Safe Hex With a Vampire (12 page)

That made him grin. “I have a lot of fun
fighting with you and I think you feel the same. All I’m asking is
that you give me a chance. Just get to know me a little better and
let me prove to you that we can make this work. While we’re doing
that we can work on that baby you want.” He leaned over and brushed
her hair back out of her face. “You can’t deny that there’s
something between us.”

She thought about it for a long while before
she finally nodded. “You’re right. I don’t want to admit there’s
anything between us because it complicates my life, but there is.
Also, I really would like to learn more about this side of my
family,” she said. “Can Ivy come here too?”

“I have to clear it with my cousin first.
This is his house and I’m not exactly supposed to be here,” he
admitted.

“Why aren’t you supposed to be here?” Then
she seemed to remember. “That’s right! Your cousin said you were
kicked out. Is this his house?”

Aiden shook his head. “Different
cousin.”

“So what happened?”

“The woman he’s marrying is the woman I
tried to kidnap.” He’d already told her about the unfortunate
incident so he wasn’t sure why he still felt so embarrassed talking
about it. “Needless to say, there are some hard feelings. He might
be okay with it since you’re his niece. On the other hand, now I
have to admit that I also kidnapped his niece. Did I mention that
cousin is Roman’s son?”

She shook her head.

“Yep, this is your
great great whatever uncle’s house. Even if he’s
okay with it, his fiancée might freak out when she sees me.” He
sighed. “I might have to rent a place for us to stay while we
figure this out. I have an apartment, but it’s in Portland and
that’s too far away.”

She patted his arm and sat up. “We’ll worry
about that later. Feed me.”

“We should probably take a shower first,” he
suggested casually.

She shook her head, as she climbed out of
bed and searched for her clothes. “I know that look. If you get me
in the shower we’ll get distracted and I’m really hungry. Feed me
and then we can shower.”

They dressed and walked down to the kitchen.
Tempest didn’t have any clothes to change into so she just put on
the dress she’d been wearing under her robe. It was a simple
short sleeved teal dress that was tight around her ribs then
flared out around her hips and rested just above her knees. The
house seemed eerily quiet. There weren’t usually many servants but
there were almost always a few scurrying about. From time to time
the house was devoid of servants, but it was pretty rare.

Aiden found Justin sitting at the center
island in the kitchen reading the newspaper with an empty takeout
container in front of him. In Aiden’s opinion the kitchen was far
too feminine for a house that only had men in residence. The walls
were yellow. What kind of man had a kitchen with yellow walls?

Justin looked just as irritated as he had
when he’d come into Aiden’s room a few hours earlier. He had
obviously showered and dressed for the day but more casually than
usual. Aiden was pretty sure this was the first time he’d ever seen
Justin in jeans and a t shirt.

“Where is everyone?” Aiden asked.

Justin shrugged. “I didn’t realize that it
was my turn to watch them.”

“I really need to talk to Nathaniel,” Aiden
said. “I have to explain why I’m in his house.”

“We’re closing up the house,” Justin said as
he folded the newspaper. “I’m not sure what Uncle Roman is going to
do with it. Nathaniel and Hannah were in a car accident about two
months ago and neither of them survived.”

Aiden wasn’t sure how he felt about his
cousin’s death. He’d never been close to any of his cousins, but
Nathaniel had been nice to him. He’d invited Aiden into his home.
Aiden didn’t really blame him for kicking him out when he did. It
struck him as odd that his uncle hadn’t mentioned the accident when
Aiden had been at his house.

Tempest perked up at the mention of Roman’s
name. “Is Roman here?”

Justin looked alarmed by her curiosity. “Why
would you want to know where my uncle is?” He was trying to sound
menacing.

Aiden squeezed Tempest’s hand and she looked
down at his hand with obvious annoyance. “Are you trying to warn me
not to fight with your cousin?”

“He’s your cousin too,” he reminded her,
“and no, I am not trying to warn you not to fight with him. I’m
asking you to avoid kicking his ass.”

Justin raised an eyebrow. “Cousin? I assume
this is by marriage and congratulations are in order.”

“She looks like Claudia.” It was his cousin
Isaiah that made that observation. “Except her hair is blonde and
Claudia’s was black.”

Aiden was taken aback by Isaiah’s disheveled
appearance. He was much thinner than Aiden remembered him being.
His voice seemed hoarse, like it might give out at any moment.
Isaiah still wore his glasses, which he didn’t need, but they did
nothing to mask the haunted look in his eyes. From what Aiden could
remember Isaiah always dressed well. Today he was wearing worn
black sweat pants and a grey t shirt that read
Don’t feed
the Vampires
.

“Who’s Claudia?” Justin asked.

“Claudia, from Uncle Roman’s blog,” Isaiah
explained. He seemed a little annoyed. “Doesn’t anyone read my
emails? I told you all that I had talked him into setting up a
blog. I even sent out the web address to everyone,
VampireRomanDraksel.wordpress.com.”

Justin just looked confused. “Uncle Roman
has a blog? I didn’t even know he had a computer.”

“Of course he has a computer,” Isaiah said.
“Who doesn’t have a computer?”

“He called himself a vampire on his blog?”
Justin was more animated than Aiden had ever seen him. “Back to my
first question, who is Claudia?”

“Claudia is the woman in the painting that
Uncle Roman takes everywhere.” Isaiah explained impatiently.
“Seriously, did any of you read my email?”

Aiden shook his head. “I normally only check
my business email.”

“I have an email account?” Justin asked.

When Isaiah stared at him with something
akin to horror, Justin held up his hands in surrender. “I’m just
kidding. I know I have an email account. I’m just not good at
checking it. That’s a painting of Lenore, Nathaniel and Noah’s
mother.”

Isaiah shook his head. “Lenore had blue
eyes. I remember Nathaniel telling me.”

Justin thought for a moment before
nodding.

“Are you related to Claudia?” Isaiah asked.
His voice was getting weaker. Isaiah had always been a little
different. There had always been an almost innocent expression in
his eyes. That was gone. Now, he looked jaded and more than a
little crazy.

“Yes,” Tempest replied as she studied him
carefully. “She was my great grandmother. Actually, I’m not
sure how many greats are in there. As I understand it, Roman was
her husband and he’s my grandfather.”

Justin snorted. “That’s not possible. We can
only produce male children.”

“Well,” she replied sweetly, “When I checked
Aiden’s blood I was able to find a genetic link between us.”

Justin suddenly seemed much too interested
in Tempest. Under other circumstances Aiden was sure that the
mention of taking Aiden’s blood would have sent Justin into a
panic, but he seemed too curious about Tempest’s findings to think
about anything else.

“What tests did you run?” Justin asked.
“Maybe we can do some more tests here.”

Aiden interrupted. “We need to eat. This can
wait until later.”

“Are you okay?” Tempest asked Isaiah. He had
taken on a far off look.

Isaiah smiled. “You’re nice, just like
Hannah.”

Aiden laughed. “You must have lost your
marbles while I was gone.”

Tempest smacked him hard and then glared at
him.

“What did I do wrong?” he asked as he rubbed
his arm. “I think this abuse proves that you aren’t really very
nice.”

The doorbell interrupted their argument. It
rang four times in a row before a fist started pounding on the
front door.

Justin’s smile and look of anticipation
surprised Aiden. “Speaking of nice,” Justin said cheerfully as he
stood up, “I think Caitlin has come to see me.”

It took Aiden a minute to remember who
Caitlin was. She was the woman Justin wanted as his mate. They had
known each other for around three years but Justin insisted on
waiting until she was a doctor to make his move. Aiden assumed that
things must have progressed some or she wouldn’t be pounding on the
door.

“Are you going to get that?” he asked
Justin.

Justin shook his head. “Hell no!’

“I told you she wouldn’t be happy,” Isaiah
said.

The pounding stopped and it wasn’t long
before Caitlin slammed the veranda doors open with enough force
that Aiden was surprised the glass didn’t shatter.

Aiden had never seen Caitlin before and she
wasn’t at all what he expected. Justin was kind of prudish and he’d
expected him to find a very proper young lady. She’d probably wear
glasses and maybe even an apron. Okay, he had no idea where that
image had come from and it did not fit Caitlin in any way. With her
high heeled ass kicking boots on, she was nearly as tall as
Justin. She had straight black hair that rested at the middle of
her back. She was seriously pissed off, and her catlike amber eyes
were blazing with anger.

She stormed up to Justin and poked him in
the chest with her finger. “You,”
poke
, “do,”
poke
,
“not,”
poke
, “decide who I date.”

Justin laughed at her. “Calm down, Caitlin,”
he said around his laughter. “I have no idea what you’re talking
about.”

“Did you really think I wouldn’t find out?”
she demanded with her hands on her hips.

“I like her,” Tempest whispered.

“You would,” Aiden muttered.

“Find out what?” Justin asked with wide
innocent eyes.

“That you threatened her date with bodily
injury if he even thought about touching her,” Isaiah added
helpfully.

Caitlin turned as if she’d just noticed
Isaiah. She gave him a warm smile. “Hi Isaiah. Sorry I didn’t
notice you, but I was distracted.”

Isaiah shrugged and shuffled out of the
room. He was apparently done socializing.

“Why can’t you find someone else to stalk?”
Caitlin nearly whined.

“Cuz I really like you, baby,” Justin said
and then ducked quickly when she took a swing at him.

“Aim for the balls, it’s harder to duck
those,” Tempest suggested. “I’m hungry, Aiden. Feed me or I might
get violent too.”

“I don’t see anything here so I guess we’ll
have to go out to eat,” Aiden said as he examined the contents of
the fridge.

She groaned. “That means I need to shower
first.”

Aiden gave her a wicked smile. He snapped
his fingers. “Darn!”

She walked back upstairs grumbling something
about perverted vampires.

“
I know what you’re trying to do, Roman,”
she said with a calm that proved she had no idea what I was trying
to do.

I smiled. “What would that be?”

“
You’re trying to intimidate me into
marrying you and it won’t work.”

I sat on the edge of the bed and removed my
boots. “That’s not what I’m trying to do.”

“
You plan on treating me like a whore?
Just like your father would?”

She was baiting me, but it wasn’t going to
work.

I shook my head. “As far as I’m concerned,
what I said is true. Whether we stand in front of a priest and say
the words is completely irrelevant. I’ve never been welcome in a
church anyway so why should I care if a priest is involved? You are
my wife. I’m tired of playing this game with you.” I stood up and
stalked toward her slowly. “I’m tired of begging you.”

Excerpt from Roman Draksel’s blog

As soon as Aiden and Tempest left the room,
Justin leaned against the counter and crossed his arms in front of
his chest. “Are you done yelling at me?”

Caitlin snorted. “Not by a long shot. Do you
have any idea how long it’s been since I’ve had sex with a partner?
I have to buy AA batteries in bulk.” She paused and took a deep
breath as she tried to regain her cool exterior. “Now I find out
that you’re the cause of my long celibacy. I like sex. No, I
love
sex. I refuse to go without it until you get tired of
stalking me.” Her hands were on her hips, and she felt like
smacking him for looking so calm.

Justin smiled. It was that smile that caused
Caitlin to take a step back. Unease crept up her spine.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” she
asked nervously.

“Like what?” he asked as he pushed away from
the counter and sauntered toward her.

“Stop following me,” she said and continued
to back away from him.

“You know, I really wanted to wait until you
were older,” he said in a contemplative voice. She wasn’t sure if
he was talking to her or himself. Either way, she knew that she
felt her fight quickly change to flight. Justin had never looked at
her with that much heat in his gaze. It was definitely time to put
more distance between them.

“I should go,” she said and turned to make a
break for the door. Even though she felt like a coward for running,
she knew it was the smartest move at that moment.

Justin was faster and he caught her from
behind, pulling her up against his chest. His arms wrapped around
her waist. “Too late for that, Caitlin,” he murmured against the
side of her neck.

Caitlin allowed herself to lean back into
his hard body for a just a moment. It had been a long time since
she’d been this close to a man and he felt so damn good. She
inhaled deeply and shuddered. Damn the man smelled really nice. His
erection pressed against her backside and that realization made her
moan. “I don’t even like you,” she said mostly to herself.