by Kate Wendley
“Well, I guess we’ll see, won’t we?”
His smirk firmly in place, he cocked his head and said in a more intimate tone, “I guess we will.”
She’d give a dollar to know what was running through his mind right now because so far he was an intense mystery to her. Ok, maybe his interest in her was obvious, but he was still a mystery.
“So what do you do for a living?”
The inner glow dimmed from his previously playful expression, and the sly smile slipped from his lips. When he spoke, his words were measured and the energy he expended seemed calculated and exact. And she couldn’t quite tell if she was hearing pride, boredom or a business pitch in his voice.
“I wear a lot of different hats. I invest in properties and businesses around Atlanta as well as manage a private apartment complex in Brookhaven. I also occasionally mentor new business owners associated with a private family organization.”
“You sound busy.”
“Mm. At times.”
His gaze turned to the parking lot again as if telling her that little bit about himself was all the talking he wanted to do right now.
Her earlier nerves settled down. Anthony was intense, but maybe just because he was an incredibly focused man. Maybe there was nothing more serious going on between them than just some damned good chemistry, and the fact that he seemed to struggle with figuring out how to relax.
“This is me.” She guided him to her dark blue Civic.
“I like the color.”
She looked at her car as if she’d never seen it before. Was there something special about it? No. “Is that your favorite color? Dark blue?” Like the wallpaper design on his phone.
“Yes.”
She smiled unexpectedly. Anthony was a complex man, yet had straightforward likes and dislikes. Maybe she was starting to understand him, at least a little.
They stopped behind her car and he turned into her. Being so close to him now, she could smell the pleasant herbal scent of whatever soap or shampoo he used mixed with something that seemed to be uniquely him. He smelled like a breath of fresh night air.
He watched her with those intense eyes again, and she felt completely at home as she gazed back at him. A light breeze caught a few of his long, dark hairs and blew them into his face. When he didn’t make a move to brush them out of his line of vision, she reached up and slowly tucked them behind his ear.
He sucked in a breath and closed his eyes as her fingers caressed his cool skin. She paused to just watch him, and when he didn’t move, she let her fingers trail down his neck, then slowly down his chest as her palm flattened against his firm body.
He tensed so she pulled away, embarrassed she was being so forward with him, but he caught her hand and stopped her. His eyes opened and pinned her in place, and he lightened his grip when she settled her hand on his chest once more. Her belly fluttered in excitement. He wasn’t shy about conveying what he wanted, and once she left here tonight she was sure she’d wonder why the hell she felt so drawn to this complete stranger.
His muscles continued to tense, then relax, then tense again. His hand even trembled a couple times and it finally struck her that he was struggling pretty badly right now. He might be extremely direct in his feelings for her, but that didn’t mean he was ready for whatever was going on between them.
Feeling sobered by the realization that he probably wasn’t a ‘fling’ kind of guy, she said, “I should get going if we’re going to meet up again tomorrow.”
He startled and immediately let loose of her hand. “Of course.” He took a half step back from her, then stopped.
It was clear she’d hurt his feelings, and now it seemed like it was up to her to end this tonight. Great. She loved to be the bad guy. But… it fit with how quiet and nervous he seemed to be.
His voice had a softer quality when he said, “I’m glad we met tonight, Kaia. I look forward to seeing you again.”
Her heart clenched at the genuineness of his tone. “Me too, Anthony. I’m glad I was in your collision zone.”
A small smile crossed his kiss me lips, and she had to force herself to look away. She reluctantly got into her car and drove off as he stood and watched her go.
Chapter 2
Anthony wandered to the thicket of woods behind the strip mall. He braced his hands on a solid maple tree trunk, put a sound barrier around himself, then roared an inhuman sound he hoped no one ever heard him make.
Kaia had no idea how close she’d come to him hurting her. He wouldn’t do it intentionally, but ever since killing Jim six months ago, his control over his vampire side had increasingly been slipping. He knew it had, and had lost the desire to do anything about it.
But for Kaia… quirky, sassy, beautiful Kaia… She was human. Delicate. Precious.
She wanted to keep him talking because she liked the sound of his voice.
If her heart hadn’t picked up its pace whenever he spoke, if her cheeks hadn’t turned rosy the more she talked to him, especially when she asked him personal questions, he might’ve ignored her all together.
But she tempted him and brought out feelings his human side had long since forgotten about. To be able to spend more time with her, he’d control himself better. He’d act more human.
She’d been too close tonight, though. Her warm, so warm body was mere inches from his. Her warm hand was too close to his cold, hard flesh… She’d wanted more. She’d wanted his hands on her. Maybe even more than that. He couldn’t risk it, though. Not yet. He hadn’t been mentally prepared for her. The most he could do was use his power to give himself a little body heat, then force himself not to obsess over the harshly thumping vein in her neck. It would’ve been so easy to lean closer, kiss her warm, soft flesh, and then sink his fangs into her. He would’ve satisfied both his human and vampire urges.
But he wouldn’t have satisfied Kaia. At least not willingly. And so he restrained himself… and felt her disappointment. She radiated it.
She wanted him.
He needed to practice his human ways again. He needed to think about what she might want from him as a man. Since humans didn’t know about vampires, she’d have no idea he was anything other than the man she met tonight.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket as a horrible thought struck him. Maybe she’d been playing him. Maybe she hadn’t really given him her phone numbers. Maybe she wouldn’t be meeting him tomorrow night because this was all a game to her.
Fury filled him in an instant, his emotions swinging wildly from one extreme to another now that she’d provoked them. He dialed the home number she’d given him and prepared to roar in anger when the truth of the matter was revealed.
“Hi. This is Kaia. Leave a message.”
His anger vanished in an instant. This was her true phone number. And he’d called it. He needed to say something to her machine. “Kaia, this is Anthony. I just wanted to wish you a good evening, and I hope you get home safely. I look forward to tomorrow evening.” He left her his number then, wondering what the hell he was doing. He was a murderer, not a man to date beautiful, delicate women. “Please call anytime, as late as you want, though I’m generally unavailable until after six each evening.” He closed his eyes and wished he’d thought through his message to her more carefully. Worded it more smoothly. Unsure how to salvage any of it now, he said, “Sweet dreams my sweet,” and hung up. He stared at his phone. He might be the Master of Atlanta, but he was not the master of sweet talking beautiful women.
He put his phone back in his pocket, then let his body become vapor. He caught up with the light breeze tonight and rode it, reveling at being one with all the night around him.
But his thoughts kept going back to Kaia. Could he convince her he was just a man, and not a beast who had trouble remembering why he shouldn’t enjoy the feel of killing someone? Would she understand that the power inside him beckoned to be used? That it felt trapped and ached to be freed?
No, she wouldn’t understand that be
cause she was human… and because she enjoyed talking, and laughing, and touching him.
He thought of the smattering of women he’d gotten close to over the years. The few brief affairs with supernaturals had always ended badly. They’d all had an agenda for wanting to be with him. Human women didn’t. Human women didn’t know who he was. They didn’t know they should be afraid of him, yet they were when he inevitably became too comfortable and let his control slip. They would then see his glowing eyes and sharp fangs, and sometime during the screaming, he’d wipe their minds of any memory of what they’d seen.
And then he’d never see them again.
Was he ready for a repeat of that? Each time it’d happened over the years he’d dug deeper and deeper into himself. Into his vampire self. He wasn’t sure he needed more encouragement to continue down the path he was already on.
He half materialized, half floated near the top of a walnut tree and waited for the suddenly silent crickets to start their nighttime symphony again. He could see for miles, the scant light from stars shining through the light polluted sky of the city giving him plenty of brightness to see by. His senses were sharp, maybe even sharper than those of the alpha shifters. Sight, sound, the vibrations of emotions… heartbeats. He felt it all. Sometimes too much.
His phone vibrated in his pocket and he was instantly reminded of his duties to his family. He might not feel quite human anymore, but he’d given his father his word that he’d take care of the family, and after years of overseeing thousands of supernaturals, keeping them safe from the prying eyes of the millions of humans in this territory, he wasn’t about to go back on his word. People relied on him, monster or not, and so he’d continue to see to their safety, as well as keeping the humans safe from them.
“This is Anthony.”
“Hi Anthony. It’s Kaia.”
His concentration broken, he nearly fell out of the tree. Of course Kaia would call him back tonight. Why wouldn’t she? That was a normal thing that normal people did when they liked each other. He just hadn’t expected it because it’d been much too long since he’d had any kind of relationship with a woman.
He righted himself and floated back down to the ground. “You got my message.”
“Yes. And I got home safely. I was just talking to my neighbor for a little bit. The landlord.”
“Did you tell him you’re going to start keeping your cell phone charged?”
She chuckled and his stomach clenched. In his mind’s eye he could see her smiling face.
“I forgot to mention that.” He could tell by the inflection in her voice that she was smirking wickedly at him now. It made his entire body go tight.
“I look forward to seeing you again. You were a pleasant surprise for me tonight.”
“I’m glad we bumped into each other, too, Anthony. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.” She yawned, and it made him smile for some reason.
“You’re tired. You should sleep now.”
“Sorry. Yeah, I should get going.”
“Pleasant dreams my sweet.”
“Sweet dreams Anthony.”
Chapter 3
Anthony’s drive back home felt subdued. Since meeting Kaia tonight, his human emotions were once again overwhelming his baser vampire nature that he’d uncaringly been letting consume him for months now.
Emotions made him feel… warm. They woke up parts of his mind, his perceptions, that he hadn’t been paying attention to lately. They made him care. About her. About life.
He growled in frustration because it would end just as badly with her as it had with every other woman he’d tried to get close to over the years, so he tried to put her out of mind. If nothing else, he still had work to do tonight. Hopefully the open mic event would be almost over by the time he got back to Brookhaven, but he doubted it. The loud, awful sounding music annoyed him, just like the public reading at the bookstore had.
Kaia.
Her face popped into his mind at the thought of the loud voice over the speaker earlier tonight. She had a fresh faced, girl next door honest look to her along with long blonde hair and a pert, enticing body. He’d never been successful at attracting a woman who looked like her without using his magic to disguise the harsh hideousness of his own face.
And she had so many questions for him… because she wanted to keep him talking. She liked the sound of his voice.
He mulled over her tenaciousness as he drove down the tree laden canopied road that led to his home. He pulled smoothly into the driveway, turning into the ramp and carefully parking his car in the spot that was reserved for him. It was a little larger than all the others, ensuring he didn’t get any door dings. Not that he was obsessed about keeping his car in perfect condition, but he had such few possessions that he actually cared much about, and this imperial blue, BMW M5 was the main one.
He loved the color, the smooth handling, and most of all the fact that no one touched it without his permission. Most everything else at home was up for grabs with many things being shared by multiple people. Even his office where he spent so many of his nighttime hours was shared with a few others. This BMW was his, though, and everyone knew to leave it alone.
He gave his keys to the attendant on the way out, unhurriedly making his way across the driveway to the ivy covered building the club and his office were in. He paused and took a deep, tired breath as he looked around at nothing in particular. The door opened a moment later and the guard said, “Good evening sir.”
Anthony walked inside and it was only after he’d started his descent down to his office that he thought perhaps he should’ve greeted the doorman. When had he stopped speaking to them, even for just a simple hello? Months ago? Years ago? No, not years. Just months… ever since he’d killed Jim. Since he’d stopped fighting the cold feel of his vampire power and let it do as it wished with anything human about himself.
He reached the bottom of the stairs and opened the door to the large, cavernous room beyond. The club was about two thirds full, shifters and a few vampires evenly scattered between the restaurant, the pool tables, and the lounge areas. More tables had been pulled close to the small stage the musicians were still playing their loud instruments at, and unfortunately they had another hour before he’d insist they stick to the agreed schedule and end their show. They complained a lot to Zach about the short amount of time they were allowed to play each week, but it was their own fault for frequently not starting on time. Families lived upstairs and compromises had to be made to keep everyone happy. Keeping the noise level down late at night was one of them.
Zach hovered near the pool tables, chatting up whoever was there, as usual. He acknowledged Anthony with a head bob before Anthony strode to the other end of the club to his office. He left the door open a crack but put a sound barrier around himself to have some blessed silence.
He was the only vampire he knew of that had the power to create a sound barrier, and he was beyond thankful he’d manifested the ability so early on. It saved his sanity countless times over the years from living in such close quarters with so many people. All supernaturals had varying degrees of super sensitive senses, but powerful hearing seemed to be something they all had. Because of that, there was little privacy within these walls.
He swatted at a small spider on the edge of his desk, then wondered for the thousandth time where all these tiny creatures were coming from. They drove the maintenance crew crazy trying to find them, but the little pests were always quick to disappear whenever anyone went looking for them.
He logged into his computer, then read through emails in an effort to distract himself from absolutely everything. When those were all read, he combed through the family spending reports and checked all his investment accounts.
He felt Zach come in the office some time later. Anthony looked at the time on the computer instead of acknowledging him. He knew Zach would just want to talk, and Anthony didn’t feel like it. He’d grown used to Zach’s curiosity over the years of living wi
th both him and Sebastian, but sometimes he could really do without it.
The clock on the computer read 11:22.
At 11:23, Zach casually said, “Hey.”
Anthony briefly turned to see the handsome young Alpha Jaguar sitting on the one sofa in the sparsely decorated room. Since Zach was sitting there instead of at the other computer, it meant he wasn’t in here to do any work. Anthony inclined his head but went straight back to what he was doing, which was sending an email to one of his investment advisers about a recent dip in one of the investment accounts.
Zach interrupted him again. “So where’d you go tonight? Did you chill out for a while?”
Anthony sighed and stopped typing, turning just his head to look at him. “I went out for a while, yes. It was nice to get outside. I should get some work done now.”
Zach gave him a look, somewhere between suspicious and worried, and it irritated him. Anthony turned away from him before his friend could see it on his face.
He didn’t move, but Anthony could feel him tensing up. He cautiously said, “You seem… different somehow. Did something happen when you were out?”
Anthony jerked his head around. “I’m fine. I’m busy right now. I do not wish to talk.” Those last words came out through gritted teeth, and he wasn’t sure why he was so angry right now.
Zach tensed even more, though he still didn’t move. None of the animals, and especially the more powerful ones, liked to be snapped at. It brought out the aggressive side of their animal nature. Anthony knew this and usually didn’t have a problem with it, but he loathed this power play game right now.
They stared each other down, Anthony getting angrier and angrier, Zach tensing more and more while his eyes started to gleam bright green. It annoyed Anthony to look at Zach right now because he was like Ethan in a way… a handsome man with a generally easy going, winning personality.