Untamed (Vampire Awakenings, Book 3) (5 page)

The waiter had just turned away when the door
opened and Ethan stepped inside with the couple she'd seen him with
last night. Emma's fingers clenched on the table, she sat
straighter in her chair. She didn't want to look in case he caught
her staring, but she couldn't tear her gaze away from him. His head
turned toward them, his eyes latched onto hers and a smile tugged
at the corners of his mouth.

He was mouthwateringly gorgeous with his
tousled hair and that endearing smile. Emma shifted in her chair,
heat crept into her cheeks but she knew it wasn't just from her
embarrassment over staring, but also from the desire she felt
growing within her. She'd never experienced anything like this
before but just looking at him made her heart race and caused her
palms to sweat. She had to wipe her hands on her dress as she
averted her gaze.

Jill and Mandy were both grinning annoyingly
at her when she picked up her drink and took a sip. She couldn't
stop her gaze from going back to him as the couple he was with
settled onto stools at the bar. Ethan crossed his legs, rested his
elbow on the bar and leaned against it. She felt it when his eyes
came to rest on her but she didn't look in his direction again.

"I think it's
you
that has the crush," Jill teased.

Emma shot her a look but she didn't say
anything as she took another sip of her drink. She was looking for
something to cool her off but it wasn't having the effect she'd
been hoping for. Taking a deep breath, she placed her glass on the
table and focused on the dazzling array of pinks, oranges, and reds
that the setting sun cast over the ocean.

His approach was so discreet that she wasn't
aware he had left the bar until a chair from the table next to them
was settling beside her. "Do you mind?" he asked when her eyes shot
to him.

"Not at all," she managed to get out.

He settled his large frame into the chair and
stretched his long legs before him. The muscles in his forearms and
biceps rippled when he leaned toward her. Heat seemed to radiate
from him, she'd thought her palms were sweaty before but they were
even worse now as she was drawn toward him like a magnet to
metal.

Jill lifted her glass and chugged it down. "I
think I'll get another. Want to come with me Mandy?"

"Sure," Mandy said and pushed herself to her
feet. "You need anything Emma?"

She reluctantly tore her eyes away from Ethan
and shook her head. "No, I'm fine."

Ethan folded his arms over his chest and
leaned back in the chair as her not so subtle, but extremely astute
friends, hurried to the bar. Emma swallowed heavily when she
spotted Isabelle and Stefan watching them raptly from the bar.
"Just ignore them." Ethan told her, hoping to ease her discomfort.
Her eyes came back to him. "My sister is just nosy."

"That's your sister?"

"My younger and highly annoying sister,
Isabelle, and her even more annoying husband, Stefan." He grinned
as the couple at the bar scowled at him before turning away. She
thought they were too far away to have heard his words, but their
reaction to what he'd just said made her wonder if perhaps they
had.

"I don't have any siblings," she said.

"You can take a few of mine."

She laughed as she began to relax a little.
"How many do you have?"

"Nine."

"
Nine
?" she
blurted.

He chuckled. "Yep, nine. It's quite the
brood."

"Sounds like it."

"My brothers Aiden and Ian will be joining us
in a couple of weeks. They decided to return home after they were
done with college before coming here."

"They graduated?"

His hair fell around his forehead as he shook
his head. "No, they still have some time left; they're just
finished for the summer."

"We just graduated," she said and gestured at
her friends.

He glanced at where Jill and Mandy were
standing by the bar; their heads were close together as they not so
secretly kept glancing at them. It was amusing but he really wished
he could have some time with her away from the prying eyes of
friends and family. "What are you going to do now that you've
graduated?" he asked.

Emma shrugged as she twirled her glass on the
table. "That's a very good question and I'm not sure of the
answer."

The strange sense of calm she brought to him
was back again and he welcomed it as he watched the setting sun
play over her hair and skin. It added a glow to her that made her
seem almost angelic in the growing twilight. "You've got plenty of
time to find that answer," he told her.

"I guess. What about you, what do you
do?"

"Not college," he said with a laugh.

She was aware that it wasn't much of an
answer but she didn't press it further. He lifted the bottle to his
mouth and took a long swallow from it. His skin glistened with a
thin sheen of sweat as he lowered the bottle again. There was
something about his gaze that made her stomach feel like a thousand
butterflies were flitting around in it. Her hand fisted as she
fought the urge to run her finger over his chin, she was dying to
know what his skin would feel like.

His head tilted to the side in a way that
made her think he was trying to see inside her, trying to
understand her, but she didn't know what he was looking for or
trying to grasp. Feeling a little self-conscious, she fiddled with
a strand of her hair. "Where are you from Emma?"

"Upstate New York but I went to college in
Pennsylvania. What about you?"

"Oregon."

"I've never been there but I've heard it's
beautiful."

"It is."

He moved closer and placed the bottle on the
table. He carried the subtle scent of male and something entirely
enticing that brought to mind springtime and sex as it tickled her
nostrils. Her fingers clenched on her thighs as her body quickened.
What was wrong with her? She never felt this way around men, not
even Tristan had made her feel this turned on and she'd stupidly
thought she might be in love with that pathetic ass.

Unclenching her fingers, she pushed back a
strand of hair and grabbed her drink. She could feel his eyes on
her as she took a sip. The door opened and three men stepped into
the bar. Emma barely glanced at them but Ethan's casual attitude
vanished as he straightened in the chair and the smile slid from
his face. At the bar, Stefan rose from his stool and moved to stand
in front of Isabelle.

Ethan prepared himself to launch to his feet
if it became necessary when the three vampires entered. He didn't
smell the foul stench of garbage on them that would indicate that
they were killers though. It was something he hadn't realized that
only he and his siblings could smell on the more murderous vampires
until Stefan had come into their lives. Ethan had assumed everyone
could detect the stench but it appeared that only purebred vampires
were able to do so. It was a handy ability to know if a vampire was
a killer or not, but even if he didn't detect that scent on them,
he couldn't relax either. Not with them being in such close
proximity to Isabelle and Emma.

Isabelle touched Stefan's arm and shook her
head no. Though he relaxed slightly he didn't return to his seat.
Ethan tried to appear casual but he couldn't turn his gaze away
from the men. Attacking Ethan or any member of his family would be
a stupid mistake for these men to make, Stefan was old and
powerful, and he and Isabelle weren't anything to mess with
either.

Emma frowned as she glanced from the men to
Ethan then over to his family. The men didn't seem like much of a
threat, one of them was blond and could easily have been a horse
jockey given his small stature, the other was also blond and maybe
weighed a hundred and forty pounds soaking wet, and the third was
of average height and weight and had reddish colored hair. The men
looked Ethan and Stefan over before moving to the other end of the
bar.

"Where are you staying?" Ethan asked. He was
still trying to sound casual but he heard the strain in his own
voice.

Emma continued to stare at the men before
turning her attention back to him. "We're renting a house down the
road," she told him. He nodded but his eyes remained on the men.
The skinny one was talking to Mandy who didn't look at all
impressed as she turned away from him. "And you?"

His attention came back to her. "Stefan has
rented a home at the end of the road for a month."

"Nice," she said but she was more interested
in his reaction to the gang of three trying to chat up her friend.
"Do you know those men?"

"No, I don't."

Emma frowned as she studied the contours of
Ethan's profile. "You don't seem to like them much for people you
don't know."

"No, it's not..." he shook his head before
looking at her again and giving her a rakish grin that made her
smile in return. "I thought I recognized one of them, but I was
wrong."

"Oh," she said as Mandy and Jill turned away
from the bar and walked over to join them again.

"We thought we'd check out the bar down the
road. You coming with us Emma?" Mandy asked.

She glanced over at Ethan. She really didn't
want to leave him but she didn't feel comfortable staying here with
a man she barely knew. "There will be dancing," Jill prodded with a
smile.

"Dancing sound likes fun," Ethan said to her.
"I'm sure Isabelle and Stefan will probably come too."

Emma blinked in surprise as he rose beside
her. He intended to come with them? She wasn't at all sure how she
felt about that. He affected her in such a strange way and she
would like a minute to just
breathe
. But then, she'd been breathing her whole
life and she would continue to do so for the rest of it, breathing
was boring. Maybe it was time to hold her breath and plunge in. She
could always breathe again when she went home.

Jill and Mandy looked like two kids who'd
just been handed a giant bag of candy as they watched Ethan walk
over to the bar. "Well?" Jill prodded eagerly.

"Well what?" she asked.

Jill rolled her eyes. "What do you think, of
him?"

Emma stood up from the table. "He's
nice."

Jill slid her arm into hers. "Nice?
Chocolates are
nice
Emma. That man
is delectable and he's into you. A little fling with him before
becoming an adult won't kill you."

"I don't
fling
Jill."

"I know, but for that guy I'd fling just
about anything."

Emma couldn't help but laugh as Jill squeezed
her arm before releasing her. Isabelle and Stefan moved away from
the bar and walked over to join them. They were one of the most
striking couples Emma had ever seen as they stopped before them.
Even Jill, who was never shy appeared a little nonplussed as she
took a step back from the overwhelmingly large man and the
stunningly beautiful woman at his side.

It wasn't often Emma felt insecure about her
looks. She knew she wasn't the most beautiful woman in the world,
knew she was considered cute by most people, but she definitely
wasn't ugly. Standing across from this woman though, she felt like
a child, small and unbelievably young but they appeared to be about
the same age. Isabelle was a good five inches taller than her and
had an aura of confidence about her that made her seem even
older.

Then Isabelle smiled and extended her hand.
"I'm Isabelle and this is my husband Stefan," she introduced as
Emma shook her hand.

Stefan's black eyes were assessing as he took
hold of her hand. "Hello," he greeted.

Emma swallowed nervously and instinctively
moved closer to Ethan. Stefan was simply a man but she got the
distinct impression he could snap her neck if the mood struck him.
In fact, looking at all of them she got the distinct impression
that there was more to them than met the eye.

She shook the thought off as Mandy and Jill
finished introducing themselves. They were just a normal family on
vacation together. She was only feeling overwhelmed because she was
so much shorter than they were. It was bad enough being around
Mandy and Jill but now she felt like a sapling in a grove of
Redwoods with the three of them around her too.

"Let's go then," Jill said.

Ethan liked going to clubs about as much as
he would have liked to have his toenails ripped out. He just hadn't
been willing to walk away from Emma yet tonight, especially after
the three vampires had entered the bar. They may not be killers but
they could still use her for her blood. That thought did not sit
well with him, he moved protectively closer to Emma as she weaved
her way through the crowd. The music that was playing thankfully
wasn't overly obnoxious but it still aggravated his acute
hearing.

A man stepped forward to grab hold of Emma's
arm but she shook her head and took a step away. Ethan didn't know
what possessed him but he moved rapidly forward to insert himself
in between her and the man. The man opened his mouth to protest,
took one look at him, and retreated into the crowd. Ethan stayed by
Emma's side as Stefan and Isabelle led the way toward the bar.

They found a gap in the crowd of people at
the bar and moved in to order a round of drinks. Emma stepped
closer to him to escape a woman that was dancing as if she were
being attacked by fire ants. Ethan eyed the woman, unable to
understand what she was trying to accomplish as she danced away
from them and moved back toward the main dance floor.

The bare flesh of Emma's shoulder glistened
in the lights flashing around the bar. Unable to resist the
temptation of her skin, he settled his hand onto her shoulder. Her
gaze shot to him, her abrupt intake of breath caused her breasts to
rise temptingly in the simple dress she wore. His thumb stroked
over her silken shoulder as he stepped closer to her. His chest
pressed against her shoulder; through his shirt he could feel the
warmth of her body. Fortunately, she was forced even closer to him
when the fire ants dancer returned and bumped against her.