Taming the Heart (Creatures of the Night Book 2) (14 page)

Kicking her out of her chair when her guard was down seemed to work the best but he hated to do that. He hated to see her sprawled out of her chair. It made him have a violent reaction. He wanted to break his own neck. If anyone else dared to push her out of her chair and into the dirt he would have their heart for dinner.

He plated the fish with some fresh veggies and a baked potato. It had been a long time since he’d had anyone to cook for and he forgot how much he liked it. Food was easy. Food did what you wanted it to every time if you used your nose to guide you. It was people that made things more difficult than they needed to be. The food smelled so good that he made a small plate for himself. It might make his stomach upset later, but it seemed worth it.

She came out of the bedroom in a pair of soft cotton pajama pants and matching top. He rolled his eyes and heaved a sigh. Ponies, and the shirt read ‘I love ponies.’

“Is there anything that you don’t love?” he asked as he sat the plates to the table.

“You’re going to eat too?” she asked as she pulled herself into her chair, ignoring his bluster. People were doing that a lot lately.

“I like fish sometimes.”

“Does it… I mean how… when you eat does it…”

“I can eat food but my body is not nourished by it,” he replied to her unspoken question. He poured them both some wine and sat it near their plates. “You may want to get out of the habit of wearing pajamas.”

Her mouth fell open in shock as she looked at him. It took him a moment to realize the way she had taken it. Then the most amazing thing happened. He felt a blush creep up his neck.

“Not like that. I mean you should get used to wearing clothes that you could easily go on the run in when you sleep. Sometimes things happen and you’ll want to be able to move quickly. Running through the woods in what you have on now would be very uncomfortable.”

“Oh,” she said as she picked up her fork and looked down at her plate. She dug in and he watched her in appreciation. He loved the way that she seemed to absorb everything with such rapture. Especially when she woke and…

He forced himself to look down at his plate. He took a bite of the trout and tasted the flavors in a way he hadn’t in… forever. Why had he given up cooking and food? He had gotten tired of it he supposed, just as he had gotten tired of so many things about living. That was before Miranda. She made food taste good again. She made him feel passion, life, fear, anguish, everything he had thought dead to him. It was like being reborn in a way. If only she would feel the same way about him.

If only… what? If only he had met her some other way? It wasn’t likely that she would have ever hung out in the types of bars he haunted when he was looking for a donor. And it wasn’t like he would have looked twice at her if she had. She was pretty in a petite dainty sort of way, but that had never been his type. He would have been more inclined to think he might hurt her, still thought that in fact. He snuck a look at her.

Her spirit more than made up for her tiny stature. It was as if she were a gravitational force, pulling you in with her smiles and cheerful ways. Even now she was humming while she ate. He had never been one for cheerfulness but there was something about her that just made you want to… smile. You wanted to make her happy and comfortable. She made a man want to protect her, treasure her. He put his fork down and wiped his mouth. He got up and went to the trash bin and was about to scrape it.

“If you don’t want that…”

He went to her and scraped his portion off on her plate. It disappeared quickly. She didn’t apologize for her appetite and he was glad of it. Women were always trying to pretend that they didn’t like to eat, but who didn’t enjoy a great tasting meal? It was silly to apologize for eating plenty of good food. He washed his plate and then joined her at the table again.

She took a sip of her wine and then watched him seriously. He nearly smiled. She had that look on her face. She was about to go into one of her interrogations and he waited patiently.

“You haven’t been to sleep for days,” she stated plainly.

He could have denied it but didn’t. “Hunters don’t always have to sleep. We can go for days even weeks without it.”

“It doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that I am sleeping in your bed. I could stay out here and you can crash in the bedroom if-”

“That’s not the reason. I have no problem with you sleeping in my bed.” He realized that statement could be taken two ways, but decided not to address it. “Like I said. I just don’t sleep every night.”

“Are you sure that’s it and not because I’ve been making coffee every morning?”

He didn’t respond. The smell of her morning cup of coffee hit his nostrils and ran through his senses like a stray bullet. Even walking past a star bucks was like a straight adrenaline shot to the heart for him. He wouldn’t tell her that though.

“Because I can go a few days without if-”

“No need. I’m sure Bateman will surface soon and then he will take over your training.”

She took a drink of her wine and eyed him angrily over the rim of the glass. Her mind was working furiously at something and he had a feeling he was about to discover what it was.

*

She watched him intently. How could one so handsome be so clueless? There had been an unspoken agreement throughout the weeks that they would not talk about what happened in the mornings. They were not to conduct themselves like love struck fools. They were to go on as though they had only filled a necessary duty like changing clothes or combing your hair every morning. But as the days wore on she found that getting harder and harder.

Her mind and heart would not cooperate with their silent agreement. It was getting to the point where all she thought about was the way his hands caressed her. She thought about how his tongue explored her. He could set her on fire just by speaking to her and he acted as if what they did didn’t affect him a bit. Well she was sick of it.

“So this Bateman guy comes along and you just turn me over to him like that? You let him take over all the duties you don’t want to perform?”

She pulled herself out of her chair and picked up her plate. He stood as if he meant to take the plate from her. She turned away sharply. “I don’t need your help to wash a dish. Since helping me is so distasteful. I will be glad when Bateman gets here to take me off your hands!”

Tears flooded her eyes without her meaning them to. She swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand before she wheeled around him and grabbed the loop on her ramp. She pulled it over to the sink and then wheeled up.

“You are unhappy with me?”

She gave him a sharp look. “I am not the one who is unhappy. You are! You explained it to me very clearly the first day I was here. I’m here, you don’t want me here, and I should just get used to it!”

“That is not-”

“Don’t you have something else to do?” she asked as she turned back to cleaning up.

She was relieved when he went into the living room so he wouldn’t see the tears slip down her face. She didn’t want to be with anyone else. She was afraid and so far Braden was the only one who really made her feel safe. Maybe this Bateman person wasn’t so bad but…

“Would you join me?”

She heard the hesitance in his voice. It wasn’t like him to be hesitant. Despite her anger she looked over at him. He had pulled a chess set from somewhere and had set it up on the table. She blinked a few times. Granted, chess was an advanced game, but it was still a board game.

“You want to play a game with me?” she asked incredulously.

“Yes.”

“Are you sure it won’t be too unpleasant for you?”

He paused a long time as he watched her that way he did. She felt like shrinking away from that look, but he had hurt her feelings. She wouldn’t feel bad for being mad at him when he was the one who had pushed her away.

“Obviously you want me to apologize so… I apologize. I did not mean to imply that I don’t want you here. You are always welcome to all that I have. I just didn’t want you to be upset over the coffee issue.”

She rolled down the ramp and stopped near the board where it sat on the table. He sat down and continued to watch her. His face didn’t give away the remorse she heard in his voice at all. Still, he seemed to be sincere.

“So it is the coffee that is keeping you from sleeping?”

“It is, but eventually I will sleep. Eventually I must.”

“I will stop drinking it.”

He didn’t argue further and she nearly laughed at him. He was afraid of making her upset again. She looked at the chess set and reached a hand out to run a finger over a beautiful marble piece. The pieces as well as the board were made of marble.

“This must have been expensive,” she commented.

“I made them.”

“Really? Did it take very long?”

“Yes. But I seem to have time to spare.”

She smiled up at him and saw a quick look of relief cross his face before he turned his attention to the board. He liked it when she smiled. Why hadn’t she noticed that before now? Maybe because she had been so busy trying to avoid staring at him like a lovesick puppy.

“Will you show me how to make marble pieces like this?”

“I will.”

“Is it hard?”

“Not if you are patient. You can hone any skill with time and willingness to try.”

“What else do you do in your down time?”

He made the first move and she countered it. He made a disapproving sound as he quickly took her piece and made another move. She concentrated more seriously for a moment.

“I can blow glass. I can make furniture. I am an excellent marksman. I rebuild cars. I can work clay and wood. I can build a cabin like this one with my bare hands. Sometimes I will volunteer with a charity service or two.”

She made her move and then looked up at him again. “You should start your own business,” she said with excitement.

“My life is not conducive of having a business. I would endanger any innocents involved.”

“That is not necessarily true. If you set up a gallery somewhere you could hire people to run your store and then you could just drop off your pieces every once in a while.”

He thought about that for a moment then shook his head. “I don’t think it would work well.”

“You could also sell your things online, then you would never have to hire anyone. I could post a few things for you on eBay if you like. Do you have more chess boards like this one?”

He made a move and took out another of her men and then waited for her to move before he said anything. “I have a few,” he said elusively.

“What’s a few,” she asked.

He stood up and went to the shelf that was built into the wall beneath the television. She hadn’t even noticed it was there. The door to it just looked like a part of the wall. I small finger panel slid open to allow him to hook his finger in and pull it open. The shelves were deep and there were a few totes inside. He pulled out two of them.

She came over and was amazed when he opened the lids. One was filled with marble pieces and the other was filled with marble playing boards. “What is in the other totes?” she asked.

He pulled out two more. They were filled with hand panted plates wrapped in expensive linens. There were also a few cups and bowls and vases. The craftsmanship was so extraordinary. Each piece had a hand painted scene that were very intricate in detail.

“Oh, Braden. These are beautiful. Is this Norway?”

“Mostly. I have traveled a lot on different missions and I have a few scenes from Poland and the Far East. The mountain ranges there are very stark.” He pulled out a vase that had a scene from a mountain that was so beautiful it nearly brought her to tears. She took the vase and ran a finger over the smooth surface.

“I had a kiln in Norway but I left it behind. I may get another but I have too much as it is. I have a lot in storage.”

“Did you have pieces like this in the house that exploded?”

He shrugged as if it meant nothing. “Things can be replaced. That is the nature of the earth. Things are built and then they are destroyed. Life goes on.”

He put the lids back on the totes and put them away, closing the wall panel again. “This from the man who tried to make me pay for damage HE had done to his own cabin. You could have made a fortune off those things,” she said as they went back to their game. She made a move and took one of his pieces. He tsked as he took several of her men.

“Check,” he said in warning.

“No,” she said unbelieving, but there it was. She pushed over her queen and he set them up again.

“I only said what I said about the repairs…”

“Oh, don’t stop now,” she pleaded with a smile. He had a twinkle in his eye.

“I didn’t know any way to make my declaration that we would sleep together any easier, so I used that as an excuse.”

What could she say to that? He was certainly not the bad ass he projected. In fact the more she was with him, the more she saw of his soft center. He may have been roughened by too many years of living but he still had that center under the stone.

“You would never have to worry about money again if you sold those online,” she said by way of changing the subject. She didn’t want to make him uncomfortable now that he was opening up to her.