When we finally lay speechless and breathless, all we could do was stare at each other and grin. Names? What did they matter when we had this between us? Jerry stood and helped me up with one hand. He glanced at the TV and shrugged when he saw the score. Scotland had lost and now some other teams were on the field.
“You’d better change before you go downstairs. There’s blood on your blouse.” He pulled the edges of my top together. “And a button or two missing.” His grin was one of pure male pride.
“Hmm. You call that accountant. Then I think I’d better shower first. I wouldn’t want him to smell sex on me.” I trailed a finger down to where Jerry’s cock lay vulnerable outside of his zipper. “We are terrible. You could have at least taken off your pants.”
He gave me a wicked smile, moving closer and pressing his thumbs to my aching nipples through my sheer white bra. “Next time I’ll definitely take off my pants. And you’ll take off your bra.”
“Yes, indeed.” I gave his cock a squeeze. “I love you, Jeremiah Campbell. You want me to take your name, you’ve got it.”
“No, I see your point. Stick with what you’ve earned.” He sighed when I slipped a finger inside, to tease his balls. “And it will keep my mother from starting in on you.”
I stepped back abruptly. “Thanks for that reminder. Of course they’ll be here. Mother Campbell in black, no doubt.” She’d never liked me. “I hope the Laird is happy about the wedding.”
“He knew it was inevitable and he likes you. My mother?” Jerry pursued me to the door. “Gloriana, sweetheart. We both have difficult mothers. Can we help it?”
“No, you are right. So they will both be at our wedding. I will deal with yours and you will deal with mine.” I faced him, waiting for him to try to wiggle out of that.
“Well, you know when to pounce, don’t you, love?” He looked frustrated but knew that he’d been had. “Fine. I won’t speak to Hebe or even look at her. You’d best warn her not to get close to me or try to press the issue.”
“I could say the same to you. Your mother has said some very hateful things to me, Jer, and you know it. I won’t have her ruin my big night.” I stayed stiff in his arms when he tried to hug me. “Are we clear?”
“Yes, I guess we are.” He kissed my cheek. “Go. You do smell like sex. Which I find very stimulating. If you have to do business tonight, get out of here. I’ll make that call. You shower.”
“Fine.” I relented and kissed him too. “Thanks for giving in on the name thing. It’s important to me.”
“Yes, I know.” He headed back to the couch, picking up the coffee table on his way. “I can’t believe your sister or Alesha didn’t bother us after we made all that noise in here.”
I opened the door and almost knocked down both of them. “I think they were getting an earful.” They both had pink cheeks. “Ladies? Did you have some questions? Alesha, if you want to clean Mr. Blade’s room you should do it during the day. Otherwise you have no need to be in here. Charis, I doubt you want to watch soccer, so go away.” I brushed past them, closing the door behind me. “He has ID for you both. Look in the living room, on the coffee table. Charis, you’re twenty-one on the passport. That’s the oldest he could make you with the way you look and it will allow you to drink those dirty martinis you love.”
“Thanks, Glory.” Charis followed me to my room. “I checked on the Internet and saw I’d need a photo ID to get on the plane. Where’d he get a picture of me?”
“He pulled one from our surveillance cameras in the shop. Go see.” I turned to Alesha. “He made you twenty-five. I hope that’s all right. I forgot to ask your age.”
“I’m twenty-seven. That’s close enough. I guess you got my picture from the same place.” She winced when we both heard a screech and curses coming from the living room.
“Could this be any worse?” Charis came in holding her fake U.S. passport.
I hid my grin. Yes, I’d picked a pretty bad photo. Maybe it was mean of me but she’d been a handful since she’d arrived a week ago, disappearing when she felt like it, usually to Rafe’s club at night. Then Alesha had told me Charis also took off during the day. At least now she had a credit card, courtesy of our father. But that didn’t mean she’d stopped shoplifting for the thrill of it. She’d threatened to try her hand at driving my car too. I had the keys locked up now, afraid I’d wake up some night and find my pretty convertible totaled.
“It’s not that bad.” Alesha had run to get hers. It included a flattering picture, taken when she’d come out of the dressing room in her blue shirt and new jeans.
“I look like I just got out of the cells.” Charis glared at me. “Make me a new one. Don’t you have a camera on your new phone? Take a picture now. Then Jerry can get another passport made for me before our trip.”
“No, he can’t. Those things are expensive and take time. Or you’d have had it sooner.” I did have a nice new iPhone which took excellent pictures. But I was telling the truth about the passports. “No one looks at those things. Maybe after the wedding, if you’re still here, I’ll teach you to drive. When you get your license, they’ll take a new picture. It will be better.” Or not. Mine made me look like a demented serial killer.
“Really? You’ll teach me to drive a car?” As I knew it would, this got Charis off on a new subject. “Then I could get Dad to buy me one. I love your little convertible.” I’d taken her and Alesha to Wal-Mart to buy some things a few nights ago. She’d insisted we ride with the top down though it was forty degrees outside.
“I’ll teach you too, Alesha. It will be handy for you to be able to drive. So you can go to the grocery store and Wal-Mart on your own, during the day.”
“I’d like that, Glory.” Alesha kept staring at her passport. “This says I was born in a place called Michigan. Where is that?”
“It’s north of here. Jerry didn’t think we should all come from Texas. Especially since none of us has a Texas accent. Charis, why don’t you show Alesha where it is on a map? Use my computer.” I was more than ready for my shower and hadn’t missed Charis checking out my blouse with the missing buttons and blood stains. Did I really want company for the long haul? How many empty apartments did I have? Would Dad pay rent for one for Charis? “Now I’ve got to go. I have work to do in the shop.”
“Can I come?” Charis obviously wasn’t excited about spending time with a handmaiden. She’d never gotten over her superiority complex.
“I’m just going down there to look over the books. The shop is closed. It will be boring.”
“I have a credit card. Maybe I’ll buy something.” She actually batted her eyelashes at me.
“Whatever. Give me a few minutes to clean up.” I opened my bedroom door.
“Yeah. You and Jerry were really hitting it hot and heavy in the man cave.” Charis nudged Alesha with an elbow. “The handmaiden here was ready to barge in to save you. She was afraid you were being hurt. I told her that was just you having a very, very good time.” She winked.
“I’m sorry, Glory. I didn’t mean to invade your privacy.” Alesha’s cheeks were pink again and she stared down at her new shoes. “From now on, I will stay in the kitchen unless you call me.”
“Listen, you two.” I tapped my foot. What could I say? Ignore all screams? But what if I really needed help someday? Who was I kidding? I sure wouldn’t ask either of these women for help. “Jerry and I enjoy an active sex life. I’m noisy. Deal with it. I will never scream for help and expect either of you to come running. Got it?”
“Well, thanks a lot. I do have skills, you know.” To prove it, Charis shot a flame at the wall and incinerated a picture of bluebonnets. Luckily, I’d never liked it.
“Hey, you could have just told me you could do that here.” I grabbed a vase and jerked out the fresh flowers. I tossed the water at the smoking spot on the wall just as Alesha ran in from the kitchen with a fire extinguisher.
“Glory will make you leave if you keep doing things like that
.” Alesha squirted the spot again for good measure. “But we both could help you if attacked, Glory. If you are alone and need help, scream. We will come. If you are with Mr. Blade, we will assume you are having… fun.”
“What the hell can you do to help Glory, chickadee?” Charis had her hands on her hips and looked Alesha over. “Hit a bad man with a mop?”
“I have skills too. My mop can be lethal.” Alesha held the fire extinguisher over her head like a weapon. “And a good blast with this in the face won’t be soon forgotten either.”
Charis laughed. “Yeah, I can see you’re fearless.” She patted Alesha on the back. “Come on, I’ll show you Michigan. Or was it Minnesota? I get all those M- states mixed up.” She glanced at me. “Will you get a move on? You already wasted half the night in the man cave.”
“Not a waste at all, Sister.” I grinned as they headed for my laptop in the living room. Okay, so maybe they were starting to get along. Alesha was showing Charis her passport as they walked away. Shower. Oh, yeah. I had work to do.
As predicted, Charis was soon bored in the shop and waved her credit card at me before she headed down Sixth Street and toward Rafe’s club. I shouted a warning at her to limit her drinks then sat down with the books again. Not having to pay rent had made a big difference on our bottom line in the shop. Lacy had great connections among the shifter community too. She had taken in a lot of inventory at rock bottom prices. If I could afford it, I was going to give her a raise.
I’d no sooner had that thought than there was a knock on the front glass door. I got up to see if my new accountant had arrived. Surprise, surprise. It was the shifter who guarded Rafe’s door some nights.
“Don’t tell me you’re also an accountant?” I said as soon as I got the door unlocked.
“Bouncer slash accountant, that’s me.” Ed was intimidating, but there was certainly a gleam of intelligence in his dark eyes. “I have always had an affinity for numbers, Glory. So I do Rafe’s books. If you want to call him for a reference, be my guest.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” I led him to my back room where I had spread out my bills and ledger. It was a bit of a mess. “I hate this kind of paperwork. I got into this business because I love to shop. Hunting for the vintage clothes and collectibles is addictive. I get a rush from finding a great piece at a bargain price and then hooking up a customer with something they always wanted.”
“Sounds like the perfect job for you. But these numbers are important.” He started rattling off information about profit and loss until my head hurt.
“Hey, hey, just tell me what it’ll cost to have you handle all of this from now on. What made a big difference in profitability here is that my fiancé gave me this building as a wedding present.”
Ed whistled. “Now that is a man in love.”
“Yes, well. I kept him dangling for a century or two before I said yes.” I was blushing. It sounded pretty bad when I put it that way. “Can you take a quick look and see if I can afford to keep one of the apartments for my housekeeper? I wouldn’t charge her rent, of course. I’d consider it part of her pay.”
“Let me look things over.” He began going through my stacks of papers. “Is there anything on this laptop? A spreadsheet?”
“My inventory but not my bills. I never got around to it. I had a friend who put the inventory on the computer but Derek moved to Paris with his partner so that’s as far as we got.”
“Well, I’ll be taking care of that too.” He quoted a price and I realized the number wasn’t bad in the overall scheme of things.
“Okay, just do it. I’ll be in the shop, rearranging things for the coming holiday rush. Call me when you have the answer about the apartment.” I patted his bulky arm. “I consider that a priority so if we have to cut something somewhere else, do that.”
“Wait.” Ed walked with me into the shop. “I have a question.” He walked over and picked up a pair of gold pumps in a size eleven. “Would you consider an employee discount?”
“Uh.” I was temporarily speechless. I glanced down at his feet in tennis shoes. Size elevens?
“Okay, Glory, you can shut your mouth now.” Ed laughed. “Let me tell you about my other gig.” He sat on a chair, stripped off his shoes and slid his feet into those heels. Then he stood, strutted over the cash register and began to sing “Chain of Fools”.
“Aretha Franklin?” I hadn’t shut my mouth yet. “Are you serious?”
“You should see me in my wig and sparkly clothes.” Ed laughed and hooked my elbow with his. “Come on, you know you know this song. ‘Chain, chain, chain…’” Before I knew it we were singing and strutting around the empty store together, our hips in sync.
“Oh, wow. You are awesome. I totally believe you.” I was laughing when we finished. I looked down at his feet. “Employee discount. Of course. I bet they’re killing you though. Most shoes like that end up here because they’re uncomfortable.”
“No pain, no gain.” Ed laughed and pulled them off with a sigh. “It’s a hobby of mine. Singing and doing the cross dressing. You okay with it?”
“Love it.” I dropped the shoes in a sack and wrote down the total. “I’ll just put these on your tab. We can deduct it from your pay at the end of the month if that’s all right.”
Ed looked up from tying his shoes. “Thanks, Glory. Not everyone I meet understands the stuff I’m into.”
“I’m older than dirt, Ed. I’ve seen and done more than I want to remember. You enjoy it and you’re not hurting anyone, so have at it.” I found myself humming another Aretha song. “Now you’ve done it. I’ve got her music in my head.”
“Not a bad thing. Give me an hour or so and I’ll have an answer for you about that apartment.” Ed sat in front of my bills and the laptop, already deep into numbers mode, rearranging the stacks of papers.
I sighed just thinking about those papers. Yes, I loved the shopping but this business was getting complicated. And I’d promised Jerry we’d have a two week honeymoon after the wedding. How would the staff take that? After I’d been gone for almost a year? I wandered around, picking out a scarf to go with the sweater I had on.
The shop was already in good shape for the holidays. I wasn’t needed here after all. So I spent the time thinking about a going away dress. Nothing on the racks spoke to me and I figured I could look while we were in New York. I felt that twinge in the pit of my stomach again, thinking about the trip. Stupid. Whatever had happened there had been decades ago. It was ridiculous to worry about those lost memories now.
When my mother materialized in front of me, I jumped. “Mother. Could you at least rattle a hanger to warn me when you’re about to show up? You scared me.” I collapsed on the stool in front of the register.
“Sorry, darling. You look worried. Trouble in paradise?” She plucked off the scarf I’d draped around my neck and threw it on the counter. “That color does nothing for you. Gray? Seriously? How about a shot of red with that cream?” She snapped her fingers and a lovely red and cream scarf floated down from the ceiling and landed on my shoulders. “There. Much better. It makes your cheeks look flushed.”
“No, that’s from frustration. Why can you snap and materialize a scarf and I can’t snap so much as a hanky?” I did stroke the silk. Exquisite.
“Because you became a blood sucker again, Gloriana.” Her mouth thinned. It was not a good look on her. “You made your choice. Deal with it.” She waved her hand and the scarf vanished. “Now about New York.”
“I know. I expect you’ll be there. By my side to help pick out my wedding dress. Dad insisted.” I didn’t bother to hide my distaste.
“It had better be a lovely bonding moment for us, Gloriana. I would hate to disappoint your father when he is going to all this expense.” Mother pretended to examine an earring display but I knew she was totally focused on me.
“I didn’t ask for this, Mother. I already had a dress, plans. Remember?” I studied my nails. Manicure before we headed to New Yo
rk. I would definitely book one.
“Look at me, Gloriana.” Mother grabbed my hand. “I’m not going to keep begging for forgiveness. It’s not my nature.”
“Fine. I’ll see you in New York, not before. I can’t forget that you almost got the man I love killed.” I couldn’t look at her, couldn’t stand to be in the same room with her. “Get out of here.”
“Gloriana.” Mother’s voice was close but I refused to face her. “Your lover is upstairs even now, as alive as he’ll ever be. So get over it, Daughter. Or bear the consequences.”
I stared blindly at the clothes on the table next to me, sorted neatly into piles—pink sweaters, blue, purple. So pretty. I wanted to shred them with my nails and fangs. Stomp them with my high heeled boots. I was supposed to just get over it? Over that impossible dream of giving Jerry a child too of course.
I sank down on a stool and knew I was being a fool. Coming home pregnant would have been a disaster. The only way to have made it work was if I’d remained mortal. But Jerry would have still been vampire. Could we have been happy in such a situation? I jumped up, all my pent up frustration needing somewhere to go. Luckily for my mother, she’d run back to where she’d come from after making what I knew was a threat.
“Are you okay, Gloriana?” Ed was standing in the storeroom door.
“No.” I shook my head. “I guess you heard that.”
“Just some yelling. Don’t worry. Nothing I hear or see here will go anywhere else. Accountant/client privilege.” He gave me a little smile then glanced at the computer and piles of bills. “You can afford the apartment for your housekeeper. But you need to rent out the other vacant place. Put an ad on the bulletin board at Rafe’s club. It should go fast. If you don’t charge too much.”
(Glory St Clair 11) Real Vampires Say Read My Hips Page 29