Sins of the Undead Patriot (21 page)

“Yes. I cannot change what I am.” He brushed hairs from her face. “However, I would never hurt you, despite the inner battle raging.”

Could he hold to that promise, or would the temptation she represented break through even his boundaries?

* * * *

Leera stood back with Stacy, Vaihan’s assistant, on the lawn of the hospital. Lights flashed. Others shone on him, as he read the president-approved message about tonight’s events. Body count of twenty. Six undead were pulled after the fire was extinguished and were mending in hospital. A natural gas leak was suspected, but arson had yet to be ruled out. No organization claimed responsibility for the bombing. The young girl he’d saved was in critical yet stable condition. He thanked them for coming, turned toward her and smiled.

“What’s your association to the late Senator Waltz’s daughter?” a male reporter shouted from the group.

Vaihan stopped, met her gaze and spun back toward the press. “I’m quite fond of Ms. Waltz.”

“Are you seeing her?”

“Exclusively.”

Leera pressed her lips together.

“Romantically?”

“I am a tad out of practice, but I do hope our courtship has been romantic to Ms. Waltz.”

She hadn’t expected Vaihan to publicly admit to their relationship. This would complicate things with Rowley.

Vaihan strode toward her, placed her hand in his and guided her back inside.

“I need you to sign off on a number of documents.” Stacy held a stack of papers to his body. His large bald head didn’t fit his slender body. His gaze, with its dark pupils, drifted from Leera back to Vaihan, who lifted his finger, indicating to Stacy he needed a moment with her alone. His assistant nodded and walked over to the administrative desk a few yards away.

“I have some paper work to complete. Would you like for me to arrange for someone to take you home or do you want to wait?”

“I’ll wait,” Leera said.

Vaihan leaned in. “Will you come home with me?” A vulnerable quality lowered the pitch of his voice.

Her heart fluttered with a need to reassure him that she would be there for him.

She nodded.

In the uneasy state she was in, if she left, she’d run as fast and as far as she could. No way could she do that to Peter. Her brother was becoming an excuse she used to comfort herself as to why she couldn’t keep away from Vaihan. Truth was, despite the reason for her original involvement with him, she needed this–him–the way he managed to pull out of the darkness.

He smiled, kissed her forehead and joined Stacy.

People gazed at him with a tremendous amount of respect. The same admiration she’d remembered as a child in the eyes of people looking at her father. What she did know was her father was nothing he pretended to be. So far, Vaihan was everything he portrayed himself to be. And much more.

* * * *

Leera leaned against Vaihan’s chest. His large hand stroked her head as she listened to the beat of his heart.

Neither spoke. He too, appeared lost in thought. The taxi stopped in front of a brownstone, and Vaihan handed the driver cash. She got out. Frigid air blew snow in squalls. From the outside, the place looked like any other house on the street. Nothing screamed undead people lived there.

Wind blew up her beige three-quarter-length jacket. Vaihan held out his hand for her and she slipped her arm around his.

“I don’t think the three roomies will be up at this time.” Vaihan pulled the key from the sweatpants the hospital provided and unlocked the door. He gestured her in.

Nearly three in the morning, and her eyes felt heavy with sleep. Soft lighting washed over the foyer. A red runner covered the oak floors.

The door closed behind her and Vaihan’s arm wrapped around her waist. “Ms. Waltz?”

As she met his gaze, his dark pupils widened.

“I’m falling for you fast.” The tip of his nose trailed up the bridge of hers. “If you’re a dream, let me not wake.” He kissed her forehead.

Pain rippled through her. Her own heart was tangled up in a web of lies, yet she desperately needed this, whatever this was with him.

“This way.” He guided her up the stairs in front of her.

A figure stood in the archway of the hall on the second floor in the dark. “Vaihan. Sam and Quinn were in a panic about what happened. Did you not think to call home?”

“Leera, my room is the one as you reach the next floor.” He pointed up the stairs.

He wasn’t going to introduce her. She continued up. A large dark door faced her, so she turned the handle and entered. Voices below were muffled in the distance. An imposing black four-poster bed occupied the center of the room and soft yellow lighting warmed the space. A beige carpet and white walls, and the fluffy white duvet covering the king sized bed didn’t scream evil lair to her. More simple elegance, much like Vaihan.

She set her handbag on the nightstand opposite the one with the alarm clock, removed her jacket, sat at the edge of the bed and rubbed her upper arms.

“If you like, I can turn the heat up?” Vaihan leaned against the shut door.

She jumped. “How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough to see you’ve claimed your side of the bed.” The corner of his mouth turned up, revealing his dimple.

“Women do that.”

“Would you like a t-shirt to sleep in? Mine could serve you as a nightgown.”

“If naked doesn’t suit you, then yes.” She winked.

But an inch from her, he knelt.

She rubbed her eyes. Twice in one night, he’d moved faster than she could register. “How did you do that?”

Warmth flooded her cheeks as he cupped her face, and the chill she’d felt since Peter appeared at her door left her.

“It’s something my kind can do. Most of us don’t because it makes humans feel fragile. But we both know you hold all the power in this relationship. I’m at your mercy.”

If only he knew how wrong he was.

“I don’t expect anything from you because you’re here tonight, nor due to what we’ve shared on the phone.”

“I do.” Her anticipation level was high.

“I’m at your service,
beaute
.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and slid onto his lap. “I thought I lost you today.” A tear trailed along her cheek.

“I’m so very sorry.” He stroked her hair back, lifting her gaze to his. “I want to kiss you to the point my body aches. Yet, I can’t kiss you, not the way a mouth like yours should be kissed.”

His warmth permeated her. She smiled, pressing her lips to his. He rose, climbed onto the bed and set her down. The withdrawal of his heat from her mouth made her to shiver. She reached for the bottom of his shirt and pulled up the cotton material, exposing his torso, and he helped toss away the barrier to her touch.

Beneath her fingers, his flesh felt so smooth. Edging her hands up the taut muscles of his stomach, she stopped at his nipples. With a finger twirl, she circled the hardening flesh.

“Undress for me?”

Men all enjoyed the same types of things. A woman on display. “Like a little show?”`

“No.” Vaihan shook his head. “Undividedly you.”

She quirked her brow. What did that mean?

“You, Leera.” He pressed his index finger to her mouth, preventing her from speaking. “Remove your clothing for me.”

Not something a man had asked of her before. Vaihan rose and sat beside her. With ease, he could undress her, so what was with his request about? Kneeling, she reached back and unfastened the empire tie of her gown. The ribbon loosened, freeing her from the cool fabric.

Pillows propped behind him, he leaned against the headboard. Vaihan’s gaze did not convey emotion.

She lifted the material over her head. The hardened peaks of her nipples were revealed through her sheer lace bra. She unhooked and lowered the garment. As she slid her thumbs beneath her panties and pantyhose, her bare breasts bounced. She rolled down the garments, sat back and flung them to the side.

“Come.” He gestured her forth.

She shuffled toward him and straddled his lap.

His hard length pressed to the inside of her thigh. “How do you feel?”

How did she... “Naked and a little chilly.”

“You look like a deity.” He lifted the duvet up over her. “Since I was changed, no woman has ever taken off her clothing for me or let me admire her nude body while she could see me watch.”

Did she understand what his words meant? Surely he’d had women. He’d told her as much. “Not even Elizabeth?”

“You remember.” His lips flipped up at the corners. “Elizabeth was blind. Though she was aware of the fact that I was different, from others’ reaction to me, she could not see what others could not bear to look at. You, however,
beaute..
.” He glided his warm hand up between her breasts. “Give yourself to me without fear and stare right into me.” And he stopped at her belly button.

She traced the contour of his head and kissed the top. No male treated her the way he did.

As he slid his smooth touch over the curves of her hips and rear, then skimmed his lips over the hard bud of one of her nipples, she sighed, already breathless and wanting more. “I don’t want you to get a taste of, or for, the toxin,” he said.

The idea scared and thrilled her. “Why?”

“A number of reasons. The substance is the most addictive in the world. I want you to want me, not the toxin. I enjoy you being an active member of our physical exchanges. If you’re paralyzed, I might as well be with dead body, and I’m not into necrophilia, despite my personal condition.”

She chuckled, a full-bodied laugh.

“I want to learn what pleasures your body.” He wrapped his arms around her waist, laid her on the bed and stretched out beside her. “For that, I need your help. Just like when we shared the massage, with your instructions. More, harder, faster, deeper.”

Heat swirled inside her and moisture collected between her thighs.

Vaihan smiled, covering her with a blanket. “You like me talking this way to you.”

The fact he saw to her comfort by putting the covers over her sent a swell of emotions inside her.

“Yes.” She turned toward him and kissed the bare surface of his chest. With her hands to his flesh, she pressed her nails in and scratched.

“Much nicer than the pain I suffered today.” He groaned.

With her tongue pressed to his skin, she trailed a path to his scar with her tongue.

“Leera,” he said, grabbed hold of her hands and forced her back into the bed. “I’m seeing to your pleasure tonight, not the other way around.”

What was the difference?

He cuffed both her arms in one hand and slid the other down her flesh to the curls between her thighs. She pushed her pelvis up and spread her legs. The edge at the corner of his eyes softened. Parting her labia, he circled her clit, which made her arch in delight, jolting her breasts up.

“You are so beautiful.” He exhaled his hot breath over her ear and neck.

“Faster.”

Slick heat passed over her nub with his quicker pace. “Do you prefer more clitoral or vaginal stimulation?”

Didn’t men want to believe all women got off through intercourse? Since he appeared to know the difference, she was willing to answer. “A mix of both.”

“Do you orgasm vaginally?” The hunger in his eyes gleamed of the predator inside him.

“I have, on rare occasions.”

“How very interesting.” He kissed the rise of her breast. “And what was different about those times?”

The man didn’t beat around the bush much. “The duration of intercourse, the depth of penetration, the angle and how aroused I was when we began.”

“And what angle or position reaped you such a reward?”

He wasn’t going to change the subject of his questions. “Me being on top.”

He met her gaze. “
Beaute
likes being in control? Or watched?”

She crushed her lips together.

“Maybe, a little or a lot of both.” Vaihan grinned. “I will learn to satisfy you both ways.”

“Sounds like fun...”

“Loads.” He pressed his fingers down, into her opening.

“Yes. Please.”

He massaged the folds of her opening with two fingertips. Inside she quivered, pressed herself to his stimulation. The width of two fingers plunged, stretching her. She rotated her hips to meet his descending caress.

“Faster.”

“Shall I draw out your release or give in and relieve you?” He slowed his motions.

“Please, Vaihan.”

“Mmm.” He pressed his thumb back and forth over her clit. As he worked in and out of her, with another finger, he spread her insides. Quick repeated thrusts.

She whimpered.

“You’re so tight and slick.” He perused her neck and ear with light kisses. Deep stimulation pumped into her.

A quiver jerked in her womb and her inner muscles tensed around his digits. “I’m coming.” She arched her back, forcing her breasts up. “Vaihan.”