Weddings From Hell

by Maggie Shayne

  “Does your heart beat?” she found herself asking.

  Chance stared at her. “Come and find out.”

  She walked over to him, her own heart rate accelerating with every step. It sounded so loud to her, Isa knew Chance had to hear it too. Did it make him hungry? Was that why his eyes began to tinge with green whenever she got close to him?

  “Do I need to worry about you eating me?” she joked when there was less than a foot between them.

  There was a bright flash of emerald in his eyes. “Not the way you’re thinking of.”

  Her hand froze in mid-reach to his chest. Chance caught it, pressing her palm inside his shirt over where his heart was. Cool, hard flesh met hers, but there was no throb of life underneath. Just stillness.

  “You see?” Chance almost whispered. “My heart doesn’t beat, I don’t breathe, I will never age in appearance, father children, catch diseases, or die of natural causes. I am a vampire. Nothing will change that.”

  Isa’s hand was still on his chest. Chance dropped his hold on her and backed away, letting her fingers slide off until he was out of reach.

  “Why are you telling me this?” she asked, equally hushed.

  A small, despairing smile curled his mouth. “Because I want you to know everything I am…and accept me regardless. My feelings for you have gone far past mere friendly accord. In fact, these are feelings I haven’t had for anyone in a very long time. I want you in my life, Isabella, so I’m telling you what that life consists of. Whether you choose to be a part of it is up to you.”

  Isa glanced down, oddly enough, at her hand. She’d felt no revulsion when it had been pressed to Chance’s skin. Yes, he was cooler than she was, but how important was temperature, really? Was it enough to risk the first true tug on her heart she’d experienced? Okay, Chance was a vampire, and that was undeniably a large relationship hurdle. But did it mean she shouldn’t even try? Was she going to always run from people because of the pain she’d felt when those closest to her, her parents, had been taken away? Wasn’t it time she risked getting hurt again, instead of just accepting the numbness of never letting anyone in? If she kept going on like that, then the real dead person in the room was her, not Chance.

  Well, not anymore, Isa thought, and stepped toward him.

  Chapter 10

  Chance watched her approach. He didn’t move, because he was afraid the slightest unexpected motion from him would stop her. She paused when she was a foot away, reaching out to slide her hand around his neck, and then pulled him down to her.

  Chance closed the space between them, wrapping his arms around her and—at last—covering her mouth with his. Her lips were soft and she parted them at once, letting his tongue penetrate into the warm sweetness of her mouth.

  She tasted like whiskey and honey, so intoxicating, and Chance inhaled through his nose to absorb the waves of desire coming from her. Her heartbeat was a rapid vibration against his chest, the race of blood through her veins like singing, and Chance moaned as he pressed her closer. I need you, he thought with a surge of lust so strong, it made his hands itch to tear her clothes from her body. Give yourself to me.

  Chance didn’t dare utter the words aloud, let alone open his eyes to look at Isa. This was where the power of vampiric mind control could cross unintended lines. With how aroused Chance was, there was no controlling the light in his gaze that would take Isa’s decision away from her. He wanted her, yes, so badly—but never enough to steal what should only be given.

  Isa’s fingers curled into his hair as her head fell back. Chance followed the motion, letting his lips slide to her neck. Her pulse pounded so strongly against his mouth, it seemed to be begging him to bite it. Chance licked it instead, swirling his tongue around the throbbing apex and hearing Isa moan with pleasure.

  He wanted to hear her moan again, but louder, and while he was licking a different part of her. The thought of her scent surrounding him while he filled his mouth with her juices made his blood nearly scream to travel elsewhere. Chance let it, directing the flow, feeling himself thicken and harden as it flooded his cock. Isa must have felt it too, because she pressed herself there in a long slow rub that almost ripped Chance’s control away entirely.

  He’d grasped her hips and ground himself against her before he could form another thought. Isa let out a strangled noise, then her hand was ripping at his shirt while the other one tangled in his hair.

  “Chance,” she gasped. “I want you.”

  A blaze of exultation made his words choppy. “Not here. Come.”

  Chance picked Isa up and went swiftly to the guest room, not knowing or caring if Greta would object. Once there, he kicked the door closed and rent Isa’s shirt from her with one hard tug. Her pants met the same fate, as did his clothes, until at last his bare skin pressed against hers. She blinked at the speed of his actions, but Chance didn’t give her an opportunity to be bashful. He dropped to his knees, pulling her underwear down with him, and buried his mouth between her legs.

  Her whole body shuddered. She would have fallen, but Chance gripped her thighs and held her as he took long, greedy licks into her wet hot depths. Her nails dug into his shoulders while gasping cries reached him above the pounding of her artery, so deliciously close to his mouth. She tasted salty and sweet, not unlike blood. The deeper Chance penetrated his tongue inside her, the more Isa shuddered against his mouth, until her cries became sobs of ecstasy. Chance licked her harder, faster, glorying in the rich scent of her lust and the fiery wetness slicking his mouth.

  She ceased clawing at his shoulders to push on them instead.

  “Now, Chance, now. Fuck me.”

  Something primal flared in him hearing Isa say that word for the first time. In response, he lifted her up and set her on the side of the bed, his tongue still thrashing deep within her.

  A groan that ended in a roar came from her. “Damn it, for once, do as I say!” And she yanked at his head hard enough to pull out a clump of hair.

  Her mouth flew open in horror as Isa stared at the dark strands around her fingers. Chance just laughed, fiercely delighted with her impatience and burning with the need to be inside her. He pushed her back along the bed until they were both stretched out, and then settled his hips between her legs.

  His eyes met hers in the instant before he thrust forward. Her mouth was open, breathing in short rapid pants, and her hair was a dark tangle framing her wide cedar eyes. Chance groaned, wanting to tell Isa how beautiful she was, or that he’d never forget how she looked at this moment…but a more powerful need took over than the one to talk. He pushed inside her even as she arched up against him—and then he couldn’t think anymore. There was nothing aside from the hot sweet embrace of her walls, the indescribable rapture of plunging deeper and faster within her, her sweat clinging to his skin, their scents merging into one…and the twisting spasms of her orgasm that seemed to squeeze his cock with a thousand tiny hands.

  Chance knew he should have let himself climax then, too. After all, if he were thinking, he’d remember Isa was tired and she’d had a difficult day from being shot, for God’s sake. But he wasn’t thinking. He only knew he didn’t want to stop, so he didn’t. He held her and kissed her, sucking on her breasts or between her legs to tease her into a fevered state of excitement, before he’d plunge inside her over and over again. He finally allowed himself to come when he realized Isa was close to exhaustion. She was drenched in sweat, and her cries had a distinctively hoarse note to them.

  Chance held her as tightly as he dared while his release rippled through him. It felt like his skin was splitting, the pleasure was so intense. Then a sensation of pure contentment settled into him, making him realize he couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt that post-orgasm. It was wondrous, and yet also faintly terrifying. What if Isa didn’t feel the same way for him? What if she woke up tomorrow and said this had all been a mistake?

  Chance pushed those fears aside. Isa didn’t seem the type to jump lightly
into things, and she’d offered herself to him knowing full well what he was. There were no guarantees in life—or undeath—so Chance had to take things with Isa as they came. When was the last time he’d been so nervous/exhilarated over the future? Wasn’t that worth the cost of a little fear?

  Chance rolled them until they were lying on their sides. Isa was still gasping, her heart rate a constant staccato in his ears. He took her hand, kissing it, and her fingers stroked his cheek.

  “Do you know what I’m going to do, first thing tomorrow?” she asked when she caught her breath.

  He felt a grin tug his mouth. “Can I put in a request?”

  She swatted at him with no strength. “I’m going to call every man I’ve ever had sex with…and demand an apology.”

  Chance laughed even as a surprising dart of jealously pierced him. It doesn’t matter what happened before, he reminded himself. She’s with you now. “Thank you, I think.”

  “Believe me,” she said, settling closer to him. “Thank you.”

  Isa had been sound asleep, but Chance shaking her shoulder woke her. She blinked in the darkness of the room, barely seeing Chance put a finger to his lips.

  “Someone’s circling around the back,” he whispered.

  She glanced at the clock on the nightstand. It was almost three in the morning. Definitely not time for a social call.

  Chance got up in a pale blur of flesh and was soundlessly out the window before Isa could even react. She had a second to be glad no one should be awake at this hour to wonder why a naked man was streaking around her grandmother’s house, when a cut-off yelp made her vault out of bed. She didn’t take time to hunt for clothes, but just wound the bed sheet around her and darted down the hall. Her grandmother’s gun was in the living room where Isa placed it earlier. Sure, it didn’t have silver bullets, but Robert or his goons would go down with plain old lead.

  The back door opened and Chance appeared. At least Isa assumed it was Chance, not being able to see his face clearly in the dark. But really, how many other naked men coming in her grandmother’s house at this hour could there be? Especially ones dragging a half-struggling form with him.

  “Be still,” Chance snapped, his gaze blazing emerald. The form quit moving at once.

  “Is it Robert?” Isa asked, debating with herself on whether she needed the gun or not.

  “No,” Chance said, holding the other person’s head up by their hair. “I believe this is your brother.”

  “Frazier!” Isa exclaimed.

  “Don’t turn on the light,” Chance warned her as she was about to flip the nearest switch to verify that it was indeed her brother. “Close all the drapes first, you never know who might be watching this house.”

  Isa quickly went around and yanked all the downstairs drapes closed, then she nearly fell over in relief when illumination did reveal that it was her brother. Frazier was here, alive and unhurt—except for the dull glaze in his eyes as he looked at Chance.

  “Er, can you snap him out of that?” she asked.

  Her grandmother came out of her room right as Chance muttered something to Frazier that had her brother instantly back to himself and leaping away.

  “Frazier, it’s okay!” Isa said at once, catching Frazier’s arm. “He won’t hurt you…and where have you been?”

  Her brother continued to back away from Chance. “Isa, who is this guy? What’s some naked stranger doing at Nana’s?”

  “He’s a naked, um, magician, and he’s my new boyfriend,” Isa stammered, flushing as Frazier eyed her very tousled hair and the sheet she kept dragging up around her.

  Her grandmother just laughed, a bright tinkling sound. “Frazier, I’m so glad you’re all right! I expect we’ll all want to hear where you’ve been the past few weeks.”

  “I can’t really say…” Frazier started to hedge.

  Isa’s fingers dug into her brother’s arm. “The hell you can’t! I’ve been forced to play fiancée to Mini-Mob Bertini this past month, because you told me it was a matter of life and death, so now you are damn well going to explain why.”

  “I can’t,” Frazier snapped, trying to tug away and surprised when he couldn’t. “I only came here to make sure you were all right, I heard Spagarelli’s got shot up earlier—”

  “No thanks to you,” Chance cut him off in a menacing tone. “If your sister hadn’t been playing her role, then Robert wouldn’t have been near her and the men trying to kill him wouldn’t have shot Isa instead.”

  “You were shot?” Frazier blurted. “How? I heard you weren’t even there!”

  “She was shot at,” Greta interrupted smoothly, with a knowing look at Chance. “Her presence wasn’t revealed to the local police in order to keep her out of danger, since then the shooters would know a civilian might be able to identify them.”

  You go, Grandma, Isa thought with admiration. A hundred and twenty-six, and you’re still quick on the draw.

  But Frazier was shaking his head. “Don’t need to worry about the shooters coming after Isa, Nana. They’re dead. The Salucci brothers and their three top enforcers were found with their heads half ripped off outside a warehouse a couple hours ago. Bertini’s being questioned now by the FBI, but the son of a bitch actually has an alibi…”

  “How do you know all this?” Chance cut Frazier off. “This isn’t information you’d get off the news.”

  Isa had gone pale upon hearing the description of how the Salucci brothers and their backup had been found, but Chance’s question pushed that aside. How did Frazier know all that?

  “You mind putting on some pants, buddy?” Frazier asked, glancing at Chance and then quickly away. “I gotta say, this isn’t decent.”

  Greta tsked. “Frazier, you’re such a prude. Still, Isa, Chance, he’s not going anywhere, so you have time to find your clothes.”

  Isa didn’t miss the steel in her grandmother’s tone when she said Frazier wasn’t going anywhere. Her brother didn’t miss it either. He gulped.

  “Nana…”

  “You so don’t want to upset me by arguing, dear,” she said with a coldness that had Chance grinning at her. “Now, stay right there. Or I’ll have Isa hold you at gunpoint until you tell us everything we need to know.”

  Isa smiled nastily at her brother. “Try me.”

  Frazier sighed. “Go on, get dressed. I guess I’ll be waiting here.”

  Chapter 11

  Three weeks later, her grandmother adjusted the veil over Isa’s face. Isa stared at her reflection and smiled. Here comes the bride.

  Agnes, Robert’s sister, frowned. “You shouldn’t have altered my mother’s dress. Robert isn’t going to like that.”

  “I’m amazed your mother was able to breathe, what with how it buttoned all the way up to her chin,” Isa responded tartly. “Plus, this is my wedding. Not hers.”

  Agnes muttered something about how soon Isa would learn respect, which only made Isa’s smile widen. No, she thought. Robert will.

  Her grandmother handed Isa her bouquet. It was a beautiful arrangement of white and pink flowers that trailed to the ground in a tear-drop shape. “You look radiant, dear. Are you ready?”

  Isa nodded. “Oh, yes.”

  Greta gave her a pat on the arm. “I’ll see you in the front.”

  Isa watched her grandmother and her would-be sister in law leave, then she turned to the mirror again.

  “So, how do I look?”

  It popped out of the wall and was set to the side as Chance came out from the recently made alcove behind it. He took one of Isa’s gloved hands and kissed it.

  “Breathtaking.”

  She grinned. “Easy for you to say, you don’t breathe.”

  “Sometimes I do.” And he leaned into Isa and took in a slow, deep breath that was as intimate as a kiss. Chance had told her often over the past couple weeks how he loved breathing in her scent, even though certain times when he did it, it made her blush.

  “You don’t have to do this,” he whi
spered, his mouth touching the veil near her ear.

  “I’ve earned it.”

  And then some. Continuing to play docile fiancée while Robert informed her what her life was going to be like now that he’d finally attained his coveted “made man” status? Yeah, Isa had earned this.

  Ironically enough, it was Chance who’d ensured Robert’s acceptance into the unhallowed halls of the mafia. After Chance’s gruesome eradication of the Salucci brothers and their three henchmen, Robert was welcomed into the syndicate fold. No one else had stepped forward to claim credit for their murders, so it was assumed Robert had done it as retaliation for their attempt on his life—and gotten away scot-free. That sort of clever ruthlessness was just what the big boys of crime were impressed with. In fact, two of the East Coast’s most dangerous criminals were among her wedding guests. A gangster wedding wasn’t an event one turned down attending, it seemed. There were just a few more guests here than Robert was aware of.

  Chance glanced down at the bouquet in her other hand. “If you insist.”

  Isa’s fingers tightened on it even as she gave him a grim smile.

  “I do.”

  Which was the only time today she intended to say those words.

  Everyone in the church stood up when Isa appeared at the doorway, and she began to descend down the aisle alone. One of Robert’s friends had offered to give her away, but she’d refused, and in this, Robert hadn’t pushed. He hadn’t been the soul of capitulation over much else, though. Every detail of the wedding had been planned by him and Agnes. They’d wanted an impressive event, considering Robert’s newly exalted status, and Isa’s wishes weren’t something to be concerned with. Robert’s only other acquiescence was that Isa stayed with her grandmother in the weeks prior to the happy occasion. Robert thought it was because Greta had been feeling poorly. It was actually because she had a ground-floor house with a basement, which made it so much easier for Chance to come and go without being seen by Robert’s spies. Robert still hadn’t known what to make of Chance being there that day at Isa’s restaurant. The last she’d overheard, he figured Chance must have had a twin brother.