Bite Me (25 page)

“Back then I was a bit wild. I was a little over a hundred years old and still intoxicated with my immortality. When he was helping me to escape France, Asher suggested I change my name. He said I was
sauvage
. That’s Old French and he explained that it roughly translates to wild or untamed. So I chose the name Savage. It was Scottish in origin so it wouldn’t seem at odds with my accent, and it was fairly accurate. Asher was right. It was a good fit.”

I fiddled with my coffee mug. “So what was the name you were born with?”

Conner grinned. “Nothing so exotic sounding. My surname was Robertson as my father was named Robert.”

I resisted rolling my eyes. “Donna Robertson doesn’t sound so bad, but Donna Savage does have a nicer ring to it.”

Traffic had finally thinned out, and we were pulling into the parking garage below his office building downtown. Well, the building where his office was located. Then again, he may have owned the whole building. I wasn’t sure.

He pulled into his parking spot. It had his name on it and everything. After he shut off his car, he looked over at me.

“Are you saying you’ll marry me?”

“I don’t recall being asked,” I said. “I was just making a comment.”

He grinned. I had been caught and we both knew it. For all my hemming and hawing about not wanting to consider marriage for a while longer, maybe years longer, I was obviously thinking about it.

“That’s okay,” he said. “You can wait until you’re asked.”

I shot him an ugly look.

“Well I won’t say yes unless you’ve met my family and my girls.”

“Your girls?” he asked as we climbed out of his car.

I got into the elevator and stood next to him. “Yes, my girls: Ivie, Ricki, Shannon, and Kerry. We try to go out together once or twice a month and get into as much trouble as possible without going to jail. They’re like the sisters I never had. Or the spawns of Satan. It depends on the time of the month.”

Conner laughed as the elevator rose up to the thirtieth floor. Not quite the top but close. I guess he didn’t own the building after all.

“I can’t wait to meet your friends. Why don’t you set something up for next week?”

I gawked at him. “Are you sure? I mean you’re the one concerned about one of your fellow bloodsuckers trying to make sure I stop breathing.”

“Well, invite them to the house,” he said.

I moved so that I was standing directly in front of him and pulled him down by his tie so that we were at eye level. “Seriously, you don’t know what you’re saying. If I invite them to your house, I’m worried they’ll either try to move in or lock me in the basement so they can chain you to the bed and use you as their sex slave.”

His eyes twinkled. “Surely you’re exaggerating. I mean it’s only four women.”

I let go of his tie, smoothing it down his chest, before I resumed my position standing beside him. “And I think you’re underestimating the creativity of four horny women. Especially when there’s alcohol involved, which there always is.”

“Now I’m completely intrigued. Please invite them over for dinner or maybe a pool party. I imagine it will be entertaining.”

I sighed. Conner’s indoor pool would provide a temptation I knew none of my friends could resist. “Okay. Just know that if we have a pool party there will be nudity. I doubt Ricki could resist skinny dipping in that hedonistic water feature you call a pool. I mean it rivals the grotto at the Playboy Mansion for crying out loud.”

He was still laughing when the elevator doors opened. When we stepped off, I saw that heads had swiveled toward us and there were several mouths hanging open in shock. Conner walked through the office smiling and saying hello to people. Even his assistant was gaping at him when he greeted her.

“Hello, Courtney. Please hold my calls for about half an hour. I have to prep for my nine o’clock meeting.” He paused before he opened the door to the office. “Oh, and this is Donna, my fiancée.”

Courtney’s eyes widened until I thought they were going to pop out of her skull. I noticed as I followed Conner into the office that she snatched up her phone and was punching numbers rapidly. I guess the gossip was going to spread quickly that Conner Savage not only had a woman, he had a
fiancée
.

I closed the office door behind me. “Do you ever laugh when you’re at work?”

Conner was already checking his email and his phone messages at his desk. “What?” he asked distractedly.

I walked to his desk and rested a hip on it. I placed a foot on his chair and gave it a light shove to get his attention. “When your people realized that it was you laughing on that elevator, the office went completely silent. Didn’t you notice?”

He gave me a blank look. “I don’t understand.”

I laughed. “Conner, those people acted like they had never seen you smile much less laugh. Are you really that intimidating when you’re at work?”

Conner suddenly grew serious. “Donna, until I met you, I think it had been six months since I found something humorous enough to laugh.”

I stared at him in disbelief. I had sensed that he wasn’t a man given to expression of emotion when I met him, but six months was a long damn time. “You hadn’t laughed in six months?” I asked incredulously.

Conner shook his head and I realized that every smile, every laugh I managed to wring from him really was a gift. His smile and his laugh were both beautiful and it seemed he shared them mostly with me.

He got to his feet and stood in front of me. “Do you understand now why I said you made me feel human for the first time in over a century? Before I was turned, I was as savage as the name Asher chose for me. I was also passionate and loved to carouse. Through the centuries I learned not show emotions, such as anger and sadness, even joy. When one lives as long as I have, one makes enemies. With you I don’t have to repress that part of myself.”

Conner cupped my face. “You are the other part of my soul.”

I leaned forward to kiss him but the phone on his desk buzzed. He sighed and stepped away from me.

Pressing a button on the handset he said, “Yes, Courtney?”

“I’m sorry to bother you, Mr. Savage, but Mr. Barnes is here.”

He gave me a rueful look. “Thank you. Please give me a few minutes and I’ll be out to greet Mr. Barnes. See if he would like some refreshment while he waits.”

I straightened from my reclining position at the desk. “Is there an empty office or conference room I can use while I wait for you? I have some things I need to do for work and I need to start organizing that pool party.”

Conner grinned broadly enough to have his dimples popping out. “I can’t wait. Follow me.”

He walked to a door on the opposite side of the office. I assumed it led to a private restroom but instead it led to a bedroom. I looked at him with arched brows and he shrugged.

“Sometimes I work late and it’s easier to stay at the office than go home.” He pointed to a desk against the far wall. “I thought you could work at the desk in here until the meeting is over, and then I will take you to your office and you can relegate me to a corner as well.”

I smirked. “I don’t have a desk in the corner of my office. You’ll have to sit in the floor.”

“Anything for you.”

I watched Ricki, Ivie, Kerry, and Shannon stare in awe as they walked up the steps to Conner’s McMansion. My chest felt tight from nerves. I was a little worried how the girls would react to the palatial home that I was now living in. Actually I was more worried about how they would react when they found out I was living here and that I let the lease go on my apartment. I could see this night descending into a clusterfuck of epic proportions.

“Don’t be so nervous, Donna. The ladies love me.”

I was sure that most women did. I shot him a sidelong look. “I’m not sure my friends qualify as ladies and they will love you.” I paused. “Eventually.”

“Well I could always make them think they love me.”

I elbowed him. “No mindfucking my girls.”

When I threw open the front door to welcome them, Conner was still laughing. All three of them stopped short and stared.

Ricki was the first to speak. “Holy fucking shit, I think I just had an orgasm.”

Leave it to Ricki to vocalize exactly how I felt the first time I saw Conner laugh.

They all stared at Conner like he was a god. I think a couple of them drooled. I snapped my fingers in front of their faces and they woke up from their trance.

“Hi, girls. This is Conner, my boyfriend. Conner, this is Ivie, Ricki, Kerry, and Shannon.”

He nodded to them. “Ladies, welcome to my home. Please come in.”

I gestured the women to follow me. I knew that they were staring at the obvious wealth around them just as I had the first time I came to his home. Conner’s house was tastefully done but the furnishings were obviously expensive. They were nudging each other and whispering. I knew that I would be getting the third degree as soon as we were all alone together.

We trouped into the kitchen where Conner and I had set out plates of cheese, crackers, and fruit. I had also mixed two pitchers of sangria, one of which I had hidden in the refrigerator. If I put all the booze out at the beginning of the night, the girls would drink it all and start in on whatever else was handy. Conner’s bar was well-stocked with expensive hard liquors. As much as I loved my girls, I didn’t want the very first girls’ night in at Conner’s to cost him hundreds of dollars in alcohol. He might never let them visit me again.

I poured everyone a glass, including Conner. Pleasantries were exchanged.

Out of nowhere, Shannon burst out, “My God, you’re the sexiest man I’ve ever seen.”

I rolled my eyes and waited to see how Conner would handle this. I knew my girlfriends well enough to stay the hell out of it.

He glanced at me and realized immediately that I would be no help. “Why thank you, Shannon.”

Ivie looked at me. “I like his accent. Do you make him talk dirty to you during sex with that accent? I bet that would be hot.”

Ricki popped a piece of cheese into her mouth. “I think his ass is hotter.”

“Is he hung?” Kerry asked.

It was the last question that got a reaction out of Conner. He choked on his sangria. All my girls dissolved into gales of laughter.

I looked at him and said, “I warned you.”

“Warned him about what?” Ricki teased.

I looked at them. “About you crazy bitches.”

“Hey!” Ivie exclaimed.

Things were about to descend into a good-natured catfight when Conner interrupted, “Would you ladies like a tour?”

“Good idea,” I said, “the next thing you know they’ll be asking you how much money you make and what your five year plan consists of.”

There was a chorus of denials from my friends and good natured ribbing. After everyone calmed down and topped off their glasses of sangria, Conner began the tour. They loved the light in the living room and the dark wood paneling in the study. There was a lot of oohing and ahhing over his ballroom.

Conner was even kind enough to show them the guest rooms upstairs.

He even chuckled when Shannon threw herself on the bed in what I jokingly called the ‘White Room’.

“It’s like lying in a cloud,” she sighed. “Can I move in with you? I’ll pay rent and be very, very quiet.”

That’s when Kerry spouted off, “Yeah right. As soon as you found out where his bedroom was you’d try to sneak into his bed.”

That’s when Shannon’s head popped up. “Can I see your room?” she asked shamelessly.

I dragged her off the bed. “Okay, that’s enough. Tour over. Time to swim.”

The girls groaned but didn’t argue as Conner led them downstairs to the indoor pool. When we reached the pool, the girls squealed. I didn’t blame them. The pool was gorgeous with tile mosaics on the walls and lush green plants. It was decided that we would move the party in there.

We went back to the kitchen to collect their bags and, of course, the food and sangria. When we all settled back in the indoor pool area, the girls began to grill Conner. Ricki knew about his businesses but they were merciless in their quest for dirt.

“Have you ever been married?” Kerry asked.

Conner only shook his head.

“Killed any ex-lovers and buried them in the backyard?” This was from Shannon. I was pretty sure that the sangria was kicking her ass.

He grinned but didn’t respond.

Of course, Ivie had to be the most outrageous. “Threesomes or orgies?”

“I prefer to keep things simple,” he said.

Ivie looked at me. “Notice he didn’t answer.”

I waved a hand in the air. “Oh I don’t care what he did before he met me as long as he keeps his dick in his pants now.”

My friends looked at him expectantly.

“Why would I want another woman when I have Donna?”

With that charming statement he passed the test. The girls laid off of him and decided to change and go swimming. Conner told them he would see them later and let us catch up. They said good-bye to him and disappeared into the dressing room.

He stood and leaned over my chair to give me a kiss. “I have some things to take care of. I’ll see you later.”