Wanton With a Vampire (9 page)

“I’ll pass on the offer, but I’m sure the
hacker I know has no interest in your left nut,” Alek said.

Trish frowned. “I’m not sure that’s such a
good idea,” she said hesitantly. As much as Trish wanted to find
her father’s killer, the idea of bringing Isaiah into this didn’t
appeal to her. He was much better than he’d been right after his
breakdown, but Isaiah still wasn’t quite right in many ways, and
she was worried the tension might set him off. She also didn’t like
the idea of bringing him to Carlos’ attention.

“He can get access without even setting foot
in the room,” Alek assured her.

“I already know about Isaiah Draksel,” Carlos
said in a bored tone. “When I mentioned using a hacker, I was
hoping you’d suggest him.”

Alek nodded and pulled out his phone.

Alek was right about Isaiah’s skills. He
remotely accessed Alek’s laptop and had them into the necessary
databases within ten minutes. After twenty minutes of looking at
photos, Trish finally had faces for her father’s killers, and she
felt oddly numb when she learned that two were already serving life
without parole and one was dead.

“How did you know where to look?” Trish
asked.

“After I became a detective, I looked into
your father’s death and found out what cases he was working on.
With your description of the men, it was a little easier to narrow
it down. Although, I’m still not sure what I can do,” he admitted.
“Ideally, the ones that are still alive should be tried so they
can’t get out of prison, but there isn’t any evidence.”

Trish shrugged. “My mom will want to know
she’s right, so maybe this will be enough. They’re already in
prison. While it would have been nice if my mom could have
collected on the life insurance all those years ago, she’s
financially secure now.”

“You need to take care of Ashley’s body,”
Willow said in disgust.

“Sorry for sounding so selfish,” Trish said.
“I didn’t even think about that.”

Alek glared at Willow. “You aren’t being
selfish and have every right to be caught up in what’s going on
with you.”

“We’ll figure out a way to make sure her body
is found,” Carlos assured Willow.

“Sorry for being bitchy,” Willow said in a
sad voice. “I just feel horrible for the girl. She’s been stuck in
limbo for a long time, and her poor parents have no clue what
happened to her.”

“I’ll help you convince people to look for
her body,” Alek offered to Carlos.

Carlos nodded and stood. “Okay. Let me make
some calls first and see if I can do it without your special brand
of influence.”

“It’s faster my way,” Alek said with a
grin.

“It’s also really fucked up,” Carlos stated
bitterly before he practically stormed out of the condo.

Alek hated leaving Trish for the two hours it
took to help the detective sort things out. It had taken all of his
self-control to keep from calling over and over to make sure she
was okay.

When he walked through the front door, he
found Trish wrapped in a plush blue blanket on the sofa. While it
was warm, she still had moments of feeling chilled, not that he
blamed her. Her eyes met his, and he was nearly floored. What was
it about this woman that he was so drawn to? There was no denying
her beauty, but it was more than that.

“How did it go?” she asked, and he could tell
she’d been crying.

Even knowing it was a mistake, he moved
across the room and scooped her up in his arms before settling her
on his lap. “Everything is being taken care of. Why are you
crying?”

“I’m not sure,” she admitted. “I mean, I have
a lot going on, but I’m not sure which thing is making me
weepy.”

He kissed the top of her head. “It’s probably
a combination of everything. You also overdid it today. What you
need is to eat dinner and go to bed early.”

Trish looked up and touched the side of his
cheek. “Will you sleep with me, Alek?”

Sucking in a sharp breath, he was instantly
hard. “That would be a really bad idea.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Why?” he sputtered. “I don’t know where to
begin with the reasons why this is a bad idea.”

“Listen, Alek, I haven’t had much
experience,” Trish admitted. “That time with you was the only time
I’ve ever climaxed with a partner.”

Alek opened his mouth, but all that came out
was a strange gurgling sound.

The woman actually laughed at him. “You look
ridiculous. Is this all it would have taken to get you to back off
a month ago? Are you one of those guys who only want a woman who’s
a challenge?”

“I prefer women who aren’t a challenge,” he
admitted. “You’re an exception. That has nothing to do with the
reason I think this is a bad idea. I’m not going to take advantage
of you when you’re recovering from a serious injury. You’ve had
some terrible shocks in the last couple of days.”

“Believe it or not, I’m just asking you to
sleep,” she said. “I’m freaked out and emotional. I watched my
father die today, and I don’t want to be alone.”

Alek was more than a little embarrassed about
his assumption. “Of course. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“You were thinking you’re an attractive man
who has women throw themselves at him all the time. Bet not a lot
of women invite you to their bed for reasons other than sex.”

“True, but I should have known you weren’t
planning to seduce me.”

“I wouldn’t even know where to start,” she
admitted. “Seduction isn’t something I have a lot of experience
with.”

“You were doing fine when you told me I’m the
only man you’d ever climaxed with,” he confessed. “That got me
thinking about all sorts of other ways I want to make you
climax.”

The shy smile she gave him made him even
harder, something she must have noticed while sitting on his lap.
“Good, because I do plan to seduce you, just not tonight.”

Alek wanted to say something sensible, but
sensible wasn’t really his thing. He was the irresponsible one in
the family. Yet here he was, wanting to save Trish from making a
huge mistake, because that’s what any involvement with him would
be— a mistake.

“You deserve better than me,” he said,
stroking her hair back from her face.

“I’m not talking about marrying you, or even
dating you,” she said. “You’re the first guy I’ve had any sexual
interest in for a long time. That’s something I’d like to explore,
but tonight, I’m exhausted and scared. So, will you sleep with
me?”

Alek nodded, feeling like a tongue-tied fool.
He’d never been at a loss for words around a woman before. Somehow,
none of his sexy lines seemed appropriate. Then again, they hadn’t
seemed appropriate for this woman from the beginning.

Trish slipped off his lap and stretched,
giving him a much too perfect view of her sexy breasts.

With great effort, he tore his gaze away from
her. “I’ll give you time to get ready for bed.” His voice sounded
strained.

After studying him for a moment, Trish asked,
“Are you nervous?”

He opened his mouth to answer but closed it
before looking down at his feet. “A little,” he admitted. “I have
no idea why this is making me nervous, but it is.” Then he met her
eyes. “Actually, I know why. Before, you were off-limits. No matter
how much I wanted you, I could only let things go so far.”

“You seemed willing to let things go pretty
far,” she reminded him.

“I could have let them go much further,” he
said, giving in to the temptation to stand and move closer to her.
“You wouldn’t have stopped me.”

“You’re right,” she said. “Every time you
touched me, I forgot all the reasons I had for avoiding anything
physical with you.”

“It isn’t easy remembering the reasons I
shouldn’t fuck you until you crave my touch like a drug,” he said
in a rough voice. “The problem is, I like you, Trish.”

“That doesn’t usually happen with women, does
it?”

“No, it doesn’t happen often. I also know for
a fact I’m not your type. Why would you want me?”

“You mean, aside from the fact that you’re
one of the hottest guys I’ve ever met?” she asked. “I’m not sure.
Things have been bizarre in my life lately, even before the whole
dying thing. I thought I had a normal life with some crazy friends.
Then I found out I’m surrounded by psychics who somehow ended up
involved with vampires. Their lives were moving in a direction mine
couldn’t. I was being left behind.”

“So you figured you should sleep with a
vampire to make yourself feel involved?” Alek hated the hurt in his
voice.

“I don’t think that’s what it was. Maybe I
was rebelling a little. You have no idea how annoying it is to have
people telling you what to do. Mostly, I was just attracted to you,
but I was afraid to let things go further. Now, I’ve decided that I
don’t want to live my life ruled by my fears.”

“You’re a passionate woman. You just need to
find the right man to bring that passion out in you.”

There was a moment of tense silence where
Alek almost felt the need to hold his breath. He had no clue what
he was hoping Trish would say. Yeah, he wanted to be invited into
her body, but that was beyond messed up. Messed up or not, he
didn’t have the willpower to tell her no if she made the offer.

Trish looked like she was about to respond,
but Alek stopped her before she could say something she’d regret.
“Get ready for bed,” he said. “I’ll change and be in soon.

Alek watched her walk into the bedroom
because he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her shapely ass. Trish was
curvy in all the right places, and he was dying to strip her naked
and explore every one of those tantalizing curves. Putting the
brakes on those thoughts, Alek reminded himself of all the reasons
he would not strip Trish naked and indulge in his fantasies.

With a sigh, he headed into the other bedroom
to change. Somehow, he didn’t think Trish would appreciate having
him climb into her bed naked. Looking down at the outline of his
erection under his jeans, he wondered if he should try a cold
shower, but he figured Trish would worry he’d changed his mind if
he took too long. After changing into sweatpants, he noticed that
his dick wasn’t being any more cooperative. With any luck, Trish
wouldn’t notice his condition.

He padded across the living room to Trish’s
bedroom. She was lying on the bed, facing away from him when he
entered, and she turned to look at him. He’d been hoping the lights
would be dimmed, but no such luck. Her eyes locked onto his
erection, and his cheeks heated.

“Sorry,” he murmured. “That thing has a mind
of its own.”

She gave him a reassuring smile.

“Don’t you dare say something sweet and
comforting,” he warned.

“I was going to thank you for covering it up.
You might have knocked something over with that thing.”

Alek laughed and climbed into bed with her.
He wrapped his arms around her from behind. Luckily, their height
difference allowed him to keep his overly excited dick from rubbing
against her too much. “You are something else.”

She yawned. “Thank you for sleeping in here
with me.”

After kissing the top of her head, he nuzzled
her silky hair. “Sweet dreams.”

Trish should still be asleep, but at four in
the morning, she was wide awake with Alek snoring softly beside
her. Normally, she’d read in bed, but she didn’t want to wake Alek.
He’d spent the night before last in her hospital room, and no one
slept well in a chair. Last night, he’d at least had a comfortable
bed, but she’d heard him moving around in the middle of the night.
Alek definitely needed more sleep.

Before leaving the room, she took a moment to
study Alek. The blankets were down around his hips, giving Trish a
perfect view of Alek’s well-muscled torso. When he rolled to his
side, the blankets came down even lower, and she felt a pang of
disappointment that his sweatpants were preventing her from getting
a peek at his bare backside— one she was certain was just as
drool-worthy as his chest. Alek was one of the sexiest men she’d
ever met, which surprised her. While she’d been attracted to Noah,
that attraction had paled in comparison to what she now felt for
Alek. Alek tempted her more than any man ever had.

Tearing her gaze away from him, she walked to
the front room and powered up her laptop. She didn’t have any photo
shoots for the next week, but she had photos to edit from several
recent shoots before meeting with the clients. Her boss was great
and let her pick her own schedule for the most part. The exception
was the holiday season or graduation time, when they all had to put
in extra hours. She never shot weddings, so she only had a few
family shoots and a couple of buildings she’d photographed for an
architect they contracted with to prepare for clients. The building
shots needed little in the way of touchups, but the family photos
always required more work. That was especially true for the ones
she’d taken at the beach. While outdoor shoots were fun and looked
more natural, it was harder to control the lighting. It always
amused her that people wanted natural looking shots that made
everyone look perfect.

Five hours later, her bedroom door opened and
Alek walked out. “What are you doing up?” he demanded. Obviously,
Alek was not a morning person.

“Working,” she said without looking at
him.

“You should be resting. I told your boss you
need two weeks off to recover,” he grumbled.

Trish smiled. “Bridget sent me an email about
your conversation, and she’d like you to remove your head from your
backside before talking to her again. She also said I could take as
much time as I need, but it’s up to me, not some overbearing
jerk.”

“I should have sent someone over to talk to
her in person,” he muttered.