by Wood, C. C.
Donna stood by the coffee maker with a steaming mug of coffee in her hand and another on the counter next to her. When she saw me, she nodded to the cup.
“That one’s yours,” she said.
“You are a goddess,” I mumbled.
I snatched up the cup and sucked in a huge sip. The coffee was hot and strong. In other words, perfect. Donna smirked at me, but I could see the concern on her face.
“Rough night?” she asked.
I sipped my coffee and shrugged one shoulder. I honestly didn’t want to talk about it.
It became clear to me that Donna wasn’t going to let it go when she said, “I heard you get up. Was it the same nightmare again? The one where you’re being chased through the woods?”
I scowled at my coffee and drank more. She was still standing there, looking at me, waiting, when I lowered the mug.
I sighed. “Do you have to ruin such a good cup of coffee with this conversation?”
“Yes,” she answered.
“Fine,” I huffed. “Yes, I had that nightmare again. And, no, I couldn’t go back to sleep. I got up and drank some water and had the shit scared out of me by your hubby’s skulking friend.”
Donna’s brows lowered. “He’s not my hubby yet. And I don’t think it would be smart to talk about Lex while he’s in the house. That man has sonic hearing, even better than a typical vampire’s.”
I shivered when she said the V-word. Then I did it again when I realized that Lex probably heard everything I just said, no matter what part of the house he was in. “Really?” I squeaked.
“Seriously,” she said, nodding her head. “Plus, that man is scary intense when it comes to you.”
I took a huge gulp of my coffee, coughing a little when the hot liquid poured down my throat.
“Are you sure you don’t want Conner to wipe your memory of the event, Ivie? He said he could do it. That you would remember you had been taken, but not the actual details.”
This wasn’t the first time that she offered, but it was the first time I was tempted. The nightmares were still plaguing me months later. I wasn’t sleeping, I was barely eating. For the first time in my life, I was losing weight without really trying. My mother, who was constantly on my ass about my weight, would be so proud. It seemed that getting kidnapped and attacked by a vampire was the best diet available.
I hadn’t told Donna the whole story of my abduction. I don’t know why, but I just couldn’t share the details with her. The fear, the pain, the things that monster said he wanted to do to me. Just the memory made my skin break out in a cold sweat.
I opened my mouth to tell her yes, that I did want Conner to wipe my memory, but I couldn’t do it. It felt weak and I was not weak. There were people in the world that had been attacked and suffered much worse than I had. They didn’t have the option to forget and they recovered. I could do the same.
I closed my mouth and shook my head. “No, I can deal. It’s just going to take a little time.”
Donna’s expression said loud and clear that she didn’t believe me, but I ignored her and continued to drink my coffee.
“Well, if you change your mind…” she trailed off as I just looked at her over my coffee cup and raised a brow. “Don’t lift your damn eyebrow at me! I just want to help.” She paused. “And how the hell do you lift just one eyebrow anyway? I can never do that.”
I smirked at her but didn’t answer.
“Good morning.”
At the sound of that Scottish brogue, Donna and I both turned to the door to watch her fiancé, Conner, saunter into the kitchen. It was barely seven in the morning and he was already showered and dressed in a gray suit that was perfectly tailored. I knew it had to cost more than one month’s rent on my apartment because the fabric had a subtle sheen I’d only seen on the most expensive designer suits. His shirt was a lighter gray and his tie was almost white the gray was so pale. It was a good look.
Conner grinned at me and I realized he knew I was drooling over him.
I glanced over my shoulder at Donna, knowing that she would be able to hear my thoughts if I was broadcasting them that loudly. “Sorry.”
It was her turn to smirk. “It’s okay. Fangboy is a hottie.”
I couldn’t help it. I snorted as I laughed. I didn’t know if I would ever get used to the fact that one of my best friends could now snatch thoughts out of my head, hypnotize me into doing whatever she wanted, and drink blood. It was mind-boggling. Though the hypnotizing thing might come in handy if one of my co-workers ever pissed me off. I was pretty sure Donna would be more than happy to make my boss think he was a spider monkey and brainwash him so that he would go around humping office furniture while howling at the top of his lungs.
When she giggled, I knew that she read my mind again.
“Stop that!” I snapped.
“Well stop blaring your thoughts at top volume and I’ll stay out of them!” Donna argued.
I sighed and rolled my eyes, lifting my cup to drain the last of my coffee. After months, I should have been much better at controlling my thoughts.
Conner was still grinning at our byplay, and likely the wild images I was thinking, as he sauntered over to the coffeemaker. After he poured himself a mug, he brought the carafe to me and poured more coffee into my mug.
“Thanks,” I said.
He was still smiling, his gorgeous blue eyes twinkling with humor. “You’re welcome.”
I grabbed the sugar bowl and creamer and doctored my coffee so that it was sweet and light, the way I liked it. As I stirred the hot liquid, I felt him enter the room. I don’t know why, but it seemed like every nerve ending in my body snapped to attention whenever he got within a hundred feet of me.
“Good morning.”
I shivered at the sound of Lex’s sexy, deep voice. His accent was barely noticeable, but still enough to make every word he spoke sound incredible. He probably could have read the ingredient list off a cereal box and I would find it hot as hell.
“Morning,” I mumbled into my cup.
Donna gave me a wide-eyed look before she spoke, “Good morning, Lex. Did you sleep well?”
I smelled the light, clean scent of his skin as he walked by me and it was all I could do not to start sniffing his shoulder. I wasn’t sure if it was merely soap or if he wore cologne, but he smelled fantastic all the time.
“I had a pleasant night,” he answered cryptically.
I felt heat rise up into my cheeks at his reference to our late night encounter. I avoided Donna’s eyes by watching Lex open a cabinet to remove a cup and fill it with hot coffee. Somehow I became absorbed in watching his large hands cradle the mug. Before I could start imagining those hands cupping parts of my body, I shook myself out of the trance. There was no need to share my sexual fantasies with the vampires.
“Okay, I’m going to run upstairs and get dressed,” I said before I left the room. I managed to walk sedately rather than dash back up the stairs, so that none of the nosy vampires would know that I was fleeing the kitchen like a whore at a Baptist tent revival.
I hid in my room, taking a shower even though I had showered the night before. I wanted to wait as long as possible before going downstairs. I put product in my curly, dark hair and even blow dried it so that it fell in intentional disarray. Then I applied my make-up and slipped into my favorite black pants and a black shirt. Almost all of my clothes were black for two reasons. One, it made it much simpler to get dressed in the morning and, two, black was slimming.
I glanced at the clock and realized that I had been upstairs for over an hour and, for the first time in a week, I was actually hungry. I slipped out of my room and headed downstairs to the kitchen. I met Donna in the front hall and jumped.
“Dammit. Wear a bell or something, Dee. You scared the shit out of me,” I complained.
“I can’t help it if you’re clomping down the hall like a herd of elephants and you didn’t hear me.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever.”
My stomach growled.
Donna’s eyes widened. “Hungry there, Sigourney Weaver?”
I scoffed at her Alien reference and continued toward the kitchen. “Sigourney Weaver’s character was never infected in the first movie.”
I ignored whatever her response was because when I entered the kitchen, I smelled something heavenly. I made a beeline for the pot on the stove. I heard Donna come in behind me and laugh.
“Lex put a stew together for our lunch this morning before the guys left,” she said.
I jerked my hand back from the lid of the pot as though I’d burned myself. “What?”
She went to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water before she went to the bar and sat down on a stool.
“Yeah. He knew you hadn’t eaten breakfast and said you were losing too much weight. He put all that together in like fifteen minutes and told me to make sure you ate a bowl of it around noon.”
I stared at her blankly for a few seconds. “He said I’m losing too much weight?” I asked incredulously.
I was short, but not a small woman. In fact, my mother, who had been the same size since high school, gave me a huge guilt trip about my weight almost every time we spoke. I even had a bit of a complex about it. I had curves and I likely always would. No way in hell would I starve myself to fit what society considered the ‘norm’. Did I want to be healthier? Yes, but I didn’t necessarily think those stick-thin women were healthy either. A person who enjoyed good nutrition shouldn’t be able to count every rib.
Donna smirked at me. “Yeah, apparently the Greek god agrees with me that you’re gorgeous just the way you are.”
I realized I was gaping at her and snapped my mouth shut. I’d broken up with my boyfriend almost a year ago, but had avoided dating since because of that pesky little neurosis about my weight. The idea that a man as gorgeous as Alexander Dimitriades could find me attractive was almost unbelievable.
She just shook her head at me. “How you can’t see how beautiful you are when you look in the mirror every morning, I will never understand.”
I just gave her a dirty look and headed to the fridge. I found bagels and cream cheese and decided that sounded perfect. I ignored Donna as I prepared my breakfast. I wanted to refuse to eat the stew that Lex had made. I almost couldn’t believe he could do something as domesticated as preparing a meal. Mostly because he looked like the Greek warrior he’d likely been, with bulky muscles and animalistic grace.
When I finished toasting my bagel and smearing it with cream cheese, I looked up to find Donna watching me closely.
“What?” I asked as I put the bagels and cream cheese back in the fridge. I spied a container of orange juice and pulled it out to pour myself a glass.
“How do you feel about Lex?” she asked almost hesitantly.
I turned to get a glass out of the cabinet, glad to have a chance to put my back to her. I was a little afraid of what she might read from my expression.
“He seems nice,” I mumbled.
I kept my back to her as I carefully poured my juice and put the juice carton back in the fridge. I grabbed my breakfast and sat at the counter next to her.
Donna’s hand moved to rest on my wrist. “Then why did you run out of here this morning like your ass was on fire?”
Shit, she’d noticed.
Donna continued. “Are you frightened of him?” She paused. “I can promise you that he will never hurt you. Lex may look big and scary, but he’s really a teddy bear.”
I didn’t believe the last part of her statement for a second, but, strangely, I did think she was right that Lex would never hurt me. I just shrugged in response.
“Ivie, look at me.”
I forced myself to meet her eyes though I really, really did not want to be having this conversation.
“Are you scared of Lex?” she asked earnestly.
I sighed. “No, Dee. I’m not afraid of him. I don’t think he’ll hurt me. After being around you and Conner and a few of your friends, I’m beginning to understand that there are good and bad vampires, just like there are different types of people in the world. Still, I am afraid of how he makes me feel.”
She looked at me quizzically, waiting for me to explain.
“He makes me feel…” I stopped speaking, searching for the right word. “Twitchy,” I finished lamely.
It wasn’t exactly accurate, but it was the best I could do. I honestly didn’t think I could explain the feelings that Lex evoked. I always felt as though my entire body was on red alert whenever he was around.
As she watched me, Donna began to smile. “You like him,” she said.
I shook my head vehemently. “No, that’s not what I mean.”
She just kept speaking. “You do! He makes you nervous!”
I couldn’t dispute that, so I just shrugged and took a bite of my bagel.
Donna grinned and clapped her hands in excitement. “Awesome! Maybe the four of us can go on a double date or something. I knew Lex had a bit of a thing for you, but I didn’t realize that you returned the feelings. This is great! I’m so glad that you don’t still think he’s a monster.”
I started shaking my head at her as she spoke. When she finished, I answered, “Not gonna happen, Dee. Just because I think he’s pretty and he makes me twitchy doesn’t mean that I want to date him. I think it’s for the best if I just avoid him all together.”
Her head cocked to the side and the smile disappeared from her face. “Why? Because he’s a vampire?”
Again, I didn’t have a real answer, so I shrugged.
“Don’t shrug at me, Ivie Lang. Talk to me,” she demanded.
I sipped my orange juice because my mouth was suddenly dry. I could tell that the idea that I wouldn’t want Lex because he was a vampire bothered her. I could understand that. She was a vampire now and I knew she secretly worried that I would sever our friendship. In all honesty, that was my first instinct after I had learned what she was. Now that I’d had time to adjust, I wouldn’t dream of it. But to have a romantic relationship with a vampire? No way. Where in the hell could that go? I mean, that was like me having a romantic relationship with a cow. You didn’t have relationships with your food. Well, maybe you did if it was chocolate. God knew I had an extreme fondness for it. I was food as far as a vampire would be concerned. He might drink my blood. He might even want to fuck me, but he probably would never love me.
For once, I must have managed to hide my thoughts from Donna, because she didn’t even blink as all these notions were whirling through my mind. I was glad. I didn’t want to have this argument with her. I knew that she would start talking about being Claimed, but that ended one way. With her being changed into a vampire. It seemed to me that vamps couldn’t love us puny humans unless we became like them.
Finally, I broke eye contact and took another sip of my orange juice. “Can we not talk about this anymore, Dee? It’s ruining my appetite.”
That wasn’t a lie. All this conversation about Lex, God, dating Lex of all things, made the few bites of bagel I had eaten sit in my stomach like lead.
Donna stared at me for a few more moments, but relented. “Sure. We can talk about something else.” She paused. “Hey! Let’s go shopping this afternoon.”
I blinked at her. Donna hated shopping. Conner had to drag her to the store if she ever needed clothes for particular events.
“You want to go shopping?” I asked, my voice two octaves higher than usual and completely disbelieving.
“I like to shop,” she said defensively.
I shook my head and took a bite of my bagel, distracted from my funk by her completely out-of-character behavior. “No you don’t. You said shopping is the only form of torture that would ever break you if you were captured by North Koreans.”
She gave a disgusted sigh and slumped down. “Okay, you’re right. I don’t know why I said that. I just don’t want you to sit around here and mope.” Then she perked back up again. “How about a movie?”
That actually did sound fun. “Okay. What do we want to go see?”
“How about the new movie with Bradley Cooper in it?” she asked.
“Mmmmm…Bradley Cooper. That sounds great.”
She grabbed her smart phone and started clicking away. “I’ll check the show times. We can go after you eat a bowl of Lex’s stew.”
With that final comment, I gave up on my bagel and got up to toss it in the trash. Just the mention of his name made my stomach clench. The damn man was fucking with my head even though he was nowhere near me.
Chapter Three
That night, after Donna and I spent the day hanging out and going to the movies, we were sitting in the hot tub, drinking wine. It had been a wonderful, relaxing day, one of the best I’d had since the attack. Wearing my utilitarian black swimsuit, I let my head loll back against the side of the hot tub and took a deep drink of the red wine Donna had opened. It was superb.
“This is better than sex,” I murmured, my eyes closed.
Donna snorted. “No, it isn’t.”
I sighed. “Okay, so it’s not better than good sex, but it is better than the sex I had before Stanley and I broke up.”
“What did you expect? His name was Stanley, he was five-five, skinny, and wore a pocket protector.”
I opened one eye to give her a harsh stare. “Don’t judge a book by its cover, okay? He was very sweet and funny as hell. He was just too…” I paused, “tame in the bedroom.”
Donna chuckled, knowing my interest in adventurous activities. “Surely he could have been taught.”
I closed my eyes again. “Maybe, but he decided his promotion and the move to California was more important that his relationship with me, so it’s moot at this point.”
I felt rather than heard Donna sit up straighter in the water. “The boys are home.”
I smirked. Boys, my ass. Conner and Lex were M-E-N. Only Donna could get away with calling her fiancé and his large, muscular friend boys.