Well, apparently that was an option.
When Lexie opened the door to her suite, she looked Chloe up and down with mounting dismay. “What happened to you?”
“It’s raining out.” Chloe stepped inside the living room of the suite. Done in pinks and greens, it looked like every other hotel anyplace, anywhere.
“I’m not talking about the weather. You look like you’ve just watched Bambi’s mother die.”
Chloe grabbed Lexie in a hug. “I just broke up.”
“With Sam?”
Chloe staggered back, fighting off a fresh wave of tears. “He’s a vampire.”
Lexie looked sad and a little angry. “Like I said, they’re not people.”
“I had no idea what that meant.”
“And how would you? We never had a real chance to talk. Is Sam aware that you know?”
She nodded. “How much do you know?”
Lexie sucked in a ragged breath. “Faran. Why we split up. Faran is a werewolf.”
“Fido!”
Her friend gave her a puzzled look.
“That’s what Sam called his wolf.”
“Fido? Seriously?”
“That was Faran!” Chloe flopped onto one end of the overstuffed couch. “He turns into a wolf. How the blazes does that even work?”
Lexie put a hand to her forehead as if staving off a headache. “It’s hereditary. The whole biting-contagion thing is a myth.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Faran has a lot of flaws, but he wouldn’t outright lie about something like that.” Lexie’s face was serious. “You’re in a lot of trouble, Chlo. You know about the whole memory-wipe thing?”
“Yeah. How come your memories were never erased?”
“No one knows I found out.”
“Doesn’t Faran?”
“We agreed to pretend it didn’t happen. He was okay with that. He was never a rules kind of guy. We met at this resort in Cannes. I was photographing a swimwear collection and he was hanging around in the Casinos. I didn’t find out till much later that he was working undercover. I thought he was just a rather nice part of the scenery.”
Chloe gave her a long look, thinking how different Sam was from his friend, and yet they had ended up in the same predicament.
Faran, who was a werewolf. I petted him! And she’d sprayed him with Aunt Mavis’s hair products. Good grief. “Faran trusts you not to spill his secrets.”
“About that, yes.” Her voice was thickly buttered with irony. “We had other problems. I couldn’t deal with the wolf.”
They were both quiet for a time. The rain beat against the window of the hotel room. Chloe’s whole body ached with tension. She was incredibly grateful to be able to talk to Lexie, but then they’d always kept each other’s confidences. They were closer than sisters, and Chloe had never needed her friend more than now.
She finally broke the silence. “Sam and I have decided to pretend I don’t know. That nothing important ever passed between us.”
“Do you believe he’ll stick to that?”
“That wasn’t his first thought. He was more concerned about the power of the Company. He could change his mind or, worse, try and take on the whole world for my sake.”
Lexie was curled up on the other end of the sofa, her long legs tucked under her. “I don’t think it’s as simple as whether he trusts you, or whether he thinks of the Company’s power first. The fact that he even questions his duty shows how much he cares for you.”
“Was Faran the same way?”
Lexie shook her head. “He’s aware we’ve chosen a dangerous path, but Faran is a lone wolf. He obeys orders because he chooses to for the time being. Vampires are different. With them, it’s all about hierarchy and obedience. If Sam picks a fight with the Company, it won’t end well no matter who wins.”
Chloe buried her face in her hands. “I can’t believe this. What a nightmare. And yet I don’t want to forget.”
“The whole supernatural thing is pretty amazing stuff.” Lexie gave a lopsided smile. “I don’t, either.”
“It’s not that. It’s Sam. I don’t want to forget him.”
“Also amazing stuff?”
“Very.” Chloe felt a tremor pass through her. It was more than memory, or just the replaying of sensation. It was her body’s knowledge of Sam, bone-deep and howling with loss.
Lexie waved a hand in the air. “Then run for it. Don’t wait.”
“Before this wedding? I’ll ruin my career, my business, everything I’ve worked for.”
“So choose what’s more important.”
Chloe gave her a furious look. “This is ridiculous! Why am I in this position? Why should I have to choose?”
“Has Sam said anything to his friends?”
“I don’t think so. Not yet.”
“Good.” Lexie drummed her fingers on the arm of the couch. “Watch out for that doctor, Mark Winspear. He has expert brainwashing skills. Apparently not all vampires can do it well. In that little pack of theirs, Winspear’s the eraser. Once he played a trick on Faran, completely removing his memory of eating dinner so that he prepared and ate the complete meal over again three times. I wish I’d seen that.”
Chloe huddled deeper into the cushions, anxiety pulling at her. The vampires had it all organized. There were chosen personnel who specialized in tearing apart human memory. Sam wasn’t exaggerating. They’re serious about keeping their secrets. “Winspear is on the outs with them. He’s missing and Sam thinks he’s working for their enemies.”
Lexie raised an eyebrow. “Good to know.”
“What does the Company think I’m going to do, anyway? Alert the media? They’d think I was crazy.”
Lexie pushed back her long red hair. “The nonhumans have survived by being careful. If enough people spoke up, eventually the media would have to pay attention.”
Chloe buried her face in her hands. “I hate this. I can’t just walk out of my life. I’ve worked too hard to let everything go.”
Her friend’s face puckered with worry. “It’s your brain. What do we have besides our memories? It’s kind of who we are.”
“What if I just went home? Finished the wedding and left? Do you think Sam would stick to the plan?”
“You know him better than I do.”
Chloe swore under her breath. She couldn’t keep herself from remembering his first response had been to try to wipe her memories. How could she trust him? “This is insane.”
“That’s why I ended it with Faran. I couldn’t live with all the cloak-and-dagger and, well, furriness.”
“Sam knows tampering with my memory is the last thing I want.” Yet the worm of doubt wouldn’t quite lie still.
“Then give him a chance to be on the side of the angels. If he agreed to pretend nothing happened, he might just be honorable enough to do that.”
Chloe nodded, her throat too tight to let her speak. She knew Sam wanted to find a better solution to their problems, but she couldn’t imagine what that would be. In some ways, it would be a blessing if he forgot she existed.
“If you want to hedge your bets, leave before he expects you to. They can’t erase your memories if you’re not there. If you go just before the wedding wraps up, right in the middle of all the goodbye confusion, you can simply vanish. Lay low somewhere for a while. Give the bloodsuckers a chance to start worrying about other problems. Once the dust has settled, you can slip back home and carry on like nothing happened. If he’s the right guy, no one will be the wiser and the Company will never darken your door again.”
Is he the right guy? Of course he was. If he wasn’t, would she be so desperate to remember him?
“I know, we’ll go together,” Lexie said. “I’ll make sure you get away from th
e wedding. Plus, I have friends everywhere. We can be on the road forever without using a credit card or registering in a hotel. We’ll be ghosts in the wind.”
It was a terrible idea for a million reasons, but it was still better than having her brains vacuumed. Plus, it would still allow for her to keep her obligation to Elaine and Leo. “You make running away sound like a big adventure.”
“Isn’t it?” Lexie said with relish, leaning forward to poke Chloe’s arm. “We’ve got to show the boys in black that we’ve got ideas of our own.”
This was Lexie all over. Bolting was her number one way of dealing with difficult situations. There was a reason she was a globe-trotter, working freelance and living out of a suitcase.
Chloe drew her knees up to her chin. She hated the plan for the same reason that it was necessary: it took her away from Sam. They’d agreed to be apart, but these were concrete steps for putting miles between them. Her insides felt cold and heavy, as if someone had turned them to lead.
She sucked in a breath and her chest hurt with the effort. “Will you take a picture of Sam and me together at the wedding, just in case? If they do catch up with me and take my memories, I’ll have something to show we were together.”
“You want to remember him that much?”
Chloe rested her forehead on her knees, hiding her misery. “Whatever else he is, Sam is the once-in-a-lifetime guy.”
Chapter 25
The rehearsal dinner was over, and all Chloe could think about was the fact that thirty-six hours from that moment, the wedding would be over.
Iris Fallon had been enchanted with the plans for the hors d’oeuvres. She had been okay with the dais and pavilions putting holes in Jack’s garden lawn. She had been critical of everything else. Chloe had been at some pains to explain why poising a concert harp on the diving board of the swimming pool, while it would project the sound just dandy for the reception, would be objectionable to the harpist.
Some people are the clichés. Chloe closed her bedroom door behind her, kicked off her shoes and gathered up her supplies for a long bath. Unlike her old bedroom, this one didn’t have an ensuite. She padded down the hall barefoot, reliving memories of Faran sliding across the floor in wolf form, of Sam coming to her rescue, gun drawn. That night seemed a thousand years ago.
Vampires. Werewolves. Okay, that’s freaky. But I don’t really care as much about that as I do the fact they have stupid rules keeping us apart. She’d finalized her plans with Lexie to leave during the wedding. If all went according to plan, she’d soon be far away from Sam, her memory intact and her heart in tiny pieces.
She shouldered through the bathroom door. It had a claw-foot tub deep enough to float in. A soak, a sleep and then she’d hit the ground running before the crack of dawn. Jack’s mansion was stuffed with guests, staff and contractors. Even the palfrey was in the barn, having his hooves painted gold.
Chloe was stupefied with exhaustion. All she wanted was some quiet time. She wanted to sleep for a thousand years, without dreaming of Sam. She pushed the stopper into the drain of the tub and turned on the water, making sure it was good and hot.
She slipped off her clothes, donning her terry towel robe while she waited for the tub to fill, then lit a candle that sat on the counter. When she turned off the overhead light, the flame shimmered against the tiles and bounced off the mirror.
“Chloe,” said the deep voice behind her.
She started. Big hands clamped her shoulders, holding her before she could wheel around to face the intruder.
“It’s just me,” said Sam.
“How did you get in here?” she demanded.
“I’m very good at sneaking around.”
“It’s a small room. I should have seen the door open!”
“I wanted to surprise you.” He kissed the back of her neck. “No one knows I’m here.”
Chloe hugged the robe around her, feeling more like she was wearing nothing at all. “Are you sure?”
His mouth was busy on her shoulder, tasting every inch of skin. “I’m not ready to let you go. I don’t think I’ll ever be ready.” He turned her around. She could see his eyes now, black in the dim light. They held a world of promises.
His mouth crushed hers. It wasn’t a kind or gentle kiss, but devouring. Reflexively, Chloe’s hands flew up to fend him off, but she only managed to press her palms against his chest. That gesture turned to a caress as he held her, pulling her so close against his body that only her toes touched the floor.
There was no room for talk in whatever Sam Ralston had planned. He parted her robe with one flick of his hand. A voice in the back of her mind protested. She had told him to leave her bed, and that applied to more than just that bed on that night. It had cost her all her courage to tell him they had to part. Now she would have to go through the agony of goodbye all over again.
Unfortunately, the small voice was drowned in the rush of her desire. Her body knew Sam, knew what he could do. Future pain didn’t matter to her flesh, only the promise of pleasure.
She was already slick between her thighs. All it took was the sight of him, that musky scent of his, and she was ready. With a mind of their own, her fingers were unbuttoning his shirt. The touch of her skin against his, so slight, was enough to send shivers down her arms.
He nuzzled her neck, and she all but cried out in need, her nipples aching to be touched. He bent, his mouth closing around her breast. The warm, wet sensation mixed in her head with the rushing taps. She was drowning in the sensation of him, of the dark, warm room, of the wetness inside and outside of her body.
As he sucked, the sweet tension low in her belly was sharpening to hunger. She pressed against him, her body begging for more. He moved from one breast to the other, making his possession complete.
His shirt slithered to the floor. Chloe dragged her nails lightly down his back, feeling the curve of hard flesh, the sleek angle of his ribs. Sam truly was built like a god of battle, his chest deep, shoulders thick, his waist trim and ridged with muscle. She used her own tongue on his flat, dark nipples, flicking them to life.
Sam lost the rest of his clothes. When he sprang free from his pants, he was thoroughly armed for battle. A pleasant, tingling weakness passed through her, the breath of ecstasy to come. Sam turned off the taps of the tub. The sudden silence was broken only by the gentle lapping of the water and Chloe’s own breathing. Sam climbed into the bath.
“Get in,” he ordered, his voice a growl of desire.
She did. The tub was huge, deep enough that the water provided some buoyancy. Sam caught her around the waist, positioning her so that her back was to his chest. The hot water stroked her breasts, adding more fingers to the teasing sensations invading every nerve. She felt slightly weightless, tingling from heat and heightened sensitivity.
Sam angled her just so and entered her from behind. The size of him brought a sound of surprise from her throat. His hands closed over her breasts as he thrust, the lapping water echoing his motion. Chloe came on the third stroke.
* * *
Sam felt the pulses of her climax pulling at him, but he willed himself to resist his own climax. He pushed forward, bracing himself now on the edge of the tub, thrusting at a new angle, touching her inside and out in ever-changing ways. He could feel the tension building in her again, bringing her to the crest once more.
Was he being unfair, rekindling the fire they’d agreed to bank for the sake of safety? Perhaps. But he would not walk away from her. He had too much to lose. He had waited through lifetimes to find a woman like Chloe. Every instinct he had demanded that she stay glued to his side. She’s mine.
Dimly, like a will-o’-the-wisp of reason in the wilderness of his pleasure, Sam knew he was lost. When vampires made up their minds about a mate, they claimed that person with every fiber of their souls. This had n
ever happened to him before. In fact it rarely happened to anyone, but when it did, vampires were little better than wild beasts until their women accepted them.
I’m in trouble. He no longer belonged to himself. If Chloe was his, he belonged to her in an equally absolute equation. The Company’s rules were no more than cobwebs to be brushed aside. Easier said than done, but there was no place in his brain for that now.
He thrust, and she dissolved around him, warm, sweet slickness milking him hard. Sam’s fangs were out, the hunger for her blood—hers and hers alone—a painful cramping in every cell. As her mate, he was addicted to her.
His mouth found the softness of her neck and bit. Salty blood welled from the bite, filling his mouth with life. Chloe moaned, melting around him yet again. His saliva held the key to her pleasure, venom filled with erotic stimulants that also completely healed and hid the wound from his teeth. In hours, not even a discoloration would remain.
The pleasure cut both ways, giving to him as well as her. Sam felt aching, tightening and then an explosion that seemed to last an eternity of infinite, brilliant bliss. It tore him apart, killing him even as he was made new. He came long and hard, with everything he had.
He had never experienced orgasm close to this before. Chloe!
He rolled back to slouch against the tub, pulling her with him. He was sated, the raging need inside him fading down to a few glowing coals. Her blood churned inside, branding him with the very code that made her. That thought stiffened him enough that she moaned. He had to be careful. She was only human. The vampire male was next to insatiable. His lust could hurt her.
Chloe lay quiet against him, lost in an exhausted haze between consciousness and sleep. Her breath fanned across his chest, teasing his nipples until the skin around them prickled with gooseflesh. The water was cooling now, the air of the bathroom seeming to grow colder with every drip of the tap.
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