I swallowed the last of my drink and, reaching to refill it, discovered the third bottle of Scotch already empty. My brothers seemed at a loss to offer me any input on my situation. Instead, we drank in silence–until we heard the front door slam.
“Uh-oh,” Sebastian said with a grin. “I think the little woman is home.”
“I dare you to say that again and see what happens,” I warned him.
He rolled his eyes. “I hope she has a better sense of humor.”
“She’s scarier than I am.”
Before Benedict could add anything to the conversation, Thea swept into the room with Jacqueline by her side. Neither looked pleased to discover me in the company of my brothers and empty bottles. I lurched to my feet and started toward Thea.
She crossed her arms as I approached. Fury radiated from her, and I slowed my approach. She was much taller than usual in her heels, but I doubted that’s what made her appear so formidable.
“Pet,” I murmured as I stepped closer.
She raised an eyebrow, looking around the room. “Having fun?”
“Just having a drink with my brothers,” I said with a shrug.
“A drink or an entire bar?” she wrinkled her nose. “You smell like a distillery.”
“We were catching up. Benedict is in town.” I gestured over my shoulder to where he was slumped on the couch. He’d lost his suit coat along with his tie. His shirtsleeves were rolled up, and he was still nursing his last drink.
“Hello.” Benedict waved. An hour ago, I wouldn’t have expected him to be so friendly. The bottle of whiskey he’d polished off between now and then must have helped.
I checked my watch. “You’re home early.”
“Sorry to interrupt,” she said in a calm voice.
“No, I’m glad you’re back.” I reached for her, but she shrank away.
“Uh-oh,” Sebastian called from the sofa.
“Are you all drunk?” Jacqueline asked with a sigh. “Tell me that you saved me some.”
“Vampires can get drunk?” Thea thawed momentarily, and I glimpsed the curiosity I’d first fallen for underneath the icy attitude.
“No, not really.” I shook my head and winced. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I peeked over at her. “Maybe a little, but it wears off quickly.”
“Lucky for you.” She wouldn’t look at me. In fact, she seemed to be inventorying the room in an attempt to avoid making eye contact. Was she still mad about earlier? Or had the Salon du Rouge been worse than I imagined?
“Want a drink?” Jacqueline called as she opened a bottle of gin.
“No,” Thea said quietly. “I want to lie down. What room would you like me to stay in?”
I shook my head, trying to process her question, and was rewarded with another piercing throb. “Our room.”
“You mean your room?” she corrected me.
Shit.
“Maybe we should–”
But Thea turned and swept away. I stood there, watching in silent shock, as she made her way up the stairs. Jacqueline moved to my side, sipping her drink without comment.
“So, that’s Thea?” Benedict said. “She’s pretty.”
We all swiveled around to stare at him.
Benedict lifted his hands, shrugging his broad shoulders. “What? I’m trying to be supportive.”
“At least the whisky seems to have checked Julian’s blood-rage. I think an hour ago that observation might have resulted in loss of limb,” Sebastian said. Then, he turned his attention to me. “By the way, brother, I think she’s mad at you.”
“Tell me something new,” I swore under my breath.
“Tonight didn’t go so well,” Jacqueline said.
“Do I want to know?”
“Probably not,” she admitted.
“Are you going to tell me?”
“I’m through being in the middle of this,” she said. “But you should probably go talk to her.”
“I’m in trouble, aren’t I?”
“Were you in trouble before?” she asked.
Fuck, what did that mean? I nodded.
“Yeah, you are. Can I give you some advice?”
I groaned but remained silent.
Jacqueline cocked her head, her blonde braid falling over her shoulder. “If that’s going to be your attitude…”
“Please,” I said penitently.
“Fine,” she agreed and lowered her voice. “Take her on a date. A proper one. You might want to romance her a bit.”
“Is that a good idea?” I muttered.
“That depends,” she said casually before finishing her gin. “Do you want to lose her?”
I didn’t say anything. I didn’t have to. She already knew the answer. I wasn’t sure I had a choice. Even now, it felt like my body was being tugged up the stairs.
“I better…”
“That’s a good idea.” She smiled and turned to my brothers. “Care to see what trouble we can find at this hour?”
“I guess.” Benedict didn’t sound very enthused.
But Sebastian was already on his feet. “The night is young.”
I left the three of them bickering about what arrondissement they wanted to head toward. Taking the steps two at a time, I prayed I would find Thea in the bedroom we’d shared since our arrival, not in one of the guest suites.
Relief washed over me when I found her in our bedroom, but it was short-lived when I saw her arms full of her belongings.
“I just need to grab a few things,” she said, looking past me again. But the crack in her voice told me that she wasn’t just angry. She was hurt.
I covered the distance between us in a split second, stepping into her path to stop her from leaving. “Pet, what’s wrong?”
“I need to think,” she murmured.
“About?”
She shook her head. Tears gathered in her eyes, but she didn’t blink. I suspected she refused to let them fall.
“God, you’re pretty when you’re stubborn.”
“I’m not being stubborn.” Her voice shook as she lifted her chin, glaring at me. I raised my eyebrows, and she sighed. “Okay, maybe I am being a little stubborn.”
“You need to think,” I said, struggling to respect her wishes. Right now, my whole being wanted to carry her to bed and make her mine. The hesitance I felt about bedding her when I first learned she was a virgin eroded more with each moment that passed. “I can respect that.”
She gave me a doubtful look.
“But this is your room as much as mine,” I prowled closer.
“Not remotely.” She shifted, nearly dropping a pair of jeans in the process.
There was no way I would let her hole up in another room. She belonged here. She belonged in my bed. “You take the bed.”
“And where will you sleep?” she challenged me.
“Elsewhere.”
“You want me to take your bed?”
“Pet, I might go crazy if you try to sleep in anyone else’s bed,” I said in a strained voice.
“Even my own?” she asked. Her lips tugged up at the corners. She thought she had me.
I dared to trace a finger down her cheek. She shuddered when our bare skin made contact. “Especially your own.”
Because being in her own bed meant she would be back in San Francisco. My own plans wouldn’t take me back there this year, if not longer. Just the thought of her being that far sucked the air from my lungs. Was this ever going to get easier?
She studied me for a moment, her face full of her own questions. After a minute, she turned and dumped the clothes in a nearby chair. “Fine. I’m going to get undressed–alone.”
I remained silent as she made her way to the bathroom. It was a victory, if only a small one. She shut the door, and I picked up her clothes and carried them to the closet. I wanted no reminders that she almost left. I’d just finished rehanging everything when she emerged from the bathroom. Her face was freshly washed, and she was wrapped in a cashmere robe. She continued past me with a look of pure determination. When she reached the bed, she slipped the robe off quickly, granting me a flash of ivory satin, before she climbed under the covers.
“I think I’ve got it from here,” she announced.
Every instinct in my body screamed to join her. I had never wanted anything more–not sex or power or blood. Instead, I nodded and took the chair I’d just cleared.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Going to bed.”
“Julian.” She stretched my name into five syllables. “You have plenty of beds in this house.”
“I don’t mind the chair.”
“You said you would sleep–”
“Elsewhere,” I pointed out. “The chair is elsewhere.”
“I thought you meant another room.” She tugged the sheets up to her chin.
“Then I hope you learned something about agreeing to an arrangement.”
Her eyes narrowed, but she burrowed into the bed. “Nothing’s going to happen to me.”
“I know that.” Nothing would happen to her because I wouldn’t let it happen.
“I’m not going to be able to fall asleep if you’re just sitting in that chair staring at me.”
“Maybe I can help.” I rose from my seat, but she held out a hand to stop me.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Relax, pet. I’ll behave,” I promised her. She clung to the sheets like they were a shield. I sighed and sat down at the end of the bed. Lifting the bedding, I drew her feet one at a time into my lap. “Believe it or not, I can put you to sleep without an orgasm.”
Was it my imagination, or did her face fall a little at that?
It didn’t matter. Taking one of her feet in my hands, I began to massage gently. It took effort to control my own strength to not injure her unintentionally. Watching Thea’s limbs slowly droop made it worth it.
“That feels amazing,” she said breathily.
“I figured it might after wearing those shoes.”
She sighed. “So, this is the perk of having a vampire boyfriend?”
God, that term felt so grossly inaccurate. I shoved the urge to say so back inside me. “One of them.”
“There are others?” She grinned at me. It was tentative and a little cruel, and I loved her for it.
“I’d be happy to show you.”
I saw her throat slide. “Don’t tempt me. Tonight anything from my ankles up is off-limits.”
“Noted, but pet, forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest.”
“If you want fruit, try the kitchen,” she said in a dry tone. “There’s no fruit here tonight.”
“About this evening…” I switched to the other foot, feeling smug to see her eyes were already drooping. It wasn’t nearly as much fun as watching her climax until she couldn’t stay awake, but it was something.
“Ummm hmmm,” she murmured dreamily.
“What happened?”
“Nothing,” she said, sounding even more tired than before.
“Sebastian said it was the first Rite.”
That got her attention. Her eyes snapped open. “You knew?”
“Not until after you were gone,” I said quickly, realizing my mistake. The last thing I needed was for her to think I’d sent her off to a vampire ritual unprepared. “Can you tell me about it?”
“Actually, I can. I left before anyone could compel me to never speak of it.” But she didn’t continue.
Maybe I’d asked the wrong question. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really,” she said. “I mean, there were snakes and chanting and blood offerings.”
“Blood offerings?” I repeated. Darkness gripped me, threatening to take over.
“I didn’t get that far either,” she said, sounding mildly annoyed but not angry. “I wish they would have compelled me to forget everything that happened.”
“Was it that bad?”
“There were snakes,” she said forcefully. “Lots of snakes. On me.”
I would have to ask Jacqueline to tell me precisely what the first Rite entailed.
“I take it you don’t like snakes?” I guessed.
“Not anymore.”
I chuckled as I tucked her feet back under the covers. Thea turned on her side, wrapping her slender arms around a down pillow. I got to my feet, but before I could return to my chair, she blurted out, “Don’t. Sleep in bed with me.”
I took a few steps closer and leaned over to kiss her cheek. “You need time to think.”
She shook her head and reached for me.
“I will be right here.” I resumed my place in the chair. “And when you wake up tomorrow, I would like to take you on a date.”
“A date?” she repeated. “The last time you said…”
“A proper date.”
“What about all the parties we came to Paris to attend?” she asked. Did I detect a hint of hope in her voice?
“We have the theatre tomorrow evening, but we’re free until then.”
“The theatre? That sounds positively normal,” she said.
“It won’t be,” I promised. Nothing vampires did ever fell under that category.
Thea was quiet long enough I thought she’d fallen asleep, until she whispered, “There’s something you should know.”
“What?” I didn’t like the way she said it. Who knew what else went wrong this evening.
“Don’t be mad.”
I gripped the arms of my chair and waited.
She took a deep breath, then dropped a bombshell. “Your mother knows I’m a virgin.”
