Deathless Love (12 page)

“Why?”

He blinked slowly and sighed. “Well, I prefer women,” he said and winced, waiting for her to react.

“Because there's something sexual about it?”

“Yeah, I guess. Yeah.”

“Did you do…other things with them?”

“No. I mean… wait. Let me start over. Yes, sometimes. But if so, it was consensual. I would never hypnotize for that. If I ended up picking a girl up—which isn't that hard to do when you're the owner of the club—then afterward I would just erase the feeding part.”

He was surprised and slightly amused to sense jealousy from her. He looked at her plate and noticed she hadn't eaten much.

“Why aren't you eating?” he asked.

“Oh… well, it's a little too raw for my taste,” she said, turning the cut part of the steak around to show him how pink it was.”

“Send it back.”

“No, it's all right.”

“No it's not. You're not eating.”

“I know, but I have enough with potatoes and vegetables.”

He raised his eyebrows and put on his most stern voice. “You will send that steak back and ask that it be cooked to your specification or I will take you home and spank your sweet little butt.”

He felt a flare of irritation from her as she stared at him, contemplating that threat.

He softened. “Look, I'm not trying to be heavy-handed. If I were truly a gentleman I would send it back for you. But you lying down and taking it instead of demanding what you deserve is a pattern I've seen in you before and frankly, I don't like it.”

He felt hurt coming off her then, and it saddened him. He reached for her hand across the table. “I just want you to practice standing up for yourself. Here and now. I'll back you up if you need it.”

She rolled her eyes. “But I don't
need
to stand up for myself. The steak is fine!” To prove it, she stabbed a piece with her fork and put it in her mouth, chewing it viciously.

He watched her in silence until she faltered and stopped chewing, staring at him uncertainly. He caught the waiter's eye and waved him over. Kate was pleading at him with her big eyes, but he ignored it and gave her an encouraging smile.

“Um, I was wondering if I could have my steak cooked a little more?”

“Of course,” the waiter said, smoothly whisking her plate away. “I'm so sorry. You asked for medium, didn't you? I will bring it right back for you.”

“You see?” he said, when the waiter had gone. “That wasn't so painful, was it?”

She was still looking a little resentful.

“Be sweet and I'll forget that you rolled your eyes at me,” he said, casually turning back to his own food. He was satisfied when he smelled the familiar mixture of fear and arousal coming off her.

* * *

Okay, so sending her food back hadn't been that bad. But she hated that Dom had pushed her into it. Now her belly was filled with butterflies wondering if he was going to spank her over rolling her eyes. Peeking at his handsome face as she ate her dinner (the steak was now cooked to perfection), she found him devastatingly sexy. His dominance made her knees go weak and her belly do flip flops. He knew just exactly what to say and how to say it.

For whatever reason, the vulnerability of the moment made her willing to take a risk. “Dom?”

“Yes,
cara
?”

The waiter came then and asked if they wanted dessert or coffee. She looked at Dom to see if he felt like staying, but he looked the question back to her. Since dessert was her favorite thing, she nodded happily and ordered a decaf. Dom ordered a cappuccino and smiled indulgently at her.

“What were you going to ask me?”

“Oh. Um, well… I'm wondering what changed for you between getting a room at Hotel Congress and my car accident?”

“Oh.” He looked like she'd asked yet another question he didn't like answering. He did his ear-pulling thing, which she was beginning to recognize as what he did when she put him on the spot. “Well, the truth is that I still think I'm bad news for you.” He was looking at her seriously.

“Why?”

“A whole myriad of reasons,
dulcezza
. The main one being that I'm a vampire.”

She rolled her eyes and then froze halfway through the gesture. Of course, he hadn't missed it. He very slightly raised one eyebrow but he didn't say anything about it. Instead, he just shrugged. “I guess I think you deserve more than just great sex.”

She felt angry at that. “I guess I'm tired of you deciding what I do and don't deserve,” she snapped. He raised his eyebrows. She leaned forward to take him further to task, but the waiter showed up with dessert menus. She sat quietly and looked at the menu. There was one dessert that sounded like pure heaven. It was called molten chocolate lava cake, and it served two. But it also said it took 30 minutes to prepare.

“I'm thinking the molten chocolate lava cake is a worth it, despite the wheat,” she said with a note of challenge in her voice, testing his new rule.

He nodded. “All right,” he said mildly.

She dropped back into her normal submissive state then. “But it says it takes thirty minutes.” She looked at him pleadingly.

He smiled. “I'm in no hurry,
cara.
”

“Great!” she said, as giddy as a little girl and he chuckled.

The waiter came and he gave him the order. Then he said. “You were saying?”

She looked at her fingernails. “Well, I've never had great sex before. So why is for you to decide that that's not enough for me?”

He blinked at her for a moment and then his face broke into a slow grin. “Far be it for me to prevent you from having great sex.” She smiled back.

After a moment, he said, “It's just that at some point it won't be enough. And it might hurt both of us more to end things then than it would now. That's all I was thinking at Congress.” He shrugged. “And then even after making that decision, I couldn't keep my hands off you. The sex is pretty good for me, too,” he said in conspiratorial tone that made her giggle.

“Well, let's just enjoy what we've got, okay?” she said.

He nodded, but she caught that wistful look on his face again.

She pressed on just a little further. “Do you consider this…whatever it is, to be exclusive?”

He raised one eyebrow at her and answered sternly. “It had better be. You don't want to screw around on a vampire. Believe me.”

She laughed, fairly certain that he knew darn well that she would never screw around and had just answered her that way to flatter her. She peeked another look at him and he gave her a knowing smile. The rush of love she felt for him at that moment was overpowering. She wondered if he could feel it.

Back in the car after dinner, Dom said, “Your place or mine?”

“Mine, I guess,” she said reluctantly. Even though she'd stopped in and fed her cat when she changed clothes earlier, she felt bad that she'd been gone all weekend.

She wriggled in her seat a bit, wondering what would happen next. Would he come in? Would he spend the night at her place? No, the sunlight wasn't safe for him there. Would he spank her for rolling her eyes?

“Dom, can we revisit the eye rolling rule?”

“No.”

She wheedled, “It's just that it's sort of an automatic thing. Like a reflex. I can't really help it.”

Dom looked over at her. “I really have you scared of spankings now, haven't I?”

It was true. Now that she'd experienced such a painful one, she wasn't in a hurry to repeat it, despite the fact that thinking about the way he'd handled her was the hugest turn on. She shrugged. “Kind of,” she said in a small voice.

He picked up her hand and brought it to his lips for a kiss. “How about this? I promise you that if I spank you for rolling your eyes at me, it will only be the fun kind of spanking. Can you live with that?”

She smiled in relief and a bit of excitement. “Yes,” she breathed.

At her place, he got out and walked up to the door with her. When she started to go in, he pulled her back onto the porch for a kiss. “You look tired,
cara
. I'm going to let you get your sleep.”

“Oh.” she was disappointed.

Dom's phone buzzed and he pulled it out, saying “Excuse me.”

She probably shouldn't have, but she looked over his shoulder to see him open a text from Fox.

Roxanna is looking for you.

Dom turned his phone off immediately as if to hide the message. “I've gotta go,” he said with a grim look on his face. He pressed the car key into her hand, gave her a quick peck on the lips and dematerialized without another word.

She stood there like an idiot on her porch staring at the place he'd just been. Her kitty Zapper twined around her ankles, happily purring, oblivious to her pain.

Who the fuck was Roxanna?

Chapter Seven

Dom materialized in the living room right after Fox texted him.

“What do you know?”

“I heard from Randolph. He said people have been asking around about whether you're still alive, and where you might be now. I'm telling you, you're the next target.”

“Fuck.” Dom breathed.

“Yeah.” He was relieved that Dom was taking him seriously this time.

“Who knows where we are? Besides Randolph?”

He shook his head. “Randolph only knows I'm in the Southwest. He doesn't even know which state. Honestly, I can't think who else. Some of Stella's people might know.”

“Is she here?”

He nodded.

Dom bellowed her name and she emerged from her wing of the complex.

“Fox hears people are asking where I am. Who do you know who knows where we are?”

Stella considered. Then she shook her head. “No one. I've been careful.”

“What have you found out about the vampires who have given up their property to Roxanna?” Dom asked, turning back to him.

“It seems they are changed. They're not the same vampires—it's like they're brainwashed by her to do her bidding. They all are acting like her minions.”

Dom steepled his fingers and looked thoughtful. “Maybe not brainwashed. Maybe it's bloodwashed. The question is, what does she need with the blood of old vampires?” he mused. “We know that older blood controls younger blood, particularly if the older vampire is the maker of the younger. Could she believe that by somehow drinking the blood of the older vampires, she will get a line on controlling all younger vamps? I've never made anyone, but she may not know that…”

“But still, the way an older vampire compels a younger doesn't affect their mind or personality,” Stella said doubtfully.

“No.” Dom said heavily.

“So how is she doing it?” Stella asked.

They both looked to Dom. He had always been the brains of their operation. They'd stuck by his side all these years mainly out of love and devotion, but also because they were attracted to his power. Despite the fact that he rarely demonstrated it, Dom was an extremely brilliant man who had gifts that went beyond ordinary vampire power.

Dom stood up now and paced around. “I don't know. Keep trying to get any details you can on the people who have been changed. I'll keep thinking on it, too.”

Dom stopped in front of Fox and looked down. Fox looked up. “Come here,” Dom said.

Fox furrowed his brow but stood up obediently. He felt like a child again when Dom would call to him to impart some piece of wisdom or remonstrance or praise.

Dom reached out and cupped the base of his skull with his two hands in the old Italian custom. He was all mafia don now. He looked him square in the eye. “You were right, Fox. I should have given you heed when you first spoke of it and I'm sorry.” Dom leaned forward and touched his forehead to his, pausing there for a moment. Then he pulled back and looked him in the eye again. “I am blessed to call you my friend. Thank you for looking out for me, even when I don't listen.”

Fox felt himself flush deeply and he couldn't speak. He wanted to shrug and say “it's cool,” except that it meant so much more to him than that, and he didn't want to belittle Dom's rather grand gesture of apology. Dom saved him by releasing him and turning to Stella. “So…how should we prepare?”

Stella gave a wicked grin. “Start sharpening stakes.”

* * *

Friday night, he could see Kate messing with equipment on the stage. Something was off. There was a tension radiating out from her. He hadn't seen or talked to her since he dropped her off the previous Sunday, although he'd left a few texts and messages for her, and had set up another body work appointment for her as a treat for finishing her paper.

He walked down the stairs and up onto the stage. She didn't look up from where she was crouched, fiddling with cords, although the tension increased so he knew she felt his presence. He put his hand on her back and she stiffened.

“What's going on, Kate?” he asked quietly, trying to catch her eye.

“Nothing,” she said breezily. “Just trying to set up here.” He looked around. It appeared already set up to him. From what he could tell, she was just fiddling with cords that were already plugged in.

“Kate.”

She stood up from her crouched position and looked at him. “Yeah?”

“What's wrong?”

“Nothing!” she exclaimed defensively.

He took her arm. “Come here,” he said, leading her across the floor and up the stairs to his office. He picked her up and sat her on his desk, caging her between his two arms as he leaned his hands on either side of her. “You're mad at me.”

She shook her head stonily.

He slammed his hand down on the desk, causing her to jump. “Dammit, Kate! Talk to me!”

“Who's Roxanna?” she demanded with narrowed eyes.

A wave of pure exasperation ran over him and he shoved himself away from the desk. “Oh
Jesus Christ!
You have got to me kidding me!” His voice was raised and he was waving his hands in the distinctly Italian way that he thought he had left behind him long ago. “You've been stewing all week over Fox's text to me?” he demanded.

She looked at him with wide eyes, obviously surprised at seeing him so animated.

“You couldn't just pick up your phone and ask me?”