Once Bitten, Twice Shy (13 page)

My bottom lip throbbed as I jumped off the swing and scurried in the house. I avoided the kitchen, where I could hear Ivie and Conner bickering good-naturedly, and headed straight up to my room. Once I reached the safety of the guest room, I darted inside and shut the door behind me. It seemed I was constantly seeking the safety of my room while I stayed with Donna.

Finn was a walking contradiction, hell, even that damn kiss was a contradiction. One second it was soft, light, and undemanding, then he ended it with a slight sting. And what he had said to me when he told me to go inside. I should be a puddle at his feet.

What upset me the most, though, was the knowledge that I would have given him whatever he wanted if only he had been Lex.

O
ver the next week,
I couldn’t escape Finn. He appeared at Conner’s house every day. Sometimes, he would give me a smile and nod on his way in or out and other times he would stay for dinner and chat with everyone. Then, after Conner and Donna would go to bed, he and I would hang out together, talking, playing cards, or even watching movies.

After six days of this, I finally had to say something. He and I were sitting in the library, playing Scrabble and drinking wine. As he was wiping the floor with me at the word game, he told me stories about his life. If I hadn’t known how long he’d lived, I never would have believed half of them. Still, I supposed that almost a thousand years of existence would present a person with opportunities to make all kinds of hilarious and sometimes dangerous choices.

As I giggled at a particularly funny story he told me about an eighteenth century bordello he visited ‘once or twice’, I noticed that he stared at me intently. Not just me, but my mouth in particular. My smile died and I took a nervous sip of my wine, but his eyes stayed glued to my lips.

Suddenly, he was no longer in the chair across from me, but crouched beside my seat, his face almost level with mine. I hadn’t seen him move. Taken off guard, I squeaked and cringed back in the seat, but a firm, hot hand cupped my neck, preventing me from escaping. Despite the scare he gave me, I felt my blood heat at his touch.

Finn leaned forward and brushed his lips against mine. He pulled back just enough so that all I could see were his deep purple eyes.

“You taste much better than the wine,” he murmured.

Then he tried to devour me. His kiss was ruthless, teeth nipping and tongue thrusting into my mouth. Though I felt my body respond, I knew deep within me that this was wrong. I didn’t belong with Finn. The vampire I really wanted had left me for the second time and still hadn’t contacted me almost two weeks later.

I placed a hand against Finn’s chest and pushed lightly. I knew that trying to force him to back away wouldn’t work. He pulled away slightly, his lips red from the kiss and his eyes glowing like two jewels.

Unable to stop them, I felt tears fill my eyes and one trickle down my cheek. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I can’t. It doesn’t feel…” I searched for my next word carefully but came up woefully empty, “right.”

It was lame in terms of an explanation, but it was all I could offer, because it truly didn’t feel right. As much as I enjoyed Finn’s company and liked him, he wasn’t Lex. Just as I had in the past, I wanted what I couldn’t have. A pony when I was five, the prom king when I was sixteen, a size four ass at twenty-one, and, now, Alexander Dimitriades.

Finn’s thumb swiped under my eye, catching the single tear. “Don’t be sorry, sweet one. If your heart belongs to another, it isn’t yours to give any longer.”

My eyes widened, tears forgotten. “But my heart doesn’t belong to anyone,” I denied.

His expression was beautiful as he studied my face. Beautiful and sad. “Doesn’t it?” he asked.

I shoved the chair back and stood, pacing around the table where we had been sitting. I yanked at the ends of my hair, anxious for something to do with my hands.

“I don’t know. I can’t stop thinking about him.”

Finn stood and walked over to the window, looking out at the moonlit night. “Lex?” he asked absently.

I nodded then realized he wasn’t looking at me. “Yes,” I answered.

He turned to me, his eyes piercing. “Do you know how Lex feels about you?” he asked.

I shook my head. “I haven’t heard from him in almost two weeks.”

Finn chuckled, but it wasn’t a happy sound, and ran a hand over his face and through his long brown hair. “Foolish Greek. He’s old enough to know better.”

I looked at him in confusion and then Finn’s smile became sincere.

“Well, if I cannot take you for a lover, I would be pleased to have you as a friend.”

Cautiously, I nodded, my heart still pounding and head still buzzing from the feelings his kiss evoked, as well as my own confusion and frustration over Lex.

Calmly, Finn sat back down at the table and picked up his wine glass. “Should we continue our game?”

Unable to think of a reason why we shouldn’t, I shrugged and sat down across from him and promptly lost.

That night had been two days ago. Finn still made an effort to talk to me, making me laugh often, and sometimes he flirted shamelessly. It was Friday night and we were both sprawled on Conner’s huge sofa in his home theater, watching movies. Conner and Donna were at a business dinner and Finn had come round at Conner’s behest. With such spotty knowledge of The Faction, they were not going to let me stay home alone, even though I argued that I would be safe with Conner’s top-notch security system and panic room, well, apartment, in his basement.

So, as punishment, I forced Finn to watch a sappy romantic comedy with me. Surprisingly, he watched the movie without complaint. We munched on popcorn and I drank a diet soda with rum. He sipped a beer. It felt like hanging out with any one of the guy friends I’d had in college. It was kind of nice.

As the ending credits rolled, Finn looked over to me, wrapping one of my curls around his finger. I wasn’t sure what it was with these damn vampires and my curly hair, but they seemed to enjoy touching it.

“So are all the men of this age such pussies?” he asked.

I choked on my drink. “What?”

“Well, the man in that movie basically allowed her to lead him around by his dick,” he commented.

I rolled my eyes. Apparently, men hadn’t changed in the past thousand years or so, because I’d heard this particular complaint after a chick flick before. It seemed that the Y chromosome made men incapable of understanding why any man would want to bend over backwards for a woman.

As he toyed with my hair, Finn said, “Though, for an arse like hers, I might be willing to put up with that for a bit myself.”

I couldn’t help it. It was such a
guy
thing to say. I broke down into giggles. For some reason, I found his macho attitude hilarious. Probably because he looked like a fairy-tale prince, yet sounded just like a modern guy.

I rested my forehead against his shoulder as I laughed, my eyes watering.

“What the fuck is going on here?”

I jumped as a deep voice bellowed just before the lights came on. I squinted against the brightness. Finn and I had been sitting in the darkened theater to watch the movie. I looked toward the door to see Lex framed in the doorway, dressed all in black and looking furious. Well, more than furious.

Finn smiled lazily. “Good evening, Alexander. I didn’t realize you were on your way back.”

He slowly unwound my hair from his finger, but still rested his arm along the back of the sofa. Lex watched the movement closely, his eyes burning with dark fire. Then his gaze zeroed in on my face.

I shivered. Holy shit, he was enraged. For the first time, I worried that Lex might actually hurt me.

“Ivie and I were discussing the film we just watched.”

Lex’s eyes snapped back to Finn’s face and scrutinized him closely. Then he looked back at me.

Lifting a hand, palm up, he said, “Ivie, come here.”

I sucked in a shaky breath. For reasons I didn’t want to examine, I wanted to do as he asked. Every time he spoke to me in that tone, I wanted to melt in a puddle at his feet and do whatever he wanted. At that moment, however, I wasn’t sure he wouldn’t rip me to shred when I came within reach.

He must have seen the true fear in my expression because he closed his eyes and dropped his head. I saw him inhale deeply several times before he lifted his head again. His eyes were less intense and he no longer appeared murderous.

“I would never hurt you, little one, not in a way you would not enjoy. Come to me.”

Somehow, I knew he was talking about hurting me in a sexual way. In a way that made my tummy flutter and my pulse thrum. Still unsure, I glanced at Finn. I thought I heard Lex growl, but I wasn’t sure. It was Finn’s small nod that convinced me I would be safe with Lex.

Slowly, I got to my feet and walked toward the huge, angry vampire standing statue still in the doorway. When I got within reach, he lunged forward and I gasped. Before I knew what was happening, he threw me over his shoulder in a fireman’s hold.

“Lex, put me down,” I said quietly.

“Fuck no,” was his terse reply.

“Please, Lex,” I said.

Whatever I had been planning to say flew right out of my head as his palm connected sharply with the cheek of my ass.

After that, I knew it would be useless to try and argue, so I let him carry me out of the house and straight to his large, black SUV. Without a word, he dumped me in the backseat, his face taut with suppressed rage.

“Seatbelt,” he snapped.

My hands shaking, I sat up and buckled myself into the seat. I watched as Lex climbed in behind the steering wheel.

“Lex,” I whispered.

“Don’t speak.”

His voice cracked through the interior of the car like a whip. I saw the muscle in the side of his jaw working. I had a bad feeling that my perception of things between us was not the same as his. In fact, I was getting the impression that I misunderstood the entire situation. Just as Donna had suggested. Why didn’t I ever learn to listen? This wasn’t the first time she’d been right and I’d ignored her advice.

I huddled in the back of the car, trying to control the tremors in my limbs. I recognized the route we were taking. Lex was incredibly pissed and he was taking me home. To his home.

We arrived before I was ready. I reached down to open the passenger door, but the child lock was engaged. I peeked over the top of the front seat and saw that Lex had both hands on the steering wheel, gripping it so tightly I thought it was going to snap in half.

“Ivie, I’m going to offer you one chance to escape. If you really don’t want this, want me, tell me now. If you can tell me that sincerely, I’ll take you back to Conner’s and never bother you again. If you can’t, then you’re mine to do with as I please.”

My stomach twisted viciously with fear and arousal. Considering how angry he was, I wanted to beg him to take me back to the safety of Donna’s McMansion. But I wanted Lex more. For the last two weeks, I’d been unable to get the thought of him out of my mind.

“I’ll stay,” I whispered.

I watched as he bowed his head and flexed his fingers. After a moment, he unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car. I was struggling with the clasp on my belt when my door opened and he hauled me out. His fingers manacled my wrist so tightly I was fairly certain I’d have marks. I didn’t care.

His dark eyes looked black and surprisingly cold when he stared down at me. “Tonight, you do not speak unless I ask you a direct question. And when you answer, you do so out loud and you call me Sir. Do you understand?”

I shuddered and nodded. His hand whipped up and tangled in my hair, tugging my head back roughly. It was on the edge of being too painful, but never crossed the line.

“How do you answer?” he demanded.

Crap, I’d already forgotten. I had to say it aloud. “Y-y-yes, Sir,” I stammered.

He nodded, his grip on my hair relaxing slightly. His gaze moved over my face, detached but keen. “If you need me to stop, all you have to say is zebra. I can promise that I’ll stop what I’m doing immediately. Do you understand?” he asked.

“Yes, Sir.” My voice was a bit stronger this time.

“What will you say if you need to stop?”

“Zebra, Sir.”

He nodded, his face relaxing even more. My heart was pounding in my chest like a bass drum, hard and fast. Dear God, this insane feeling careening around inside me was what I imagined when I’d asked my previous boyfriend to dominate me, only it hadn’t worked like that before.

His hand in my hair became a caress. “Even if I stop tonight, Ivie, I won’t let you leave. You chose to stay and you will stay until I am done with you.”

At his possessive words and the dark fire in his eyes, so at odds with the now-gentle movements of his hand in my hair, I began to pant. Every cell in my body was on high alert and a mixture of anticipation and fear twined within my belly.

Then Lex smiled and it was wicked. And just for a moment, I wondered if I had just sold my soul to the Devil.