by Kathy Love
He gave her hand a polite shake and then immediately released it.
Certainly nothing inappropriate about that.
She followed him as he wove the way through the crowded sidewalk to the corner, and then they crossed to the restaurant.
But once they were seated in a softly lit corner, Jane began to question her decision. The restaurant radiated romance, from the soft French music to the flickering candles on the cloth-covered tables.
She shifted slightly, fiddling with the clasp of her purse.
Chris’s hand came out to cover hers. “You don’t have to be nervous. I just want some company.”
She stared into his eyes, then nodded. “Sorry, it’s just this seems like the type of place you’d take a romantic date, not an acquaintance.”
He glanced around. “Yes. But I get the feeling you could use a little romance tonight.”
She laughed at that. The sound was grim, even to her own ears. “That obvious, huh?”
He moved his hand from hers and gave her a sympathetic smile. “Sad eyes. I’m a sucker for them. I think that must be what I noticed about you back in the coffee bar.”
She frowned. “Really? Sad eyes?”
He nodded. “So why are they sad?”
She didn’t speak for a moment, not sure she wanted to talk about Rhys to a total stranger. How could she tell anyone about Rhys? The whole story was just too strange.
She picked up her napkin, placing the linen on her lap, smoothing it over her black skirt.
“I’ve recently just-broken up with this guy.”
“Really?”
“Yes. He had been-ill. And once he got-better, he decided we shouldn’t be together. He decided that I wasn’t the right woman for him.”
Christian listened impatiently to her halting story. The only thing that really interested him was that Rhys had been “ill.”
“What sort of illness did he have?”
She toyed with her purse again, and he fought back the urge to still her hand, tightly, violently.
Instead he tilted his head with feigned concern.
“He had some type of amnesia.”
Christian paused, then fought back a smile. Leave it to his maudlin brother to be overcome with memory loss. Poor Rhys, unable to accept himself. To accept his vampirism.
The whole thing was so trite.
Of course, if he’d known this earlier, he could have put Rhys out of his misery, and dear, dear brother would have never even known what hit him.
No, where was the fun in that? He studied Jane. This was much better… and it was going to be a lot more effective.
“But you still have feelings for him? After he has acted so callous?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
Much to Christian’s annoyance, the waiter appeared, rambling off a long list of specials in an appalling attempt at French. When he was finally done, Christian ordered two glasses of merlot.
“I’m sorry,” he said after the waiter left. “That was presumptuous of me to order for you.”
“No, that’s fine. I don’t drink much, so I wouldn’t even begin to know which wine to order. Thank you.”
He smiled, although he really wanted to roll his eyes. Leave it to Rhys to fall for little Miss Polly Sunshine.
“Do you think this man still cares for you?”
She thought it over and finally admitted, “I do. But I don’t think I will get him to acknowledge that fact.”
But he still cared. That was all that mattered to Christian. Losing her would hurt Rhys-ruin him. Rhys would, of course, be distressed if Christian hurt any mortal to get to him. But Christian didn’t want distress-he wanted devastation. He wanted Rhys to suffer with this for eternity.
Christian gritted his teeth. Just like he ached over Lilah.
The wine arrived, and Christian took a sip. Ugh. A mediocre vintage to say the least. He set the glass aside.
“The thing about Rhys-that’s his name-is that he’s very noble, and I think he’s breaking things off with me in some misguided attempt to protect me. Although I’m not sure from what.”
She sighed and took another sip of wine. “Or maybe not. Maybe I just don’t want to believe all the hurtful things he said.”
Christian pretended to listen, but his mind stuck on one thing she’d said. Rhys is noble.
That one statement made him want to bare his teeth. Make him growl like a wild animal. Rhys, noble. What a crock of shit.
“Sometimes people can be very deceiving,” he said quietly. “I know that firsthand.”
Suddenly he decided that it was important that this vapid little innocent really know the man she thought so noble. The man she was going to lose her life for.
“I was deeply in love once, too,” he told her. “Lilah was my whole existence. All I wanted in the world. And like anyone madly in love, I wanted her to meet my family.”
Jane nodded, her eyes intent on him.
“And like any younger brother, I greatly admired my older brother, and especially wanted his approval.”
“Of course,” she murmured.
“So I asked him to attend a party that Lilah was hosting. Lilah was an accomplished hostess. She loved to throw lavish parties. Elegant parties. And my brother agreed to come.
“That night, my brother not only met my beloved, but decided that Lilah was so magnificent, he had to have her for himself.”
“Oh, Chris.” She reached out to touch him, but he pulled back before her hand could come in contact with his. He didn’t want her sympathy. That wasn’t why he was telling her this. He wanted her to know the true nature of the man she loved.
“He forced himself on her. Afterward, she did come back to me, but she was never the same. How could she be after what he’d done to her?”
Jane’s green eyes shimmered with tears. “Chris, that is awful. I’m so sorry.”
He regarded her, his expression grateful for her compassion, his insides stone-cold.
He forced a smile. “So you see, we both know what it is like to lose someone we loved.”
Jane picked at the soup she’d ordered.
She couldn’t possibly eat after Chris’s story, even though he tried to keep the mood lighter and put her at ease.
How could one brother do something that horrendous to another brother? And that poor woman.
“I guess my story has ruined the atmosphere, hasn’t it?” he said regretfully, gesturing to her nearly untouched meal.
“I wasn’t all that hungry,” she assured him.
“Well, let me get the check. And then I can walk you home.”
She started to turn down his offer. She didn’t have a home at the moment. But then she decided she did have to go back to Rhys’s apartment. It was getting late, and she didn’t have her stuff. Plus, she wanted to talk to Sebastian and thank him for all his help. And also tell him she couldn’t take the nightclub job after all.
One more night with Rhys wouldn’t kill her. And tomorrow she would scour the city for a place to live.
“Yes, I’d love you to walk me home. If you don’t mind?”
“I don’t mind at all.”
CHAPTER 24
Rhys had never been a big fan of the nightclub. Even though he owned part of the business, Sebastian really ran the place. Rhys had no interest in mingling with other vampires. Or, even worse, mortals who were enamored with the idea of being a creature of the night. And since that was who the club catered to, he generally avoided it at all costs.
But tonight was different. He wanted to be surrounded by reminders of who he was. He couldn’t sit in the apartment with memories of Jane all around him, yet her scent, her warmth, already beginning to fade.
So here he sat on the balcony level of the club, enveloped in flashing lights, loud music and goths. He leaned back in his chair, propped his feet on the railing and surveyed the dance floor below him. The crowd gyrated and flailed to the pounding music. He watched them with disinterest and took another sip
of his scotch.
Where was she? Where was Mick? He should have followed her himself.
“Where’s Jane?” Sebastian pulled out the chair next to him, straddling it, resting his arms across the back.
“I don’t know,” Rhys gritted out, not wanting his brother’s company at the moment.
“You told her you don’t want her, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
Sebastian shook his head, disgust clear on his face. “You know, I told myself if you got your memory back, and you were still too stupid to realize you need Jane… I told myself I wouldn’t say anything.”
“Feel free to stick with that plan,” Rhys said dryly.
“Oh, shut up. And stop being a fool. Both about yourself and Jane.”
“How is it foolish to want her to be safe? To not want her to know what I really am?”
“She will accept what you are.”
Rhys shot him a wry glance.
“Well, she will eventually.”
Rhys snorted at that.
“Do you think she’s really going to be safe with Christian out there?” Sebastian pointed out.
Rhys stared blankly at the mob below them. If he could convince Christian that Jane meant nothing to him, and he got her away from here, she’d be safe.
He’d been too rash tonight. Too determined to make Jane believe he didn’t care about her. That had been very careless on his part. He needed to be sure Christian didn’t realize there was any connection between them before he made her go.
He just hoped Mick had found her.
Where was he?
As if Rhys’s thoughts had called him, Mick appeared next to his chair.
“I couldn’t find her.”
“What?” Fear curdled in Rhys’s stomach.
Mick shook his head. “I followed her trail for a while. And it just vanished.”
Rhys swore to himself. How could he be so stupid? Why hadn’t he thought this out? He’d been so resolute about ending things; he should have been more careful.
He stood. He had to find her. If Christian hurt her… No, he had to believe that somewhere deep inside the cruel vampire was the brother he’d once loved.
He started to push past Mick, but the hulking man caught his arm.
“Shit,” Sebastian muttered from behind him.
Rhys didn’t even need to look at his brother or follow both men’s gazes. The scent of flowers laced with something foul had already reached his nose.
But he did look, immediately spotting Jane in the crowd. And right beside her was Christian, his arm looped through hers.
Their eyes met. Pale blue clashing with hazel.
“It’s strange,” Jane shouted, gaping around her in amazement as she tugged off her coat. “I lived above this place, but this is the first time I’ve actually been in here.”
“Really?” Even though Chris responded, she could tell he was distracted.
It was hard not to be with all the flashing lights and loud music. And the people… A guy with artificially black hair, heavy eye makeup and a three-piece suit walked past her. She frowned at the odd combination.
Suddenly, Chris’s hand clasped hers, and he pulled her toward the dance floor.
“Oh, no,” she protested, laughing.
But he didn’t seem to hear.
Next thing she knew, she was in the middle of a sea of writhing bodies, and Chris held her tight against the full length of his tall, lean body.
She tried to pull away, but he grasped her closer, the arms around her back like steel bands.
“Chris!”
He grinned down at her, and sudden uneasiness seized her.
“Don’t you like to dance?”
She didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t acting at all like the man she’d just spent the evening with. Even his features looked different, harsher, the bones of his face more pronounced.
One of his hands slid down her back to grip her bottom, the touch rough, designed to show possession. Power.
“Do you think he likes to watch us dance?”
For a moment, she didn’t understand what Chris meant. Then she felt “him,” a warmth on her skin unrelated to the sweaty heat of the gyrating mob, or Chris’s shocking familiarity.
She looked around, spotting Rhys standing at the railing of the upper level. His eyes bore into her.
“That’s Rhys,” she stated, but then she realized Chris already knew.
He smiled again. “Yes. I know.” He leaned forward, his lips brushing her ear, his voice low and silky and frightening. “Maybe I should have done a better job introducing myself. I’m Christian Young. Rhys’s brother.”
She tried to pull away, his words frightening her even more, although she couldn’t say why. But he held her fast, his grip unbreakable. Then his tongue traced the shape of her ear.
“Don’t forget to ask Rhys about Lilah.”
His words barely seemed to register in her ears before he was gone. Disappearing into the sea of bodies.
She staggered, both startled by his sudden release and relieved.
Christian.
She started to leave the dance floor, her legs still shaky, her spinning mind made dizzier, more disoriented, by the swaying bodies all around her.
Then she saw Rhys.
He descended the curved metal staircase from the upper level, never taking his eyes off her, and she gave up trying to make her wobbly legs work. She just stood among the dancers, keeping her gaze locked with his, as if he were the beacon in a violent storm.
When he stepped onto the dance floor, she lost sight of him among the crowd. Then suddenly, he was right in front of her. They stared at each other, motionless in a sea of writhing bodies. Without a word, he grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the confusion. She followed, unable and unwilling to do otherwise.
His long strides took them into a darkened corner of the club. He swung her in front of him and walked her backward until she was trapped between the wall and the hardness of his body. His amber eyes blazed down at her with anger, desire and fear.
Jane’s lungs seized to a halt.
“Did he hurt you?”
She shook her head, still unable to inhale. She felt as trapped by Rhys’s intense stare as by the weight of his large, hard body.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m fine,” she managed in a breathy voice, amazed that with all the confusion and all the questions whirling in her mind, her body still reacted so readily to his touch.
She started to open her mouth to speak, to try and stay focused on what just happened, but Rhys didn’t give her the chance.
He shifted her hands over her head, pinning them there with one hand as his mouth came down on hers, fierce, desperate.
Despite her confusion, she couldn’t stop herself from responding. She met his kiss with the same desperate urgency, sucking on his lips and tongue. His free hand touched her everywhere, the strokes as frantic as his kiss, as if he didn’t truly believe she was all right, or maybe that she was even real.
He pulled his lips away from hers and began to stream open-mouthed kisses along her jawline, her neck, her chest. She leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes, helpless under his frenzied onslaught.
Fingers tugged at the tie at the side of her shirt, and the material loosened. He peeled the shirt open, his mouth finding her nipple through the lace of her bra, sucking hard. His hand stroked her other breast, her stomach, her back.
She pressed against him as much as her restricted position would allow. She needed to touch him, too. To calm him, to reassure him.
“Rhys,” she murmured, her voice pleading, filled with longing.
His mouth returned, plundering her soft lips as he held his body close to hers, her breasts flat against his chest and his knee between her legs.
His touch was rough and exciting. She couldn’t stop herself from rubbing against him, her nipples rasping the lace and cotton, her mound pressing silk and soft denim.
His knee nudged her legs open wider, and his hand touched her through her panties. Then the panties were pushed aside, and callused fingers tormented her, circling her, filling her.
She panted, her need for him, sharp, violent, seeming to match the pounding beat of the music that surrounded them.
His hands left her, and she bucked against him, demanding him back.
He returned, the thick head of his penis replacing his fingers, rubbing along her wet, swollen flesh. He used his legs to spread her knees wider as he positioned himself.
In one powerful stroke, he entered her, filling her completely, his body, his hands, his penis pinning her to the wall. His mouth held her mouth captive.
He drove into her, deep, with his erection, with his tongue. One thrust. Another. And another. Pulsating music, flashing lights, and pounding, relentless desire, until spasm after spasm of violent release overtook her.
She cried out, the sound lost in his mouth, and her body fell limp under his.
Rhys stared down at Jane, unable to believe what he’d just done. Taken her, against the nightclub wall. In the dim corner and with the angle of his body, no one passing by would know he was buried deep inside her. But he knew. And he knew why he’d lost control.
The sight of Jane in Christian’s arms had nearly destroyed him. He’d been furious, blind rage tearing through him that Christian dared touch her.
Then his rage had turned to fear when Christian had lowered his head to whisper something in her ear. His mouth so near the tender skin of her neck. Sheer terror had gripped Rhys as he realized Christian might kill her right there. Right on the dance floor. Right in front of him.
But when he got to Jane and looked in her wide, green eyes, he had to hold her. Had to love her and make sure that she was all right. That she was still his.
But now with her collapsed against him, her eyes closed, her face a study in satisfaction, he couldn’t believe he’d let things get so out of hand.
He gently lowered her arms, afraid they might be stiff from the angle he’d had them in.
She opened her eyes then and gave him the sweetest smile. Not looking in the least like a woman who’d just been taken roughly against a wall.
He kept his body close to hers, shielding her from any passersby as he straightened her clothing, then his own.