Jerome grinned. “Do what?”
“Sneak in here like that. It’s . . . it’s unnerving.”
“I didn’t sneak in; you called me.”
He was clearly enjoying her discomfort, and some of the antagonism she’d felt toward him earlier returned. “I am trying very hard to be serious and tell you how sorry I am if I implied your intentions were anything but honorable. I guess I’m still very much on edge. I really do appreciate your concern. Thank you.”
Well, now that her little speech was over, what next? Would he graciously accept her thank you and leave? Or would he simply stand there until she had to ask him again, very nicely this time, to leave?
“I accept your appreciation for what I’ve done, little though it is. I already knew how you felt. But that isn’t the real reason you called me, is it?”
His words stung like a slap to the cheek. With one hand he had handed her a compliment and with the other an insult. The man was infuriating.
Do I really infuriate you?
Oh, no! She had forgotten their minds were still linked even though they had switched to normal speech. Would she ever get the hang of this? She envisioned her mind as a steel trap and snapped it shut.
“It’s too late for that,” Jerome said as he advanced toward her.
She stepped back as far as she could without backing into the window behind her. She put her hands out in front of her. “Stop. I feel as though you’re trying to trap me.”
“You don’t really believe that do you?”
At this point she didn’t know what she believed.
“I won’t take another step toward you,” Jerome promised, “unless you want me to.”
“I don’t want . . .”
“You don’t want what?”
“Stop. You’re trying to confuse me.”
“I don’t believe you’re confused. Upset, maybe, because you know what I said before is true. You desire me. You would like nothing better right this moment than for me to disregard your protests and take you in my arms.”
Her heart fluttered, gave a thump and then began to beat fast and hard. Every breath she exhaled echoed in the room. She tried to swallow but only managed to grow more anxious when she couldn’t. She settled for passing her tongue over her dry lips.
“Are you teasing me?” Jerome asked, folding his arms across his chest.
Dottie’s gaze skipped from his chest to his chin, anywhere but those eyes . . .
“Well?”
She lifted her chin. And that was her undoing. She couldn’t help falling into those bottomless eyes.
“Jerome, I . . .” Before she finished she found herself in his arms.
And it felt good. It felt right.
What was happening to her?
Jerome finally had what he wanted. He had Thea in his arms. He felt her tremble. Was it fear or desire? He guessed it was a little of both. He was prepared to calm her fear. And he was eager to fulfill her every desire.
Thea parted her lips in expectation. “You are so beautiful,” he whispered before he claimed her mouth.
She moaned as he moved his lips over hers, his tongue probing and prodding the hot moistness of her mouth. He could feel her body going limp in his arms and her heart pounding against his chest. Or was it his heart that was beating as furiously as a jackhammer? Was what he felt now desire or fear? Or, like Thea, was it some of both?
Fear for a woman in his arms was a new experience for him. Usually he took what he wanted, what he needed, without guilt or remorse. But he was having second thoughts. If Thea surrendered completely to him now, would he regret it later? He tried to put his concerns out of his mind as he deepened the kiss, his fingers already working at the buttons on her shirt.
Thea pulled in a shaky breath and put a hand lightly over his. “It’s been a long time . . .”
“A long time since what?”
“Since I’ve been with a man.”
Excitement kicked in, electrifying his body to the tips of his fingers. He had never cared before about the sexual history of a woman. All a woman had ever meant to him was sustenance. He put his excitement down to not having had a woman in a long time whose shyness appeared almost virginal.
While he was trying to put any fears Thea may have to rest, he was also clenching his insides against The Need clawing at his loins. At the same time, he was fighting a losing battle against the sharp incisors that were steadily descending. Any moment now he would no longer be able to keep the full vampire from appearing.
He finally managed to slip a button free. With his other hand, he circled Thea’s waist and drew her close. A tremor passed from her body to his, and The Need spiraled to a terrifying level. He was dangerously close to losing all control. He had to do something fast.
But first, he wanted one more kiss, so he captured her mouth. When the kiss ended, he slipped his hands under Thea’s knees and lifted her in his arms.
As he laid her across the bed he felt the vampire emerge. He lowered his mouth to Thea’s throat and hastily removed her clothes. The Need clawed at him. His head spun crazily and the pulse at Thea’s throat throbbed against his lips.
His control slipping, Jerome suddenly remembered his promise to Julian. To Thea. To himself. He had vowed to keep her safe. He clamped his jaws shut against his descending fangs as The Need viciously tore at his body.
If he lost control to the vampire now, it would not be because he had quit fighting; it would be because his control had finally snapped.
Desire swamped Thea. She wanted Jerome more than she had ever wanted any other man. Cradling his face between her hands, she urged him to lift his head. When their eyes met, they mirrored his soul, a soul tortured by the conflicts warring inside him. He was suffering. And his suffering became her own. She would do anything, anything at all, to relieve his pain.
She felt a fleeting moment of fear, but she resolutely pushed it aside. Jerome’s pain, his need, was greater than concern for her own safety. Something deep inside told her he would not hurt her. Her mind sought his.
Take what you need.
Jerome poised himself above her. Their gazes locked, he relaxed his jaws and let his fangs descend. Thea did not look away.
You have no idea what you’re offering.
But she knew very well what she was willing to give him.
I know you’re in pain and that I can help you. I know you need me.
Are you certain your desire for me is strong enough to give me what I need?
At that moment her desire was strong enough to give him anything and everything he needed.
Yes. Yes!
Then show me. Show me how much you desire me. And be fast about it because I am nearing the end of my control.
As Jerome lowered his body over hers, she felt convulsive quivers run through him and she knew he spoke the truth. There was no time to waste.
She needed to let him know how much she wanted him. And she needed to do it quickly. She lowered Jerome’s head to her shoulder and snaked a hand between their bodies until she found his rigid shaft. She tightened her fingers around him. His body tensed. With her other hand, she guided his mouth to her arched neck.
Jerome moaned. And the moan turned into a tortured scream that pierced her heart like the sharpest knife. She reached for him when she felt him pull away but she was not fast enough, nor strong enough, to hold back the force that wrenched him from her.
JEROME LEAPED from the bed. The part of his soul that had not yet been lost to the darkness would not let him take from Thea what he could never give back. He could take blood from other women with control, but with Thea he was afraid that just one taste of her would drive him to the dark side. He didn’t know why it was that way with her. He just knew that it was.
Thea sat u
p on the edge of the bed. “What’s wrong?”
“Leave me alone,” he snarled, on his way to the door. “Leave. Me. Alone.”
His insides were twisted into knots as he fled through the house, and his gums throbbed with every beat of his heart. He had to get out of here now, this minute. There were many places he could go where he could unleash the vampire without restraint.
The Corvette responded to his urgency like it was a part of him. As he raced through the night, he ignored the rules of the road. The only rules he obeyed were those of the vampire and the unleashed fury of The Need.
His first stop proved fruitless. The house was empty, its mistress no doubt seeking the pleasures of the night elsewhere.
At his second stop the woman welcomed him with open arms, but he might as well have been a mortal teenager attempting to lose his virginity. Nothing worked as it should have. His libido took a downward spiral, and the thought of drinking the woman’s blood turned his stomach. He left her begging him to come back to her bed.
Thea. It was Thea he wanted. But Thea was forbidden to him. She was his charge, his responsibility. Damn it all, it wasn’t enough that soon he would be called upon to join his life force with Julian’s so that he could do his part to fulfill The Legacy. It seemed also to be his fate to lust after a woman he couldn’t have.
Outside, he directed his inner rage toward his enemies—those deep-earth demons who could not be content taking what they needed to sustain themselves, but instead forever sought the total destruction of humanity.
He drove to the Berkeley Pier, knowing in advance it would be to no avail. He was certain if anything had been going on with Solotov or any of his followers, he would have been summoned by a member of his cadre. Still, he had hoped against hope that he would find a way to empty himself of his rage against those that deserved it. He was not to be so lucky.
Back home, he headed straight for his bar. Tonight, Michael’s Double B would have to suffice even if it meant he had to drink a gallon of the blasted stuff.
Midway across the room he stopped abruptly. A force greater than his need for the blood substitute turned him around.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“Waiting for you,” Thea said.
Fists clenched he marched to the bar and reached for the decanter that held a day’s supply of Double B. He downed the contents in three giant swallows and brushed the back of his hand across his mouth.
“Get out,” he shouted, not bothering to turn around.
“Not until I know you’re all right.”
Jerome sent the empty decanter and a tray of glasses crashing to the floor. “Damn it woman, you have tested my hospitality and my patience to the limit. I want you out of my house.” He spun around. “Now.”
Jerome’s words stung, but Thea ignored them and rose determinedly from the chair. “I’ll leave in the morning, if you still want me to go.”
“You will leave now, this minute!”
“I will not. I cannot”
Before she knew what was happening, Jerome was in front of her, his hands on her shoulders. He gave her a rough shake that made her gasp. And the next moment, she was in his arms and he was kissing her savagely, his hands exploring her body from her breasts to her hips and back up again.
Scowling, he picked her up and carried her to the sofa in a corner of the room, laid her down and began stripping the clothes from her body.
The heat from Jerome’s eyes washed over her as they turned a fiery red. His mouth opened and twisted grotesquely to expose the giant, pointed fangs suspended above her. She lay there, naked in body and spirit, and waited for his next move.
It was then that she heard the voice inside her head. There is still time to turn away. But it wasn’t Jerome’s voice. It was the voice of a woman. A voice that resounded deep inside her but one that she could not name. There is still time to turn away, the voice echoed again. But she didn’t want to turn away. Something larger than her life beckoned.
She could not let the actions of one evil vampire be the blueprint for the entire race of vampires any more than she could hold the entire human race responsible for the actions of one evil man. For some reason she felt that this was meant to be. She wrapped her arms around Jerome as he unzipped his pants, released himself and thrust inside her.
You are a foolish woman, Jerome shouted inside her mind. Do not say I didn’t warn you.
She didn’t answer him, but focused instead on the sensations that registered like shock waves throughout her body. Jerome had not moved inside her since his entry. She lifted her hips and forced him deeper. His pain and his despair washed over her, his breath licked her flesh like flames, and his fangs journeyed over her neck as his mind laced tighter with hers.
You will never be the same again.
She hadn’t been the same since the day she’d met him.
Jerome suddenly began to move inside her and his hands lifted her buttocks to meet his thrusts. His grunts of pleasure mirrored her own. As her pleasure mounted, she felt the world slip away and her body disunite from her soul. For a heartbeat she skirted death. Then Jerome spilled inside her, and in that instant she knew she had taken an irreversible step.
She felt the sting at her neck as the orgasm rolled through her.
“I TOOK ONLY THE blood I needed to quench the fire inside me. The bite was not deep. You should suffer no ill effects from it.” They were in Thea’s bed where Jerome had carried her, intending to continue their sexual liaison until dawn. He lay on his side next to her, his arm across his forehead. He felt empty inside, a feeling he had never experienced before after having sex with a woman.
He was proud of his control over The Need as he brought pleasure to them both without causing Thea any injury. His restraint had taken its toll on him, though. Holding back the full demand of his lust had also meant harnessing his emotions. That repression was no doubt the reason for the impotence that had prevented his mounting her again.
It was perhaps for the best that they not continue their lovemaking. To do so might give Thea the impression that things had changed between them. That there was some kind of future possible for them. He needed to make certain she knew where she stood with him.
“Is there something you would like to say to me? Something you would like to ask?”
Thea turned toward him, her warm breath tickling his arm when she spoke. “No. You said there would be no consequences for me. I believe you.”
“So you have no other concerns?”
“Should I have?” He detected an edge of uncertainty in her voice that wasn’t there before. If she did have any concerns it wasn’t his fault. He had warned her not to toy with him. She had ignored his warning and egged him on with her persistence. He felt no guilt. And she should know that.
“I told you there would be no physical ill effects. I cannot say the same, however, for your mental or emotional state. And it is too late now for me to erase from your mind what has happened.”
“Did I give the impression I wanted that?”
Perhaps he should soften a little and at least look at her. He shifted slightly but kept his eyes shielded with his arm.
“No. I just want to set things straight between us. This doesn’t change anything. I still want you to leave.” He hadn’t expected it to be so difficult to get the words out. He had said them before and meant them. And he still meant them.
She swallowed hard and he almost told her to forget what he’d said. That he hadn’t meant it. He was just angry. Angry at his fate, at what lay before him. But he kept quiet.
Thea turned her head away from him. “I have an appointment with Dr. Stephens tomorrow afternoon. I’d like to keep it. I’ll book the earliest flight to Mobile tomorrow night.”
“Tuesday morning would be early enough, if that makes it eas
ier.”
The silence that stretched between them pulsed with a life of its own. She had to be as uncomfortable as he. Tension clenched his jaw. He knew he should leave. “It will be dawn soon. I need to go.” He rolled out of bed and hurriedly stepped into his pants. Thea kept her face turned away from him.
“If I should leave before I see you again, I want you to know how much I appreciate all you’ve done. And if I’ve caused you any unnecessary distress, please forgive me.”
He waved away her comments. It would be easier if they stuck to impersonal details. “If Dr. Stephens can’t give you the name of someone to see back home, perhaps he can at least steer you in the right direction.” He walked to the door and held it open for a few seconds before he quietly said, “Good-night, Thea.”
“Wait.”
He turned around. She held out a hand. The bracelet he had given her dangled from her fingertips.
“This belongs to you. I won’t need it now.”
The bracelet was hers now, forever. “Keep it,” he growled. “It’s yours.”
He hesitated only briefly before he stepped out of the room, closing the door much too forcefully behind him.
Chapter Twelve
SHOULD SHE CALL Simone for the answers to her questions? Or should she seek out Gordon? Thea had been tossing back and forth on the bed for the past three hours with no clear answer to her questions.
Simone was in an intimate relationship with Julian, but Gordon was Michael’s counterpart, and as such he probably knew everything there was to know about Jerome’s past. He certainly knew much more than Simone.
But how could she discuss what had happened between her and Jerome with a stranger? She couldn’t. Simone was the only person with whom she could discuss what had transpired between herself and Jerome.
Was it only a few hours since Jerome had left her? Everything still seemed so unreal. She put her fingers to her neck. The area was still tender even though Jerome had assured her she would suffer no permanent mark.
It wasn’t what could be seen on the outside that really worried her, however. It was what she felt inside that made her decide to call Simone. Yet, when she finally got through to her stepsister it was harder to begin the conversation than she’d anticipated.
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