by Anya Breton
I stared at the cracked computer tablet, shattered coffee table, and broken glass spheres. There were two shouts, three bangs of doors shutting or people slamming into walls. Then Maximo stood at the office door. He spoke to someone just outside in Spanish, telling them it was safe for them to go now.
Turning back to me, he strode across the glass-strewn office with a dark look in his eye. My pulse jumped—a noise that seemed to snap him out of his bad mood. He adopted his amiable smile before he reached me. Maximo bent, slipping an arm beneath my knees so he could lift me.
A mischievous grin accompanied his explanation. “Wouldn’t want you to get a sliver in your delicate shoes.”
****
Maximo stood in the middle of my living room, staring at the new television. He scratched a hand over the hair along his jaw line. “I could have gone with the bigger one.”
I made an irritated noise from the bedroom as I kicked off my shoes.
“I can take it back,” he said. “Yes, I’ll take it back.”
I hopped to the door, jabbing a finger at the television. “If you take that television out of here, I’m not letting another one back in. It’s bad enough that monstrosity is in here.”
Maximo turned his head and an innocent expression on me. “It has connectivity for your laptop.”
“Why do I need that when you also bought me a Playstation?”
“That you haven’t used.”
Paranoia flared in me. Had Javier installed some sort of vampire surveillance? I should have checked. Why hadn’t I? Stupid. Stupid.
“How do you know that?” I asked.
He gestured to the game controllers bagged on the television stand. “You haven’t removed them from their packaging.” The vampire crouched in front of the table. He selected a controller and then took it and the television’s remote back to my futon. There he settled his fine ass onto my furniture.
Maximo focused his dark eyes on me while he waited for the whole thing to turn on. “That’s the most feminine article of clothing you own?”
I dug my fingers into my hip, shoving my weight against it. “If you’d wanted a girly girl you shouldn’t have killed Ascencion.”
His pupils flashed wide and then immediately narrowed. I held my breath for his angry response.
His expression softened into his half smile. “But is it?”
“Is it what?”
“The most feminine article of clothing you own?”
An irritated breath rushed from me. “This and the Gucci gown I wore to your solstice ball are, yes. And Nell helped me find the gown. I don’t do girly girl, de Sole. I was pissed off you asked me to dress a certain way for you.”
His eyelids momentarily slid shut. “Max,” he said on the edge of impatience.
Okay, I’ll have to cut out the use of his surname or he’ll throw a fit.
“I asked you to dress that way for the image we’d present to Nadir. I enjoy your personal style.” He clicked a few buttons on the game controller. “But I also enjoyed how beautiful you were in that gown.”
I opened my mouth to accuse him of lying. But he had been one of the only individuals to tell me he liked my new hairstyle.
“I’m not your chattel,” I said.
He inhaled a soft breath—a laugh. “It was an act for Nadir. I know you aren’t my property.”
My chin lifted. “This wasn’t the first time you’ve said I’m yours.”
Maximo drew in a long sigh while dropping his head against the futon’s cushion. “In terms of the vampire community, you are very much mine. If you weren’t, you’d have been killed tonight in my office.” He brought his gaze level with mine. “But I know you don’t truly belong to me.”
He returned his attention to the television. His amiable smile was gone.
I shifted uncomfortably. What was I supposed to do with him here? He’d carried me from his office straight out to the Escalade after the drama with Nadir. I’d been so shocked over the altercation I’d barely lived through that I hadn’t said a word in the car. He’d done all of the talking.
Maximo thought it best that I show I wasn’t afraid of Nadir by going home tonight. He was unwilling to allow me to go alone. He’d invited himself over for a night of movie watching.
He settled into my futon in spite of its lumps and worn fabric. Maximo focused whole-heartedly on the television’s crisp screen while he created an account on the game console he’d bought. If I hadn’t known what he was, I might have thought him an ordinary twenty-something male with a gaming fetish and rocker wardrobe.
Once he’d finished and gotten me logged in, he put in the movie that had come with the console. He tugged me by my fingers down onto the futon with him. I let him maneuver me between his thighs as he’d done the first night he’d visited. Like then, it took a quarter of the movie before I was able to relax even with his hands sifting through my hair and the occasional kiss to my ear.
An hour later his hand settled atop my white nylon at the thigh. A shot of heat jumped from my middle. His skin was cool but smooth. It was almost too easy to believe he was merely chilled from the air conditioning.
He did nothing more than set it there, perhaps as a test. I was torn between wanting to knock it away and wanting to inch down so he’d be closer to the spot that would take us to the next level. Beneath me the stiffening of his arousal began to make itself known. Worry built in me that he was moving too quickly. If he kept on at this speed, our “going slowly” would go from days of taking it slow to mere hours.
Quietly he groaned and spoke in Spanish. “I want to be inside you.”
My heart skipped two beats. It took great fortitude not to immediately jump out of his arms. He hadn’t realized I understood his native tongue. That gave me a leg up. But I was fearful of this going too far, too fast.
Maximo’s cool nose nuzzled my ear. He transferred a kiss to my shoulder blade. Nudging the rust-color fabric aside, he fastened his lips over the tender skin that had been hidden. Desire shot straight up my body, tightening everything along the way. My nipples went rigid beneath the summer dress’s thin fabric. I imagined his cool lips closing over them.
I drew in a long breath to keep from panting. His hand slid beneath my skirt and up my thigh at a pace that wouldn’t have been noticeable if I hadn’t been on metaphorical fire. I had to fight the urge to rip his clothing from him. We’ve gone too far.
“You said we’d go slowly,” I said in a breathless whisper.
“Dios. We are. I’m trying.” Maximo withdrew his hand from my skirt with a muttered apology. He set it safely on the futon beside me.
I reined in the desire he’d built. My concentration had been shot to the point that the images on the screen flickered without my understanding. Beneath my tush his arousal remained rigid. His silence echoed the rising frustration I sensed from him.
“Thank you, Max.”
“Hmm?”
“For going slowly with me.”
Maximo gave me a sweet, one-handed hug. “Whatever you need. Rebecca.”
“Before you, I’d only ever had one night stands with men who wanted to finish quickly. The longest foreplay I’d experienced was ten minutes. I think he was timing it by the clock on his bedside table.”
“Please don’t be offended. Rebecca,” he said. “But I don’t want to hear of your previous lovers. It makes me want to kill them for touching you.” Maximo cleared his throat. “And for their idiocy.”
Talk of killing people cooled my desire the rest of the way. I whispered an apology and then focused on the movie.
Maximo’s touches from that point forward were calming instead of arousing. He remained through another movie. Citing he knew I had to be into work at noon, he lifted me to bed and promised he’d stay as long as he possibly could. Someone would be posted outside after he left. Once again I fought him on the bodyguard topic despite Nadir’s near attack. But Nadir was a vampire—if Maximo had to sleep, so would he.
The l
ast things I recalled after I’d changed into my tank top were Maximo’s dark eyes and his soft words telling me to sleep.
Chapter Fifteen
The Mazda was in my parking lot when I pulled in. I’d expected Nell to call out sick again or to quit. Did her car’s presence mean she wasn’t quitting? Or did it mean she was inside defacing the place before she said, “sayonara, freak”?
My cautious optimism faltered. Yes, Dea Woods was still clean of antibodies, and yes that was great for the world if it meant we’d discovered a cure for enthrallment. But, I may have just lost the only friend I had. With a heavy heart, I went inside to find out.
Nell wasn’t in the Wipuk storefront so I took the stairs down. I found her seated on the stool behind the glass display case. Her laptop was balanced in her lap. She glanced up long enough to level a frown on me.
Ever the tactician, I said, “Are you quitting?”
“Are you turning evil?”
“I don’t think so, but evil people rarely think they are.”
Nell snorted. “Too right.”
I settled myself against the frame to the employee only area, watching her around the curtain of her long blonde hair. She was trying to ignore me, but at least part of her attention was on me.
“Some things are going to come out in the next few days,” I said. “I want to tell you before you hear it from someone else.”
She lifted her eyes, lips already thinning.
“First, Ascencion stole something of mine when she kidnapped me and tried to kill me. She gave it to Maximo as a gift. He hasn’t given it back. He blackmailed me into going to dinner with him on Saturday with the implication that he would. But he didn’t. Second, I saved those enthralled witches from Nadir Khan in Las Vegas. I did it in disguise. I was afraid he’d kill me when he found out who I was. So I asked Maximo for help.”
The next words would sound bad. I winced and turned away so I wouldn’t have to see the disgust on her face. “He said the girlfriends of city rulers are basically untouchable. And that if I agreed to date him, he’d give me back what Ascencion stole when I proved I was devoted to the relationship.”
Nell made a sound of disgust I wasn’t able to block.
I looked to her for understanding. The plea in my eyes matched the one in my voice. “I don’t want to date him. But I really need what Ascencion stole. And last night Nadir Khan was inches from killing me. I would have died if Maximo hadn’t stopped him.”
She remained tightlipped but wasn’t arguing, calling me names, or snorting. So I continued.
“Third, in the next day or so it’s going to come out that I have access to the Healing school of magic.”
Nell couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “Air, Earth, Water and now Healing?”
I nodded rather than speak a lie of omission.
“No one has access to that many schools naturally.” Her eyes narrowed to rival her lips. “You have to be using weaves.”
I’d have been furious had it been Desmond speaking those words. But, Nell hadn’t tested me. She’d accepted that my one show for Desmond had been proof. And because she was an Air witch, the one faction that could sense weaves, she knew for certain that I had none.
I shook my head. “I’m not using weaves. And I’m not using any items like I sell in this shop. It’s natural.”
“If that’s true…” Her voice trailed off. Nell gave a quick shake of her long blonde mane. “The coalition is going to freak.”
“They already did when they heard about Water.” I shifted my weight to the opposite hip. “Desmond had to take responsibility for me to keep them from kicking me out of the colony.”
Nell shot to her feet. “Fucking Boston Steamer!” She stomped around the display case to the door and then back again. “You’re part of his coven now? And dating Wipuk’s First? Could you get any eviler? Why not join Eamonn Cary’s harem while you’re at it!”
“I’m sorry, Nell.” I moaned, dropping my head until my chin dug into my chest. “I’m trying to do the right thing, but all this stuff keeps happening to knock me off the right path. Please…” I sighed. “Don’t lose complete faith in me. I’ll never do you wrong.”
She folded her arms in front of her chest. Her head jabbed upward in an aggressive gesture that wasn’t promising. “But you’ll probably let one of them do me wrong.”
“No.” I stood to my full, upright position. “So long as it is within my power to do something, I won’t let them hurt anyone who doesn’t deserve to be hurt.”
Nell’s lips pursed as she hugged herself. I stood helplessly by. Though it wouldn’t be the end of the world if she quit on me, I’d lose the one ally I had in the entire colony. I didn’t want that to happen. But I also couldn’t come clean about the whole truth of the situation—an issue that would eventually drive her away.
“You’re lucky it’s already July. Otherwise I’d quit and go get a job at another crystal shop.” Nell stomped by me up the stairs. “I’m taking my break.”
I released a breath.
I’d done all I could do to keep Nell around, for now. I hoped it was enough and time would soothe her hurt feelings.
****
I procrastinated with my Nissan’s door for the extra few seconds it would give me. Supposedly the vampire who wanted me dead was inside the house in front of me. And Maximo was with him. That wasn’t the surprising factoid. The big surprise was that I stood in front of Desmond Marino’s semi-circle home.
This wasn’t the location I’d have picked for this to go down. I would have asked for someplace public—very public, like maybe a professional sports event in Phoenix. But Desmond had persuaded Dea Woods this was the safest venue for her to meet with Nadir Khan.
She’d asked me to be present. I couldn’t refuse, nor had I wanted to. The outcome of this meeting would have a huge impact on my life. But I’d insisted Desmond send Jacqueline and Veronika somewhere safe for the evening. He’d acted insulted I’d asked.
A meeting that contained me and Nadir required Maximo be present. I’d made Desmond extend the invitation, using the excuse that Wipuk’s First ought to be there to control his visitor were anything to go wrong. Desmond had unwisely failed to question me on what could go wrong. I hoped he had good homeowner’s insurance.
Dea, Dr. Yates, and Rich had stopped by the shop earlier to have me check the priestess’s blood for antibodies one last time. She’d been clean. Still. In fact, her blood had been the match for Rich’s right down to the blood type. I prayed we’d found the answer to breaking a blood bond.
And I prayed we lived through the night to tell others about it.
I started for the front door, noting the Escalade was already in the driveway. Maximo was here. But no one else was unless Nadir had come with Maximo. It was possible but unlikely.
As he had the last time I’d visited, Desmond appeared at the door before I reached it. His raven eyebrows were knit, and his eyes flashed. Maximo’s fault? Had I ever seen the two men together, apart from the charity ball? This ought to be enlightening if only for that reason.
“Ms. Walsh,” Desmond said with a professional nod. “The vampires are here, but the priestess has yet to arrive.”
Nadir had come with Maximo? How was that possible when the foreign vampire had smashed up Maximo’s office?
Desmond stared at me expectantly. I shook the questions out of my head.
He looked good. He always looked good. But today he reminded me of the dinner we’d shared here last week. His sports coat had been left somewhere in the house along with his tie. The top two buttons on his light blue dress shirt had been unfastened and his pale skin peeked through. Even his beige and gray pinstripe pants looked good with their creases from sitting all day.
Small talk—I needed small talk. “How have your visitors been?”
“I barely know one is here, while the other…” Desmond made a martyred face. “She makes her presence known at every opportunity. I was enjoying the quiet after they
left … until I was interrupted.”
“I’m sorry.” I sent him a grateful smile. “It’s good what you’ve done for them.” I glanced away. “And me.”
He nodded as we stepped onto the flagstone floor inside. His attention had switched to his living room. The only sound emanating from the space came from the miniature waterfalls within the walls and the indoor stream’s flow. No doubt the vampires had been eavesdropping.
Nadir sat facing the door in one of Desmond’s French gray chairs—the chair I’d used when I was here last. Hades, I hope he can’t smell me on it.
Maximo wasn’t visible until after we’d stepped past the dividing wall. He was lounged in the middle of Desmond’s sofa with his arms stretched along the back of the cushions. He’d donned another of his simple black suits—a garment he managed to make shine despite its lack of fancy fabric or hidden patterns.
His face lit into his mischievous smile. He hopped to his feet, dark intent filling his eyes as he made his way across the space. My stomach immediately flipped.
Brushing past Desmond, Maximo slipped his arm possessively around my waist while the other fisted in my hair. He held me still as his lips closed over mine. My first reaction was embarrassment. But the strong pull of his lips, combined with his cool tongue sweeping over mine, had me melting against his body. Desire shot from my toes to my eyeballs.
Desmond cleared his throat, reminding me we had an audience. Maximo reluctantly withdrew his lips from mine and set me on my feet just so … I could nearly fall. He reached out to steady me. A soft laugh passed his lips.
“I’m sorry.” His light tone and half smile implied he wasn’t sorry at all. “I should know better by now than to let you stand on your own so soon.”
By now? As if we’d been dating for months?