Enraptured (12 page)

“That seems like a violation,” she finally
murmured.

His sky colored eyes didn’t flicker as they
held hers. “They come to my bed willingly.”

“Do you think they would if they knew you
were going to drink their blood?”

“Probably not.” She had to give him credit,
he didn’t try to avoid her questions, and he really didn’t seem to
be a liar. “But the women I take back with me aren’t drunk, they’re
aware of everything happening to them, other than my feeding from
them. They think it’s nothing more than a hickey. You don’t
approve, but I’m not ashamed of what I am, or what I have to do to
survive. This is how I do it.”

“But…”

“You asked me a question, I answered it. I
understand your feelings on it, but I didn’t ask for your opinion
or your judgement. I’ve never judged anything you’ve done, even if
I don’t agree with it.”

She bit back her words. “Fair enough. How
will you feed while we’re up here?” It took all she had to keep her
hand from fluttering up to the scars on her neck. She’d been fed
from before; she could clearly recall the pain, the violation and
helplessness she’d experienced from it. She’d been certain she was
going to die, but she’d survived, twice now.

“You’re safe with me.” The terrified look in
her eyes caused him to utter those words. “The animals in the woods
will satisfy me.” He held up a hand to ward off her next question.
“No, I don’t kill them, I set them all free.”

“When I was attacked, it hurt, a lot,” she
murmured. “How do those women not know what you’re doing?”

“It doesn’t hurt if you don’t fight it, it’s
actually extremely enjoyable, especially during sex.”

Was she having hot flashes? She had to fight
the urge to fan herself, excitement fluttered in her belly at his
words. His eyes held hers over the top of his glass as he took a
sip of his drink. He knew the effect he had on her, she was certain
of it.

“Oh,” she muttered and focused on her
drink.

He opened his mouth to continue to tease
her, but her hand fluttered up to her neck, and the color faded
from her face. The firelight flickering over her illuminated the
horror shining in her eyes. His amusement faded as unexpected anger
swirled within him. “Was it random, or did you know the vampire who
attacked you?” he asked.

A bitter laugh escaped her, she swirled the
liquid in her glass. “Depends on your definition of know? Do I know
who he was? Yes. Do I know him? No.”

He frowned over her words and leaned against
the corner of the bar. “Who was it?”

“That’s not something I wish to discuss.”
Ian decided not to push her further. She’d only shut down on him
again and stop talking. Paige fiddled with her hands before
glancing at him from under her lashes. “He’ll find me you know.
He’ll come for me here.”

Ian shook his head. “No one followed us
here; I made sure of it.”

Paige couldn’t bring herself to meet his
gaze. “He’s found me before, he’ll find me again,” she
murmured.

Ian placed his drink on the bar. “The
vampire from last night was the same one who left those scars on
your neck?”

He’d left more than scars on her neck. He’d
scarred her soul, her body, her entire life. “He is and he’s found
me since he gave me those.”

He almost didn’t recognize the lost eyes
locked on his; she’d been a fighter since the second he’d laid eyes
on her. Now he could almost see the ghosts of her past hovering
around her, threatening to bury her beneath their haunting
presences. “How many times have you run into this vampire?”

“The other night was my third encounter with
him.” Again, not a lie, it had only been the third time she’d
encountered her father as a vampire. “He
will
find me
again.”

“I can assure you no one followed us,
Paige.”

She nodded, but she didn’t believe him. Her
father would come for her again. “Who knows, maybe he can track me
through my blood or something.”

Ian shook his head. “I’ve never heard of
that happening.”

“And up until four years ago I’d only heard
of vampires in movies and books, but there’s a whole ton of shit
out there none of us knows anything about.”

“True,” he murmured. “But while I’m here, he
won’t get anywhere near you. If your hunter friend hadn’t shown up,
your attacker would have been dead.”

Paige bit back her reminder that she
wouldn’t always be with him. She’d lost the battle in the alley,
but next time she’d be better prepared. And no matter what Ian
said, she knew there would be a next time. There always was.

“You were looking for him when you were in
the bar,” Ian deduced. Paige refused to look at him. “You couldn’t
have been looking for me, I don’t leave a trail of bodies, and I
don’t leave evidence of my feeding habits.”

“You don’t,” she agreed. “I actually
believed you were just a drunken, college whore.”

The small vulnerability she’d allowed to
show had vanished beneath her steely exterior again. Walking over,
he sat on the couch beside her. “You don’t pull any punches, do
you?” he asked.

“You’re being honest with me, I should do
the same.”
I also have to remember who and what you are,
she
thought as she took another swallow of her drink. Because sitting
next to him right now, feeling all warm and out of sorts, she was
finding it extremely easy to forget.

“Thank you,” he replied. “I guess.”

He gave her a halfhearted smile that did
nothing to ease the heat of her body. She hopped to her feet. Her
abrupt rise caused her to take an unsteady step forward. She didn’t
see him move before his hand wrapped around her elbow and he
steadied her.

“Are you ok?” he demanded.

“I’m fine,” she assured him. She batted at
his hand, but he continued to hold onto her elbow, heating her
further. “I need another drink.”

“I’ll get it for you.”

“No, I think it’s better if I move around a
little right now.” Her bare feet sank into the plush white carpet
as she walked to the bar. It was even more comfortable and inviting
than it looked; she dug her toes into it before stepping onto the
wood floor again. “What happens if you somehow end up falling in
love with one of these girls, and then you have to explain what you
did to her, or what you are?”

“Not possible.”

She paused in the act of searching the
labels on the bottles to look up at him. “What’s not possible?”

“I won’t fall in love with one of them.”

She placed her hands on her hips as she
stared at him. “How do you know that?”

He grinned at her as he leaned back on the
couch and crossed his long legs before him. The firelight playing
over his golden skin and chiseled body did little to ease the
desire he’d stoked in her earlier. A desire she’d assumed buried by
the reminder of her past.

Dear Lord, his smile was unbelievably
luring, especially when it made that little dimple in his right
cheek appear. The loose fitting jeans and baggy sweater she wore
suddenly felt stifling and far too burdensome. She glanced at her
drink, but no matter how badly she wanted him right now, she could
never blame it on the alcohol in the morning if she gave into her
urges. If she jumped him, it would be one hundred percent her
decision, and no matter how tempted she was by him, she could not
allow that to happen. She’d
never
forgive herself.

“That’s one more thing about us you don’t
know,” he replied.

“And what exactly is that?”

“When vampires fall in love, it’s forever.
When we find our mates, it’s a bond that can never be severed. We
may not recognize what another is to us right away, but the
connection is there from the beginning. I’ve never encountered that
with any of the women I’ve slept with.”

“And you’re so certain she hasn’t already
walked out of your life?”

“Positive.”

She grabbed the bottle of Scotch. She
contemplated slugging shots out of it as she stared at his
frustratingly, tantalizing body. “How can you be so sure?”

Her hand shook, causing the bottle to clink
against the glass as she poured her drink. She hoped he wrote the
shaking off to the effects of the Scotch, but she knew the truth.
It was the alcohol’s fault she didn’t hate herself over what she
was feeling for him right now, but he didn’t need to know that.

“I’ve seen what the connection is like, what
it does to two vampires or a vampire and a human. I’ve seen the
connection in the beginning stages, and then later when the bond
between mates has been completed. I grew up in a household where
the true, intense love between vampires was a constant part of our
everyday lives. You can believe me, or not, but it’s a beautiful
thing.”

She couldn’t tear her gaze away from the
intensity of his sky colored eyes. “It sounds… interesting.” She
didn’t know what else to say to him about it, didn’t know how to
take his revelation.

“It is far more than that. Believe me, none
of the women I’ve been with have aroused more in me than what was
necessary, and after we were done screwing, all I felt for them was
the urge to get them out of my room.”

This time she couldn’t stop her mouth from
gaping at the bluntness of his words. He kept his eyes locked on
hers while he leisurely took a sip of his drink. The idea of him
with another woman made her want to barf, but the thought of his
body moving over hers made her skin feel too tight and caused her
heart to race.

“I… uh… I see,” she managed to stammer
out.

“Good, because believe me, it is one more
astonishing thing about my race that you’re overlooking. We’re
actually quite loving and very protective when it comes to those we
care for.”

“And when someone you care for is
threatened?”

“You’d prefer the fury of Hell to be
unleashed upon you then.”

Paige swallowed heavily. He pulled his legs
in and rose to his impressive height. She hadn’t realized it until
then, but his head nearly brushed against the ceiling when he
moved. He placed his empty glass on the bar and leaned his elbows
on it. The woodsy scent of the outdoors, and this cabin, filled her
nostrils when he leaned closer to her. Even his smell was entirely
alluring.

“So, are you going to tell me how you became
involved with the hunters?”

Those words had been better than any cold
shower ever could have been to douse her lust. “No.”

He leaned so close she could see the
individual flecks of cobalt blue in his azure eyes. See the dark
blond bristle lining his chin and cheeks. She had to clench her
hands in order to stop her fingers from stretching out to brush
against his hair roughened jawline. She could feel the warmth of
his breath and smell the spicy agave of the tequila. Her eyes fell
briefly to his mouth before shooting back up to him.

Ian hadn’t missed the direction of her gaze.
His pulse quickened, blood flooded his cock as her eyes lingered on
his mouth before meeting his again. He pushed his empty glass
toward her. “You’re asking to know my secrets, but won’t reveal any
of your own?”

“I have no secrets, only personal
information that’s
personal
,” she retorted.

“You don’t find my sex life to be personal?”
Now
the heat was blazing back through her body and burning
her cheeks. She appreciated his candor when answering her
questions, but she hated it when he turned it on her in this
unnerving way. “That means your sex life is fair game too
then.”

“No it does not!” she retorted.

“If you wish to know any more about me,
you’re going to have to give up some juicy tidbits about yourself
too.”

“Who said I wanted to know any more about
you?”

He grinned at her, enjoying watching her
squirm and the way the blush warmed her face. “Don’t pretend you
don’t,” he teased. “And believe me there is plenty more to
learn.”

Oh, she believed him. She had no doubt there
was far more to this massive, sex with two fangs, man. “What would
you like to know?” she croaked out.

“Do you have a boyfriend?”

“No.”

“Have you ever had a boyfriend?”

“Yes.”

“And?”

“We dated all through high school and broke
up when he went to college.”

His head tilted to the side, his eyes
narrowed as he studied her. “I feel like there’s more to that
story.”

She poured him another glass of tequila.
“Not really. It was a mutual breakup. We didn’t pretend to kid
ourselves it would work, not when he was going to college in
Florida, and I… well I wasn’t. We loved each other, but we’d been
friends since childhood. It had seemed natural for our relationship
to develop when we were in our early teens.”

“You were better friends than lovers,” Ian
guessed.

“We were,” she admitted. “But L.J. was a
great first boyfriend to have. He treated me well and we had a lot
of fun together. There just wasn’t any…” She tried to think of the
right word for it.

Ian found his teeth grinding together. He’d
been enjoying needling her. He hadn’t expected the thought of her
with another man to irritate him so much and turn the tables on
him. “Passion?” he suggested, trying to keep his tone casual though
he felt like breaking his glass again.

“Yeah that’s it,” she said with a smile.

“Is he the only man you’ve been with?”

“You’re really nosey,” she accused.

“It’s a simple question, is he?”

“He is,” she confirmed.

“See, it’s not difficult to open up and play
nice after all.”

She shot him a disgruntled look. “What about
you? How many women have you been with?”

For the first time Ian didn’t know how to
respond to her; he finally went with the truth. “I’m not sure.”

Her eyes fell to her hand before she
finished her drink off. “Doesn’t it bother you that you don’t
know?”