"In truth, I kept you close because that's where I wanted you. I had felt it back in Montana. Some weird energy between us that I tried to pretend was just us butting heads. But you remembered me. And God, I remembered you. Everything felt less once we were apart. Instead of looking forward to our little arguments, or thinking up ways to annoy you, I found myself looking forward to nothing."
She still looked angry, but she wasn’t stopping him, so he pressed on.
“Try to think of the way you felt last night. With me, in my arms. In my bed.”
He could see the hesitation on her face and the moment she did as he asked. Her cheeks went pink, her eyes went soft and he nodded, hope clattering around like a single pebble in the empty, rusting drum of his heart.
“I felt the same. Not just the sex, all of it. The sense of rightness…of coming home. Tell me you didn’t feel it and I will let you walk away right now and never darken your door again.”
It was a terrifying thought. One he could hardly conceive of as the gaping maw of an eternity without her opened up to greet him.
“That’s not fair, Phin,” she murmured, the last of the anger seeming to drain from her as she slumped forward. “You know I felt something, but how can I trust that? When you…”
When he had toyed with her freewill so callously before.
Regret was bitter in his mouth. “All I can say is that I felt like I was protecting you and I will never, ever do it again. You should know that it went both ways,” he added.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Those fantasies that you thoughts were dreams about us? That night in the club.” He shrugged and shook his head. “Those thoughts were mine. It was like you took a part of me when our minds touched. I can’t explain it and it’s never happened before, but there it is. We are meant to be, Steph. I know it deep in my bones. And if you won’t have me, I’ll never give my heart away to another.”
She studied him for a long moment. “What are you asking of me, Phin? To be with you, and grow old and die while you stay the way you are now? Would you take other lovers as I wither away?” She let out a harsh laugh. “How strange is it that I’ve know you for maybe a week and that matters to me? So much.” The last was uttered on a whisper.
Despite the hurling of crystal, this was actually the part that he’d feared most and he steeled himself for the worst.
“It matters to me to. Which is why I would turn you. Into a nightwalker, like me. Like Zara and Gabriel.”
Her eyes shot to his in a strange mix of curiosity and fear, the former of which made the hope in his heart grow just a little bigger.
“You’d be sick for a week, like Zara. And yes,” he said with a grim nod. “You would need to drink blood to survive, although I swear it will seem far less disgusting once you’ve turned. But we can go into the daylight, so long as it’s not full sun, and we have very few limitations.”
He could almost hear the gears grinding in her mind.
“You’re immortal?”
“Close enough,” he said. “We can be killed but you’d never be ill again, or age. Know that I would never try to convince you of something that would cause you harm. I--” he broke off, the words sticking in his throat. “I love you,” he said, simply.
He’d never said those words to a woman besides his mother, and wondering if they would be returned was more excruciating that walking outdoors on a sunny day for the first time after turning.
“You’ll feel like a superhero, Steph,” Zara called, pleading her case in a shout from the other room. “I would never steer you wrong. Please. Join us.”
Tears welled up in Steph’s eyes, and Phin’s stomach dropped. She could only look so sad because she was about to refuse him.
“When Greg died, I swore I would never let myself feel this way. The thought of losing another piece of my heart felt like certain death.” She rose to stand and held a hand to his chest. “From the second we met, I tried to fight it too, but I was helpless. Even your magic couldn’t steal you from my thoughts. So my answer is yes. I will join you. Because I love you, Phin.”
The cheers that rose from the living room echoed the ones in his heart and he scooped her into his arms, the joy almost more than he could bear.
“I promise to spend the next hundred years making sure you don’t regret it,” he said, peppering kisses over her now-smiling face.
“Hundred years? What about after that?” she demanded.
He chuckled. “You’re bound and determined to make everything and argument, aren’t you?”
“Hey, buddy. You know what you signed up for. Back out now or forever hold your p--” she gasped as he dipped low and nipped at her bottom lip.
“You’re not getting rid of me that easy,” he promised. “Shall we go out to the living room and see our friends before we make them leave?” He began carrying her down the hallway without waiting for her response, but when it came, it almost made him stop in his tracks.
“Sure, we can go see them. But then I want to talk about that thing we saw in the fantasy room?” Her green eyes went bright with both curiosity and mischief. “The thing with the paddle?”
He swallowed a groan as he carried her down the stairs, each step feeling like one in the right direction.
He’d gambled on love for the first and last time and had won. He couldn’t wait to see what life had in store for them.
The End
About Chloe Cole
Chloe Cole is the New York Times bestselling author of the Montana Wolves, Montana Dragons, and New England Nightwalkers series.
www.chloe-cole.com
Bite of Betrayal by Deanna Chase
Bite of Betrayal by Deanna Chase
Billionaire Blood Bonds
One hot vampire. One hot night. And one hot betrayal.
Blake Douvant is a woman with one thing on her mind: find her missing best friend. But when Jackson Barré, a sexy east coast billionaire, comes into her life, she lets her guard down for just one night full of lust, passion, and betrayal.
Chapter 1
I stood outside the Red Door and took a deep breath, the oppressive humidity zapping my energy. August in New Orleans was pure hell. And even though I’d cleaned up only an hour before, I already felt a desperate need for a shower.
Perfect. There was nothing like frizzy hair and a sheen of perspiration to boost a girl’s confidence when she was basically on a blind date… with a vampire. I took a step forward and flashed my employee badge at the vamp working the door in order to bypass the line already forming down Frenchmen Street.
“Mr. Barré is waiting for you in the VIP booth,” Cain said, waiving me through.
I nodded and slipped into the dark club. The air conditioning cooled my over-heated skin as I stood there waiting for my eyes to adjust.
“This way, Ms. Douvant.” The cold hand of the club manager gripped my elbow as he gently propelled me forward.
I gritted my teeth, but said nothing, letting him manhandle me. There was nothing to be done. My boss and the owner of the club, Eadric Allcot, had ordered me to ‘entertain his esteemed guest for the weekend.’ And even though I was an executive assistant, here I was on a Friday night because I had bills to pay. A lot of them. Not to mention, no one ever told Allcot no. Not if they wanted to keep their job, anyway. Allcot expected his employees to not only jump, but to do it with a smile on their face.
Considering he was paying me almost triple what my last job had, I was usually more than willing to do his bidding… but entertaining a guest? I wasn’t a fucking call girl, for gawd’s sake. The entire idea of getting paid to babysit some vamp—I stopped in my tracks when I spotted the vampire sitting in the secluded booth.
Holy hell. I knew him.
Or at least I knew of him.
Jackson Barré, gorgeous and every single woman’s dream, was part of the northeastern Barré dynasty: a clan of vampires who were political powerhouses, philanthropists, and the owners of Suck-It-Up So
lar, the green energy manufacturing company dominating the western world.
He stood, reaching out a hand, his piercing blue eyes locking on mine. “Good evening, Ms. Douvant.”
“Blake,” I said, slipping my hand into his.
He tightened his grip over my fingers and smiled, his eyes glinting in the dark club. “Nice to meet you, Blake.”
Butterflies fluttered in my stomach and my mouth went dry, rendering me momentarily speechless.
His smile widened as he tugged me down into the booth. He glanced at the club manager. “A bottle of the private reserve. Cabernet.”
The club manager bowed his head in acknowledgement, and just as he was turning to leave, I finally found my voice. “Can I get a Mocha in Motion?”
The manager leveled me with a disapproving look just short of a scowl.
“I’ve already worked a ten-hour day,” I said with a tight smile. “I’m sure Mr. Barré wouldn’t appreciate his date yawning through the evening.”
The manager’s eyes narrowed, but he nodded and stalked off.
Jackson stared after him, then turned to me with his eyebrows raised, curiosity swimming in his expression. “Something wrong with ordering a mocha?”
I nodded. “In his eyes. It’s a magically infused energy drink made by the fae, Willow Rhoswen.”
“A fae, huh. Interesting.” He sat back, an amused smile claiming his lips. “How did that happen?”
The fae community didn’t exactly get along with the vamp community. They were sort of like the light and dark colliding, so to speak. To have a vampire-owned club selling fae products was more than a bit unorthodox. “It’s kind of a long story. Let’s just say that Willow and Allcot had a common enemy at one time and came together to defeat him. It resulted in a business arrangement that seems to work for both of them.”
“I see.” Jackson cut his gaze toward the stage, but his eyes were unfocused indicating he’d become lost in his own thoughts.
I sat back and watched him, mesmerized. How the hell had I ended up on a date with Jackson Barré? He was the supernatural version of a Kennedy. Only hotter. I was willing to bet there wasn’t a single female vamp, witch, human, or even fae who wouldn’t line up to get a date with him. He was charming, rich, and socially conscious. What more could a girl ask for? Suddenly, I no longer felt resentful that Allcot had asked me to show him around New Orleans.
“So,” I said as the waitress set our drinks on the table, “what brings you to the Crescent City? Business I assume, if you’re meeting with Allcot. But since we’re here,” I waved a hand around the club, “I hope that means you’re making time for some pleasure as well.”
He turned, once again focusing on me as his gaze slid from my eyes to my lips and down to my cleavage. Heat crawled up my neck, burning my cheeks. Good goddess, why had I worn the wrap around dress with the plunging neckline and not the turtleneck?
Maybe because it was August in New Orleans, and a turtleneck would’ve caused a stroke.
His lips curved up into a ghost of a smile. “Right. Tonight is all about pleasure.”
Those butterflies were back, and even though he hadn’t even touched me, my skin was on fire. Holy vamps. I was way, way out of my league. I took a long sip of my drink and closed my eyes as the elixir worked its way through my body, giving me the pick-me-up I so desperately needed.
“Better?” Jackson asked.
I opened my eyes and smiled. “Much.”
“Good.” He stood and held out his hand. “Dance?”
I stared at him, and then swallowed. Hard.
His smile widened. “It’s just a dance, Blake. I promise to keep my fangs to myself.”
“Famous last words,” I said. But I took his hand and let him lead me out onto the dance floor.
Just as Jackson wrapped his arms around me, the band on stage started playing a bluesy slow number that was hauntingly beautiful and all too familiar. The song was Cameron’s favorite. The one she’d played over and over and over again when she wanted to feel something, anything. The music seemed to filter right into my blood, making me pulse with frustration. The urge to walk right out of the club, to continue my seemingly fruitless search for my missing friend, almost overwhelmed me.
Dammit! Not now, I told myself. Cameron had been missing for six long months. And for six months I’d spent every last resource I had, and then some, on finding her, including contracting an expensive private investigator. So far, no one had turned up anything. But I was resolute. I’d never stop looking for her, even if I went bankrupt.
He stopped swaying and peered down at me. “What’s wrong?”
I opened my mouth to deny any such thing, but before I could speak the club manager appeared beside us. “Ms. Douvant, Mr. Allcot is waiting for you both in his office.”
Jackson released me, but as I turned to exit the dancefloor, he pressed his hand to the small of my back, guiding me toward the employee passageway as if he already knew where we were headed.
Maybe he did.
He was Allcot’s guest, after all. There was no reason to believe this was Jackson Barré’s first rendezvous with the powerful hundred-year-old vamp.
“How long have you known, Allcot?” I asked him as we ascended the narrow, wooden stairs.
“We go back a few years,” he said.
“A few as in two or three or more like twenty or thirty?” I kept my tone light as if I were just making small talk, but there was genuine curiosity on my part. The Barré clan, while powerful, had risen on the scene in the last ten years and not a lot was known about them. Jackson Barré looked like he was in his early thirties, but you could never tell with vamps. He could be in his hundreds for all I knew.
“More like five or ten. We met at a hurricane Katrina fundraiser.”
Damn. That didn’t tell me anything. Allcot and his clan had moved to New Orleans after the hurricane all but wiped out the city. He’d also set up a number of foundations to help bring humans home, but not before the vampires staked out the section of town known as Mid City. “I see. It was good of you to help.”
“It wasn’t nearly enough,” he said and then knocked on Allcot’s carved wooden door. Just as his knuckles hit the wood, the door opened seemingly on its own to an office bathed in gold silk and ornate antique furnishings. Jackson nodded to me. “After you.”
I strode into the office, already reaching for my pen and notepad.
“That’s a little old school, isn’t it?” Jackson said, eyeing my admin supplies.
“She knows better than to transcribe using electronics,” Allcot said from behind his desk. He stood, his expensive dark gray suit and a red, silk tie doing nothing to conceal his lanky teenage frame. While he appeared no older than seventeen, Eadric Allcot had been a vamp for at least a century. “We don’t allow devices that can record conversations in my offices here or at Cryrique.”
“Of course not,” Jackson said, his smile vanishing.
Eadric Allcot owned the vampire corporation known as Cryrique, a research facility for medications, creationism, and mind enhancers all geared toward vampires. It was a multi-million-dollar company. Allcot took the possibility of corporate spies seriously.
Allcot moved around to the front of the desk and waved a hand. “Sit. Both of you. This is more of a social visit.”
No it wasn’t. Although Allcot leaned against his desk, his feet weren’t crossed at the ankle like they usually were, and his dark, blue-gray eyes were pinched with a hint of irritation. I glanced between the two and frowned when I noted Jackson had yet to sit.
Allcot raised an eyebrow in challenge. “Am I keeping you from something?”
Jackson’s expression went blank, then he glanced at me. An easy smile claimed his lips, and suddenly he was all charm. “Yes. My date with Ms. Douvant. I have to admit I was rather enjoying my time with her in your club. Your hospitality has been unparalleled.”
Date. How did I get here, working for vampires? Last year at this time I was
in Pensacola making plans to open an event planning business with my best friend in New Orleans. But two days before we were to sign the lease on our office space, she went missing. My chest tightened, and I forced myself to turn my attention back to Allcot.
“Ms. Douvant, Mr. Barré will be staying in Cryrique’s guest quarters in the residence building. Supply him with the key and inform security. My staff has already taken care of his luggage.”
“Yes, Mr. Allcot,” I said and pretended to make a note.
He turned to Barré. “Our meeting is scheduled for nine a.m. Have Ms. Douvant bring you to my office. We’ll go over the details of our deal then.”
Deal? Cryrique was going into business with the Barrés? Now that was interesting. Only the stony expression on Allcot’s face indicated he was less than thrilled about the prospect.
“I look forward to our negotiations.” Barré held out his hand to Allcot.
My boss cut his gaze to Jackson’s outstretched hand and without saying a word, he moved behind his desk and picked up the phone. After pressing a button, he said, “We’re ready for you now.”
Jackson stuffed his hand into his jeans pocket and rocked back on his heels as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
Impressive, considering Allcot had just dismissed him. Whatever business arrangement was in the works, it clearly wasn’t one my boss was excited about.
The side door opened and in walked a blonde beauty I recognized as Pandora, Allcot’s consort. A striking brunette wearing a skintight miniskirt and six inch stilettos followed her, and without even a glance at me, she moved to Jackson’s side and ran a hand down his arm.
“Well, hello there, handsome,” she said in a sultry voice. “Tonight’s your lucky night.”
He took a moment to scan her lithe body from head to toe. “And why is that?”
Her lips curled into a seductive smile as she slowly ran a blood-red fingernail down his neck. “Because I’m on my way to Haven, and you’re going to be my escort.”
Taming the Vampire: Over 25 All New Paranormal Alpha Male Tales of Contemporary, Military, Shifters, Billionaires, Werewolves, Magic, Fae, Witches, Dragons, Demons & More Page 97