Fall of Darkness (The Chronicles of Darkness) (8 page)

Kate gaped at him in starry-eyed
bemusement, feeling breathless and every inch a love-struck girl. So that’s
what it’s like to be truly and thoroughly kissed. Oh, she’d been kissed before,
plenty of times. Just not like that.

“See? Mouthwatering.” Dominic’s husky
voice caressed her like rich velvet, stirring her from her dazed state. He
flashed that smile, the one that made her heart race and her insides flutter.

            “Mmm,
I’m not much for cannibalism, but you are quite delicious yourself.”

This time, his smile didn’t quite reach
his eyes.

What did she say? Kate wasn’t sure, but
whatever had bothered him seemed to pass as quickly as it came.

“Can I ask you something, Dominic?”

“Anything,
bellissima
.”

“Why are you really here?” Kate asked
softly.

The corner of Dominic’s mouth quirked up
in coy amusement. “Why do you think I’m here?”

Kate sighed. “I honestly don’t know.
I’ve tried to figure it out, running through every possibility in my head, but
I can’t find one that fits. What could you possibly want from me? I’m nothing
special.”

Dominic’s dark eyes clouded and his full
lips tightened with displeasure. “Now that’s where you’re so very wrong. You’re
more special than you know. I find you increasingly so with each passing
moment. I may not understand why I’m here with you now, but I know I want to be
here more than anywhere else in the world.”

His voice was low and rough with
emotion. He brushed the back of his free hand along Kate’s jaw from hairline to
chin. The gentle touch sent the colony of butterflies in her stomach into a
riotous frenzy.

Kate gaped at him in stunned silence. A
pathetic, “Oh,” was about all she could muster.

A sly smile played at Dominic’s lips.
“Would it help if I told you I was a deadly assassin, sent here to kill you?”

Kate laughed. “Now that would make more
sense.”

He chuckled, a low rumbling sound deep
in his chest. “Sweetheart, if only you knew.”        

            “Well,
don’t try anything. I’ve got my eyes on you,” Kate joked, gesturing with two
fingers from her eyes to point at him, like she’d seen done in movies.

            “I’ll
be on my best behavior,” he promised. “Are you through eating?”

Kate nodded, but felt guilty. Just
because her appetite was on hiatus, didn’t mean her date wasn’t hungry.

Together, they packed away the remnants
of their dinner. Once their work was done, Dominic sprawled out on his back on
the blanket, lacing his hands behind his head. Kate laid down on her side next
to him, resting her head on his chest.

“Thank you for dinner,” Dominic said, wrapping
one arm around Kate and drawing her closer into his side.

Kate’s skin tingled from the contact. “You’re
welcome. Thanks for saving me.”

“It was the best decision I’ve made in a
long time.” 

They sat in comfortable silence, gazing
up at the stars shining brightly in the night’s sky. Kate reveled in the soothing
sound of his deep, even breathing and steady rhythm of his heartbeat. If he was
a drug, she was definitely an addict. She’d never get enough of him. 

Though the air sizzled with chemistry
when they were together, something more bound them together. They were
connected somehow, as though she’d found a part of herself she hadn’t known was
missing. With Dominic, she felt complete.

Kate studied his rugged profile,
searching for an answer to her fierce attachment to this big, beautiful
stranger. He didn’t feel like a stranger at all. He appeared to be a thousand
miles away, lost deep in his own thoughts.

“What you thinking?” Kate asked, tracing
his strong jaw line with the tip of her finger.

“About you,” he answered quietly, still
staring off into the night’s sky.

“Funny, I was thinking about you too.”

“Oh yeah? What about me?” he asked,
glancing down at her with a soft smile and a quizzical brow.

“Do you believe in destiny?”

“Absolutely.”

Kate took a deep breath, hoping she
didn’t sound half as crazy as she thought she might. “Do you think there’s a
chance we were destined to meet?”  

Dominic shook his head. “I don’t think
so.”

Kate frowned. “Oh. I---”

Dominic pressed a finger to her lips,
halting her protest. “I know so,” he corrected, replacing his finger with his
lips in a tender kiss.

Like the opening of a floodgate, the
simple kiss gave way to a cascade of overflowing passion. Rolling on top of
Dominic, Kate molded her pliant curves to the hard contours of his body. He
returned her kiss with ardor, tangling his fingers in her hair as he pulled her
closer.

Dominic tasted and teased, nipped and
caressed until Kate burned with heated desire. It took every ounce of self
control she could muster to dampen the spread of wild fire his touch sparked,
but she finally managed to roll back onto her side.

“You’re dangerous,” she breathed,
resting her cheek against his chest again.

He stroked her back softly, a dark
chuckle rumbling in his chest. “You have no idea,” he murmured, lifting his
head to kiss her again.

Without a thought, she melted into his
arms. The world faded away. Kate felt nothing but his mouth on hers and her
body pressed against his.

“Okay, okay I believe you,” she giggled when
at last she broke away to draw a ragged breath. Snuggling into his chest, she
laced her fingers through his.

“Tell me about your home,” she said.

“What do you want to know?”

“Everything. I want to know everything
about you.”

“Everything?” Dominic asked, waggling
his eyebrows suggestively as he dipped his head for another kiss.

Kate pressed a finger to his lips. “Don’t
think you can get out of it that easy.”

He sighed. “Where do you want me to
start?”

“How about your home, your family,” she
suggested.

            “I
grew up in the province of Siena, not far from the city of the same name,” he
said. Apparently his home and family were some of the last things he wanted to
discuss right now.

            “Where’s
that?’ Kate pressed.

            “Italy,”
he teased.

            “I
think we established that,” she laughed. “Where in Italy?”

            “In
Tuscany.”

            “Ooooh,
I’m so jealous. What was it like for you growing up there?” she asked

            Silence.
Good grief, she’d need a crowbar to pry any personal information from the man.
What had happened in his past to make him so guarded? A haunted look flickered
behind his eyes every time she asked about his family or home. Kate prepared to
accept that he wasn’t ready to talk about it, was ready to give up on the line
of questioning altogether. But with a heavy sigh, he slowly opened up.

Kate listened to his low, musical voice,
enthralled by the picture he painted with words. The more he spoke, the more
she realized they had nothing in common. Lifestyle. Background. Culture. Nothing.

She’d only dreamed of traveling. He’d
been everywhere. He spoke numerous languages. She’d be lucky to remember a word
of high school French. He loved the opera and symphony. She’d never been, but
preferred top forty and country music over any music without lyrics, or worse,
lyrics she couldn’t understand.

He burnt money as though he owned an entire
orchard of money trees. She saved every penny she made once her bills were paid.
He loved action movies, the more explosions the better. She loved romantic
comedies and old musicals. She was a vegetarian. He was thoroughly convinced
red meat was the only acceptable source of protein.

 Then again, they had everything in
common. She wanted to travel and learn foreign languages. She would go
anywhere, even the opera or symphony, just to be with him. They both loved
music and movies, differences of taste aside. She’d sit through any number of
explosions, so long as he was beside her. They both loved food. They both loved
sports and the outdoors. They both loved their families.

Kate thought they might have one more
important similarity… They both seemed to be falling in love.

Anxiety was a feeling as foreign to him
as fear, but it rose to form a thick lump in his throat as Kate questioned him
about his life. She’d dived head first into dangerous waters. He needed an
escape route and needed it fast. Her questions could lead to the truth and he
wasn’t ready to face it himself. Besides, the story about how he’d been sent to
kill her definitely wasn’t first date material.

            “What
was it like for you growing up?” she asked.

            With
no exit sign in sight, Dominic heaved a reluctant sigh of surrender. He may as well
indulge her curiosity and avoid the hot topics. Anything about vampires,
werewolves, assassins, or prophesies was off limits.

He’d known she would eventually ask
questions about his life, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. She’d know
the truth eventually. He’d hoped for later rather than sooner. Much, much
later, as in death bed confession later.

Part of him was dying to share every
memory he’d ever had with her, to confess the truth so there’d be no more lies
between them. Another part of him, a much louder and more insistent part,
argued in favor of self preservation. He’d never met the coward before, but the
bastard had a point. He didn’t understand exactly what was developing between
him and Kate, but he knew it was strong and centered somewhere near his heart.
Whatever it was, he wasn’t willing to give it up.

Yet there he was, holding her in his
arms, absentmindedly stroking her arm and complacently answering each and every
one of her probing questions.

            He
colorfully depicted his rough and tumble childhood, full of boyish mischief and
adventure in the Tuscan countryside. Laughing, he shared stories of his more
irreverent boyhood feats and failures. He spoke of his years spent in elite
European private schools and of the trouble made by a mischievous group of
over-privileged boys.

            His
chest swelled with pride as he told her about the growth of his company, the
success he’d found in investments and acquisitions. Despite his personal
success, he still fulfilled his obligations to his family’s business. The fact
their ‘business’ involved more vampire hunting than wine making was irrelevant.

            A
sharp pain twisted like a knife in his chest when she asked about his family.
He spoke of them in a guarded tone, treading with caution on the thin ice that
covered the truth. He came from a large family, one of five children. They were
close, family being of the highest priority in his culture.

With a few questions, Dominic finally
managed to turn the tables and Kate told him all about her own life. She shared
stories of a happy childhood, comfortable, but never spoiled. She spoke
lovingly of her parents and the close relationship they shared.

Dominic enjoyed listening to Kate talk.
The loving, passionate woman gave of her whole self in everything she did.

When Kate spoke of her work, she did so
with unmatched enthusiasm. She loved nursing, said she appreciated the
challenge and the constantly changing environment. The learning opportunities
were abundant, as were the opportunities to make a difference in people’s lives.

Laughing, she told him a story about how
she and Lindsey had made a list of two hundred and fifty things they wanted to
do before they turned fifty or died. Dominic wanted to tell her she would have
an eternity to finish her list, but bit his tongue instead.

Kate spoke of her coworkers and friends
with candor, sharing amusing stories and memories. She genuinely seemed to love
the people in her world. It was difficult to imagine a situation where she
would kill a spider, much less a person. She had more humanity in her little
finger than he had in his whole body. How could she possibly bring the end of
the world?

Comparing their likes and interests, they
found they were polar opposites in most aspects. She was the day to his night,
the yin to his yang. Immortal races aside, they were as different as could be.
Maybe that’s why she appealed to him so. Kate was everything he wasn’t.

They slipped into companionable silence.
Gazing up at the stars, sparkling like diamonds in the black velvet of the night’s
sky, Dominic lost himself in the sweet bliss of Kate’s embrace. 

Nothing else mattered, but them and that
moment. Not all the differences in the world. Not their pasts. Definitely not
their futures.

Dominic cradled Kate against his chest
until he lost all sense of time. He found a comfort in her presence, he’d never
felt before. When he held her, he was whole.

He was not an assassin, nor a scarred
warrior. He was the Dominic he saw reflected in her eyes, a man with human
emotions he’d long since forgotten. He thought he might like the man Kate saw
in him.