After Sundown: Redemption (41 page)

I love you
.

Christian remembered Alyssa’s last thought before he felt darkness surround her. She had said that she loved him. His apples and sunshine loved him. He had reveled in those words. Played them over and over in his head until the darkness had also taken him.

What had happened last night? What about Bazhena?

“Feeling better, my friend?”

Christian swung around. Vlad leaned negligently in the doorway. An amused smile curved the corners of his mouth.”

“Yes. Thanks to you.” Christian grinned right back at his friend.

“Your lady deserves the credit. She has a lot of spirit and courage.”

“She’ll receive my thanks when she wakes up. I can promise you that,” Christian vowed.

“Without her we would both be dead. As would much of the male population in the world, if Bazhena had gotten her way.”

“What happened? I remember Bazhena draining my blood and I remember waking up and finding Alyssa giving me blood to save me. But nothing in between. How did you know what was going on. How did you find me?”

“I remembered your friend, Amy. Alyssa and I found her at Twice Charmed. She wasn’t very cooperative, so Alyssa threatened to kill her if she didn’t help us.”

“What?” Christian glanced back at Alyssa doubtfully.

“You know what they say about dynamite coming in small packages,” Vlad replied with a knowing grin and a shrug.

“Do I ever.” Christian chuckled and a wolfish grin spread across his face. Alyssa was definitely dynamite. “Alyssa is a strong, independent and spirited lady.”

“I noticed. You’re a lucky man.”

“I know,” Christian said quietly as his face grew serious once more. “What happened next?”

Vlad told him everything up to Alyssa killing Bazhena.

“Alyssa killed Bazhena?” Christian was stunned and angry. “How could you let her risk her life like that? Do you know how easily Bazhena could have killed her? But wait a minute, why didn’t Bazhena’s powers work on Alyssa?”

“I’m sorry, my friend. If I had any control over myself, I would never have let Alyssa close to Bazhena. But I didn’t. My body and mind were no longer mine. As far as Bazhena’s power over Alyssa, I read over the legend several times last night. It seems Bazhena missed one very important part of the wording. It says she will be found irresistible to
mankind.
It says nothing about
womankind.
Her power only applied to men. It had no affect on women. And since Bazhena assumed she had the legend’s power over Alyssa, she never tried to use vampire compulsion on her.”

“A lucky misunderstanding for all of us.”

“True.” Vlad nodded solemnly. Then he stared intently at Christian.

“What?”

“Do you feel any different?”

“Different? Not really. Why?”

“We need to talk.” Vlad’s face looked grim. Whatever he wanted to say, it wasn’t going to be pleasant.

Christian glanced back at Alyssa. He walked to the doorway leading into the hall.

“Fine, but let’s go to my library and talk there. I don’t want to wake Alyssa. She’s been through enough.”

* * * * *

Alyssa peered through her lashes after the door slammed to make sure both men had left the room. They were gone. Opening her eyes fully, she sat up in the bed. She had woken up halfway through Vlad and Christian’s conversation and unabashedly eavesdropped. She smiled when she thought about how proud Christian had sounded when he spoke of her. Exasperated by her risk taking, scared for her, but also very proud of her.

Her smiled drooped, however, when she thought about why Vlad needed to talk further to Christian.

He didn’t know. Christian wasn’t aware of the fact that he was no longer a vampire. She wondered how he would take it. Would he be glad, or would he be angry? Would he be sad that he was no longer immortal? Would he feel relief that he no longer needed to drink blood to survive? Would he miss the powers he once had?

All these thoughts ran through her head as she sat in his bed. In his bedroom. In his house. What would happen now? She loved him and she knew he loved her. But would it be enough? Would the loss of the kind of existence he had known for hundreds of years turn him away from her? He had thanked her for helping him last night, but would he come to resent the fact that she had made the conversion with him without his consent?

Too restless to sleep, Alyssa got out of bed and slipped on the clothes that were lying by the foot of the bed. She wasn’t thrilled that someone had undressed her, but in the overall scheme of things, she dismissed it as unimportant. Her thoughts skimmed over the events of last night again and again as she paced. She had done what she thought best. She didn’t want Christian to die. She couldn’t bear the thought of being without him.

Did that make her weak, like her mother? No. She didn’t think so. As she lay there letting Christian drain her of blood last night, somehow knowing that everything would be okay, she came to a realization. Real love was based on trust. Without it, there was nothing. Her parents didn’t trust each other with their love. Unfortunately, that had lead to pain for both of them.

Alyssa swung around as the bedroom door opened. Christian walked in and Alyssa’s breath caught in her throat. How was it possible that a man could look so yummy just getting out of bed? His slightly tousled hair gave him a boyish air, but the burning desire that flared in his eyes told her he was all man. She wanted to take him back to bed.

Alyssa’s eyes slid helplessly down his body. His hard chest rose and fell with the deep breaths he was taking. The muscles rippled enticingly with each movement. Her eyes lowered further. His jeans weren’t buttoned all the way up, so they rode low on his hips, giving her an enticing glimpse of his hard abs covered in a trail of soft hair leading down. She followed the trail to where it stopped and swallowed hard. She suddenly wished she had x-ray vision.

“X-ray vision,
palomita
?”

Alyssa’s eyes flew back to his face and her mouth fell open.

“How did you-uh, I thought you didn’t have—”

“I guess Vlad forgot to mention one very interesting part of the reverse conversion process. It’s true I’m no longer a vampire. I’m no longer immortal and no longer require blood to live. However, the conversion doesn’t take away everything. The powers I had as a vampire remain intact. It seems my work at Sundown Security is still wanted. In fact, Vlad wants me as a full partner now. He told me the fact that I can operate during daylight hours with my powers would be a great addition to our business.”

“So you
can
read my mind?” Alyssa was glad Christian would be able to continue the work he found satisfaction in, but right now she wanted to know more about this mind-reading business.

“Yes, among many other things.” Christian gave a very masculine chuckle.

His eyes met hers with complete knowing and arrogance. The look in his gaze was all male. He told her with that one glance that he knew he could have her right then and there, if he wanted to. And she would welcome it.

For once, Alyssa didn’t care that he knew how much she wanted him. She met his hot look with a passionate stare of her own. Then she offered him the kind of seductive come-hither smile women have been giving men for ages.

“Many other things? Hmm. Sounds promising,” she said in a teasing voice.

Christian growled low in his throat as he slammed the door behind him and closed the distance between them. He pulled Alyssa into his arms and lowered his mouth to hers. His kisses were hungry, demanding everything from her. Alyssa didn’t hesitate. She stood on tiptoe to have more of him. It felt so good to be back in his arms.

The next thing she knew, he picked her up and carried her to the bed. Laying her down on it, he slowly undressed her, then followed close behind. He pressed his body over hers. The feel of his hot hardness pressed against her sent tingles of anticipation through her body. Hot? This was the first time that she had noticed Christian was hot. He felt sizzling in her arms. She pressed up against his heat, welcoming it as it surrounded her.

“You’re hot,” she said breathlessly as Christian moved his kisses over her chin and down her neck.

He raised his head and smiled with amusement dancing in his eyes.

“Thank you.”

“No, uh, I mean you
are
hot and all, but what I’m saying is your body temperature is hot,” she stammered.

Understanding dawned in his eyes as she spoke, but his grin grew wider.

“Thank you again. And I’m sure a thermometer will measure my body temperature at a normal 98.6 from now on. But at this moment, I think my body heat is rising.” Christian’s eyes were half closed with desire as his gaze burned a trail from her face, to her neck, to her breasts. They rested there and he licked his lips. “You make me very, very hot,
palomita.
”

Alyssa gasped as Christian lowered his head and ran his tongue around one nipple. He did the same with the other and she felt them harden under his touch. With a groan he latched onto one. The suction of his mouth made her hips rise against his in invitation. He continued to worship each one in turn, until she was squirming and practically panting. She splayed her fingers through his hair, tried to pull him back to her needy mouth, but he resisted. Instead his lips slid lower. Over her quivering stomach, stopping to delve his hot tongue in her belly button before moving on.

When his mouth grew close to her center, she moaned with need. She couldn’t help but tilt her hips up as she felt his warm breath against her. When his mouth found her, she practically jumped off the bed from the pleasure of it. Soon he had her gasping and moaning with need.

“Please, Christian. I need you now.”

As if he had been waiting just for those words, Christian rose above her. He gently grasped her thighs, spread them wide and perched his hardness against her core. Alyssa closed her eyes as desire swept through her. She could feel the heat of him pressed against her, yet he didn’t move.

“Christian!” Her needy voice filled the silent bedroom.

“Yes, my love. But first you need to look at me. I want to look into your beautiful eyes as I plunge deep inside you.”

Alyssa let her eyes open and met his hot stare.

Christian grasped her hips and thrust deep. She gasped from the pleasure. She wanted to close her eyes as the rhythm of their bodies took her to another place, but Christian held her gaze with his. It was incredibly erotic. She watched his face grow tight with passion. She struggled to keep her eyes open as she grew closer and closer to the edge. His hands were everywhere, adding flames to her already out of control fire. He slid his hand between them and rubbed her tender nub. The combined friction of his fingers and each plunge into her body was too much. She began to splinter into a thousand pieces.

“Keep your eyes open,
palomita
. I want to see you come to your pleasure,” Christian demanded.

Alyssa couldn’t refuse him. He held her eyes as she peaked. It intensified everything. She had never experienced anything so passionate. And she knew watching her drove him over the edge. His eyes flared wide and he gasped. She felt his body explode as he came inside her.

Christian rolled over onto his back, bringing her with him, so that she lay sprawled on top of him. Lethargy took over and she fell asleep in his arms.

Some time later, Alyssa woke up. It was daytime and Christian was no longer under her. In fact he wasn’t even in the bed. She sat up and immediately found him with her eyes. She remained quiet.

Christian stood in front of his large window. The drapes were open wide. Sunlight streamed into the room. He was naked, but this didn’t faze him as he stared outside. After a minute he seemed to sense her perusal. He slowly turned around.

The emotion in his eyes was almost too much for her to bear. He looked like a little boy who was enjoying his first Christmas. His gaze was wide with wonder and joy. He opened his mouth to speak, but couldn’t seem to get the words out immediately.

When he finally did, they weren’t the words Alyssa expected.

“Thank you,” he said as he strode to where she sat on the bed. “Thank you for giving me my life back.”

Alyssa felt tears sting her eyes. She didn’t try to stop them. Not with this man. Never with him. She never needed to hide from him. She knew that now.