Wanton With a Vampire (6 page)

After putting away the groceries, Alek
settled onto the too small sofa so he’d hear Trish when she woke
up.

The thing that sucked most about her head
injury, or maybe it was her new talent, was the confusion Trish
felt when she woke up. Even in her own bedroom, she was somewhat
disoriented. Looking at the clock, she was shocked to realize she’d
slept for more than three hours. While a lot of people enjoyed a
good afternoon nap, she’d never been one of them, but a night in
the hospital obviously took a lot out of her.

Climbing out of bed, Trish rummaged through
her drawers to find something comfortable to wear. Her shoulders
and ribs ached now, making her consider staying in the rumpled
clothes she’d slept in. The only thing she’d done before lying down
was take her bra off. If she was alone, she’d just wear a sleep
shirt, but that seemed like a bad idea with Alek in the condo.
While she still planned to seduce him, she wasn’t up to it at the
moment.

After her second failed attempt to put a bra
on, Trish opted to go braless because it hurt her ribs too much.
Funny how she hadn’t even noticed the pain in her ribs and
shoulders before. Slipping into a pair of yoga pants and a hoodie,
she figured she was covered enough.

In the living room, she found Alek awkwardly
positioned on her sofa. How he managed to sleep that way, she had
no idea. Trying to be as quiet as possible, she made her way toward
the kitchen, but Alek’s voice stopped her.

“How was your nap?” he asked.

“Good,” she said, flinching when she tried to
nod.

Alek was immediately on alert. “Are you
having more pain?”

“Yes,” she admitted. “I’m not sure if I feel
stiffer after my nap, or my head feels better so I’m noticing all
the other parts of my body that hurt.”

“I can help you with that,” Alek said,
sitting and stretching his arms over his head. The muscles on his
arms and chest rippled under his tight black t-shirt, making Trish
long to slip her hands under that shirt.

“I’ll bet you can,” she said with a saucy
grin.

Alek chuckled. “I didn’t mean that way. As
you may recall, I’ve promised to be on my best behavior while
you’re recovering.”

“That’s probably a good thing,” she said.
“So, how can you help me?”

“Has anyone talked to you about how Lydia was
saved or how Caitlin recovered so quickly?” he asked.

“Duh, Lydia knows,” she said before realizing
he didn’t know Lydia well enough to understand. “While Lydia
can
keep a secret, she prefers not to. She also has this
tendency to tell me everything that happens in her life. Needless
to say, some of what she tells me can be quite disturbing.”

“Didn’t she keep you all in the dark about
her relationship with Dominic for months?” Alek asked.

“Yeah, and that proves he’d found a way to
control her mind, because Lyd would never lie to me about something
like that.” Trish tried to see the best in people and forgive them
when they made a mistake, but she was glad Dominic was dead. He’d
not only been so obsessed with Lydia that he’d nearly killed her,
he’d also been responsible for Caitlin being kidnapped and
tortured. The man had needed to die. “Back to this making me feel
better thing. Please don’t tell me it’s more pain pills. While I
know I’m going to have to take one again, I hate them.”

“Actually, I was going to offer to transfer
some of the energy from my body into yours. It will speed up your
healing and should help with the pain. None of us were thinking
straight when you were hospitalized or I would have done it
then.”

“I guess there have to be some perks to this
crazy psychic thing,” Trish said, trying to hide her unease. The
whole energy draining thing the vampires did really weirded her
out, which was funny since she didn’t find the blood drinking thing
nearly as creepy. Granted, they took a supplement now so they
didn’t have to drink blood. Most of them didn’t even have fangs
anymore. She was pretty sure she wouldn’t be bothered as much by
the blood drinking even if they still had to, probably because
books and movies made drinking blood seem exciting and sexy.

“What are you thinking about?” Alek
asked.

“Do you still have fangs?” she asked,
focusing on his mouth.

“No,” he said. “I was one of the first people
to have Justin remove them. Retractable fangs are more of an
annoyance than you might think. It’s not like they only pop out
when you want them to, so it’s easy to bite yourself with them.
Then there’s all the maintenance and cleaning involved. It’s a huge
relief to have them out, and I don’t know why any of us refused the
surgery.”

“Wow!” she said.

“Wow?” he asked with one raised eyebrow.

“I had no idea someone could make vampires
sound so boring,” she said. “I’m suddenly very sorry I asked about
the fangs.”

Alek chuckled. “I know what you’re
doing.”

“What’s that?” she asked.

“You’re nervous about letting me give you
energy, so you’re starting this crazy conversation about fangs to
delay it.”

“Not true!” she insisted before ducking her
head. “Okay, maybe it’s a little true. Honestly, I wasn’t trying to
change the subject at first. I was just thinking about how the idea
of you drinking blood doesn’t bother me as much as the idea of you
taking people’s energy. That led to the fang discussion, and now
I’m rambling like Lydia.”

“Come over here, honey,” Alek said with an
outstretched hand.

Despite her nerves, Trish walked toward Alek,
placing her hand in his. It was then that she realized how little
she knew about this man. While she’d noticed the calluses on his
hands many times, she’d never asked him about them. These were the
hands of a man who worked, not a man who lived a life of leisure,
or even one who spent hours in an office.

“Your hands are rough,” she said before
realizing how lame that sounded.

Alek chuckled. “Yes, they are. I like to work
on motorcycle engines,” he explained.

“Really?” she asked, looking up from his
hands.

“Yes,” he said. “That’s my current hobby.
I’ve built furniture. At one point, I fancied myself a sculptor,
despite my obvious lack of talent.”

“I’m having trouble picturing you as an
artist of any sort,” she said.

He shrugged. “It was just a phase. Are you
less nervous about this now?”

“I’m not nervous,” she said, then realized
how ridiculous it was to lie. “I might be a little nervous.”

“There’s nothing to worry about. It won’t
hurt,” he assured her. “Are you ready?”

“I guess,” Trish said nervously.

Alek gently pulled Trish onto his lap. “Are
you doing okay?”

“You weren’t lying about this hurting, were
you?”

“I wasn’t lying,” he assured her with an
amused grin.

“Why is my question so funny?” she asked.

“I’m surprised one of your friends hasn’t
told you all about it,” he admitted with a shrug. “They do seem to
share quite a bit with you.”

“Honestly, I think they’ve both intentionally
kept the psychic stuff to themselves because they knew I was
feeling left out,” Trish explained.

“Guess, they won’t have to worry about you
feeling left out anymore,” he said as his hand stroked her
back.

“Lucky me,” she said under her breath.
“Sorry,” she added with a smile. “I can’t believe a couple of days
ago I was feeling sorry for myself because I was just a normal
human with no psychic ability, and now I’m feeling sorry for myself
because I’ve got some crazy psychic talent.”

“Your new ability probably isn’t what you
were picturing,” he said.

“Not in a million years,” she said with a
laugh.

“What ability would you have wanted to
have?”

She thought for a moment. “It might be fun to
make plants grow like Lydia.”

“No moving objects with your mind?” he
asked.

“That would be exciting, but I’d end up
hurting myself,” she admitted.

“Are you more relaxed now?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said, surprised that she felt so
relaxed sitting on Alek’s lap, waiting for him to do some freaky
energy transfer with her. “Okay, let’s get this over with before I
lose my nerve.”

Alek’s hand on her back stilled, and warmth
spread through Trish’s body. There was a strange tingling, and heat
pooled between her legs along with a steady throbbing. Any other
time, she might be embarrassed by her arousal, but at the moment,
she was too caught up in the sensations running through her body.
The ache in her head was subsiding, and she felt wired, edgy, and
on the verge of climaxing.

“Better?” Alek asked in a rough voice.

It was then that Trish noticed Alek’s
erection under her backside. “I didn’t know the energy exchange
thing was arousing for you.”

Alek cleared his throat. “I’m pretty sure it
was the noises you were making that caused my current
predicament.”

“Noises?” Trish asked, because she didn’t
recall making any noises.

“Yes,” Alek said, staring at her with an
intensity that increased the throbbing between her legs. “I need
you to stop looking at me like that, honey.”

“Why?” she asked with a sweet smile,
intentionally wiggling on his lap.

Alek groaned. “I meant what I said to Ivy
about taking care of you.”

“I’ve got something you can take care of for
me,” she said, and even she didn’t recognize the sexy purr coming
from her own lips.

Visibly struggling with his desire, Alek set
Trish on the sofa beside him and stood. With one hand covering his
face, Trish barely heard him mutter, “You could tempt a saint.”

Trish bit her lip to keep from smiling. This
was good news for her. She still had every intention of seducing
Alek, and it wasn’t going to be hard, even with his new resolve to
avoid taking advantage of her.

“How is your head?” Alek asked.

“Much better,” she said. She didn’t feel
completely healed, but she was sure she would have needed days to
get to this point without Alek’s help. Rolling her shoulders, she
was relieved that the stiffness was gone. “Thanks,” she said as she
stood. “I’m starving. Just so you know, I’m not one of those women
who pretend to be a light eater.”

Alek stood and held out a hand. “Good. I hate
being the only one eating at the table. It makes me feel like I’m
on display.”

“I’ll bet you’re on display whether or not
you’re eating,” she assured him.

Alek’s eyebrows rose. “You’ve become
something of a minx since your head injury.”

Trish giggled. “Minx? Sometimes I forget how
old you are.”

“You have no idea how old I am,” he reminded
her.

While that was true, she knew he was older
than Aiden, which meant he was more than three-hundred years old, a
thought that made her frown.

“Stop thinking about what an old man I am,”
he admonished playfully.

“Or what?” she asked, placing her hand in his
and allowing him to help her to her feet.

“Or I won’t feed you,” he said.

“You do realize that I am capable of cooking
for myself, right?” she asked.

“Ah, but you don’t cook as well as I do,” he
challenged.

“So, what are you making me for dinner?”

“I have steaks marinating in the fridge.
While I was disappointed that you don’t have a grill on the patio,
I picked up a cast iron grilling pan for them. I also have fresh
broccoli and the ingredients for chili lime potatoes.”

Trish’s mouth was quite literally watering.
It’s not that she wasn’t a good cook, but she had to admit she was
a lazy cook. Her mom had a tendency to drop by with extravagant
meals for her, and she lived on reheated leftovers most of the
time. “Okay, feed me. Then we can go to the spot where my dad
died.”

Alek gave her a stern look. “We’ve already
agreed to wait at least until tomorrow.”

“But my head feels much better after that
energy thing. Why wait? I’m a nervous wreck about doing this, and
it would be nice to get it over with.”

“I understand why you want to go now,” he
said. “But it’s already getting dark. I’m not saying we won’t go,
just that it would be best to wait until morning. I also think it
might be best if we brought Ivy with us.”

“Because you think I’m going to have a break
down and need a shrink?” she asked irritably.

“Having someone more experienced in matters
of a psychic nature could be useful,” he said.

“Then we can bring Caitlin,” Trish said. “I’m
sure she’ll come whenever I need her.”

“I’m also worried you’ll have problems
dealing with all of this,” he admitted. “This has nothing to do
with how strong I think you are. You’re hoping to see into the past
and watch your father die. How do you think that will affect you?
If this works out the way you want it to, you’ll either be watching
your father take his own life, or watching his murder.”

“Okay, you’re right,” she relented because
she knew he wasn’t going to back down. “I’ll call Ivy while you fix
dinner and ask her to come out there with me tomorrow morning.” No
reason to mention that she planned to go with or without Ivy. “I’ll
also need to order new glasses. My only pair was destroyed in the
accident.”

“You don’t have a spare?” he asked.

“I don’t have vision coverage, so I have to
pay full-price for my glasses. I could only afford one pair.
Besides, my eyes keep getting worse, so what’s the point of buying
two pairs when I’ll need to replace them in a few months?”

“Good point,” he said, and she loved the fact
that he wasn’t giving her that pitying look her friends always gave
her. That’s when he ruined the moment. “I could buy your
glasses.”

Snatching her hand from his, Trish glared at
him. “Yes, I’m sure you could buy a dozen pairs of glasses.”

“And now you’re mad at me,” he said, and
there was no missing the amusement in his voice. “Before you get
any angrier, try to understand that I’m accustomed to women who
want me to buy them things that are much pricier than a pair of
glasses.”