My chest inflated as the depth of my feelings for this woman flooded my system. It was overwhelming and a little scary, but also exhilarating. She made me feel so much at once, some days it felt like I’d drown in her.
“Alexander?”
Fuck, I loved the way she said my name.
I tried to memorize the way she looked right then because I knew it wouldn’t be for long. I was the one to put that smile on her face and, unfortunately, I’d be the one to wipe it right off with what I had to say next.
But there was no other option. Her safety was too important. Keeping her alive had become my life’s mission, and I took it deadly seriously.
She was draped over me and I shifted slightly so I could meet her eyes better. “There’s been a change of plans.”
She frowned up at me, that smile slowly falling from her lips, and I missed it instantly. “What plans?”
“Your internship.”
She sat up and pulled the sheet to her chin, eyes narrowed at me. “What kind of change?”
I was reluctant. So damn reluctant to ruin this peace between us, but she needed to know she wasn’t coming with me to Parliament on Monday. And somehow, I needed to convince this stubborn woman to do as I said.
Knowing the likelihood of that, I sat up too, preparing for the battle I knew was coming right for me.
“You’ll be doing it remotely.”
Her eyes widened before narrowing again. “No, Alexander. That’s not happening.” She slid out of my king-sized bed and grabbed her shirt off the floor before pulling it over her head. “I’m not doing this with you again. We’ve talked about this before.”
I sighed as I watched her dress, mourning the loss of all that perfect golden skin. “You’ll still be doing the internship. What does it matter where?”
She shook her head as she slid her pants up her legs. “It matters because I’m sick of feeling like a prisoner.”
I laughed, and she spun around to glare at me. “A prisoner, Charlotte? You’re in a five-thousand square foot penthouse. There’s a movie theater, a game room, and a jacuzzi outside on the balcony. You have all three meals delivered right to the door every single day. How the fuck does that make you a prisoner?”
She placed her little hands on her hips, and I almost groaned, but knew from experience that would only make things worse.
“A golden cage is still a cage,” she said between clenched teeth. “I don’t care how nice the prison is, if I’m not allowed to leave, it’s still a prison.”
“So, you’d rather forsake the safety of this apartment to go work in a building full of vampires?”
She swallowed so loud I heard it from across the room, but she remained quiet. I knew she feared us. Well, them. It seemed she wasn’t afraid of me. Other vampires, though, that was a different story.
“You know what happened the last time you were around a vampire other than me, right?”
She rolled her eyes and popped a hip to the side. “Adrienne is a newborn vampire. I’m assuming Parliament doesn’t hire many of those.”
True.
But still.
“Yes, most of the vampires working at Parliament are more seasoned, but I can’t guarantee they all are. I can’t promise there isn’t a newborn working in the damn mail room. I can’t promise some older vamp won’t bring his progeny by for some reason.” I shook my head as the endless scenarios spun through my mind. “No. It’s not a risk I’m willing to take.”
“Well, too bad you don’t get a say,” she said before spinning around and stomping toward the door.
I wrenched myself out of bed and raced to cut her off. “I’m the one who got you this internship, which means I do get a say.”
Her jaw clenched as she stared up at me. “That’s because you made me quit my other one! I would have been perfectly happy working with the humans! This was your idea. This was your compromise, and now you’re going back on your word!”
“Stop being dramatic, Charlotte. You can still do the internship, you’ll just have to do it from here instead.”
Her eyes flashed dangerously, and it honestly frightened me a little.
“And where will you be? Working from home as well?”
I pressed my lips together and looked away. She’d struck on the only flaw in my plan. “No. I’m needed back at Parliament. I can’t take any more time off.”
She scoffed. “So, you get to leave, but I don’t. That’s bullshit, Alexander, and you know it.”
I shrugged. “It might not be fair, but at least I know you’ll be safe.”
“Then why the hell did you claim me?” she exploded. “I thought that was so I wouldn’t smell like an ancient vampire anymore, and I could start living my life again. Instead, you’ve kept me locked in your apartment for two weeks! I’m not doing this anymore. I’m going to Parliament with you on Monday.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Yes, the fuck I am.”
“Charlotte, I can restrain you if I have to. Don’t tempt me.”
She gasped, her whole face flushing with anger, but it was the look in her eyes that set my blood pressure rising. She couldn’t hide it despite how hard she was trying.
“Don’t look at me like that,” I growled.
“Like what?” she yelled.
I covered the distance between us in the blink of an eye and pulled her against me. “Like you’re not sure if you want to fight me or fuck me,” I murmured in her ear.
She shivered in my arms and my dick twitched against her. Fuck, I’d just spent hours in bed with her, but I was ready to do it all over again. It would take the slightest provocation from her for me to lose the tenuous grip I had on my self-control.
I buried my nose in her soft hair and breathed deeply. “Which is it, love? Fucking or fighting? I can do either.”
She shivered again, and I smiled against her head.
“Which one will get me what I want?” she asked, her voice only shaking slightly.
I chuckled. “Honestly, I’m probably going to lose either way,” I mumbled.
She giggled, the sound brightening up the whole fucking room. Charlotte reached up to wrap her arms around my neck, pressing her tight body against mine as my hands automatically reached for her hips.
“You know you can’t keep me here forever,” she murmured as her fingers raked through my hair.
“Not forever. Just until I know you’re safe.”
“How do you know I’m not safe now?”
I shook my head and closed my eyes as she scratched my scalp. “Not risking it.”
She skimmed her hands down my chest, dragging her nails lightly down my stomach as she went. “But who will watch me here if you’re gone all night?”
She was tracing the lines of my muscles as I tried to stay on my feet. I knew I was losing this argument, but I was having trouble caring about that at that moment. “I’ll hire a vampire guard.”
She shook her head as her hands traveled further down, skipping right past my aching dick to cup my balls. “How do you know you can trust them? They could glamour me while you’re gone, and you’d never know.”
Fuck.
She was right.
I couldn’t trust anybody with her.
She continued to gently massage my balls as my hands tightened on her hips. “I’d fucking kill them.”
She tsked as she let go of my sack and slowly trailed her nails up to my cock. “You can’t just go around killing people, Alexander.”
I grunted. “For you, I could.”
She looked up at me then, her eyes so clear and blue and gorgeous my heart stopped beating for a moment. She smiled at me and I swear, it was like the goddamn sun rising. With a shake of her head, she wrapped her hands around my dick, needing both to cover the circumference. “Then you’d go to vampire prison, and I’d be left defenseless again.”
I fucking hated when she was right like that.
“What if,” she began as she squeezed me tight and I s
wear I saw stars. “I go to work with you and do my internship from your office? Then we can both be productive, and you can still watch over me.”
Her soft hands were gripping me so tight, stroking up and down in slow, torturous movements, and I was seconds from losing it. “I don’t want you in a building full of vampires.”
She tightened her fingers around me, and I hissed. “But you’ll be there to protect me. You wouldn’t let anything happen to me there.”
“Never,” I grunted.
“See? I’ll be safest with you at Parliament, right?”
Fuck, was she right? I couldn’t tell. All the blood in my body was flowing to my dick, leaving nothing left over for my brain.
“I’ll be so much happier with you all night instead of here alone,” she continued. “And besides, if you get hungry, I’ll be right there.”
My dick actually leaked at the thought.
I’d have Charlotte with me all night. Right there in the office with me. Where I could see her and know she’s safe, but I could also drink from her and fuck her any time I wanted. That sounded like a hell of a solution.
But I still felt like there was a reason that was a bad idea too, I just couldn’t remember why.
“Will you please take me to Parliament with you on Monday? It would make me really happy to get out of this apartment and go somewhere with you.”
It was like she knew the actual fucking password to my deepest thoughts. Her safety was the only thing that was more important than her happiness. I’d do absolutely anything to make her happy, and the damn woman knew that.
I sighed as she stroked me faster. Harder. Until my hands clenched on her hips and I knew I’d come any minute. “I’ll see what I can do,” I finally said.
She looked up at me and smiled, and I knew I’d said the right thing. No matter what I had to do, who I had to bribe, or what kind of compromises I had to make, seeing her this happy made it all worth it.
If coming to Parliament meant so much to her, I had to find a way to make it work. Keeping her locked up in this apartment for the next couple of years sounded good, but it wasn’t really feasible.
My concern had always been preserving her human life, but how could I do that while keeping her locked in my apartment all day?
There had to be a happy medium out there. Some way we could both get what we wanted. Some way I could make her happy and safe. It seemed like letting her work in my office at Parliament was the least I could do for her. Especially after everything she’d given me.
I lifted her by the waist and spun around to press her against the wall. I positioned one leg between her thighs and pressed hard, my dick throbbing when she moaned. “If we’re going to do this, it will be my way.”
Her eyes were closed, a little smile on her pink lips as she gyrated against my leg. “We’ll see.”
I growled and pressed against her harder, my fingers digging into her hips. “No, Charlotte, we won’t see. You’ll do as I say or I’ll shut this whole internship down, you understand me?”
Her lips twitched, eyes still closed. It was like she wasn’t even listening to me as she chased her orgasm on my thigh. She wrapped her hand around my dick again and squeezed as she met my gaze. “What are your terms?”
I ripped her shirt over her head and filled both my hands with her breasts. “You’ll arrive with me and you’ll leave with me. No exceptions.”
“Mmm, okay.”
“And you’ll stay in my office the entire time you’re there unless escorted somewhere else by me.”
“I can do that,” she moaned as I pinched her nipples.
“You won’t look at or speak to any other vampire besides me.”
She cracked an eyelid open to look at me. “That sounds a little unreasonable.”
“You know they only need to look in your eyes to glamour you.”
She shuddered delicately before nodding. “Fine. No talking, no looking. Is that all?”
I searched for another rule to lay down, knowing this was my only opportunity to set them, but the way she was stroking my cock was enough to make me forget my own name. Which led me to my next stipulation.
I leaned into her, watching the way her pulse jumped in her throat as I got closer. I might have thought she was afraid of me if I couldn’t feel how wet she was through her thin pants.
“The last condition is I get to fuck you and suck you any time I want,” I whispered against the sensitive skin of her throat.
She groaned and tipped her head to the side to give me better access. “How is that any different from now?”
I chuckled as I picked her up and carried her to my bed, ready to spend another couple of hours getting to know every nook and cranny on her body. “That’s a good point, love.”
Chapter 3
Alexander
“I only had one friend growing up. Candace. She was the only one I was comfortable enough with to let in.”
Charlotte’s voice was the first thing I heard. Her scent the first thing I smelled. I knew she’d been in my room recently and my dick hardened at the thought.
“So, you were pretty isolated growing up?”
The question came from that douchebag Ashton, and I was on my feet in moments.
“I guess you could say that. I was just too embarrassed to let anyone else at school know how bad things really were in my house. I knew if a teacher found out they could put me into foster care, and I didn’t know if I’d be dropped into an even worse situation. It was just easier to keep to myself.”
My fucking heart cracked as I listened to her sad voice, hearing all the loneliness of a little girl still trapped inside this grown woman. I wondered what shade of blue her eyes would be in that moment.
In the next instant, rage filled my system as I heard Ashton comfort her.
That should be me.
I should have my arm around her.
I should be rubbing her back.
I should be whispering soft words in her ear in the hopes that one would help soothe the pain so clear in her voice.
But I was stuck in my bedroom. Dead to the world for twelve hours a day, no matter what the fuck was going on. I’d never hated what I was more than I did in that moment.
I showered and dressed as fast as I could, anxious to dismiss the dickhead and see Charlotte for myself. As I snuck out of my room and over to the front door, I wondered, not for the first time, if I was doing the right thing.
I listened to them continue to talk as I slowly made my way through the penthouse, my mind spinning with questions.
Was there a reason she confided in this human guard and not me?
Did she feel more comfortable with him?
Did she trust him more?
Deeper and more painful thoughts surfaced, despite how hard I was trying to hold them back.
Did she want him like she said she wanted me?
A human like her. Someone she could be with just as she was. Someone who wouldn’t steal the sunlight from her life. Someone who could protect her.
But why would she need protecting if she wasn’t in my world anymore?
Which brought me to thoughts of tonight.
I’d be taking her to vampire Parliament, and every single atom in my body screamed at me to change my mind. I just knew there was no way Charlotte would make it out of there unscathed. Her luck wasn’t that good.
But what else could I do?
I’d claimed her, so she shouldn’t still smell like that ancient asshole vampire, which meant she should be safe now. But I had this bad feeling that danger would still be attracted to Charlotte no matter what kind of precautions I took.
That led to the thought I’d been trying my hardest to not think about. The one that plagued me every minute I was awake. The one that got stronger with every passing moment until it was practically blaring in my mind.
I needed to let her go.
I needed to make sure the blood claim worked and send her on her way.
She
shouldn’t be living with me. She shouldn’t be working with me. She shouldn’t have anything to do with me.
My world would only bring her more darkness and pain. And from what I’d gathered from her talks with the human guard, she’d had more than enough of that in her short life.
So, why was I still holding on to her so tightly?
It was clear it wasn’t for her benefit. The only one who came ahead in this situation was me.
I got to see her. I got to touch her and taste her and feel her. I got to pretend I wasn’t some fucked up asshole with a nasty temper and an even worse past. I got to act like I was a man worthy of someone like Charlotte.
But, in reality, I wasn’t.
So, what the fuck was I doing?
“Alexander! I didn’t hear you come in.”
I focused on her face, my heart stuttering when I caught sight of her big smile. And it was aimed right at me.
I cursed under my breath and looked away. How the fuck was I supposed to drag myself away from her when she looked at me like that? Like I’d fucking painted the goddamn night sky just for her.
I couldn’t.
It wasn’t possible.
And yet, if I really cared for her as much as I said I did, I’d find a way.
“Alexander?”
I realized I’d been standing in the doorway like an idiot, and I shook my head. “Good evening. How was your day?”
Ashton stood up and stretched, his shirt riding up his toned stomach, and I watched Charlotte carefully to make sure she wasn’t looking.
She wasn’t.
“Everything was quiet,” the guard said as he gathered his things. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning, Charlotte.” I clenched my jaw as he addressed her, but held my ground. It wouldn’t be fair to break his nose just because he said her name with that stupid smile on his face. “Have a good night, sir.”
I nodded once. “You too.”
I felt her watching me as I stared at the ground, waiting to hear Ashton close the exterior door. When it clicked shut, I took a deep breath and met her gaze.
The bright smile on her face slowly dimmed as she watched me. “Are you okay?”
“Fine.”
Her light brows furrowed. “You don’t seem fine.”
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