“I know, Andreas. It’s okay.” Eva smiled down at his as she placed her lips to his forehead for a kiss. It was an act of unconditional love and forgiveness that words alone could not fully express.
Andreas looked up at her and smiled. He wanted to pinch himself to make sure she was real. He couldn’t quite believe that this strong, beautiful woman actually belonged to him. He stared up at her and confessed what he’d known in his heart for so long.
“I love you.”
“Oh, how sweet! I apologize for interrupting your love fest, but Eva and I have a plane to catch.” Natasha crossed her arms over her chest as she spat the words in bitter mockery.
Andreas stood and turned his attention to Natasha. His stalked forward, to block her access to Eva in a protective stance. “You bitch!
After all I’ve done for you. This is how you repay me? You knew how I felt about Eva, yet you had no qualms about killing her. What do you want with her anyway?”
Andreas’s head of security shrugged her shoulders as if what’d he said hadn’t affected her in the least. “She’s not responsible for this, Andreas. You are. You’re the one who brushed me off like one of your insignificant little bimbos. And what exactly have you done for me lately other than piss me off? My only regret is that I won’t be here to watch you squirm once I take your precious girlfriend to live in the brothels of Eastern Europe. Priceless!”
“Over my dead body!” Andreas raged at her. He used the back of his hand to swat her away like a pesky, little fly. With his immense strength, that single blow shot Natasha clear across the room. Her body hit the wall with a thud and bounced off before she fell to the concrete floor. Andreas rushed to her. He understood how dangerous Natasha could be. Deep down, he knew Natasha would use even the slightest bit of hesitation on his part to her advantage.
He picked up her weightless body and set her down in a chair away from Eva. Then he looked at her dead on. “It would be so easy to just drain every last drop of blood out your pathetic body. But I’m not going to do that, Natasha. I’ll let the council deal with you.
Because I want you to suffer the rest of your miserable existence in a dark hole somewhere, knowing that I put you there.” Andreas went to gather the extra rope pooled at Eva’s feet to tie up Natasha.
“Andreas, watch out!” Eva’s screamed in warning a split-second too late. By the time he turned around, he felt the sting of a bullet graze his right shoulder and saw Natasha pivot her body to point the gun at his lover. Of course, Natasha hadn’t meant to fatally wound him. She did it simply to capture his attention. But once that same gun was aimed between Eva’s beautiful brown eyes, Andreas froze. One wrong move and Eva, the person who mattered most to him the world, would be nothing more than a bittersweet memory.
“Natasha. Walk away. If you leave now, I won’t come looking for you. Just disappear.” Andreas pleaded with her, his hands raised in defeat. It was the only thing he could think of to say that wouldn’t incite her even further.
She smiled a wicked, sadistic grin and cocked the trigger on the gun. Just as Andreas thought she was about to squeeze the trigger, he heard something whiz by on his left side, right past his earlobe.
The sound it made was distinct. An arrow. Before he could react, Natasha’s body flailed backwards as the arrow hit its mark and lodging itself in her heart.
Andreas looked over his shoulder to find Oliver, blood gushed from a cut on his forehead. He held the bow slow and steady. He nodded at the other man in thanks, and for the first time in God knows how long, Andreas was able to breathe. He took in deep inhalations of air as relief washed over him in wave after wave until the panic subsided and some semblance of control returned.
Then Andreas ran to his lover and untied the ropes that bound her to the chair. “It’s okay, baby. It’s over.” Eva wrapped her tenuous arms around his waist in a tight embrace. “And I’m never gonna let you go.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
The Epiphany
Eva took her time to wake up and acclimate herself to the new surroundings. Bathed in a velvet comforter the color of the Mediterranean Sea, she looked around at the baby blue walls with their painted marshmallow-white clouds. She stretched her arms and legs, luxuriating in the cool smoothness of the bed sheets and the calm serenity emanating from the room. Had she died and gone to heaven?
A soft knock echoed through the walls. At the same time, the mahogany double doors of the suite swung open. Then she saw him.
His gorgeous smile beamed at her from his stance in the entryway.
Eva felt her heart nearly burst. Andreas. He was her whole world.
“Good morning, sleeping beauty. You’re awake,” Andreas whispered, careful not to alarm her. “I thought you would never wake up.”
“Hmm. How long was I asleep?” Eva jerked up into a sitting position as if she’d overslept and was running late for an important date.
“Just over fourteen hours.”
Eva’s eyes opened wide in surprise. She’d never in her life slept more than four or five hours at a time, even as a child. Andreas must have seen the confusion in her eyes.
“You needn’t concern yourself. You’ve been through a lot these past couple of days, and considering your condition, I’d say you’re holding up quite well.”
Condition. What condition?
Before she could utter the words aloud, he moved closer and sat down next to her on the bed. “There’s something important we need to talk about.” Andreas swallowed hard before he continued.
“While you slept, I’ve have plenty of time to delay the inevitable. But now, it’s time we talked about what happened in my apartment the other night.”
Eva averted her eyes. Too afraid to see the anguish splashed across his face. While she remembered Andreas professing his love for her in the warehouse, she still didn’t know where they stood with one another. Was it even feasible for her to be thinking about a happily-ever-after with him? And what about the price tag on her head? Did his father still want her dead after everything that had happened? If so, would they have to keep their feelings for each other on the down low?
“It’s obvious you have something on your mind, Andreas. You might as well get it over with.”
Andreas placed his hand in hers. He used his fingertips to tenderly caress the sensitive skin on the inside of her wrist. “Eva, baby. First of all, let me apologize again for the way I lost control. I was so out of line. I don’t deserve your forgiveness. But I promise.
I’ll spend the rest of my life groveling in order to make it up to you.” Eva saw the truth. Whole-hearted sincerity reflected in Andreas’s piercing green eyes. Her heart stuck in her throat, Eva simply nodded in reply.
“Eva, I love you. In hindsight, I think I knew you were the one from the moment I found you snooping around my office.” The huntress reached up and wrapped her long, slender arms around his neck and held on to him with all her might. She nuzzled her head against his chest and inhaled his scent. Intoxicating and familiar. Once he said the words, she felt her own barriers crash down around her. She was ready to love again after years of immersing herself in her job to block out the pain of the past. She had only one man to thank for that.
“I love you too, Andreas. So much! I tried to fight it for a long time. It just seemed impossible. Like all the odds were against us. For Christ’s sake, we were brought up to hate one another. But you proved to me that that’s not how it has to be. You’ve shown me that love can conquer all and for that, I owe you everything. My body. My life. My love.”
Andreas grinned from ear to ear, more than happy to indulge her. Then he kissed her. Demanding. Ripe with passion and need.
Eva’s knees grew weak. Her head swam with emotion, dizzy and drunk with longing. He left a trail of fire down her neck and along her collarbone until he pulling away only to stare back at her.
“There is something else I need to tell you. But before I do, you have to swear you won’t try to maim or kill me.
Under any circumstances.” He fidgeted on the bed. His deep, emerald eyes dilated, a clear indication of nervous insecurity.
Eva laughed, amused at how potent an influence she held over this immensely powerful and sexy man. Both in and out of the bedroom. She lifted her right hand in response.
“Scout’s honor.” She promised him, even though she knew full well that she had never spent a day of her life in a Girl Scout uniform.
“Eva, you’re pregnant. With my child. Our child.” Andreas closed his eyes and flinched. The vampire no doubt expected her to be angry. But anger wasn’t the word she’d use to describe her current emotional state. Disbelief. Shock. Anxiety. Maybe even a tinge of excitement at the far-fetched possibility of carrying this amazing man’s child in her womb.
“How? When? How is it even feasible?” Eva shook her head and let the absurdity of the notion start to sink in. At the most, she couldn’t be more than a few weeks along, if it was even conceivable.
However, vampires and humans couldn’t procreate. It went against everything she’d ever learned about both species. They were natural-born enemies breed to fight one another in the battle of good against evil. Making babies with vampires wasn’t in her job description. But neither was doing the mattress mambo.
“I know this sounds crazy. It happened two nights ago when I went ballistic on you. I’m fairly certain that’s why I went into such a rage. Vampires don’t generally release sperm when they ejaculate. It only happens on rare occasions, even with our own kind. And for that reason, I didn’t recognize what was happening. It felt as if my life force was sucked right out of me. Like my very soul had been ripped from my body. Naturally, I thought you’d cast some kind of spell. My beautiful witch. My irresistible nemesis.” Andreas crooned at her as he smoothed down the sleep-matted silkiness of her honey-brown hair.
Deep down inside, the huntress knew everything he said was true. Somewhere buried in her subconscious, Eva’s body had already dropped her subtle hints. The fatigue. The tenderness in her breasts.
And if the rumbling in her tummy was any indication, her increase in appetite. Still, she was hesitant to believe the evidence.
“How do you know all this?” she asked him. Her own curiosity about what made vampires tick never ceased to amaze her.
“My father. He helped me do some digging in an old book.
It’s an ancient text of vampire lore that prophesizes the coming of
“Thy One.” A half-human, half-vampire child that will unite our kind and bring peace to our people.” Eva shot him a blank stare. The words he spoke too unbelievable. But inside, her wheels were spinning. His father aside, the thought of getting her hands on an authentic historical text on vampires was huge. For a moment, the thrill of that opportunity was all she could think about. Until the reality of the situation sank in.
What in the hell was Andreas thinking talking to his father about their sex life?
“You mean to tell me that your father knows about the pregnancy? And he had the audacity to hire some low-life thug to murder the mother of his grandchild?” Eva snorted in disgust. How could the bastard stoop so low? How could his hatred of humans run so deep?
“No, baby. He’d never hurt you. He’d do anything to protect you and his grandchild.” Andreas rubbed his palms up and down her arms to ease the anxiety bubbling up inside of her. The thought of Aristotle harming their baby unnerved her. “In fact, he’s eager to meet you. Are you feeling well enough for visitors? I think Oliver may be out there waiting to see you as well.”
Eva pulled back to look Andreas square in the eyes, trying to gauge his emotions. He remained calm and composed, and she knew instinctively that her incredibly sexy, hot-tempered vampire would always make her feel that way. Safe. Complete.
“As long as you’re by my side, I can handle anything.” The End
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Irresistible Nemesis Page 16