“So you were already thinking about kids?” he asked in surprise.
She nodded.
“Huh, well you know what they say.”
“What?” she asked.
Giving her another wicked grin, he answered, “Practice makes perfect.”
Kiera giggled and kissed him.
Draining the water from the tub, Gabriel carried his wife back to the bedroom where he spent the rest of the night showing her just how beautiful and amazing she was to him.
***
Across town, Michael slumped onto the sofa in his new living room. Matt and Cassie had really come through for him. The house might not be huge, but it had three bedrooms and one bathroom. There was a decent size yard out back that opened up to a large park. The living room, dining room, and kitchen were all on the small side, but that didn’t bother him.
It was a week night, but he had gone out anyway. He’d hit a local bar, had a beer or two, but had ended up coming home. There were a few pretty women there, and more than a few women had hit on him, but for whatever reason Michael just wasn’t interested.
Hell, if he were honest with himself, he’d just admit that every time he looked at a woman, he saw a petite redhead. Chloe had managed to get under his skin and he couldn’t seem to extract her.
Had Michael finally met his match? He shook the ridiculous thought from his head. Standing up, he grabbed his keys and headed back out. One way or another, he would exorcise Chloe from his system… one woman at a time. And right this minute, it didn’t matter which woman it was. Any of the young hot girls at the bar would have done fine. Of course, it would look odd for him to return so soon. He’d hit another bar. Either way, the night would end with him in a woman’s bed… any woman other than Chloe.
Chapter Eight
The next morning, Kiera pushed her hair out of her eyes. She knew without looking that Gabriel was already gone. It royally sucked waking up every morning completely alone.
Sighing, she burrowed further under the covers. Not having a job meant that she could sleep as long as she wanted. It wasn’t like she had anything that had to be done today. Sure, she wanted to get started on another bedroom on the second floor, but she didn’t have to do it.
Wriggling out of her nightgown, she dropped it on the floor beside the bed. Closing her eyes, she shifted into her fox form. It had been at least a week since she’d shifted and it felt good to be on four legs.
Nosing her way further under the covers, she curled up in a ball at the foot of the bed. The nice dark, warm cocoon put her to sleep in no time. Unfortunately, it was a little too comfortable and she slept straight through the morning.
***
Gabriel walked over to the house for lunch. As he opened the door, he noticed how quiet and still the house seemed. Where was Kiera? Her car was in the driveway so he knew that she had to be home.
Anxiety crept up on him, making the hair on the back of his neck stand at attention. He had hoped the legend of vampires not being able to enter a home uninvited had been true, but what if it wasn’t?
Quietly climbing the stairs, he checked the rooms on the second floor. None of them looked touched; they looked exactly the same as they had the night before. The fact that Kiera hadn’t worked on her new project worried him even more.
Climbing the remaining stairs to the third floor, he pushed open the bedroom door. The first thing he noticed was her nightgown on the floor. Rushing to the side of the bed, he picked it up.
Glancing around, he didn’t see any signs of Kiera. He ran to the bathroom, hoping she was soaking in the tub. The bathroom was dark and unused.
Turning back to the bedroom, he noticed a small lump in the bed. Slowly walking toward the bed, he drew the covers back inch by inch. When he uncovered the small fox curled up at the foot of the bed, he heaved a sigh of relief.
“Kiera, you scared the hell out of me!”
The fox twitched and popped its head up, looking at Gabriel in shock. Its nose twitched and one ear flicked to the side. It watched him with wide eyes.
Gabriel grinned down at her. She was pretty darn cute as a fox. Reaching out to her, he gently rubbed his fingers over the top of her head.
Kiera closed her eyes in bliss. No one had ever petted her before. Very few people had ever seen her in her fox form. She was glad that Gabriel was able to accept her this way just as much as he did when she was a human.
Shifting back to her womanly form, she held her arms out to him. “I’m sorry I slept so long. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
A hungry heated look filled Gabriel’s eyes as they roamed over her from head to toe, paying particularly close attention to the parts in-between.
“I think I can forgive you,” he said, pulling her into his arms.
“I’ll get dressed and go fix some sandwiches or something.”
Gabriel stopped her before she could leave the bed. “I have a better idea. Why don’t you not get dressed and I’ll have my dessert before my meal?”
Kiera giggled at him. So he wanted to play did he? She inched closer to him and slipped her hands under his shirt. As her fingers traced the contours of his stomach, she leaned closer and kissed him.
Gabriel plunged his hands into her hair, deepening the kiss, devouring her mouth. Pulling her to him roughly, hands splayed against her back, he pressed his erection against her.
“You’re wearing too many clothes,” she murmured against his lips.
“I can fix that,” he said stepping away from her. He lifted his shirt over his head and dropped it on the floor. Kicking off his work boots, he slipped out of his jeans.
Standing before her in all his naked glory, he cocked an eyebrow at her. “Better?”
Kiera licked her lips, taking in every delicious inch of him. “Oh yes, much better.”
The look in her eyes set him on fire. Pushing her back onto the bed, he entered her swiftly. She was so tight and wet that he closed his eyes in ecstasy.
Kiera grabbed his shoulders, digging in her nails. Lifting her hips, she met him thrust for thrust. Closing her eyes and arching her neck, she cried out his name as her orgasm broke over her.
Gabriel trailed kisses up her neck, across her jaw and claimed her lips in a searing kiss, swallowing her cries of passion. He was close to finding his own release, but wanted to please Kiera more.
Looking up at her husband with passion glazed eyes, she begged, “Harder, Gabriel.”
Hearing her soft plea sent him over the edge. He thrust into her harder and faster until they both climaxed together.
***
After their unusual lunch break, Gabriel went back to the garage to work. Kiera lay in the bed staring at the ceiling. She knew she needed to eat something and heaven only knew she had plenty of projects around the house to keep her occupied, but something just felt off.
Considering that she’d just spent an amazing hour in her husband’s arms, all should have been right with the world. Then why did something feel as if it were out of place?
Kiera shook her head and got up. Throwing on some clothes, she headed down to the second floor. Looking at the bedroom she had worked on the previous day, decided to go ahead and finish with it before starting on the others.
Pulling out the primer, paint roller and paint tray, she set to work. An hour and a half later, all four walls were primed. She opened the door to the small bathroom. There was wallpaper in there, too.
Sighing, Kiera pulled out the steamer and tackled the bathroom. Since there were no windows in the small room, she needed to do something to brighten it up. She thought about using the same moss green she was going to use in the bedroom with white accents. Hopefully, Gabriel wouldn’t mind if she painted the cabinets.
By the time she finished steaming the wallpaper in the bathroom and had the walls bare, her arms were aching and her back had a slight twinge. Putting away her supplies, she decided to call it a day. The primer in the bedroom needed a day to dry so she wouldn’t be able to pain
t in there until tomorrow anyway.
Her stomach growled, reminding her that she had skipped both breakfast and lunch. A quick glance at her watch told her that Gabriel would be home soon.
Kiera slipped on a pair of shoes and walked across the street to the garage. As she pushed open the glass door, she saw her husband in the office speaking with a customer. There was no sign of Michael so she figured he had cut out early.
She patiently waited in the bay area until Gabriel was finished. When the customer left, Kiera walked into the office.
Gabriel looked up in surprise. “What are you doing over here?”
She shrugged. “I was wondering if we could go out to dinner tonight. I’ve been working on the bedroom and bathroom all day and a night out of the house sounded nice.”
“If that’s what you want, that’s what we’ll do. I’ll just need to grab a quick shower when I get home.”
Kiera looked down at her mussed, sweaty clothes. “That makes two of us.”
Gabriel raised a brow at her.
She blushed. “Not together. If we shower together, we’ll never leave the house.”
He smiled. “You have a point. So why don’t you go ahead and shower and get ready. It won’t take me long once I get home.”
She nodded. “Okay. I’ll see you shortly.”
With a quick grin, she left the office and walked back over to the house.
Closing the front door behind her, she rushed up the stairs. Quickly selecting a casual dress, she laid it out on the bed with a matching pair of heels. Kiera walked into the bathroom and turned on the light. She turned on the shower and stripped out of her clothes.
Stepping under the warm spray, Kiera sighed. The water felt wonderful, easing the aches and pains from all of her hard work. She lathered her hair and conditioned it, then grabbed a loofah to wash her body. When she was finished, she rinsed and shut off the water.
As Kiera grabbed her towel and wrapped it around her body, out of the corner of her eye she noticed something stuck to the mirror. She walked over and examined the small piece of paper stuck to the middle of the large mirror. With a shaking hand, she pulled it down and read it.
Such a lovely young woman. Can’t wait to see if you taste as good as you look.
Kiera sank to the floor. The vampire had been in their house; in their bathroom. He’d come in while she was in the shower, completely unaware of his presence. He could have easily killed her and she never would have known it was coming.
Was this what her feelings of unease had been about earlier? Had he been around the house just waiting for an opportunity? And how had he managed it? The sun hadn’t completely set yet and he’d never been invited inside. Were those only myths?
Downstairs a door slammed and Kiera heard Gabriel’s boots coming up the stairs. Thinking quickly, she wadded up the note and threw it away. She took a deep breath to collect herself. She didn’t want to worry Gabriel anymore than she had to.
Pulling her brush out of the drawer, she started working the knots out of her hair. She was half-way through when Gabriel walked into the bathroom wearing only his jeans.
“If I had known I would be greeted by such a charming sight, I would have come home sooner,” he said, grinning at her.
Kiera smiled. “If you had come home sooner, I still would have been in the shower.”
Gabriel walked over and kissed her cheek. “I wouldn’t have minded that at all.”
Kiera playfully slapped his arm. “You better shower if we’re going to dinner.”
“Yes ma’am,” he answered, reaching into the shower to turn on the water.
As Gabriel took his shower, Kiera finished brushing her hair, moisturized her face and body and went into the bedroom to change.
She reached for her panties and realized her hands were shaking. Sinking to the floor, she tried to calm her nerves. She couldn’t let Gabriel see her fall apart; he’d know something was wrong then. Taking a deep breath, she stood up and got dressed. She was just slipping on her shoes when Gabriel walked into the bedroom with a towel wrapped around his waist.
He paused to admire Kiera for a moment. “You look beautiful,” he said.
Kiera blushed. “Thank you.”
She itched to run her hands over his chest, to smooth a wayward lock of hair off his forehead, to wrap her arms around him and kiss him until she didn’t have breath left in her body. Instead, she gave him a small smile and scurried into the bathroom to finish getting ready. If she didn’t, she knew they wouldn’t make it to dinner.
Chapter Nine
Ashton Grove was small, but it had a decent selection of restaurants. Since Kiera had taken the time to wear a dress, Gabriel decided to take her to a family restaurant with a business casual atmosphere. While he owned business casual clothes, he refused to wear them. Instead, he had donned a clean pair of jeans, a white t-shirt and an un-tucked long-sleeve blue button down with the sleeves rolled to expose his forearms. It was as close to dressing up as he was going to get.
As the hostess seated them, Gabriel took the time to study Kiera. She seldom wore very much make-up, but in his opinion she didn’t need to wear any. Her long hair was still slightly damp, but curled around her face, the soft tendrils brushing her cheeks. She had put on a soft petal pink lip-gloss that made her lips look soft and kissable.
Kiera noticed that he was staring. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I was just admiring the spectacular view,” he answered.
Kiera blushed and looked down at her menu. It would still take a little time for her to become accustomed to Gabriel’s constant compliments.
Their waitress came bustling over, a big smile on her face and a sway to her hips once she caught an eyeful of Gabriel. Kiera had to quell the urge to bare her teeth at the woman.
“What can I do for y’all?” she asked, looking only at Gabriel.
Gabriel looked at Kiera, “Sweetheart, do you know what you want?”
The waitress had no choice but to look at Kiera. As Kiera rattled off her order, the women wrote it down on her pad. Turning back to Gabriel, she waited for his order. Scribbling down the meal he had ordered, she flashed him another smile.
“Your order will be out soon. Is there anything else I can get for you?” she asked.
“Just our drinks,” he answered.
The waitress looked a little disappointed, but nodded.
“Ah, alone at last,” Gabriel said after the irritating woman had left. Why was it that no one seemed to realize he was with Kiera?
Kiera grinned. “As long as you remember we aren’t completely alone,” she said.
Gabriel chuckled. “In other words, I can’t take you right here and now on the table?” he asked.
“Gabriel!” Kiera hissed, looking around. “What if someone had heard you?”
“Relax Kiera. No one’s paying any attention to us,” he answered.
Kiera glanced around one more time. “You can say the most outrageous things sometimes.”
“It’s a quirk. I’m sure you’ll come to love it,” he said.
Kiera opened her mouth and snapped it shut. Once again she’d almost blurted out that she loved him. What was she thinking? He would probably laugh, or feel sorry for her. No, it was best to keep it to herself that she had fallen for him, at least for now. Maybe someday soon she would be able to tell him, but right now she didn’t feel ready to take that step.
“You do that a lot,” he said.
“Do what?”
“Look like you’re about to say something and then change your mind. It’s happened at least twice now,” he commented.
She hadn’t realized that he’d noticed. Obviously she would have to be more careful. “I just lost my train of thought is all.”
Gabriel didn’t believe her, but left it alone. He knew she was hiding something, or at the very least didn’t feel comfortable enough to share whatever was on her mind. It galled him that they had made love countless times, were married and l
iving together, but she still didn’t trust him one-hundred percent. What was it going to take to win her over?
The waitress interrupted his thoughts.
“Here we are; the steak and baked potato for you sir, and the meatloaf with mashed potatoes for you ma’am.”
“Thank you,” Kiera said with a smile.
“Do you need anything else?” the waitress asked them.
“Thank you, but that’s all,” Gabriel answered.
The waitress nodded and left, leaving them alone once more.
They ate in relative silence; Kiera concentrating on the note she’d found attached to her bathroom mirror, Gabriel wondering what had been on his wife’s mind of late.
After they paid their bill, they walked out to Kiera’s SUV. Gabriel held the passenger door open for her, closing it once she was in and buckled. Walking around to the driver’s side, he opened the door and slid into the car.
“Is everything okay?” Kiera asked, sensing some tension between them.
He closed the door and looked over at her. “I’m fine, why?”
Kiera shrugged. “I don’t know. It just feels tense between us all of a sudden.”
Gabriel started the car and backed out of the parking space. “You mean ever since I realized you’re keeping something from me?” he asked, mentally cursing himself. Why had he said that? He had decided to leave it alone and let Kiera tell him whenever she was ready.
Her heart nearly stopped. Had he found the note in the bathroom? “What do you mean?” she asked.
“Twice now you’ve acted like you wanted to tell me something and changed your mind. It’s just bugging me is all.”
“I told you had I forgotten what I was going to say,” she answered, getting defensive.
Gabriel sighed. “I don’t want to argue, Kiera. I just want you to feel like you can tell me anything.”
“I know I can, Gabriel. There are just certain things I’m not ready to say out loud yet,” she said.
Gabriel chewed that over for a moment. “I guess I can live with that,” he said.
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