The thrill was gone. Like always. Conquest, conquered.
No doubt this affair with Kimber would parallel the same outcome.
He was amused at how she apparently wanted to go out to eat first. He’d planned to book a hotel room, have his way with her until dawn, and perhaps leave her a trinket to remember him by. But what was the harm in a nice dinner beforehand? He pitied her situation, stuck in a house with six other shiyas who all sounded as fun as a room of mannequins, and it’d been a while since he’d been, well, on a date.
And why not? It wasn’t as if he had a lot going on while he waited for Tanaka. In fact, he looked forward to the meal, the conversation. The drawn-out delay, the anticipation, seducing her over dinner before their eventual end in a luxury suite.
Speaking of…
He pressed the call button on his steering wheel. “Call Brooks.”
His assistant answered after the first ring. “Sir. How are you this evening?”
“I need a suite.”
“Certainly. The Ritz? The Grand?”
“No. Something more...private.”
“More private, sir?”
A hotel where I can seduce a female shifter all night long. “Preferably outside the city. But not too far. The best suite they have.”
Brooks’s confusion was obvious in his voice. “But we don’t really have a relationship with establishments beyond city limits.”
“Then it’s time we made one.”
“Of course. When?”
“Tomorrow night.”
“I’ll handle everything and text you with the details.”
“Thank you. Talk to you soon.” Shain hung up.
He licked his lips, thinking of Kimber naked and in his arms.
How would she taste? Would she let him bite her, just a little? He’d be gentle. Though, he’d heard shifters liked it kind of rough, but how would any of those people who said so really know unless they’d been with one? No doubt, he would be the first in his inner circle to have ever touched a shiya.
The smile that moved his mouth could not be contained.
For anyone to find out would be the end of his world as he knew it.
The smile faded.
Chapter Ten
Am I crazy?
Of course, a mentally unstable person couldn’t diagnose themselves.
As Kimber waited in her room for the others to go to bed, she asked herself that question, though she knew without a doubt the answer was…oh, yes. She had to be a little bit out of her mind.
Or maybe ‘crazy’ wasn’t the right word.
She’d always been different. What made other shiyas happy—quiet, secluded living, supporting the men, organizing pack picnics and events, making babies—didn’t excite her. She didn’t know why, and resented how she wasn’t satisfied with her life. She had a home, a community, an education, and plenty of potential mates to choose from…what more could a shiya want?
Apparently, a date with her kind’s most hated adversary.
She shouldn’t go. There were so many reasons not to.
If she stood Shain up, he’d get it. Hell, he’d probably be relieved she made the wise choice for them both. And who was to say he wasn’t going to stand her up? She could be risking getting caught for nothing but a slap of humiliation.
Then again, the look in his eyes last night, the hunger, the desire, told her he would be there, just as he had been, night after night at the park.
She glanced at her clock. Out of time.
Cutty’s was a five-star restaurant. She’d looked it up online and saw four dollar symbols next to it on the review site, which told her the attire had to be at least semi-formal. Kimber had no such fancy outfits in her wardrobe. The only nice dress she had was the red one, and she didn’t want to wear the same thing two nights in a row.
The sum of her closet was a few rompers, jeans, tank tops, and T-shirts.
Well, too bad if Shain expected her to dress to the nines. She had what she had. Besides, there wouldn’t be a second “date,” anyway. Once they realized they had nothing to say to each other, the attraction would fizzle, they’d see how ludicrous the attempt was, and that would be the end.
She slipped on her white off-shoulder blouse with billowy sleeves, jeans, gathered her hair up in a bun, and snuck out her window. There was no need to attract him even more than he already was.
That was another problem: Shain turned her on beyond words, but sex was out of the question. Regardless of how seductive, how hot, how irresistible he was. She’d been saving herself for so long…it meant something to her. Bedding her—virginity or no—would mean nothing to a vampire, who she assumed had casual sex more often than any man alive.
Heading to the street corner where her rideshare waited, Kimber adjusted her purse strap on her shoulder, frowning. Once Shain found out he couldn’t have her like he wanted her, he’d drop his interest. After all, he’d suggested a hotel room and room service. He expected they’d have sex. Not that she could blame him. After all, it was ingrained in him to nourish his sexual appetite regularly.
So really, it was up to her to pump the brakes on getting physical.
Oh, but his kiss burned so good. Whenever he touched her, rationale was blacked out. Would she be able to resist?
Yes. Because she had to.
She turned the corner and approached the Prius awaiting her.
When they were a block away from the restaurant, she asked the driver to pull over and let her out. These weren’t butterflies in her stomach. The breathlessness, the cold sweat… She needed air.
As her ride disappeared down the street, a sleek black car sped by and turned in to the restaurant parking lot. Shain climbed out, slammed his door, and strode toward the entrance.
He hadn’t even seen her.
He stopped, his hand on the door.
Heart pounding, Kimber scrambled for cover behind a mailbox. She squatted, peeking around it.
He raked his fingers through his hair. Then he shoved his hands in his pockets and paced the sidewalk, swiveled on a heel and checked his watch, frowning.
Kimber partly hoped he would leave. If he got back into his car and took off, she’d be so relieved, so appreciative…so disappointed.
He cast one last glance around, then disappeared inside.
Kimber pressed her back against the cold collection box, closing her eyes.
I’m doing this.
Next to the restaurant was a bougainvillea bush. She picked a fallen one off the ground and used a car window as a mirror to arrange it in her hair. Then she pulled her blouse’s elastic neckline so that it sat low off her shoulders.
Better. Not a fashionista, but an improvement.
Just as she was about to open the door, it opened for her, and she almost collided with Shain.
She stepped back, hit with his strong, alluring scent. “Hi.”
“Oh. Hello.”
“You were leaving?”
“I…didn’t think you were coming.”
Should she believe that? It was only a couple minutes after nine. Had he been leaving because he thought she was a no-show, or because he’d changed his mind?
“We don’t have to do this,” she told him.
He looked her up and down. “No, we don’t have to. But we both know we want to,” he finished, holding the door for her.
She went in.
Dim lighting, soft piano music, and flickering flames behind long cases of glass proved the place catered mostly to romantic evenings and special occasions. Kimber was the only one wearing denim and standing next to Shain in his designer suit only emphasized how different they were in the most basic comparisons. From how each of them had dressed, to what place she would’ve chosen over the restaurant he’d selected. How much money he had to spend versus what she could barely afford.
The hostess escorted them to a table in the back.
Shain sat down, his eyes locked on Kimber, even when the waiter handed him a leather-bound
menu.
“Drinks to start with?” the older man asked.
Kimber scanned the cocktail menu. A lot of complex gin, bourbon, and rye drinks she wasn’t really in the mood for. She closed the menu. “Do you have beer?”
“Of course.” The waiter listed off imported and domestic brands, none of which appealed to her.
“How about a bottle of wine?” Shain suggested. “Something red and robust? To go with your steak?”
“Perfect,” smiled Kimber.
His mouth quirked before he said to the waiter, “The Darmagi. 2001.”
“An exceptional choice. I’ll bring it out right away, as well as some bread for the table. By the way, my name is Henry. Should you need anything, please let me know.”
Kimber snatched the menu and looked down at the wine list. Gaja ‘Darmagi’ Langhe, 2001. $485
She snapped the menu shut and leaned in. “A five hundred dollar bottle of wine? Are you serious?”
“It’s the best they have.”
“That’s stupid expensive.”
“You can buy it online for about two hundred, but restaurants always mark it up at twice the price.”
“I would’ve been fine with a bottle of Two-Buck Chuck.”
“A bottle of what?”
If he could thoughtlessly spend that much money on one bottle of wine, then he’d probably never heard of the famously inexpensive Charles Shaw kind sold at Trader Joe’s. “Never mind. For that price, it should taste like dreams can come true.”
He laughed. “After a couple of bottles, they just might.”
Damn. Forget the wine. His smile alone could make any woman drunk. She opened the food menu, finding herself breathless. Hot. Her heart thundered behind her breast, just as it had the night they met, the first time she heard his voice.
Was that a vampire trait, or something all his own?
After perusing the menu, they sat looking at each other for a weirdly long time. It was as if he was trying to make her fidget or blurt something, just to split the silence.
She sat back and raised a brow, a haughty smile tugging her lips. No way was she giving in. See? The date was already failing.
Henry returned and asked for their orders.
“The Porterhouse, please,” said Kimber. “Black-and-blue.”
Henry turned his attention to Shain. “And for you?”
“I’ll have the swordfish. Cooked, please.”
Kimber suppressed a smile and looked off, taking in the décor, while Shain’s attention remained locked on her.
A low growl emitted from her throat. “Do you do this to all of your dates?”
“Do what?”
“Stare at them until they squirm?”
Shain cocked his head. “You don’t like the way I look at you?”
Seeing the banked desire within, a thrill shot from her stomach to her toes. “Is it a vampire thing? Something you can’t stop yourself from doing?”
He leaned back, resting one hand on the table. “I can stop, but I find it easier not to,” he said softly. “It’s just you.”
A chuckle erupted before she could stop it. “Oh. You’re good.”
“I speak sarcasm, so I can understand it quite well.”
“I just mean you can stop now. Maybe it’s because I’m,” she bit the inside of her cheek, “not the type of woman you normally take out, but you don’t need to put it on so thick.”
“Put what on thick? I’m confused.”
She waved her hand in a circle. “This seduction voodoo. That thing you guys do to make women want you.”
He shifted in his seat, frowning. “First of all, it isn’t voodoo. That’s strictly practiced by humans. What you’re talking about is my sensa, the energy I project to encourage arousal. You make it sound like we hypnotize women against their will. It’s nothing like that. It’s more that we…entice what’s already there, and compel them to use their own power to seduce us in return. That’s what we feed off of.”
“You’re downplaying it. You manipulate. And it’s not about anything except you getting what you want in the end. Don’t try to make it sound like it is give-and-take. It’s take-and-take. You do whatever you have to, to get the blood and the energy so you can feed. Period.”
He gave a one-shoulder shrug. “Isn’t that what most species on this earth are doing? Whatever it takes to survive? Blood and energy are our water and bread, Kimber. We can’t apologize. We are what we are.”
Henry approached with his smile and the wine.
They sat in silence while he poured.
Once he departed, Kimber sipped her wine; Shain sipped his.
Finally, Shain asked, “You do know I can’t ‘hypnotize’ you, right? Our power of influence doesn’t work on other immortals. Only humans.” He gave a wan smile. “Which is a shame, because we’d both have a lot more fun together if it did.”
“You mean you’d have a lot more fun. Our blood is like crack for your kind.”
“Ah, you assume only we would benefit? Think of it. If we were really able to get into your minds, we could calm the wolf within. Tame it for you. You’re always fighting it, are you not? From trying to take over and be in wolf form permanently?”
He seemed to know more about shifters than she did of vampires. “That doesn’t mean we should ever try to tame our wolves. They’re meant to be what they are.”
“I don’t mean we’d tame them forever. No vampiric manipulation can ever do that. Just for a few hours. Or even one night.” He reached for the bottle and poured more Darmagi in his glass. “Wouldn’t a break once a while be nice?”
It was hard to conceive of, but yes, she imagined it would be a reprieve for some who struggled with their wolf’s push to dominate. “My wolf and I get along well. She doesn’t…force as other wolves do. It’s harder for the men.”
“So I’ve heard. In any case, it doesn’t matter. We’ll never have the ability. And even if we did, I doubt any of you would let us. You’re notoriously stubborn.”
She scooted her wine glass closer to him. “And proud of it.”
He topped her off. “I wasn’t doing it, by the way. Trying to project my sensa onto you. Even though you’re immune to my influence, I do think, if you’re open enough to it, it can still…”
She waited for him to finish, burning to know. “It can still what?”
The half-smile moving his mouth sent her heart racing. “Make you wet.”
A fierce blush heated her face. Only a vampire would say something like that aloud in public.
Shain’s amused expression vanished as Henry set down a generous basket of various breads and a dish of butter.
Kimber took a piece of warm pretzel bread and spread butter on it. Shain watched like she was putting on a demonstration.
“You’re doing it again,” she chastised.
“I can’t take my eyes off you. I don’t know why.”
Her one-shoulder shrug belied how that statement sent her stomach to her head. “Maybe you just can’t believe you’re sitting down and having dinner with a shiya across the table.”
“Perhaps. But you do know you’re very beautiful,” he said. “What I can’t believe is that you’re not—what do you call it? Claimed? Mated?”
She swallowed the bread, which seemed to go down a lot more difficult with the lump that accompanied it. “Either is right. No, obviously I’m not.” Though she tried not to sound argumentative, she couldn’t help but add, “And just because a woman is considered pretty doesn’t mean she has to have a mate.”
“Of course not. It’s just baffling that you don’t. I imagine shiefs fighting to the death to prove who should be your man.”
Her butter knife clattered on her plate. “Becoming a shief’s mate isn’t the end all, be all, Shain.”
His laugh was short and dry. “Are you not the advocates of domesticity? Champions of cultivating hearth and home? Is it not a shiya’s dream to be surrounded by babies, waiting for your man to come home from a lo
ng day’s work so you can hunt together, then make love by the light of the stars?”
Vampires. Everything they said had to come out like poetry. Their whole world revolved around gallant talk, luxurious living, scandalous habits, and sex. “While that’s a very pretty picture of what most shiyas want, some of us yearn for different things. Some of us want more.” One of us, as far as I know.
His look made her wish she hadn’t said anything. She predicted his next question before he even asked it.
“What more do you want?”
She hesitated, then leaned in, voice low. “What’s the point of being immortal if you stay in one place, if you don’t go out and see the world with your own eyes? I want to travel. Taste exotic foods.” She picked up her glass and raised it. “Drink red and robust wine.”
He smiled, his dimples deepening. “Is that why you’re in Atlanta?”
The reminder deflated her. “Unfortunately, no. We came here to see if we can find more shiyas to join us. That’s it. Our pack is shrinking, and the men outnumber us. Getting shiyas to volunteer as recruits is a challenge, since it’s a three-month commitment, during the only time the weather is nice and warm back home. I was more than happy to come, but it hasn’t been as exciting as I thought it would be.” She conceded, “Until now.”
“So, it’s not a simple girls’ getaway?”
The wine was loosening her tongue. How much should she tell him? Basic information hardly mattered. It was a known fact shifter packs sent out their women to find misplaced or single shiyas and offer them a home. “It’s a mission. And none of them want to do anything resembling fun. Not that I resent them for it. I’m the only one who thinks staying at home night after night is a bore.”
“It is.” He gestured to her with his hand. “Hence, why I found you swimming in my friend’s pond.”
“Had I known it was a vampire’s property, I wouldn’t have dared.”
His gaze roamed over her, mouth quirking. “Something tells me you would have.”
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