Real Vampires Don't Wear Size Six (18 page)

“Well, yes, that’s what you said you wanted.” I inhaled, savoring his nearness. I’d missed him so much I felt tears pop into my lashless eyes. I hated for him to see me like this. No doubt he’d decide to make the break permanent. And here I was toting around Ray, a man he hated.

“What’s the matter with Caine?” Jerry nudged Ray’s foot with his boot. “Not dead, is he?” I knew I didn’t imagine the hopeful note in his voice.

“No, but he was hurt tonight, during his concert. And drunk. He fell off the stage and hit his head. He needs more blood but I’ve given him all I can.” I put my hand on Jerry’s arm, unable to resist touching him. He wore a short-sleeve knit shirt in a deep red that looked wonderful with his dark hair and eyes. My heart leaped at the way he studied me for a brief moment. He frowned when he noticed my lack of lashes, but he was wise enough not to mention it. I wanted to bury my face against his wide chest and just breathe him in. But then he looked away, down to the bottle in his hand.

“Blood. This stuff sure won’t do it for him. It’s too damned weak.” He set the empty bottle on the coffee table with a grimace.

“He took some mortal blood from Nathan but I was afraid he’d get carried away and stopped him, maybe too soon.” I couldn’t help it. I moved in and slipped my arms around Jerry’s waist. I just had to hold on to him. To let him know in a small way that I was only here as Ray’s mentor, nothing else.

“Yes, he’d take too much if he could, especially if he’d overindulged in the alcoholic brew. It lowers your inhibitions.” Jerry smiled down at me. “And from what I know of Caine, he has damned few of those sober.”

“True.” I snuggled against Jerry. “I’m so glad to see you. It’s been a rough night.” I was desperate to ask him why he was here but scared of his answer. It was enough that he smiled at me and kept his arm around my shoulders instead of pushing me away.

“Obviously. Caine needs vampire blood to heal properly.”

“I’m sure you’re right.” I sighed. “I know you don’t like Ray, Jerry, and that the feeling is mutual. I don’t expect you to . . .”

“Just my dumb luck to show up here when you’ve got this lackwit on your hands.” Jerry put some space between us and rubbed my cheek with his thumb. “I’m sorry you’ve had a bad night.”

I blurted it out, just couldn’t stand it. “Why are you here, Jerry?”

“Because I got to Florida and then wondered what the hell I was doing. I don’t run away when I want something.” He ran his thumbs up and down my neck, making me shiver. “I stand and fight for what I want.”

“And what is it you want, Jeremiah Campbell?” I knew the answer, saw it in his eyes and read it in his mind as he opened to me. My own eyes filled and I trembled.

He pulled me closer until our chests met and I had to look up at him, the gleam in his eyes taking me back centuries to the first moment I saw him, so handsome, so determined to have me.

“You, woman. I want you, Gloriana St. Clair. Any way I can get you. So I’ll woo you and win you, by God. Against all comers.” He leaned down, kissing my cheeks, my chin, then my lips. He seduced my mouth open to take it completely.

I moaned and climbed his body, trying to show him how desperately I wanted and needed him too. How his words had thrilled me and calmed a terror I’d been feeling ever since he’d left. I hadn’t even dared acknowledge it, the awful dread of what life without Jerry, truly without Jerry, would be like. Now I wouldn’t have to face it. I clung to him and poured my heart into that kiss.

“Uh, hate to interrupt, but I’m coming through.” Penny’s voice penetrated the fog that had made me forget everything but Jerry. “Oh, my God! Is that Israel Caine on the couch?”

I eased away from Jerry’s arms and turned to see Penny, followed by two burly shifters carrying boxes.

“Yes, that’s Ray. Just finish up. Is that your last load? You only have a few hours until dawn, you know.” I sounded like a snippy house mother, which I was at the moment.

“Yes, last load. Fellas, the boxes go back here. Follow me.” Penny smiled at Jerry, gawked at Ray, then headed toward her bedroom.

Jerry and I just stood there silently, patiently waiting until the two men left and Penny had closed the door.

“Uh, hi, Mr. Blade.” Penny flushed. “Sorry if I’m in the way here. I’ll be working on my laptop.” She held up earphones. “These are noise-cancelling. Top of the line. Going to my bedroom now. Music on. Loud.” She headed toward the hall. “ ’ Night.”

“Thanks, Penny. I’ll explain about Ray tomorrow. I promise.” I smiled at her gratefully. She really was incredibly bright. When she’d disappeared, her door closing with a click, Jerry moved away from me to sit on the coffee table near Ray’s head.

“Now I’m going to prove just how much I love you, Gloriana.” He bit his own wrist, then shoved it into Ray’s mouth. “Drink, you sorry bastard. Drink and heal so you can get the hell out of here.”

I stared at Jerry, my mouth open. As proof of love, this was a doozy. Jerry giving his life force to Ray. And of course Ray latched on. Jerry’s ancient blood was irresistible. Ray gulped and swallowed, taking it in and healing, almost before our eyes. The cut on top of his head vanished and the circles under his eyes disappeared. He had his healthy tan back too, the tan he’d had when he’d been turned vampire. I dragged my gaze from that miracle to move behind Jerry, running my hands through his soft hair.

“Thank you. This means—”

“What I said. That I love you. That I’ll do whatever it takes to prove that.” He jerked his arm away from Ray, swearing as his skin ripped. He kept a hand on Ray’s chest when Ray tried to go for another drink. “Cease your whining, Caine. You’ve had enough.” He leaned down and stared into Ray’s eyes, now bright and alert. “Sleep. When you wake up tomorrow night, you should be good as new. Whatever the hell that means to you.”

To my astonishment, Ray meekly closed his eyes, apparently down for the count.

“You whammied him.” I stepped back when Jerry rose and pushed the coffee table out of his way.

“Aye.”

“I didn’t think that was possible with another vampire. Especially one like Ray, who wouldn’t want to do anything you ordered him to do.” I glanced at Ray again, who was clearly sleeping peacefully.

“He’s still weak, has enough of my blood in him to be susceptible to me, and no will to resist.” Jerry scooped me into his arms and carried me toward my bedroom. “I’m hoping that last one applies to you as well.”

“Wait a damned minute.” Even I realized there was no heat behind my protest. I grabbed the doorframe as he stepped over the threshold, stopping us before he was actually inside the bedroom. I had to at least make a token attempt to slow this down.

Jerry grinned down at me. “You want me to leave? After I went against every instinct that said let the bleeding sod rot? I fed him for you, Gloriana. I’d hoped that would prove something to you.”

“It proved, Jerry, that you like to make grand gestures. No news there.” We both knew Ray would have healed on his own. Eventually. There was no need to bring that up.

“Can’t say I wasn’t impressed.” I stroked his cheek. The roughness of his late-night beard was just another sign of his virility. He was so strong, so all male. I loved that about him. “But do you want me to fall into bed with you in gratitude? For saving Ray?”

“I’d take it.” He laughed when I hit his chest. “For a start.” He leaned down to kiss me in that hot and effortless way he had that curled my toes and made me grasp his hair. “But I imagine I could get you to invite me there for other reasons with a little time and persuasion.”

“I’m too easy for you. You left me here crying your name.” I punched him a little harder this time. He’d hurt me but not nearly as much as I’d hurt him when I’d turned to Rafe. I couldn’t deny that.

“I’m sorry for that, Gloriana, but I needed to get some things straight in my mind. A man has his pride, you know.” His arms tightened around me and I knew his pain was still raw and would be for a long while yet. If inviting him to lie with me now would make it less, I was more than willing. Who was I kidding? I wanted him with everything in me. I ached for him.

“A woman has her pride too.” I pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “But where you are concerned I have none, it seems. Take me to bed, Jeremiah. Make me scream. If Penny hears too much through her earphones, let her be jealous that I have the most delicious, the most expert lover in the world.”

“Most expert, eh? Now there’s a high mark.” Jerry was beside the bed in three strides. He laid me gently on the coverlet and gazed down at me. “I have to ask. What the hell happened to your eyes? They look strange.”

“I lost my eyelashes. You don’t want to know how.” Demons. Jerry would go insane when he realized hell had come calling and that Rafe and I would be working together again.

“Don’t I?” He crawled on the bed, his hands on either side of my head, his knees bracketing my hips. “Why do I think the shifter is responsible for this?”

I put my finger on his frowning lips. “Stop. The shifter cannot be here now. Not when I’m thinking I wear too many clothes and so do you.”

“You’re right. I’m going to make love to you, Gloriana.” Jerry smiled and glanced back at the candles I’d placed on my dresser, left over from an exorcism.

Oh, definitely not thinking about demons now, not with the candles suddenly lit and the overhead off. I liked the romantic lighting, much more forgiving as he eased off my sweater and dropped it beside the bed. Another glance from Jerry got soft music from my bedside radio.

“How did you do that?” I sighed as he released the clasp of my bra. Sometimes it felt more like a cage on my too-full breasts.

“I have more tricks than you can imagine.” His grin was wolfish as he tossed the bra aside and leaned down to trace the marks left by the underwire with his tongue. “I don’t know why you bother wearing such torturous devices. Your breasts are perfect.”

“They bounce. Not cool.” I shoved my fingers in his hair. “Tricks? I figured you’d shared pretty much all of them over the years.” I gasped when he ran his fangs back and forth across first one nipple then the other.

“Why don’t you just relax and enjoy, lass.” Jerry’s eyes gleamed as he slipped open the button on my jeans, then eased down the zipper. “Let me do all the work tonight.”

“Work?” I tugged on his hair. “Since when is lovemaking work to you?”

“Clearly I am talking too much.” Jerry swooped down, silencing me with a hungry kiss.

He was right, of course. No more talk. I pushed my hands under his knit shirt to explore the taut muscles of his back, the ridge of an old scar, the bumps of his spine.

He was taking care of my jeans and panties, getting me naked with an efficiency that was no trick at all. When he released my mouth to explore my breasts again, I managed to tug his shirt up and off him, then took care of the fastening of his jeans. He sucked my nipple into the warmth of his mouth and I moaned, the flick of his tongue and the pressure making me clench between my legs.

Jerry obviously knew that because he stroked me there, his clever fingers finding just the place that needed attention and, oh, yes, pressure until I gasped and writhed in his arms.

“Jerry!” I wanted to touch him, to make him lose his mind like I was losing mine. To hell with this “make Glory wild” mission. Suddenly I resented it, resented the way every man in my life—well, make that Jerry and Rafe—always had to be in the driver’s seat. Even in bed. Sure it was all about my pleasure. Yeah, right. But you can bet the farm Jerry would get his rocks off long before dawn and more than once.

I guess I stiffened or something because Jerry pulled back and stared down at me.

“What’s wrong, Gloriana?”

I almost didn’t say anything. He wouldn’t get it. In Jerry’s worldview he was making a big sacrifice here. Giving Glory the big O with all the bells and whistles. I reached up and touched his cheek.

“I love you, Jerry. You don’t have to prove anything to me.” The truth was I had everything to prove to him. But I wasn’t getting into our issues now. Talk about ruining a mood.

“I wasn’t—”

I shut his mouth with a deep and, okay, desperate kiss, then eased off again.

“You know what I want?”

“I hoped I was getting there.” His hand rested on the damp curls at the juncture of my thighs. He leaned on one elbow and tweaked one of my nipples and, yes, I shivered.

“Okay, yes, that.” I nudged his erection with my knee. I’d gotten his jeans off somehow. We were both naked, good to go. Why was I talking? Oh, yeah. “But can you forget tricks and special effects and fantasies and whatever cute things you might have up your sleeve and just
be
with me?”

Jerry frowned. “First, look, no sleeves. Second, I set a scene, wasn’t much of a trick there. And, third?” He lay beside me and pulled me into his arms. “There’s nothing I like better than just
being
with you. I love you. Do with me what you will. But don’t expect me to just lie here and take it.” He rolled me on top of him. “You’ve been known to inspire me.”

“Back at you.” I smiled and slid down his body to take him into my mouth. His gasp and groan were my reward. He only allowed it a few moments before he turned me so he could taste me as well. We drove each other wild with our fangs and our tongues until I finally pulled away to sit astride him, impaling myself on his rigid cock.

“Jerry!” I sighed as he filled me, sure no one else quite made me feel this complete. He held my breasts, his fingers clasping my sensitive nipples as he looked at me with love in his eyes.

I couldn’t imagine why I still held his devotion. I had tested it and would continue to strain this relationship. I leaned down to kiss his mouth as we moved, my body convulsing just as his did. We were so attuned, so in sync. If only we could forget everything but the here and now. Finally I trembled and lay in Jerry’s arms, too languid to do more than kiss his damp shoulder.