Under a Vampire Moon (27 page)

Christian didn’t slow until he reached the bus and found the door closed. Frowning, he glanced around, spotting their driver standing with two other men, the other drivers he supposed. But even as his eyes landed on the driver, the man was moving forward to let them in.

“Put me down,” Carolyn hissed now that the risk of biting her tongue was gone.

“Your sugar’s low,” he said grimly as the driver opened the door.

“Yes, well if you set me down I will get out the other chocolate bar and—” She gave up the argument on an exasperated sigh as he hurried up the steps and carried her back to their seat to set her down.

“Eat your chocolate,” Christian ordered, straightening and taking a step back to avoid temptation.

“Stop ordering me around,” Carolyn snapped irritably, opening her bag to retrieve the chocolate bar. “I am not a child. Hell, you’re the child here. I’m— Crap!” she cursed when the chocolate bar slid from her clumsy hands and dropped to the bus floor.

She started to bend to find it, but he was there first, wedging himself between their bench seat and the one in front to reach around her legs for it. Her naked legs. Damn they were soft and smooth, he thought as his cheek brushed one. They smelled of sunlight and coconut. Sunscreen, he supposed, but they smelled good enough to lick and he was hard-pressed not to turn his head for a taste before his fingers closed over the bar.

“Can’t you find it?” Carolyn asked.

“Yes, I—” The words died in his throat as he glanced up and found she’d leaned forward. Her face was only inches from his, her lips soft and wet as if she’d licked or bitten them. His hand tightened on the chocolate bar as he watched her eyes dilate. He could hear that her heart rate had picked up and smell her attraction to him as her body released hormones and adrenaline in a potent cocktail.

When she licked her lips nervously and started to pull back, Christian reacted instinctively, the predator in him taking over. His hand was at the back of her head, stopping her retreat before he even realized he intended to do it, and then he was rising from his crouch, his mouth claiming hers and forcing her back against the seat as he settled on the bench beside her.

Carolyn went still, even holding her breath, and he dropped the chocolate bar on the seat to move his hand to her waist. He slid it up her side, stopping at the underside of her breast, and then ran his tongue along her lips before allowing his hand to creep up to cover her breast. When she gasped in surprise, he squeezed the soft flesh he’d claimed and thrust his tongue into her mouth.

Her resistance shattered, the sudden doubling of sensation he experienced telling him that. He was feeling her pleasure as well as his own now and the combination was a double whammy that slammed him straight in the groin, making him grow hard and heavy with blood.

Christian lost his head then and any semblance of control. He pulled her to straddle him, his mouth slanting over hers repeatedly as his hands roamed freely, sliding over her breasts and then dropping to slip under her T-shirt to find them again through the soft cloth of her bra. When he tugged the cups aside to touch her without their hindrance, Carolyn broke their kiss with a groan and let her head fall back, her bottom moving against his growing erection.

Deprived of her mouth, Christian let his lips move over her neck, licking and nibbling the warm flesh as he lightly pinched her nipples. He wanted to push her shirt up and close his mouth over the hard nubs one at a time, but couldn’t seem to tear his mouth from her neck. It was so soft and smelled so good. He just wanted to sink his teeth in and—

Christian froze in horror as his fangs suddenly pushed out of his gums and scraped across her skin. Sweat broke out on his forehead as he fought the temptation to bite. He couldn’t. She was in no shape to lose blood, and he couldn’t make her forget if he did bite her. Carolyn wasn’t ready to learn what he was. He couldn’t risk losing her.

“Christian?” she mumbled uncertainly.

Cursing under his breath, he removed his hands from her breasts, tugged her bra back into place and quickly shifted her, almost dumped her really, on the seat beside him. He then launched himself out of the seat and hurried up the aisle, desperate to get away from the temptation she represented before he did something so stupid it was irreversible.

Christian stopped outside the bus, his gaze searching the area. There were public washrooms along the parking area, he noted and glanced over the few people moving around the vehicles before settling on the drivers still gathered by the first of their three buses. Christian’s gaze flickered briefly over the selection before settling on a robust balding fellow. He slipped into the man’s mind and sent him moving toward the washrooms even as he headed that way himself. Dinner was served.

Thirteen

C
arolyn slowly let her breath out, her eyes wide as she watched Christian disappear into the men’s bathroom. Then she just sat there, her mind so awash with a confusion of emotions she could hardly think. The only thing that was going through her head was one refrain. What the hell had just happened?

She wasn’t really sure; she remembered leaning forward, and finding herself staring at his lips and thinking of his kisses. She didn’t recall deciding to kiss him but Christian’s horrified expression as he’d dumped her off his lap was fresh in her mind, and she thought she might have attacked poor, gay, too-young-for-her Christian. Attacked and nearly devoured him alive. At least that’s how it had felt. She’d never been exposed to such raw need and hunger in her life as what had exploded over her as they’d kissed. She’d wanted to crawl inside his skin and merge with him completely.

Cripes, if he hadn’t stopped her when he had, she might have tugged her shorts off, pulled him out of his pants, and mounted him right there on the bus. Carolyn didn’t think she’d have had the presence of mind to remember they were in public. Let alone care that he was much too young for her or even that he was gay and not the least bit interested. And those dreams she’d thought were so hot and passionate? Well, they were nothing next to the reality, or at least the small taste of reality she’d had. And she wanted more, she acknowledged. And shouldn’t.

What the hell was the matter with her? She sank shakily back on the bench, and glanced down with a frown as she heard a rustle. Spotting the chocolate bar beside her hip, she stared at it blankly, then instinctively reached for it, pausing when she saw how her hand was trembling.

Right, according to Jack it was low blood sugar, she recalled slowly. She’d never had problems like this before this trip, but the chocolate bars and juice had seemed to help before. Carolyn picked up the bar, managing to open it despite her shakes and clumsiness. She began to eat it automatically, her mind still struggling with what she’d done.

By the time she’d finished the chocolate, she’d pushed her guilt and humiliation aside and had moved on to what she should do now. Several possibilities came to mind. All of them had to do with avoiding Christian. She owed him an apology, but she was just too ashamed of herself to face him right now. In fact, the idea stirred an anxiety close to panic, and she began searching her mind for ways to avoid him.

Jumping off the bus and finding a ride back to the resort was her favorite solution, but the buses were the only way out. However, she definitely couldn’t handle spending the rest of the journey as Christian’s seat mate. If he was even willing to, she thought on a sigh.

Crumbling the chocolate wrapper in her hand, she slid out of the seat and hurried off the bus.

C
hristian finished wiping the driver’s mind, sent him on his way, and then moved to the sinks to turn on the taps. He splashed cold water on his face several times, and then straightened to peer at himself.

He had a little more color now, but he hadn’t had enough blood. He hadn’t been willing to risk weakening the driver in charge of a minibus of tourists. But he’d had enough that he was at least thinking a bit more clearly, and what Christian was thinking was that he’d made a hell of a mess of things.

Sighing, he braced his hands on the counter and briefly closed his eyes as he tried to sort out what the hell he was supposed to say to Carolyn when he went back to the bus. But his mind kept returning to how she’d rocked his world.

Christian had experienced more passion in those few minutes on the bus than he had in his entire five hundred plus years. The woman was a flame to his dynamite, or maybe she was the dynamite. He couldn’t say, but she was something. He still had a damned erection. Even having to stand close to the sweaty little driver with his teeth sunk in his neck hadn’t driven that off, which was pretty amazing when you considered that as low as he’d been on blood, he probably shouldn’t even have been able to get an erection.

Grimacing, Christian turned off the taps and headed out of the bathroom.

Their party had returned and was boarding the minibuses. Christian joined the back of the line of passengers at the third bus, his hand tapping nervously against his leg. He was standing in direct sunlight again, but hardly noticed, his mind taken up with worry over how Carolyn would greet him.

His cover was now blown, and she definitely wouldn’t believe him gay anymore, but maybe those few kisses and caresses had been enough to tempt her into ignoring what she thought was their age difference and letting him get close to her after all.

Christian held on to that hope right up until he finally got on the bus and saw that the seat he’d shared with Carolyn was empty. Pausing abruptly, he turned toward the driver, but before he’d even spoken the man smiled and said, “Your lady friend moved to the front bus.”

“I thought there weren’t any seats in the other buses?” he said quietly.

“Only one on each, with the tour guide,” the driver said.

“Right,” he muttered, turning away to continue to his seat. It appeared the kisses hadn’t been enough to tempt her. She was running.

“C
aro! Finally you’re back.”

Carolyn laughed at Captain Jack’s greeting as he took her hand to help her onboard. Riding in the front of the first bus with the guide, she’d been the first one off and so was the first onboard the boat.

“Where’s band boy?” Jack asked.

“He’s back there somewhere,” she said vaguely as he led her toward the helm, leaving his crew to help the others aboard.

“Ah. You were so eager to see me you ran ahead,” he said with a grin.

Carolyn just chuckled and shook her head as he urged her onto the seat beside his again.

“Your flowers, wench,” he announced, grabbing the necklace of blooms off the wheel and placing it around her neck. He didn’t step away then, but caught her face in his hands and lifted it for inspection. After a moment, he nodded with satisfaction. “Your color’s good and your eyes are clear. Let me see your hands.”

Carolyn wrinkled her nose and held out her hands. “Steady as a rock. I had the second chocolate bar at Sulphur Springs, but haven’t had a problem since. And I had second helpings of the meal at the plantation. I’m good. No more worries,” she assured him.

“Good. But do me a favor and have some blood tests when you get back home,” he said seriously.

Carolyn nodded. Today’s experience had scared her enough that she already intended on getting a full physical when she got home. It was only after eating at the plantation that she’d really started to feel like herself again. It was also when she’d begun to realize just how weak and disoriented she’d been before that. She was blaming that for the whole episode on the bus. She just wasn’t the sort to run around attacking men.

The whole horrible scene had replayed through her head repeatedly that afternoon. The kiss, somehow winding up on his lap—she wasn’t too sure how that had happened. It was all kind of a fuzzy whirl of want and need and suddenly she’d been in his lap and his hands had been on her breasts and— That part had kind of left her confused too. At least until she’d recalled that Christian hadn’t been at all well either by then. He’d been pale, with sweat beading his forehead, and for all she knew had been feverish and hallucinating that she was George Michael. He’d certainly come to his senses quickly enough. The horror on his face as he’d dumped her on the seat and fled had haunted her ever since.

Carolyn had been worried that he’d approach her as soon as they arrived at the plantation and either demand an explanation or explain politely that he was gay. And what could she say,
So sorry. I’ve been having these wet dreams about you and for a minute there I think I just confused them with reality?

She snorted at the very idea.

Christian had kept his distance. He’d also watched her with a wariness that made her wonder if he was afraid she’d jump him again.

Well, he was safe. She was feeling more herself and had every intention of letting him know that he was safe. Carolyn didn’t have the balls to walk over and simply say,
You’re safe, sonny. I won’t attack you again
though, so she was going to have to show him. Somehow.

“Here you are.”

Carolyn glanced to Jack as he appeared before her with a full glass.

“Firewater?” she asked, accepting it.

“Nothing less for the mascot,” he said with a grin.