The Alexandru Chronicles: The Beginning (19 page)

“So you had a good time on your date...Did you sleep with him?”

When his partner didn't reply with her typical retort, he looked up at her. And that's when he saw the shell shock look on her face. “Gen...?” he hastily stood up from his chair, and leaning across from his desk, he grabbed the card that she was holding.

He didn't even have to rip it out of her hand; she was so shock, by what this card said, that her grip on it had been loose.

After reading it, he said, “Your boyfriend definitely has a sick sense of humor.”

XXX

When lunch had rolled around, Genevieve had let Kyle take the wheel of her Mustang. Since he knew how to drive a stick shift, she didn't see the point in driving it herself.
The whole time Kyle had been driving, though, he had been going on and on about Cirpian being truly messed up in the head. And just nag, nag, nag about what a bad guy Cirpian was; gosh, he was worse than a woman. The major problem she had, when it came to Kyle's nagging, was that, he wouldn't have been saying all this about Keith. If Keith had sent her that card, which she wasn't entirely sure that he had or hadn't, Kyle would have told her that she deserved it; for being an insensitive bitch during their break-up.

Yet, Kyle didn't know about her brakes, he only knew about the rose bouquet's card. Possibly, since reading that card, if Kyle had suspected Keith, and this would have meant that she wasn't in the prospects of getting or having a new boyfriend, he would have jumped to the conclusion that Keith had messed with her tires – putting a nail in them, slashing the tires, or letting the air out of them – to get even. If Kyle had known about her brakes, though, and seeing how he already knew that she had a date, the previous night, with a new man, he would have automatically jumped to the conclusion that it was this new man other than an ex-boyfriend; solely because she, herself, picked this new man out.

As confusing as this whole thought process was, Genevieve believed this because of the way her partner and, especially, her sister, Amelia, treated her. It was true that she, herself, hadn't, in the past, picked out any winners, but the whole idea that she had absolutely no taste or was too ignorant to know a good guy from a bad one; had her instantly bristling. Granted she made her share of mistakes, when it came to men, but she was a grown woman and she was old enough to make her own decisions; without the help of matchmakers, like her sister and partner.

“
Kyle, he didn't send me that card...you read both cards and both sounded different.”

Scoffing, Kyle, inquired, “
How do you know...? Lets say that he did do this...” when she just silently glared at him, he said, “He could be a split personality nut case, who doesn't respond well with rejection.”

Shaking her head, she said sarcastically, “There's just a few things wrong with your little assumption..., Sherlock.”

“Yea.”

“
One, my instincts tell me he didn't send me that other card …” when her partner just rolled his eyes, she said, “And two, I wasn't the one who rejected him...he rejected me.” at the astonished look on Kyle's face, she stuck her tongue out at him.

Chapter Seventeen

Cirpian had called Genevieve on her cell, two hours before she was suppose to get off work, to schedule dinner over at his house. Any other man, Genevieve would have most likely said no to; because of it being a work night. Yet, the moment she answered her cell and heard Cirpian's sensual voice on the other line, she hadn't been able to say anything but yes.

She could have cared less that Kyle had done this death sign – straggling himself, to try and prove a point. All Genevieve had done in turn, was give him, that nice suggested, middle finger; to show him, that his opinion was deposited in her
'I don't give a fuck box'
. Really Genevieve couldn't help hoping that Kyle would just straggle himself into submission or at least straggle himself to the point he wouldn't be able to speak for awhile. She loved her partner, but sometimes he made her do and think some pretty unlady like things.

Before leaving work to drive up to see Cirpian, Kyle had given her another ominous warning about Cirpian. And she of course, in turn, had told Kyle, very nicely..., to shut the hell up.

While Genevieve would have liked nothing more than to leave from work and drive straight up the mountain to see the man of her dreams, she had decided to first stop over at
Brakemax
to pick up her Chevy Cruze and drop off her stupid rental – she had no intention to pay for an extra day, to keep a car, whose AC had given out half way through work.

Once she had left Tucson's city limits, the drive up into the mountains had been nice. She had turned off the AC and rolled down the windows, enjoying the cool pine breeze and the fresh air.

The drive had gone by pretty quick, and without any distractions, she was able to get to her destination in less than an hour.

As she pulled up to the enormous wooden mansion, she sat there in her car just staring up at her dream house. She had imagined, that one day she would purchase this house or one similar to it for herself. Yet, that dream seemed to be more a pipe dream than reality.

She was in debt.

If it wasn't school loans, it was credit card debt.

Every time she thought she could get ahead, she found some other bill holding her back.

As she continued to sit in her car, not making any move to get out, just enjoying the peace and quiet, her thoughts started wandering back to what the mechanic had said over at
Brakemax
...

XXX

It had taken close to an hour, battling Tucson's congested traffic, to finally get over to
Brakemax.
Once she had successfully gotten there, she pulled into a parking place across from her destination.

After getting out of her rental – bumping her head, yet again, on the low ceiling – she, for the sixth time that day, uttered a curse word under her breath. She was thankful to finally be getting rid of this car, for she was starting to actually get use to the whole bumping experience.

As she rubbed her head, she made her way into the air conditioning building.

The moment she walked in, she was greeted with a courteous welcome from the mechanic behind the counter. “Good evening, how may
I help you?”

Automatically responding to the guy's courteous smile, she said, “I'm Ms. Freemen, and I dropped my 2012 Chevy Cruze off earlier today...Is it ready?” really the tow truck dropped her car off, but what was the sense in pointing that out.

Typing a few things into his computer, he said, “Yea..., it's ready...” taking the credit card that she handed to him, he continued, “We had to replace the brake line.”

“
The brake line?” Genevieve couldn't help the surprise in her voice. “What was wrong with it?”

He hadn't either notice her tone or he was just more focused on other things; whatever it was, he didn't seemed to be fazed by the surprise in her voice. “It was damaged...”

Once the guy had handed her, her car keys, Genevieve, perplexedly staring at him, asked, “How was it damaged?”

Shrugging, the guy said, “Well, to be honest, it looked like it was cut..., but it could have been something else.”

When all Genevieve did was silently stare at him, he excused himself to talk to another customer. As she stood there, she couldn't help thinking about that card that had come with the roses.

Sorry about your car...

Whoever had sent that message, knew about her brake problems.

Could it have been Cirpian?

Every fiber in her body said otherwise.

Yet, she couldn't help wondering if possibly Kyle was right. Cirpian could be a split personality nut case.

XXX

It was an unknown group of birds singing, and the suddenness of a hummingbird, flying too closing to her windshield, that had Genevieve suddenly drawn out of her thoughts.

As she reached for her car door handle, she suddenly stopped.

Why was she here?

If Cirpian was crazy, whose to say he wouldn't hurt her?

Yet, before she could ponder any more about these two questions, there was this surprising knock on her car window; that had her flinching inwardly. Yet, if the surprise of that knock wasn't surprising enough, what astonished her even more was when her car door suddenly came open.

At the sight of Cirpian's handsome smile, she instantly relaxed and forgot about her suspicion.

Taking the hand that he offered her, she let him pull her out of her car.

After she shut her car door, she leaned against it to stare at the man in front of her.

Unlike last night, when he had been wearing a black suit, he was now dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a white shirt. He looked irresistible, with his hair slicked back and those grayish blue eyes not seeing, but still appearing as if they were looking at her.

Looping her arms around his neck, she pulled him toward her. As she rested her forehead against his lips, she was automatically comforted by the feel of his lips against her brow.

As Cirpian held her against him, he couldn't help feeling this powerful rush of desire overwhelm his every being – he wanted her.

Just the smell of her blood, had aroused his every senses. From the moment he had heard her pull up, he had been lured by the scent of her blood to come outside to her.

This, in itself, should have had him making some excuse to get her to leave – possibly hurting her feelings.

Yet, the idea of hurting Genevieve was more painful to him than his unbearable lust.

As they walked arm and arm into his house, he couldn't help immersing himself in her scent. Since that first night he had met her, he had noticed how she smelled like vanilla and cinnamon. Yet, there was always a different scent mix into that – Honeysuckle and some other feminine aroma.

Once inside, he turned to close the door. And it was then that he caught that familiar scent—a scent that he hadn't smelled for centuries.

Adrian.

XXX

“
Dinner smells...amazing.” she was watching over his shoulder, as he sauteed some sausages up for the Revioli that he had already put in the boiling water upon the stove.

Stepping back when he turned around, he smiled at her. “Do you like sausages?”

“Yea...” she smiled.

Grinning happily, he turned back to the stove and, once he had turned down the sausages' burner, he said, “Dinner should be ready in a few minutes.”

Going over to the kitchen table, she sat down, it was then that she noticed that fist like impression in the table. As she traced it, she asked, “Where did you learn to cook?”

Leaning against the kitchen counter, he, looking over at her, said, “Around...I travel a lot and I pick-up a few things in different places.”

“That must be nice...” when he quizzically cocked his head to the side, she said, “I've only been places that are closer to home...I've always thought it would be nice to travel, though.”

“
Where did you want to travel to?”

“
Ireland...” at his encouraging smile, she said, “Scotland, Australia, Paris, you know exotic countries like that.”

Raking his fingers though his hair, he said, “Maybe you'll go there one of these days...I'd like to take you to Paris...”

Smiling suggestively, she got up from her chair, and sauntering over to him, she looped her arms around his neck; leaning up on tip toes, she pulled him toward her.

The kiss was a brief one, yet it seemed to go on forever. Genevieve could feel it all the way down to her toes; ending with him lighting a fire in the rest of her. When eventually it was over and she stood there, with Cirpian's mouth an inch away from hers, he said, “and Ireland...” 

When he said this, she automatically smiled. It was the suddenness of him removing his left hand, from the small of her back, to her face, though, that had her smile somewhat faltering. The abruptness of his actions had startled her so much, that she had instinctively flinched and felt her body tense up. When he started tracing her face, though, while still slightly surprised, she instantly relaxed at the smoothness of his rough hands going from her mouth to her nose. Once he had traced the whole of her face, he reciprocated her smile with one of his own.

As they continued to stand there, both enjoying the feel of each others arms, Cirpian brush a strand of Genevieve's hair off of her forehead. When she wrapped her arms tighter around him and rested her head in that small area, where his chest stopped and his neck began, Cirpian, letting his chin rest lightly upon her head, found his subconscious mind thinking about his cousin.