After Sundown: Redemption (33 page)

Amy stopped at a little red sports car. She leaned back and rested her elbows against the hood. Christian could see anticipation and desire enflame her eyes as she stared up at him. She licked her lips with her small pink tongue.

“How about one last good night kiss?” Amy purred.

“Gladly.” Christian smiled.

Resting a palm on the hood on either side of her, Christian leaned over. He pressed his hips to hers. Amy gasped from the contact and licked her lips again to moisten them. Amy didn’t know it, but there would be no kiss. It was time to make her forget about him and move on with her life.

Preparing to clear her mind, he almost didn’t notice her eyes dart quickly to his right. Something had caught her attention. Sensing danger, he turned around. Something slammed into his head. He staggered to his knees. Before he could stand up again, he felt a painful prick to one arm, then the other. He shot to his feet, knocking down whoever had been by his sides.

Christian saw five vampires standing around him in a circle. The two men, who had been by his side, got to their feet and joined the others. They stood at the ready, waiting for him to attack. One of them was Amy’s boyfriend.

He sneered at Christian knowingly.

“You have an appointment with my mistress. Bazhena is very anxious to meet with you.”

Christian swung his gaze back to where Amy still leaned nonchalantly against the car.

“I told you if you had just given me what I needed you wouldn’t be sorry. You should have listened to me,” she said with a careless shrug. “Now Bazhena will make me immortal.”

Suddenly, Amy’s image grew fuzzy and dim. She and the vamps around him began to laugh. The sound grew softer and softer as Christian felt his knees grow weak. Anger and frustration filled him. He tried to fight, tried to move, but he couldn’t. His body refused to respond. The prick he had felt earlier? They had injected him with something! Why had he been so stupid? So careless? His last thought was of Alyssa as he slid to the ground. Then everything went dark.

* * * * *

Alyssa coughed for almost a full minute. The coffee had gotten into her air passage and just didn’t want to get out. Her aunt stood up and tried to pat her back. Again.

Alyssa held up a hand to stop her.

“No-stop-I’m fine,” she choked out. She drew in a deep breath, immensely glad her air passage had finally cleared.

Her aunt sat back down and waited patiently for her to speak.

Alyssa shook her head.

“No, Aunt Joyce. This is between Christian and I. I’m not prepared to share this kind of information with you at the moment.”

“Whatever do you mean, dear?”

Her aunt’s attempt to look innocent didn’t faze Alyssa.

“I think you know exactly what I mean. Now can we talk about something else?”

Her aunt sighed, but nodded her head in agreement.

“Fine. What do you have planned for today?”

Planned? Alyssa was still trying to recover from last night. Things were completely unsettled with Christian. And she had her last speaking engagement tonight. She would see Christian this evening. They would sit down and talk about this, no matter what. She loved him. She admitted it now. But she wasn’t sure where their relationship could go from here. He was a vampire. She was mortal. Did she want to spend her life with a gorgeous guy who never aged, while she grew older and older? A guy who drank blood and couldn’t go out during the day?

Did she want to be with someone who made her feel cherished, beautiful and powerful? A man who was so sexy she wanted to rip his clothes off every time she was with him? Who made the most incredible love to her she had ever had?

What did she want? Right now, just a bath. That was all she could deal with at the moment.

“First I’d like to take a bath,” she told her aunt. “Get cleaned up and just soak for a little while. I really appreciate you coming over so early, but I don’t think you need to stay with me. I’m really fine. And Christian will be picking me up after sundown.”

“I’m staying with you. Christian felt it was important that you remain in your apartment today and not go out. He also said that I needed to stay with you until he picks you up tonight. So I’m staying.”

Alyssa started to protest, but her aunt shook her head.

“I know how stubborn you can be dear. You get that from your father, by the way. And your mother, come to think of it. But I’m sure Christian knows what he’s doing. If he feels you’re still in danger and need to stay at home, then that’s exactly what you’re doing. Do you have any patients scheduled for today? If so, you need to cancel them. If you’d like, I can call Stella and tell her.”

“That’s not necessary. I told her I wasn’t taking patients today. And since it’s so close to the weekend, I had her postpone any more scheduling until Monday.”

“Great. Then it’s settled. You go take your bath and I’ll wash out the cups and coffeepot.”

“I really don’t—”

“Go, Alyssa. I’m staying and that’s that.” Her aunt pointed towards the bathroom, giving her the no nonsense frown she used to give Alyssa when she was a child.

“Fine.” Alyssa stomped off to the bathroom. She knew she was acting like a child, but she couldn’t seem to help herself.

The minute she sank into the hot bath water scented with lavender, her mood improved dramatically. She closed her eyes and moaned with pleasure. Making love with Christian had given her body some aches she hadn’t had for quite a long time. The heated water relaxed her tight muscles.

Leaning her head back against the rim of the tub, Alyssa closed her eyes as images of she and Christian rolled through her mind. She and Christian making love. Him protecting her from her stalker, then holding her in his arms as he flew her home. Then there was him protecting her from Bazhena. The images went on and on like a slide show. Lastly, she remembered how he had looked last night. Standing in front of his large bedroom window, looking out into the darkness, like a solitary man up against the world.

Alyssa had ached when she saw him like that. She had wanted to go to him, comfort him. So that he wouldn’t feel alone ever again. Is this what her mother had felt? An uncontrollable need to help her mate no matter what? A driving need to make him happy? Was she finally becoming what she was always destined to be, her mother’s child? A woman so obsessed with a man that everything else fell to the wayside, even her own life?

Isn’t that what was really bothering her? The vampire thing was just an excuse, a very strange and extraordinary excuse, but still an excuse. She looked deep into her heart and the answer was there. She wouldn’t have made love to Christian if she hadn’t already accepted him for what he was. It all came back to her fears. Could she give so much of herself to someone else without losing who she was?

Tonight. It would be settled tonight. They would talk. It was their last evening together as bodyguard and client. She would be honest with him about everything and she would expect the same thing from him. That included Bazhena. Alyssa wanted to find out exactly what that insane creature wanted with her. And how they could stop her once and for all. Yes, tonight.

Alyssa’s mind raced a while longer, then finally settled down. The lavender-scented bath calmed her. The image of Christian appeared in her mind and she smiled. He leaned his shoulder against the doorframe. He wore no shirt and his half buttoned jeans rode low on his hips. A wicked smile curled the corner of his lips up. His eyes were hot and hungry for her. His hair was loose.

Her fingers curled into fists. She wanted to run her hands through his soft tresses. Feel it whisper across her body as they made love. Her eyes ran hungrily over him. His powerful arms flexed under her stare. His muscular chest tapered down to a narrow waist.

Christian’s ribbed stomach looked like a six-pack commercial. His golden skin made her mouth water. She licked her lips in anticipation of tasting him. He looked good enough to eat. Alyssa’s gaze moved lower, following the light sprinkling of hair leading into his pants. Her hands itched to unbutton his jeans the rest of the way, to explore where her eyes roamed.

Christian chuckled softly.

Her gaze flew back to his face. He gave her a smile so sexy her body tightened instantly.

“You look like you want to eat me, little girl.”

Alyssa gasped. Was he reading her thoughts again? She didn’t care. Not anymore. Instead of retreating, she did something she had always wanted to do. She told him exactly what she wanted to do to him.

“I do want to taste you, Christian, every inch of your skin, from top to bottom and back up again. I want to dip my hand into your pants and touch you. I want to run my fingers up and down the length of you until you’re panting. Then I want you to taste and touch me until I’m crazy with desire. After that, I want to feel you inside of me, filling me completely. Plunging deep over and over again until we both reach the precipice. Then do you know what I want?”

Christian’s eyes had darkened with desire.

“Tell me, Alyssa. Tell me everything.” The deep timbre of his voice told her just how affected he was by her words.

“When we’re so close to the edge, almost ready to explode, I want you to sink your teeth into me. I want you to take me completely and totally without holding anything back. Only then will I scream with pleasure as we climax. You’ll come inside me, your hips helplessly convulsing from the power of it, as my woman’s core constricts around you while I shake uncontrollably from the strength of my release. That’s what I want Christian.”

By the time she was done, Christian was panting. The passion in his eyes singed her. He pushed away from the doorway and stalked towards her.

“Your wish is my command,
palomita
.”

Someone knocked on the bathroom door. Christian’s sexy image evaporated. Alyssa gasped from the loss.

“Alyssa, how are you doing?” Aunt Joyce called from the other side the door.

“I, uh, I’m fine. I’ll be out in a minute.”

Alyssa sank deeper into the water with a groan. Her body still hummed in anticipation of Christian’s touch. Great, now she needed a cold shower.

* * * * *

Christian had never desired another woman like he did Alyssa. The image of her in the bath, with bubbles barely covering her delectable body was bad enough. But when she described in detail what she wanted to do to him, he almost lost it. Her words left him hard and throbbing. He craved to fulfill every one of her requests. When her image faded he wanted to yell his outrage. His body throbbed painfully for her. That ache eventually faded as his body calmed, only to be replaced by a different kind of pain.

Daggers shot through his body. He woke up and would have doubled over from the intensity of it, if he weren’t tied up. He opened his eyes and found himself in what looked like an old warehouse. His hands and feet were spread apart and bound by chains and metal clamps to two large posts. He felt a slight burning sensation where the binds touched his skin.

Christian was undressed. That was of little concern to him as another wave of pain splintered through him. It felt like little pieces of glass were cutting him from the inside out.

“Unpleasant, isn’t it?”

Christian swung his gaze around to find Bazhena standing in the doorway. She slowly slid her eyes over him. Stopping at his manhood. She stared at it intently for a moment and licked her lips before meeting his gaze once more.

He gritted his teeth, ignoring the pain racking his body and glared at her.

“Of course, the pain you caused me last evening was also quite unbearable for a time, Cristobal. I think you were actually considering killing me, weren’t you?”

“What do you think?” Christian asked mockingly.

Bazhena’s eyes flared with anger, but she ignored his question.

“Those little painful pricks you’re feeling are an experiment of mine. Actually, they’re the result of many experiments and many deaths. I had to find just the right balance of holy water and human blood to injure a vampire, but not kill him, to render him unconscious, but only temporarily. It was quite frustrating actually. You would not believe how fragile the vampire body can be, even with just the smallest difference in quantities. And I had so many willing participants, all men, of course. As you know, I only turn men, never women. I wouldn’t want the competition. Besides, you remember how much I enjoy, uh,
working
on men. Don’t you, Cristobal?”

Bazhena smiled, exposing her sharp, elongated teeth. She slowly strode towards him. The sway of her hips, her parted lips and the blaze in her eyes told Christian she was hungry—for sex—and for him. He could almost smell her desire and hunger. She hadn’t fed yet. Memories came rushing back. He had been in this position before with Bazhena, during his fledgling years, when she owned him body and soul. When his very existence was based on her whim. He swore he would never let that happen again. Never let himself be so dependent on another.