PARANORMAL ROMANCE: Shapeshifter Romance: The Vampire's Stolen Bride (BBW Fantasy Alpha Male Romance Books) (New Adult Vampire Fun Mature Young Adult Billionaire Steamy Love and Romance Novella) (3 page)

“It’s okay.” How could her voice seem so calm? She uncapped the water and took a swallow first, then handed the bottle off to Dante and pulled her cell phone out of her purse. “One missed call. Shelly. She’s probably just worried about me. Let me listen to her voicemail.”

“By all means.”

Heather didn’t know why she did it, but she put the phone on speaker, so that Dante could hear the message as well.

“Heath, know you were kind of out of sorts down here. Sorry about that, you know how Pat and Tanya like to get loud and add Roxi in and we have a big mess of dancing, and drinking and stuff. Anyway, I just got a call from Steve, and he said Jake got arrested. He um…got way too close and personal with one of the dancers at the club they were at, and he got his sorry drunken ass arrested for assault. Can you believe it? I’m sorry, hon. This is the last thing you need tonight, but I wanted you to know. Steve will be in touch about bail and all. I guess you’re paying it, huh? Sorry, sweetie. Love you.”

Heather stared at the phone and let out a bark of laughter. This was not happening to her. It was too strange, too bizarre. As she contemplated it, her cell rang again.

Steve.

Great.

“Hi, Steve,” she said, putting the call on speaker. Dante sat beside her, pulling her close. The safety of his embrace was warm, gentle, comforting. Support without asking for anything more. It was unexpected.

“Hey, Heather. Here’s the thing. Jakey got himself in some trouble.”

“What did he do?” she asked, hoping Steve would give her a truthful answer.

“He motor-boated some girl. Maybe two or three. One was on his lap and his hands were up under her skirt, you know they wear those things too short. Party girls. Anyway, one said he sexually assaulted her. Fingers under her panties or whatever. You know my boy Jakey. He wouldn’t do that.” There was a very unpleasant wheedling tone in Steve’s voice.

“Okay…” Heather dragged the word out.

“Thing is, Heather, he needs bail money.”

“That’s too bad,” she said mildly. “I hope you can find someone to loan you it.”

“Find it? What the hell, Heather! I’m a cashier at Great Electronics, so are all the other guys. You’re the one with a real job and it’s your responsibility to—”

“What?’ she asked, her voice low. Dante’s hand tightened on her shoulder and she leaned against him, breathing in his sweet and spicy scent. Tobacco and leather and woodsmoke, she thought. “What is my responsibility, Steven Jones? Tell me.”

There was a hesitation and a muttered curse on the line before Steve came back, guns blazing. She could hear his angry, panting breaths before he spoke. “You’re marrying him and you’re the breadwinner. You’re supposed to fix shit like this. Otherwise, why—”

“Why?” Heather asked, drawing the word out.

“Yeah, why else would he marry a fat chick, when he could get better. That maid of honor of yours, Shelly, is really hot.”

Heather reared back, her grip on the phone slipping. Dante cupped her hand, kissed her forehead, and when it became clear she wasn’t going to talk, he gently eased the phone out of her grasp and into his.

“Steve, is it?” he asked, snuggling Heather tight under his arm. “Heather’s busy tonight. I’m afraid your friend will have to hitch his wagon to another gravy train. Heather’s done with him.”

Amid Steve’s sputtered curses, Dante ended the call, and pulled her against him.

“You are not, as he put it, a fat chick, do you understand me?”

“Y-yes.” Everything had happened so quickly that Heather barely knew where to turn, or what was reality. “I just didn’t expect...this.”

“Nobody does,” Dante said, and Heather had an inkling he meant what she’d remembered, rather than what they’d gone through. “Are you okay?”

“Just angry.” Was it wrong to feel so relieved that it was over? At least she presumed it was over, there was no way she was going back to Jake after all this. Was that his friend’s impression of her or was it Jake’s too? It didn’t really matter, she supposed. She was done settling for what was expected. That robe needed to go into the trash. She needed room for that little black number.

“How can I fix things?” he asked, rubbing her back. This close, he was overwhelming. His presence, his…everything.

“I want to try that dress on,” she whispered, not quite able to look into his eyes. He tipped up her chin, and gazing into her eyes, she saw other lives, other times, but that same strong, steadying presence beside her. “Who are you, Dante?” she asked, hands itching to run all over his body.

“Yours,” he said simply. “For eternities.”

It shouldn’t have made sense, but it did; she knew with a clarity that he was ingrained in her soul, not just this life, but in the past as well.

“Don’t worry, it will come back to you, love.” He stood, and Heather felt the weight of his loss beside her.

Dante couldn’t quite believe what an asshole Jake was. How could he just let this amazing woman slip through his fingers? Not that Dante had expected anything else, but he thought he might have to convince Heather of their past together. She seemed accepting and that was good enough for him.

He brushed her hair back, looking down at her. “Don’t question me, just look into your heart for the answers.” Their history demanded she accept him before he could make love to her and seal their bond.

And this time, unlike the others, he would suggest that she change and become one with him, for a lifetime. She’d been resistant in the past, but this time around he sensed something in her, a steel core that had been developed beforehand.

Dante unbuttoned the cuffs on his gray shirt and undid the first few buttons, exposing his chest. She licked her lips, probably a reflexive action, but it turned him on.

Dante closed his eyes, willing the change to come over him, relishing the sting as his canines became fangs, the sharp bite of the air, the overwhelmingly strong scents and sounds. Down the hall, he could hear a woman snoring, and the distant chime of the slot machines rang in his head.

And Heather. Her natural scent was almost hidden in the chemicals from makeup, the alcohol from the drinks she’d had, and her hair products, but it was there, just under the surface calling to him, a mix of jasmine, and orange blossom, and some tropical flowers he couldn’t quite describe, but loved already.

“Heather, look at me,” he said. Her eyes were downcast, but when she lifted her head and gasped, a hand clapping to her mouth, he wondered if she was actually ready for this. Was his dramatic moment just that?

“You’re beautiful,” she choked out, reaching her hand out. He was far enough away that she had to stand, and he waited patiently as she walked around him slowly, taking in the wider breadth of his shoulders, the few added inches of height, and most of all his fangs.

Heather reached out to touch his mouth, the tip of a finger running over her fang. “You don’t use these to inflict pain?”

Dante suspected she knew the answer, but he shook his head anyway. “We take from blood banks these days. There are some for whom the chase and kill are exhilarating. Many of them go rogue and can’t be controlled. We have to put them down in that case. Others still just chase wild animals—deer in overpopulated areas. They need to be watched carefully, but are allowed to do what they like, within reason, as long as it stays within certain parameters.”

“And you?’ she asked quietly. He knew that she might remember some of what they’d been to each other, but Dante might need to guide her along the way.

“Blood banks, Heather. I don’t victimize anyone. Whenever I’ve taken from a human it has been one with sound mind and free will. It makes them very euphoric afterward, especially if done in climactic moments.”

“Sex?”

“Sex.”

“Show me.”

Dante couldn’t quite believe she had accepted so quickly. In many other lifetimes, she’d been very resistant to anything approaching what he was. He’d had to lead her through on so many occasions. Times like these, where she accepted just like that, were rare and things to be cherished.

He reached for her wrist, tugging up the sleeve of her dress. “First, an introduction here, so you know what it will feel like. Our fangs have a nerve-deadening substance that is injected when we bite, so you feel minimal pain. And when we withdraw, a pleasurable substance is left behind, healing and soothing the skin.

He lowered his head, sniffing her skin, enjoying the warmth and delicacy, tracing the veins with the tip of his tongue. She shivered and he felt the force of her arousal spilling into the air around them. Ah, this was what he wanted. What she wanted. What they desired.

Each other.

“I’m going to bite down now, Heather. Just relax.” She gulped and nodded, but by the way she tensed and her heartbeat sped up, he could tell she was quite anxious. He’d have to change that with the force of his love for her. The fear of the unknown could be overwhelming and there was just one way to stop that. He lowered his head more, until his mouth was pressed against her wrist.

Was this really happening, Heather wondered. She believed everything he said; there was some part deep inside her that either suspected or outright knew, and that part was probably guiding her functions, because she should have been freaking out and running for her life. But she wasn’t. And when Dante pulled her arm to his chest and then dropped his head, her body started doing all sorts of weird, utterly sexual things.

“Please,” she whispered, squirming, the desire to have him inside her almost too much to bear. Then he bit down on her and she found herself rubbing anxiously against him, her body—her soul—exploding in a deeply-felt climax, one that broke her apart and set her together again. Everything dimmed and Heather closed her eyes, riding out the sexual tornado that had taken control of her senses.

She opened her eyes to find herself on the bed, completely naked, Dante standing beside her, just as naked and…

Good God! She didn’t know they made
them
in that size! She licked her lips, tearing her glance away and up, up,
up
his ripped torso.

“Are you back with me?” he asked, eyeing her appreciatively. Well, he wasn’t the only one.

“I am,” she said softly, and he leaned over, brushing a kiss across her mouth.

“Then may I join you?”

She nodded and he climbed onto the bed, crouching over her and planting a tender kiss over her mouth. It was a little awkward to kiss with the fangs, but he was gentle and didn’t inadvertently cut her lip or anything. Heather dug her fingers into his hair, tugging him closer, devouring his mouth while trying to avoid those dangerous fangs.

Dante groaned, rearing back and looking down at her. “I don’t want you to bleed too much. Not tonight. Maybe later, though.” He gentled his comment with a kiss on the tip of her nose
.
“For now, Heather, I want to be inside you.” He gave her a wry little grin. “Can I come in? You know vampires have to be invited inside.”

It was so unexpected—both hearing the word and the way he phrased his question—that it put her immediately at ease, a nice counterpoint to the desire filling her body.

“You said you didn’t hurt humans. So how about settling this ache I have deep inside.” It was a cheesy line, but he got the gist of it. He positioned his huge cock at her entrance and eased just the very tip inside. She tried to rear up, to take more of him, but he laughed and shook his head. It was clear they were doing this on his schedule; he was in command and control.

And she was really quite okay with that. As long as he started thrusting sometime soon. Like now, or five seconds ago.

He laughed, the rich sound filling the room with levity, and just when she began to tense up, he eased deeply inside in one endless thrust, driving himself home inside her. Heather was tight, but her body stretched to accept every single glorious inch. He was so full inside her that it took her breath away.

“God, that is good,” she managed when he was fully inside her and had stilled, hovering above her. She wished she could capture this moment for an eternity, the way he was gazing down on her, the absolute wonderment on his face, the way his eyes shone with love and respect, rather than the vague irritation that… No. Her ex had no place in this moment.

“Good, push him away,” Dante replied, and she knew he’d read her thoughts. That invasion should have gotten her back up, but instead, she didn’t mind in the least. He had a home in her soul—and that was deeper than either mind or body.

“Fuck me,” she whispered, resting her cheek against his shoulder.

“Soon,” he replied calmly, as if he wasn’t lodged deep inside, as if that beautiful cock wasn’t stretching her to capacity. When she settled back against the pillows, her inner muscled squeezing him, Dante groaned—a low, animal sound that resonated in the room. He dipped his head down, his body bowed at an angle that probably only worked well if you were a vampire. But he was—oh, what a vampire he was.

His tongue traced her nipples slowly, first one and then the other, making them ache even more. She couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like for Dante to sink his fangs into one of the swells and vowed to ask him to make that come true later.