’t the case. If he were that much of an all-around jerk, she thought she would have seen some of the signs before now.
Bouncing up and down a little on the pads of his feet, Jake said, “We could have popcorn and watch movies. Do you like Despicable Me?”
“I love it,” Aidan replied with all the gusto of a man who’d just won a bundle on the ponies.
Of course, Chloe was pretty sure he was lying. If he’d ever actually sat through Despicable Me, she’d eat the feathers off her headdress.
“Do you like popcorn?” Jake asked, sounding a little worried. As though not liking popcorn might just be a dealbreaker in this new friendship they were forming.
“Only if it has lots and lots of melted butter on it,” was Aidan’s heartfelt reply.
Clapping his hands together, Jake threw his head back and did a little happy dance. Then, without warning, he threw himself against Aidan and arranged himself soundly on his lap.
Chloe blinked, shocked at Jake’s open and enthusiastic response to Aidan. He was a happy and exuberant boy, but tended to be much more reticent around strangers.
Aidan, too, seemed more than comfortable with Jake. He held him on his lap like it was the most natural thing in the world. Like Jake was his very own son, and he’d been doing it for years.
Emotion clogged her throat and tears began to prick behind her eyes. This was the kind of relationship Jake should have had with his biological father from the very beginning, what he’d been missing all of his life. And now maybe, just possibly, she’d be able to give it to him.
“Speaking of late-night snacks,” Aidan mock-whispered, “your grandmother said something about having cookies. Do you think we could talk your mom into letting us have a couple before you go to bed?”
Jake’s face lit up, and both males turned baleful expressions on her. Normally, she wouldn’t let Jake have sugar before bedtime, but since he was already so riled up, he would probably be awake half the night, as it was. What would a couple of cookies hurt?
Pushing to her feet, she wiped her hands on the back of her jeans and said, “I can’t make any promises, but I’ll see what Gramma says. Will the two of you be okay up here by yourselves?”
She was mostly asking Aidan, and he knew it. Grinning up at her, he nodded. “We’ll be fine. Especially if Jake lets me play with his awesome train set.”
That was all it took to have Jake bouncing off his lap and leaping over to the trains he’d been playing with when they first came in. A second later, he and Aidan had their heads together, so immersed in their conversation that even if she wasn’t going for cookies, she still would have been invisible to them.
Nine
No two ways about it, Aidan was in love. Chloe’s son was the cutest, smartest little tyke he’d ever met.
Granted, he didn’t have that much experience with kids—vampires didn’t tend to be a parent’s first choice of babysitter—but with Jake, he seemed to be a natural. From the minute he’d met the young man, all the right words had simply fallen out of his mouth. Getting down on the floor and playing with him had been some of the most fun he’d had in a very, very long time.
Excluding the time spent with his mother, burning up the sheets, of course.
Glancing in her direction, he wondered what his chances were of ever seducing Chloe into bed again.
They were on the roof of his building. It was about five a.m., and despite the heat the Las Vegas desert could put off during the day, nighttime could be downright chilly, especially eighteen stories up.
He’d draped his suit jacket around her shoulders to keep her warm, and they were sitting on the ground with their backs against a giant metal box, most likely a heating or airconditioning unit. He’d been involved in the construction of the building, but that didn’t mean he knew what every nut and bolt was.
Maybe when the sun came up, he’d be able to tell. If he wasn’t a smoldering pile of ash by then. But that was, after all, why they were there.
They’d stuck around her mother’s house until after midnight. Chloe had brought them cookies and milk, and he’d played with Jake until the boy had started yawning and could barely keep his eyes open. Then, with Chloe’s assistance, they’d tucked the child into bed.
It had been one of the most special, familial experiences of his life, and as he’d stood in the doorway, watching her press a kiss to her son’s
forehead, he’d realized this was exactly what he wanted.
He’d thought marrying Chloe would be something, that it would be enough. He honestly hadn’t given much thought to an actual family—as in, attempting to have children with her. That process, for a vampire—let alone a human/vampire match—could be very difficult and drawn out. He wasn’t sure he would ever even have brought it up with her.
But now it turned out Chloe already had a child. By marrying her, he’d essentially bought himself a ready-made family.
Things would have been just about perfect, if not for the small issue of his being somewhat less than human. He was okay with it, but he wasn’t so sure about Chloe.
The good news was, she hadn’t run screaming yet. Minor freak-out down in his apartment notwithstanding, she’d been handling the situation fairly well.
Of course, he knew she still didn’t quite believe him. Which meant he had to prove it to her. And after that . . . well, after that, he guessed they would have to wait and see.
Would she freak out on him again, this time grabbing up her son and her mother and maybe even her sister, and heading for the hills? Or would she freak out on him again, but only momentarily, before deciding she might be able to handle being married to a vampire, after all?
Either way, he figured the freak-out part was inevitable, but the rest . . . the rest was anyone’s guess.
“You still awake?” he asked quietly when she’d been silent for nearly twenty minutes.
He felt her head roll on his shoulder. “Mmm-hmm. I still don’t know what we’re doing up here, though.”
“You will, in another hour or so.”
“But why do we have to be on the roof now?”
Letting his head fall back against the metal wall, he swallowed. “Because if we go inside, I’m not sure I’ll have the courage to come back out when it’s time.”
She lifted her head at that. Even in the darkness, he could see her perfectly. He could see everything perfectly. Hear everything, too, from the slight wind blowing past the multitude of tall buildings and neon signs that made up downtown Vegas, to the voices and noises of people milling about far below.
Her eyes locked on him, confusion brimming in the violet depths. “Why are we up here, then? I don’t want you to do anything you’re afraid of.”
“I’m not afraid, exactly.” Horrified, petrified, sick to his stomach, maybe, but not exactly afraid. “And you need proof. You won’t believe me unless you see for yourself, and we can’t move forward until you know everything. Believe everything.”
To his surprise, she snuggled back into the curve of his arm.
“I have to tell you, no matter what happens when the sun comes up, you’ve done a pretty good job of winning me over already.”
He remained silent, waiting for her to elaborate even as blood—part hers, part his own—pumped hard and fast through his veins.
“The way you were with Jake tonight . . .” Her voice grew thin and she stopped to swallow. “I can’t thank you enough. I haven’t seen him that happy in a really long time. He’s usually much more reserved around people he doesn’t know, especially men.”
“His father has never been involved in his life?” Aidan asked.
She shook her head. “As soon as I told him I was pregnant, he left skid marks getting away from me.”
“His loss,” Aidan replied quickly and fervently. And he meant it. As far as he was concerned, the guy Chloe had been involved with and who had fathered that adorable child was a complete ass for abandoning them. He didn’t know what he was missing.
But his loss was Aidan’s gain, and if he had his way, he was going to take full advantage of it.
“Thank you,” she murmured. “I think so, too. But Jake doesn’t know any better. He only knows that a lot of his friends at pre-school have daddies and he doesn’t, and he doesn’t understand why not.”
“I’m not going to ask you for a decision now, but in twenty-four hours or so, after you’ve seen for yourself what I truly am and have had a chance to absorb that knowledge, I hope you’ll consider letting me step into that role. I know I’m probably not anyone’s first choice as father material, but I’ll be a good one, I swear. And even though we’ll face a few difficulties a normal man—a normal family—wouldn’t, I promise I’ll do everything I can to make you both happy.”
Tipping her head back, she smiled at him. “No matter what the dawn brings, you’re a very good man, Aidan Raines.”
He shifted beside her, not because her words made him uncomfortable, but because his skin was starting to tingle. One of the first signs that dawn was approaching. It was an early warning signal that he needed to get to safety and tuck himself in somewhere nice and dark before the sun began to rise in earnest.
Another couple of minutes and his blood started to get warm, bubbling in his veins almost like water being brought to a slow boil. And the tingle crawling over his skin grew more and more uncomfortable until it itched and then burned.
When he spoke, his tone was rough, his throat dry and tight. “I hope you’ll still feel that way in a few more minutes.”
Far off on the horizon, dancing behind the mountain peaks and Vegas skyline, black gave way to blueish black, and then gray, and then the pastel colors of dawn: lavender and pink, with a hint of orange and yellow.
Aidan’s chest rose and fell in rapid succession. He might not need oxygen to survive, but highly stressful situations apparently caused hyperventilation in vampires and humans alike. He licked his dry lips, squeezing his eyes shut as they began to burn and tear.
He couldn’t see Chloe anymore, but he felt her shift against him. She came up on her knees beside him, her hands resting on his upper thigh.
“Aidan?”
She sounded concerned, and he knew he was probably scaring her, but he couldn’t help it. He also couldn’t reply. Hands clenched in his lap, it was all he could do to sit still and let this happen when his instincts and every cell in his body was screaming for him to get inside and away from impending danger.
“Aidan, are you all right?”
Not all right, not all right, rolled through his brain, but he still couldn’t strangle out a response.
Bringing his arms up, he pressed the heels of his hands into his eye sockets, hard, and began to rock like a child. He hated this. Hated the pain wracking his body, yes, but hated the defenselessness even more. Hated her seeing him like this.
And then he smelled the burning. His skin was beginning to smolder. The intense heat battering his face and the back of his hands must be where his flesh was turning black and crisp and beginning to peel.
“Oh, my God,” Chloe breathed. “Aidan, you’re burning.”
She sounded frantic, but his first inclination was to laugh. Isn’t that what he’d told her would happen? Isn’t that why they were up here—so he could show her what happened to a vampire when they didn’t find a dark hole fast enough and were met with the agony of sunrise?
“Okay, that’s enough.”
Her voice was firm and decisive as she threw his jacket over him and started tugging him to his feet.
“Get up. I believe you, now get up right this minute,” she said, yanking until he found his footing and let her drag him away.
He didn’t know where they were going, but he hoped it was inside, away from the big ball of burning gas that was broiling him alive. He also hoped she meant what she said about believing him. Because if he had to go through something like this again just to convince her of what he really was, their marriage was going to be a short-lived one, indeed.
One minute, the sun was scorching him. The next, he felt blessed shade encompass him, and nearly sagged with relief. He shrugged off the jacket and lifted his head just as the heavy metal door leading to the roof slammed closed behind them.
Dropping onto the steps, he leaned back against the wall and let the cool darkness seep through him, soothe him. His skin still prickled and throbbed, the burns still aching, b
ut at least things weren’t going to get any worse.
Lowering herself to the step beside him, Chloe was shaking as badly as he was. “What the hell was that?” she asked, somewhat breathless.
Rather than answer, he arched one dark brow.
“I know, I know. I just can’t believe . . . You told me, and I was halfway ready to agree with you, even if you were in need of shock treatments and a Thorazine Big Gulp, but I don’t think I really believed it could be true.”
Which was the number-one reason vampires weren’t integrated into human society; the myths and legends were too scary to begin with, and they probably wouldn’t believe it unless it slapped them right in the face. Chances were, human beings came in contact with vampires a lot more often than they realized. Especially at night. Especially in downtown Las Vegas. They didn’t call it Sin City for nothing, and vampires did have a tendency to be drawn to all things sinful.
Her gaze ran over his face and arms and hands, taking in what he assumed were some rather nasty burns. The ones on his hands were bright red in places, bubbling and white in others, and he knew his face must look similar.
“Are you all right?” she asked, sympathy tingeing her voice. “I mean, I know you’re not all right, but . . . will you be okay? Is there anything I can do for you?”
“Do you believe me now? What I am, how I have to live?” he asked instead, answering her question with what he considered a more important one of his own.
Silence echoed through the narrow stairwell for several long seconds while she considered that, studied him, mentally ran through the very short list of other possible explanations.
“Yes. I believe you,” she said softly.
With a stiff nod, he held out his hand and started to push up, wincing as his scalded skin stretched and pulled. “Then help me downstairs. I could use a nap, a drink, and some burn ointment—not necessarily in that order.”
Being very careful in her movements, she hooked his arm over her shoulder and propped him up as they made their way down the single flight of stairs to the first level with elevator access. From there, they zipped down to the parking garage and shuffled the short distance to the private elevator that would take them to his apartment.