Seduced by the Night (10 page)

“Good evening."
Miles's
voice came from the doorway. "I brought you a cup of your favorite gourmet coffee…" His words trailed off as
Bethany
swiveled around on the lab stool to face him, a cup similar to the one he held suspended halfway to her mouth. "Oh. I see you already have some." His gaze shot past her to the other side of the lab table where Dirk sat and his expression turned cold and resentful.

Hoping to stave off another argument between the two men,
Bethany
placed her cup on the table, hopped off the stool, and hurried to Miles. "That was so sweet of you. You must have read my mind. I told Dirk when we stopped on the way in that one wouldn't be enough to get me through the evening. You saved us a trip back out." She planted a kiss on his cheek as she took the cup from his hand. "T
hank
you for being so thoughtful."

Miles pulled his attention away from Dirk and the expression in his eyes softened, but not by much. Grabbing her elbow with his free hand, he steered her out of the lab, into her office. "Are you sure you won't come with me tonight?" he implored her. "I could have a dress delivered here in no time."

Bethany
couldn't think of anything she'd like less than attending the boring social affair, but she didn't say that to Miles. "No. I really do have a lot of work to make up."

He glared past her into the lab. "How long,
Bethany
? How long are you planning to stay out at that place?"

"I don't know, Miles. Until it's safe to leave, I guess."

"I don't like it—and I don't like that man. I know you trust him and it seems he's good at what he does, but… it's just not right."

Miles was usually a very patient man, but even he had his limits. "The award ceremony is coming up," he ventured on. "You'll want to accept the Rod O'Connor Award in person, won't you?"

It was a cheap shot. He knew how much receiving that award meant to her. She struggled to control her irritation and was saved from answering him when a buzzer went off in the lab. "Miles, I have to go. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

She started to walk away, the extra cup of coffee in her hand, but Miles put a hand on her arm to stop her. "I'm sorry,
Bethany
. I miss you." He kissed her then, but it wasn't their usual gentle exchange. She wondered if he was trying to overwhelm her with the intensity of his passion. Whatever his intentions, the kiss smacked of desperation and was almost painful in its forcefulness. Only because she understood how threatened he felt by Dirk's presence did she manage to endure his "show of affection" and not push him away. Finally, the kiss ended and  she took a step back. Not knowing what to say, she mumbled a simple "Good night, Miles," and walked back into the lab.

As she returned to her workstation, she felt Dirk watching her. Setting the cup of coffee on the counter, she glanced up and saw the dark expression on his face.

"What?" she asked irritably.

"So that guy really does it for you?"

"Brings me coffee? Yes, on occasion, when he knows I'm working late."

Dirk narrowed his eyes. "That's not what I meant Does he rev your engine? Get your juices flowing?"

She turned to gape at him. "I beg your pardon. That is disgusting."

"Yeah, I think so, too, but I'm not the one kissing a man old enough to be my father."

"He's not old. He's"—she searched for the right word—"mature."

Dirk gave a bark of laughter. "Is that what you call it? Out of curiosity, what's the age difference? Twenty? Thirty years?"

She gave an exasperated sigh. "Twenty years, and that's not that big of a difference."

Dirk shrugged. "So, again, what's the attraction?"

Bethany
forced herself to get back to work. "I don't expect someone like you to understand."

"Someone like me?"

"Yes. Someone who thinks that sweaty bodies, rolling around in bed, having marathon sex is the signpost of a strong relationship."

He got off his stool and
Bethany
hoped he was leaving her alone to work. She didn't even bother to watch him go, focusing her attention instead on pouring the exact amount of reagent into the flask before her. That is, until she felt him come up to stand behind her, the heat from his body warming her back. His hands came up to caress her shoulders and his touch rattled her so much that she had to set the beaker of reagent back on the counter before she dropped it.

She knew she should step away from him, yet he held her trapped between his body and the table and his hands on her shoulders felt strong and his soothing strokes rendered her incapable of moving. He closed the last small distance between them until their bodies touched and her heart pounded with anticipation. Then he lowered his head so that his cheek brushed
Bethany
's ear.

His breath fanned across her neck in warm moist puffs of air. "When you're with
him
, " he said, his voice rumbling low in his chest, "is
he
all you think about? Does he fill you with a need so great you're afraid that if he touches you, you'll explode, but if he doesn't, you'll die?" His lips grazed her neck as he spoke, sending shivers down her spine. "Do his kisses rob you of every thought?" His hand slipped around her waist and he roughly pulled her tightly against him. "Can you feel the longing for him all the way down to that sweet spot between your legs?"

Bethany
couldn't have responded if her life depended on it. His words, his touch, had reduced her to a mass of quivering emotions. She closed her eyes, lost in the sensations he stirred deep inside her; feelings that scared and tempted her at the same time. She knew he should stop, but prayed that he wouldn't.

Abruptly he released her and stepped away. Her body chilled in the sudden absence of his heat and as she tried  to pull herself together, he crossed the room, only to stop when he reached the door. She dared to look at him and his hungry, burning gaze raked over her body before meeting her eyes. "You wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the physical aspect of a relationship if you'd ever experienced it done right. Maybe Miles isn't the right man for you, Beth. Not if he can't unlock that passionate nature you try to keep hidden inside. What you need… is a real man."

Like me
. The unspoken words echoed in her head long after he walked out the door. She reached out, blindly, for the lab stool and pulled it closer so she could collapse onto it. She was in trouble, she thought over and over. How could she react like that to one man when she was engaged to another? More surprising to her was how she could react at all? She'd never felt like that. No one had elicited those feelings from her—ever. All her life, she'd thought the problem lay with her; that she was genetically incapable of feeling passion. Yet here she stood, breathless, hot, and aroused—and all he'd done was rub her shoulders and whisper in her ear.

Inside her chest, her heart still raced. Taking a deep breath, she tried to be rational. Dirk was a good-looking man and had probably been with hundreds of women. He was a master seducer and she, with her handful of pathetic past relationships, was no match for his mechanisms.

Miles, on the other hand, while not raggedly masculine, was nevertheless warm, sensitive, intelligent, and refined. He might not be manly by Dirk's standards, but he was still a good man. And the fact that Miles had never,
ever
aroused in her even a modicum of the feelings Dirk just had, meant nothing. Nothing at all.

Dirk stormed out of the lab. He had to get out of there before he did something he'd regret later. Or worse, that he wouldn't regret at all.

Walking through the outer lab doors, he stopped short when Mac blocked his way. From the expression on his friend's face, Dirk knew that he'd witnessed most, if not all, of what had just taken place. Dirk saw the condemnation in his friend's eyes—it mirrored what he felt for himself—but Dirk wasn't prepared to deal with it. He started to push past Mac, but the latter grabbed his arm.

Dirk glared into the hard gaze of his friend before turning his attention to the offending hand until Mac removed it. Without a word, Dirk continued down the hallway to the elevators and then out the building's front doors before Mac caught up to him.

"What the hell's the matter with you? She's engaged."

"Stay out of this, Mac. It doesn't concern you."

"It does if you're letting your emotions distract you. These are vampires we're dealing with, or had you forgotten?"

"No. I haven't forgotten."

Dirk heard Mac sigh. "Then what's gotten into you?"