He could go up there and crawl into bed beside her. He’d seen the way she watched him; he didn’t think she would turn him away. If he rose from this couch and walked up those stairs, he could be deep within her, pounding out his rampant arousal between her sweet thighs in minutes. However, he knew if he went to her, he’d be opening a can of worms he’d never be able to close again.
Throwing aside the blanket, he rose to his feet and walked over to the bathroom. He didn’t think a cold shower was going to do much for him, but it was better than lying there torturing himself with thoughts of sinking into her welcoming flesh.
Abby was awake and moving around upstairs when he finished in the bathroom. He stalked toward the window. He was not at all eased by the half hour cold shower or the release he’d given himself while thinking of her. It had been centuries since he’d imagined another woman while stroking himself. Memories of Vivian were too painful to think about and imaginings of another were too much like a betrayal to his dead wife.
Pictures of Abby had flooded his mind though. He’d been unable to stop himself from picturing her as he’d worked his hand up and down his shaft. He shuddered at the memory of the powerful orgasm that had rocked him. He hadn’t cum like that in years, and it was only to thoughts of her. What would being inside of her do to him? What would it be like?
He ran a hand through his damp hair as he pulled back the drapes to reveal the sun glinting off the thousands of windows within the city as it rose. The scent of Abby’s freshly washed hair assailed him when she descended the stairs. He turned to watch her; his eyes raking over her curvy figure, admiring the sway of her hips and the movement of her breasts beneath her sweater. She had on a bra, but he found her chest impossible to look away from while he watched her walk.
She didn’t look at him as she placed her suitcase by the elevator. “Did you sleep well?” he inquired.
“Well enough,” she muttered, but it was a complete lie. She’d gotten maybe an hour in total with all the tossing, turning, and worrying she’d done. Not to mention the yearning that had spread through her body at the idea of him downstairs, so close and yet further away than he’d ever been before.
She finally forced herself to look at him; she couldn’t avoid it forever. Her breath caught in her throat, and she almost fell over when she saw the sun cascading over him as he stood before the window. She’d give anything to be one of the rays embracing his body so intimately as they slid over his pale flesh.
He hadn’t dressed after his shower but simply wrapped a towel around his tapered waist. The muscles in his powerful forearms and biceps flexed when he folded his arms over his chest. His abs weren’t just chiseled, they were carved from marble and more like a twelve-pack than a six. She could spend hours running her fingers over him, committing every detail of his magnificent form to memory.
His chest was speckled with blond hair, but as her gaze slid lower, she noticed the trail of hair from his belly button down to where it disappeared beneath the towel was darker in color. She found herself glaring at the towel, fighting the urge to tear it from his hips and reveal the rest of him to her voracious gaze. Her hand trembled when she lifted it to make sure she wasn’t drooling before she abruptly turned away from him again.
Why did he have to be so irresistible?
“You’re ready then?” His voice came out gruffer than he’d intended, but the way she’d been looking at him had his shaft surging with blood again and straining against the towel.
“As I’ll ever be,” she muttered.
She wasn’t ready for anything right now; she felt testier than a cat in a bath. She didn’t know why, but the sudden urge to punch him in the face was almost overwhelming. That gorgeous face had haunted what little sleep she’d managed to get last night.
“I’ll get dressed,” he said.
Please don’t—I mean do! She thought as she kept her gaze focused on the granite counter. She couldn’t stop herself from looking anymore when she heard his feet on the stairs. Maybe the towel would fall away… She found herself breathlessly hoping for this.
In love with his dead wife! The reminder was the slap in the face she needed. She turned away from him and walked over to stare out the windows as she listened to him open and close doors upstairs. When she did find Vicky, she was going to choke her sister, then hug her and choke her all over again for forcing her to turn to Brian for help in the first place.
He returned wearing a black, button-down shirt, and a pair of jeans. The clothes were something she’d seen on thousands of other men over the years, yet he somehow made them sexier than she’d ever believed possible. “Aren’t you bringing anything?” she asked grouchily.
“I was planning on going camping for at least a month when you called. I have clothes in the back of my truck.”
“Oh,” she muttered. “Sorry I ruined your plans.”
“I’ll just go when this is over.” He grabbed his keys from the counter and snagged her suitcase off the floor.
Abby didn’t respond as she followed him over to the elevator. He pressed the button and the doors slid open. Stepping inside, she kept her gaze focused straight ahead while he hit the button to take them to the garage. Maybe if she didn’t talk to him, it would make all of this easier. Not speaking to him was a good way of trying to distance herself from him. It would certainly help to keep her from learning anymore staggering and heartrending revelations about his life.
The only problem was she could feel the heat of his body so close to hers, and she wanted so badly to feel his flesh beneath her fingers. Her foot tapped and every breath she took felt strained as the seconds stretched endlessly onward before the doors slid open with a ding. Abby almost bolted out of the elevator; she was kept from doing so when he took hold of her elbow and guided her out to the garage.
The smell of motor oil and gas tickled her nostrils as their footsteps echoed throughout the concrete confines. Brian hit the alarm button on his keychain; it beeped twice as they approached his truck. They were almost there when she saw movement in the shadows and caught the rancid scent of garbage.
She stiffened as she recognized the scent of vampires who killed humans nearby. Before she could say something about it, Brian pulled her behind him and tossed her suitcase to the side. “There’s someone—”
His warning died off as three vampires emerged from the shadows. “Brian,” one of them greeted with a malicious gleam in his red eyes.
Brian’s muscles rippled before her, his shoulders hunching up as his gaze traveled over each one of them. “Children,” he replied. “I’m guessing you have a death wish.”
The largest of the three, a brute at least six foot eight, cracked his knuckles and leered at the two of them. “The only death we wish is yours.”
“If you didn’t learn it as a child, you’re going to learn now that wishes don’t come true.”
One of the others shot a nervous glance at the brute. Abby’s mind continued to spin as she desperately looked around for some kind of weapon. The idea of carrying anything that could kill her or someone else had never sat well with her, but now she was defenseless, and these assholes were looking to kill Brian. She’d tear them apart with her bare hands if it became necessary, she decided as her fangs slid down behind her lips.
Brian smiled at the largest man when he stepped forward. He would have preferred this not to happen in front of Abby, but there was no way to suppress his excitement at the anticipation of the kill. “You first then, big boy,” he taunted. “You’d be better off coming at me all at once. It would at least be faster and easier for me to kill you all that way, but it’s your funeral, so we’ll play this your way.”
Abby’s eyes flew back to Brian. Why was he antagonizing these guys?
Brian raised his hands and waved at the hulk of a guy to come at him when he hesitated. Over the years, he’d discovered confidence was half the battle when it came to a fight. Not over-confidence, that would get someone slaughtered in seconds,
but enough confidence to unnerve his attackers, like now.
They’d been brash and assured when they’d stepped from the shadows; now two of them looked as if they were debating running, while the largest one realized he’d committed already and would have to see it through. Abby’s warm body pressed against his back as he kept her in between him and the pickup. He wouldn’t take the chance of any of these vampires being able to get at her.
The bloodlust in him rose at the notion of any one harming her. He’d make them pay dearly for daring to attack him while she was in his care. “You picked the wrong day for this, boys,” he growled.
Before any of them could react, he lunged to the side and caught the smallest one by his throat. Lifting him over his head, Brian slammed him onto the concrete floor with enough force to break his back. The vampire squealed in pain; his fingers scrabbled at the concrete as he tried to crawl away. Brian spun when the next two lunged at him as he’d hoped they would.
His punch connected with the underside of the big guy’s jaw. Hulk’s head shot back as he flipped over onto his back, his hands and feet kicking in the air like a turtle as he squirmed backward to get out of the way. The other one tried to lunge around Brian to get at Abby, probably hoping to use her as leverage or protection against Brian. It was the biggest mistake he’d ever committed in his life.
With a ferocious snarl, Brian snagged hold of his arm before his grasping fingers could so much as touch her. Driving down with his other hand, he broke the man’s arm with enough force to drive his bones through his skin. A howl erupted from the vamp’s throat, but Brian abruptly cut it off with an elbow to his larynx.
The man gagged and sputtered. His good hand fluttered to his crushed throat as Brian drove his fist into his chest and wrapped his hand around the vampire’s heart. He tore it free and tossed it aside before turning his attention to the one whose back he’d broken. Grabbing hold of the vamp’s head, he twisted it to the side and tore it from his body.
The biggest one had regained his feet and was running through the parked cars toward the main entrance. The sunlight would have him smoking in a matter of seconds if he ran into its direct rays, but apparently he didn’t care right now. Brian did though; they couldn’t take the risk of mortals seeing him burning beneath the rays of the sun.
“Stay here!” he barked at Abby before taking off after him.
Abby couldn’t get her mouth to close again as she gazed at the carnage surrounding her. The hotel room had been the only other time she’d ever seen anything like this. Now she had a head lying next to her feet with its unseeing eyes staring up at her. She tore her gaze away from the decapitated body and fought the urge to kick the head as far away from her as she could get it.
None of the carnage mattered while Brian was still pursuing the remaining, biggest vampire. She spotted him instantly as he raced through the shadows of the garage in a near blur of speed. The brute’s feet slapped against the concrete floor and echoed throughout the garage, but Brian’s step was eerily soundless as he pursued his prey. Turning in between cars, Brian leapt over the top of two of them before crashing into the back of the remaining vamp and dragging him down beneath him.
Abby rushed forward when he vanished from view behind a red Lamborghini. The distinct thuds of a fist hitting flesh reached her seconds before a sickening, cracking, wet noise resounded through the garage. She now recognized that sound as someone’s head being torn from their body.
Not Brian, please not him, she pleaded as she skidded around the front of the red sports car.
Brian was rising to his feet with the brute’s head still in hand when she finally saw him. The revulsion and fear coursing through her vanished when her eyes latched onto him. Her gaze ran rapidly over him, but though he’d just taken on three vampires, she didn’t see any cuts or scratches on him as he bent to grab hold of the brute’s arm.
“I told you to stay by the truck,” he said as he looked over at her.
“I had to make sure you were okay,” she replied.
“You shouldn’t be seeing this.”
Brian tore his gaze away from her pale face as he dragged the body from between the cars. Abby fell back, her lower lip quivering while she watched him. He could kick himself for her having witnessed this. However, maybe this had been a good thing; maybe letting her see what kind of man he truly was would make her quit looking at him with such longing in her eyes.
“I’ve seen it before,” she murmured.
He sent her a sharp glance over his shoulder. “When?”
“The hotel room.”
“Shit,” he muttered. Shaking his head, he tossed the big guy’s body into the back of his pickup and threw the head on top of it. She’d witnessed only a little of the evil in the world during her life, and he’d played a starring role each time. “Both times with me.”
He didn’t realize he’d said the words aloud until her hand fell on his arm. He glanced down at the small hand heating his flesh. The urge to grab hold of it and pull her against him seized him, but he pulled his arm away from her and turned to pick up the next body. He’d destroy her if he got too close. His world was not a place where she belonged, and he was the last creature on Earth who deserved any kind of solace or peace.
“Did you know these guys?” she inquired as she fought against the disappointment filling her over the loss of physical contact with him.
“Nope.” The third body thumped against the bed when he dumped it into the truck. He pulled a tarp over the three bodies.
“Why did they attack you then?”
“Because that’s my life. I kill their kind, and they try to come after me for it. It would be a huge coup and a lot of power for one of them, if they were ever successful in taking me down and drinking my blood. They must have discovered I had a place here.”
Abby pressed her hand against her mouth as concern for him coiled in her belly. “They come after you often?”
“Only the dumb ones. Many have tried to kill me, all have failed. Their attempts aren’t as frequent as they used to be.”
That did nothing to ease her concern for him. He appeared completely unfazed by what had occurred as he pulled a towel from the silver toolbox on the back of the truck. He wiped his face and hands on it before tossing it back inside and closing the lid. He retrieved her suitcase and threw it into the backseat of the truck before walking toward her.
He didn’t look like someone who had just slaughtered three vampires who had been trying to kill him. He hadn’t broken a sweat, there wasn’t a mark on him, and the only blood she could see was a couple of specks on his right cheek that he’d missed with the towel. She had no idea what to make of this man who could make her body ache and her heart beat faster, all while her brain was telling her to run for the hills.
“You have some…” Without thinking, she brushed away the blood on his cheek.
Before she could wipe her fingers onto her jeans, he grabbed hold of her wrist. “You shouldn’t be touching that,” he said as he tenderly wiped her fingers off with his own.
“I’ve dealt with blood my whole life,” she said with a smile, hoping to coax one from him too. His expression remained unreadable and distant.
“Not death though,” he replied after a little bit. “And you shouldn’t have to deal with it at all. Maybe—”
“I’m not going anywhere,” she insisted before he could suggest it, as she knew he was going to.
His eyes were like chips of ice when they met hers. “I’m not someone you should be around, Abigail.”
Her fingers wrapped around his hand as he continued to hold her. She shouldn’t be around him, vampires everywhere hunted him, he was beyond hazardous to her heart, but she couldn’t walk away from him.
“Maybe not,” she replied honestly, “but I’m here and I’m not going anywhere.”
His eyes searched her face before he released her hand and stepped away from her. Taking hold of her elbow, he walked her to the passenger side door
and opened it for her. He helped her climb into the tall vehicle. She immediately missed his touch when he released her elbow and closed the door.
Fool. Keep your distance. However, the loneliness she sensed in him, the need for something more than death and violence in his life, called to her. She so badly wanted to make his life about more than fights in a garage and fending off those trying to kill him.
“What about cameras?” she asked when he started the truck and pulled out of the parking spot. In a building this upscale, there had to be a security system.
“I’m sure those guys took them out before they came after me, but just in case…” his voice trailed off as he stopped outside the guard’s office. Abby hastily turned away from the blood-splattered walls and windows of the small office near the exit of the garage.
Brian gritted his teeth at the realization he was once again exposing her to more death and violence, but he had to make sure there was no taped evidence of what had transpired. Opening the door, he jumped out of the truck. “Stay here,” he told her.
“I will.”
He stared at her for a minute, but she kept her gaze focused on her hands folded in her lap. Closing the door, he walked over to the room. He stepped over the two mutilated bodies of the guards as he headed for the monitors set up on a desk. All of the screens were blank, including the ones that would have shown the inner halls and elevators of the building. At least those three morons had been smart enough to cover their tracks before coming after him.
Walking out of the small room, he stopped when he saw Abby still intently focused on her lap rather than the massacre in the room. He didn’t like her exposed to these things but he had to make sure she stayed protected throughout her hunt for her sister, and he didn’t trust anyone else to keep her safer than he could. He had vamps hunting him, yes, but due to his age and the power he’d harvested from the countless vamps he’d killed over the years, he was a lot stronger and more lethal than most. He also had a lot of extremely powerful allies. Right now, by his side was the safest place he could think of for her.
Undone (Vampire Awakenings, Book 5) Page 7