Perfume. Not out of a bottle, but of…he
wanted to say sex, but that didn’t seem right either. There was something
fresh, something hot and feminine about the smell. But he could also smell
male, strong male too. A pure blood.
The woman from the hotel, he thought. He
had no idea why he thought of her first, but there it was. He got up to pace a
little when he reached into his pocket and pulled out the leather pouch. He
smiled when he thought of the contents and went back to the desk to pour them
out once again.
Buttons. Not just any buttons, but the
bloodied ones from shirts, blouses, and sometimes pants. He lifted the most
recent one to his nose and felt his cock stir. The female from last night had
been exquisite. Then he looked for the one he’d taken from the one with magic. It
was gone.
Searching twice, he still had no luck.
Then, when he picked up each one and held it to his nose, he realized that,
somehow, it had been lost. Putting the pouch onto his desk he emptied each of
his pockets only to find lint and a few pennies. He dumped the contents again
and roared when the button didn’t appear.
Who would take one button? There were
nearly thirty of them in this pouch and it was only spring. Each year he would
get a new leather pouch and label it for the buttons. Each year he had
increased the number by only one, but he had thought of doing twice the amount
just to have fun. But the button missing wasn’t something that he’d
anticipated. He rang for Gregory.
“Yes, sir?” The man was dressed as he
always was, impeccably. Zachariah looked at him with fury. His eyes had turned
and he could feel his beast rising. Gregory took a step back then another.
“Don’t,” he said softly. Zachariah knew
that if his houseman ran, then his beast would tear him apart. “Where is my
button?”
Confusion marred his forehead. Zachariah
knew that any minute he’d kill the man and didn’t want that to happen. Killing
one’s houseman was frowned upon in the vampire society.
“Button? I’m not sure I know what you
mean. If you require me to sew one on for you, I’d be—”
He leapt across the room and was
suddenly standing in front of Gregory. This, he knew, wasn’t going to end well
for either of them. Zachariah felt his hand curl around his companion’s throat.
“Tell me where you hid it and I’ll go easy on you.” Gregory turned his head
away and Zachariah yanked it back. “Where is it?”
Spittle hit his face. The scent of fear
was driving him wild. He tightened his fingers into his throat more and then
leaned his head back. Gregory looked…he looked delicious. Licking along the
column of his neck Zachariah looked him in the eyes.
“I don’t know, sir. I don’t know
anything about buttons.” It was the wrong answer. “Sire?”
His blood tasted better than he’d ever
had. Not counting the magical blood he’d had, but almost as good. Drinking
deeply, Zachariah felt Gregory struggle, but didn’t care. He needed this and
someone had to pay the price of him not having the button he so treasured. When
Gregory seemed to go limp in his arms Zachariah let him go. There was nothing
he could do for the man and when someone stole from him, they paid the price.
Stepping over his body Zachariah went to
the desk again. He picked up his buttons one by one and slipped them into the
pouch. It was then that he found the one he’d been missing. It had fallen off
the stack of papers he’d poured them onto and fell to the desk top. Looking
back at Gregory, he frowned.
“You should have told me that you didn’t
have it. I’m sure that I would have been reasonable and let you off.” He tisked
as he put the button away. “Next time you’ll have to be more vocal when you try
to tell me something.”
Putting the pouch in his pocket, he
moved to the door. He nearly yelled for the man lying on the floor, but caught
himself. That would be just plain silly. He tried to remember what his houseman
had done with the bodies when they ended up dead, but couldn’t. Zachariah
decided that he’d take the man to the dumpster and heave him inside.
The girl in the alley came to him again.
She’d been there, her and someone else. He knew it as surely as he was standing
here. And he knew that he’d have to go back to the hotel and see if it was
them. Because he also knew that the male, the young vampire he’d smelled there
also, had been there with her.
~~~
Andi moved to the upper levels. She
needed to breathe and couldn’t in the room with Mac. She shivered when she
thought of the fact that neither of them seemed to have any problems breathing
last night. Christ, but the man could make her scream.
After the meeting he’d taken her down to
the lair, he’d called it. It was strange to know that they’d had sex there only
hours before, but now she felt shy around him. Mac didn’t say much, but went to
the bathroom and started to run a bath. She walked to the wall of CDs and
looked at the titles.
She’d never been much of a music person.
She’d only turned on the radio the other day just to annoy him. Singing along
with it had been mostly her humming, but it played into her plan of pissing him
off. She was just putting a brightly-colored case back on the shelf when he
came out of the room.
“Come here. I’ve run you a bath and
thought you’d enjoy me washing your hair.” He sounded so unsure of himself that
she went to him without making a comment. “Then I thought I’d give you a body
massage. Would you like that?”
“I’ve not had a bath in years. Most of
the places I stay at have showers and nothing more.” She looked at him when he
started to unbutton her shirt. “I can do this, you know. I’ve been undressing
myself for a long while now.”
When she tried to push his hands away he
kissed her nose and put her hands on the sink behind her. “Leave them there
until I get you naked. A bath is so much more enjoyable when you’re naked.”
A lot of things were more fun when you
were naked, but she didn’t say that. She watched as he moved the buttons
through the tiny holes and then slipped it off her shoulders. He moved between
her legs when he sat her on the counter. He didn’t touch her sexually, not
really, but it was the most erotic thing she’d ever had done to her. When he
let her hair down from her ponytail she felt as if he had freed each follicle
and massaged it. She moaned once and looked up at him with hooded eyes.
“You’re going to be in big trouble here
if you stop right now.” She almost didn’t recognize her own voice. “Make love
to me, Mac. I want to remember this night for the rest of my life.”
He paused for a few seconds before he
stepped back. She thought he was going to leave her, but he only unsnapped her
pants and, when she lifted her ass up for him to take them off, she watched him
run his fingers down her thighs to her knees and back up again.
“Your skin is so soft. Warm and soft.”
When he touched her belly, she felt the air rush from her lungs. “You’re
beautiful. Very beautiful, and all mine.”
She watched him as he finished filling
the tub. Then he added bath salts and lit large, fat candles. The room was
aglow with them and when he turned off the light it gave the room a romantic
flare. Pulling her to her feet, he took her to the edge of the tub.
And what at tub it was. It had to have
been made just for him. It was long and wide and she was sure that several
people all his height could easily fit into it. She thought of something just
as he put his hands on her hips.
“How many women have you had here? In
this room? How many have you seduced in this way?” He had to have heard the
hurt. He didn’t say anything, but she knew it.
“No one. You’re the only woman I’ve had
in this room, in that bed, and especially in this tub. I’ve never brought a
woman to this house before you.” He dropped to his knees to pull off her
panties and she watched him as he barely touched her skin when he did it. “You
smell like paradise to me.”
Just when she thought he was going to
use his mouth on her, he stood. Disappointment made her a little angry, but she
thought she hid it well. But when he spoke again, she knew that she hadn’t.
“I want you to have a long bath. After
last time I’m sure you’re a little sore. And I want to pamper you.” She let him
help her step into the tub. The water was hot, but not so much that it burned
her. She sat down and closed her eyes with a heavy sigh. This was heaven.
The wave of the water had her sitting
up. He was climbing in with her. She swallowed hard when she could see his
erection, but he made no comment. He sat across from her and picked up her left
foot.
“I’ve never washed a woman before. Actually,
I’ve never spent a great deal of time with women before—” She jerked her foot
from him and he chuckled. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be bringing up other woman
when I have you right here with me.”
He took her foot back and began to
massage her toes. By the time he got to her ankles, she was nearly comatose
with pleasure. When he picked up her other foot, she nearly came when he sucked
her toe into his mouth.
“Mac?” She moaned his name. “What are
you doing? I don’t think this is going to work if you plan on giving me a bath
and doing that to me at the same time.”
“I want you relaxed. And to enjoy this.”
He moved up her leg and nibbled on her calf. “I want you to think this is the
best bath you’ve ever had.”
It was already that. When he lifted her
out of the tub and sat her on the edge she nearly begged him to take her. His
command to lean back and enjoy didn’t have to be told to her twice. By the time
he’d moved up to between her legs she was ready for him.
“I’m going to eat you until you come.
Then I’m going to do it again and again.” He licked her just above her pelvic
area. “Would you like to come in my mouth, Brandi? Please?”
“Yes. Oh yes, please.”
His grin was wicked. She held her breath
as he moved to her, and when he touched her with his mouth she moaned for him
to please hurry.
“I want to take my time with you. Give
you so much pleasure that you won’t be able to move in the morning.” He licked his
finger and slid it into her. “Wet. You’re so wet now that I could slide my cock
deep into you and you’d take all of me.”
“Please,” she begged him. That was her
last coherent word. The rest were pleading noises, as well as screams. When he
lifted her over him and sank them both into the tub she’d already come more
than a dozen times.
He made love to her slowly in the tub. His
cock felt as if he’d grown longer, thicker since they’d made love last night. When
he told her to come she came apart, and then before she was coming down from
that one he sank his teeth deep into her throat and she came again. This time
stars floated behind her eyes and her blood felt as if he’d set her on fire. By
the time they’d gotten out of the tub and he took her to bed she was as limp as
she’d ever been. And his promise that this bath would be like no other was
true. He’d made her feels special to him, as well as very cherished. And, dare
she say it, loved.
Chapter 10
When she opened the door to the kitchen
Mrs. MacManus was there with the queen. She’d been crying and it was everything
she could do not to pull her into her arms and comfort her. They told her that
they’d just gotten back from visiting a dear friend at the ring. Andi had no
idea what sort of ring that might be, but Mr. MacManus came in a few seconds
later.
“Ah, there you are. I hope you’re not
too angry with me about your truck. I did what I thought was best. And I’ve
replaced it.”
She didn’t say anything to Mr. MacManus,
trying to figure out how he had anything to do with her accident.
“And if you’re really nice to me I might
let you take me for a ride in it.”
“I don’t think she knows, Aaron. Maybe
you should explain.”
She glanced at Mrs. MacManus then back
at the large man. “You made me have an accident? Why would you…what if I had
been killed? Or if your son would have been killed?” He was shaking his head. “What
are you doing? He’s not immortal you know.”
“Actually, his is. All of us are. And I
don’t mean simply because we live a long time. Mac is immortal because of his
magic. So are Lizzy, Daniel, and Sara. Me too, I suppose, but I don’t think
about it.”
“Then how was he going to meet the sun
if he was…” She looked around the room. “Not until he met me. He wasn’t
immortal until we mated. That’s why you made us have an accident so that you
could close us in a room together and…you bastard.”
“No. My parents were married when—”
She tossed him against the wall and held
him there. She was just as surprised as he looked to be. Mrs. MacManus only
laughed. “Mr. MacManus, I should run a stake through you.” She looked over at
the laughing woman. “Does that work? A wooden stake through his heart?”
“On most, but not him. He’s protected,
and would you please call us Aaron and Sara? You make us sound positively old
when you do that.” She grinned at her. “Aaron can be a mite pushy when he
thinks he knows better than those he’s trying to help.”
“I’m right here, love. And could I
please be let down? I have things I’d like to talk to you about.”