Keeping her head turned in the exact opposite direction from Oz allowed him to take in the sight of her, when he could see around Susan and Judy, who hovered about like nursemaids tending to an abandoned baby.
Chestnut brown waves fell past her shoulders. Hundreds of little freckles dotted her tanned skin. Flecks of gold sparkled in her hazel eyes as she watched Serge wrap her elbows. Her blouse and skirt were splattered with blood, a fact he was certain she hadn’t noticed. Her new shoes sat in her lap.
“Turn.” Judy pulled his head toward her, smashing his nose into her ample breasts. “Hmm. Selene, you really swing a hard salami.” She dabbed at Oz’s ear making it hurt more than before.
“Judy, love, you’re not helping.” His voice muffled against her giant boob, and he managed to gently push out of her grip. “Thank you, though.” He caressed her cheek and flashed a smile he knew she loved.
“Sorry.” She giggled.
“It’s fine, darling.” He scrambled to his feet to find Selene peering at him through her hair. Long eyelashes curled around narrowed eyes and her lips, those perfectly kissable pink lips were pulled to a tight line. “I’ll be healed in no time.”
At the second her eyes locked with his she snickered and looked away.
Serge cleared his throat. “Selene, you left the meeting before anyone had a chance to respond to your questions.”
Shaking her head and rapidly unwrapping her arms, Selene slid off the seat, cradling her shoes against her chest. “No. There’s no need. I shouldn’t have, well, posed those questions to that group.” Dropping the cloths to the counter, she took a few hurried steps toward the door. “The Guard needs to do whatever you all see fit to do. I, I get that. Just never mind my questions.”
“Selene, your questions were important, good questions for us to consider, some of us more than others.” Serge looked at Oz.
“Agreed.” Oz nodded. “We still have a great deal of debating to do on the topic of a cure, but your point was made.”
“Well, I’m glad it was helpful.” Her eyes glanced up toward the clock above the stove, and she pointed to the door behind her. “I have to work in the morning and should get home to relax for the evening, night, what’s left of it.”
Taking a few more steps backward, she appeared to force a smile onto her lips. “I’m sorry about your ear.”
“What about that beef? You feeling sorry for it?” Judy asked.
“Yes. I’m, I’m sorry about that, too.” Her cheeks reddened considerably.
“Yeah, well, you’re going to have find a new hiding place. This week was the beef, last week, the entire vegetable shelf, and what about this?” Susan emerged from the fridge carrying the giant salami Selene had used to clock Oz. It had broken in four pieces in the incident.
“That’s it.” Judy scowled. “You’re not using the fridge as a hiding place any more. We can’t serve food you kick the crap out of.”
“Can you please try to get along with the vampires? Try not to insult them or offend them, and then you won’t have to repeatedly hide,” Susan said while Judy nodded.
“Well, I, it’s not that I meant…” Selene sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded.
Oz grinned at the sight of her squirming. Her tight sweater was twisted, giving a delectable peek of the pale pink lace cupping those perfect breasts. The familiar fantasy of slowly undressing her, layer by layer, and kissing inch by inch of her skin played in his mind.
First he’d start by peeling away the sweater and kissing every bit of exposed skin. Then he’d slide the skirt over those deliciously curved hips, keeping those high heels on, and kissing every little bit of soft, smooth skin before returning to her mouth to kiss her speechless.
Remembering the taste of mint and chocolate from the one kiss he’d shared with her made Oz want to drizzle warm chocolate sauce over his own body to entice her. He would do just about anything to gain her interest.
When his attention left her mouth, his thoughts needing to be ripped from the memory of that kiss, he realized she was blushing a very dark shade of pink.
“Okay, Susan. That seems reasonable.” Her voice was a squeak. She spun on her heel and rushed from the room.
Serge turned to Oz and did a double take. “Your fangs.”
Oz tried to press his lips together to hide them, but it was too painful. Sometimes having the biggest fangs was not the coolest part of being a vampire.
“What were you thinking?” Serge asked, a clear hint of annoyance in his voice. “Are you trying to terrify her?”
“I, well, I wasn’t thinking anything,” Oz fumbled.
Serge’s blank stare was enough.
“I’ll fix it.” Oz stepped toward the door, but Serge blocked his path.
“Get rid of the fangs first.”
“Right.”
The problem with getting rid of the fangs was that thinking about Selene made it extremely difficult. The fact that he kept imagining her naked made it near impossible. He’d have to stop thinking of Selene. Period. End of story.
HER VAMPIRE PROTECTOR
CHAPTER SIX
Selene parked her car outside St. Benedict’s Church and let out a ragged breath. She wondered if she’d been holding that one the entire twenty-minute drive from the base.
“Why?” She slumped in the seat. “Why does he have to be so damn handsome? And why, why in the name of God do I care about him?”
Oswald was every woman’s dream. He was the perfect fantasy. Handsome. Strong. Smart. Generous. Thoughtful. All-knowing in the ways of pleasing women—at least that was the rumor.
“He’s despicable.” She grabbed her handbag off the passenger seat, rummaging for the key to the church door. “Why in the hell do I have any interest in a man that every woman wants to bed and who has probably bed at least ninety percent of the women he’s met?” She pulled out her wallet, cell phone, lipstick, mirror, sixty-five mangled tissues that had once been folded into a nice, neat little stack, and still could not find the key. “Where is it?”
St. Benedict’s Catholic Church was the place Selene had been coming to find solace since the accident. Her mother’s brother, Ralph, was the pastor. Her mother’s sister, Margery was the choir director. Uncle Ralph and Aunt Margery were the only family she had left. They were the only reason she stayed in this wretched town.
The bells tolled in the steeple overhead. Eleven o’clock on the dot. St. Benedict’s ran on time every hour no matter what.
Dumping over the pretty red leather handbag on the seat beside the shiny black high heels from hell, Selene gave it a furious shake. Finally, after two notepads, countless pens, a compact, a pair of nylons, two batteries, an emery board and three packs of gum tumbled onto the seat she found the keys looped around the arm of one of two pairs of sunglasses also crammed into the little bag.
With a tsk she shoved most everything back into the bag, leaving the sunglasses and the wad of tissues on the seat. After checking the parking lot for anyone that might be lurking, and when she thought it was safe, she made a mad dash toward the church door, key in hand, arm held out pointed straight for the lock.
Having done this numerous times, Selene had become a pro at racing up the church steps, head swiveling side to side, keeping watch for any would-be muggers or other weirdoes hovering in the shadows.
Central City was laden with dregs, people who’d become victims of the fire that left this once prosperous and beautiful city in turmoil. Now some of the homeless or unemployed were no longer willing to accept the generosity of others. Rather they wanted more. Around every corner someone waited for a chance. Whatever that chance might be, someone was there to take it.
Crossing the steps two at a time Selene bounded up the concrete flight, zipped across the landing, and glanced over her shoulder to be sure no one followed before taking the next flight of stairs in the same two-step fashion.
The streets weren’t safe and hadn’t been in more than twenty years, thanks to Raymon
d Tyrone and the fire that destroyed not only Panthera Laboratories but its alliance with The Vampire Guard. That damn fire decimated the entire city, and it didn’t seem Central City would ever come back.
Generally speaking the space from the first parking spot in the lot to the door, a mere thirty feet at most took no more than a few long seconds, and only once had she encountered another soul. But that night remained burned in her memory like the devil himself had branded it there.
That was the night she met her first vampire. Oswald Addison. Pleasant as he was, he scared the holy hell out of her sliding from the alley beside the building, practically gliding up to her like a gorgeous ghost.
His green eyes fixed on hers, and she felt herself tumble into the depths, falling like Alice down, down, down the rabbit hole. But before she hit bottom in what she was certain would have been a painfully abrupt stop, she found herself cradled in his arms, head tilted back, neck bared to him.
Selene jammed the key into the lock, twisted it to the right, and shoved the door open, darting inside with such speed that when she slammed the door shut it echoed in the empty church, making her ears ring.
After bolting the door she walked to the basin of holy water, where she leaned shaking hands against the rim of the giant marble bowl to gain composure. In the twenty-four years she’d been on the planet this was the place she where she’d always been able to come for peace. It was also the place where she’d last seen both her parents alive.
Already decorated for Christmas, the old church looked beautiful. In the vestibule several flames flickered above white pillar candles. The scent of evergreens mingled with the subtle and still lingering incense. Dozens of poinsettias adorned the alter in a vibrant splash of red, and the bases of several statues were decorated in a mix of white and red plants. Supplies were stacked in the corner.
Aunt Margery had refused any help, other than Uncle Ralph’s, and Selene was fairly certain she’d only accepted Ralph’s offer because it was more of a demand than an offer. Selene smiled, thinking of how the siblings still fought even though they were both in their sixties and completely dedicated to the church.
Weeding through the supplies Selene, found several boughs of mistletoe that she was sure Margery would try to hang and Ralph would rip down. Margery believed young lovers should find their better halves in church. Ralph believed everyone should focus on communing with God instead of thinking about being in love. They both made good points, though neither would ever concede the other’s veracity.
She plucked a bough and paused for a long while before tucking it into her handbag. Tonight’s mistletoe at the base had led to Oswald stealing a kiss, one that she would publicly denounce forever. Publicly. “It was completely inappropriate of him,” she whispered.
Selene closed her handbag. She didn’t typically steal. In fact she’d never stolen anything other than mistletoe, but really was it stealing if it was her aunt’s, who would want her to have it? Anyway, Margery wouldn’t be allowed to use it because Uncle Ralph would refuse. What was the harm of putting a perfectly good decoration to use? A little heavenly touched mistletoe couldn’t hurt even if it wasn’t hers. She tucked a five-dollar bill into the offering box before turning back to the basin.
A quick glance at the door confirmed it was still locked and thus nothing to worry about in terms of sleazy creeps trying to break in, and clearly no vampire was going to enter the building so no need to worry about someone hulking and handsome appearing.
Two years into working with The Guard Selene no longer feared a vampire attack. No vampire would attack a member of The Guard, even if she was only a human.
No, Selene had no fear of being someone’s midnight snack or waking up to find an invisible hickey gracing her neck. Nope.
Of course, she had no idea what that would be like. For she’d never been bitten. That night two years ago when he found her outside the church he didn’t bite her. Instead, he pressed his soft lips to hers and whispered, “Lovely, I could never devalue someone as beautiful as you.” Then his lips dotted the most gentle kiss to her neck where even she felt her pulse pound against his mouth.
“And never, never will I let another touch you. For as long as I live I shall cherish no other more than you.” His voice was low and deep and sexier than anything she’d ever heard. “Now rest and forget this night, though I will remember it always.”
A heavy veil of sleep blanketed her mind and hours later she awoke lying in a church pew. Alone.
Every night since that one she’d dreamed of the moment she met Oswald. The feel of his arms around her, their bodies pressed together, his deep seductive voice, all of it made her want him in ways she’d never dreamed of wanting a man.
The fact he hadn’t bitten her, hadn’t touched her in any way other than to place the one soft kiss to her neck as he vowed never to touch her drove Selene mad. His clear disinterest in her in any way other than as a colleague or occasionally as a poor little choir girl who needed a big brother to watch over her made her want to punch his lights out.
Dipping her hand in the holy water she made what she hoped was a valiant attempt to refocus her thoughts on her prayers, dotting damp fingertips to her forehead, chest, and each shoulder. Then she walked halfway up the aisle to sit in the same pew as always.
All the while her mind ran back to that night and the perpetual question that plagued her. Why hadn’t he done anything since then? Nothing. Oh, he flirted, just like he did with all the girls, but never a damn thing more, not one mention of that fateful night.
What made him vow to protect her but only protect her and nothing more?
Of course, flirting wasn’t going to change her mind about him. He was a playboy, and Selene deserved better than a man who bed every woman he met.
But still, what about Selene made him not want her in that way? Wasn’t she sexy enough? He’d called her beautiful, but she’d heard him say that to everyone. Granted she usually wore sensible suits, but she was pretty. Lately she’d taken to wearing tighter skirts and higher heels than were necessary for a night at the office, but only because she knew he liked them.
With a huff she flopped back against the seat. She should not wear certain articles of clothing simply because some dumb man liked them. If she could not win his affections based on who she was, then he was not worth her time. Besides, even if she could turn his head, did she truly want a man like Oswald?
Kneeling, she thought to seek divine guidance in this situation. But glancing around the church to see the statues of St. Benedict, the Virgin Mary, Saints Peter and Paul, and Jesus himself gazing down at her caused her to reconsider.
Certainly, they had far more important issues to support than a woman’s silly prayers to understand how one overly sexy, far too perfect in all the wrong ways, vampire thought.
“Let’s not forget he’s a vampire,” she mumbled as she rested her forehead on her folded hands.
A vampire.
Here Selene Kittery sat in church contemplating asking God and all His angels and saints to help her understand the workings of a vampire, on whom for some inexplicable reason she had a crush.
An image of both her parents, good, upstanding Christians, rolling around in their graves popped into her mind, and she chuckled. She pictured the horrified look on her father’s face as he tried to hold onto his hat. Her mother’s dress would twist all around, leaving her slip showing. Her hair would stand out in every direction.
Selene laughed, and the sound echoed up to the choir loft then came down, startling her back to the moment.
“My God! I’m in church. What is wrong with me?
“I was going to ask the same thing,” a deep voice said.
Selene gasped and spun around to face backward, slipping off the pew and falling onto the kneeler. Whacking her head on the pew on which she had seconds before been resting her forearms, she fell off the kneeler to thud onto the floor. Her legs shot beneath the seat.
Glancing up, she watched
as Oswald leaned forward, his handsome face wearing that terribly familiar smirk.
“You okay?”
“I…I…you…” Selene shook her head and pointed at the vampire sitting in church. “You…what…how…why…”
“Looks like you might have hit your head in just the right spot. Maybe you have a concussion.” He was up, out of the seat, and heaving the giant oak pew Selene had been sitting on, but was now sitting under, out of the way. “We should probably head over to the infirmary and have Maddie check you out.
Selene may not have been able to formulate a coherent sentence about what a vampire was doing in a church, but she knew enough to put her foot down about seeing Maddie. “Absolutely not!” She scrambled to her feet just as Oswald bent over her.
The sound of their skulls cracking together was almost as painful to hear as the feeling that accompanied it.
“Holy moly, Oswald.” Selene held her head, pinching her eyes closed against the pain. “Your head is like a rock.”
“Yours is no cotton ball.” He helped her to sit in the pew and collapsed beside her. “What do you have in there, a metal plate?”
A red mark appeared under his right eye, but as Selene watched it vanished.
“Must be nice to have injuries heal so quickly.” She rubbed her head.
Shrugging, he glanced around. “It’s a perk.”
“What in the world are you doing in the church?” Sitting beside Oswald, alone for the first time since that night two years ago, Selene took in the feel of his presence.
From his body to his persona, he dwarfed her. His six-foot, six -inch frame made her five-foot, six-inch body feel little. Very little. It might have had something to do with the fact that one of his thighs was easily the size of both hers or that the span of his shoulders was at least double hers.
He reached up and touched the knot forming on the top of her head, and Selene pictured a basketball player palming a ball. He could literally dribble her head, a thought that was more than disconcerting. Though, she’d never seen any of the vampires take advantage of the clear advantages they had over humans.
Under The Kissing Bough: 15 Romantic Holiday Novellas Page 101