United Service (28 page)

The lovemaking was only a dream, or a nightmare depending on how you wanted to view it.

“Are you okay, Kate?”

“Yes. I’m fine. I woke up when you rolled me over.”

“I’m so sorry.” He had difficulty looking her in the eyes. “I didn’t realize what I was doing.”

“I’m fine. Everything is all right,” she reassured him. “You called out my name.”

“I did? I don’t remember that. You were so close, but that’s no excuse dry hump you like some sex crazed animal. I’m sorry.” He felt shame as he noticed his stained pants. “I can’t even imagine what you must think of me.”

She sat up and reached for his hand. “I’ve only read about a man’s orgasm for my studies. I’ve never seen one in real life before.” She stared down at his crotch. “Your body had gotten so hard and you tossed your head back. Even the muscles in your neck became more pronounced. I enjoyed watching you.” She gave him a devilish grin. “I like starring in your dreams. But wouldn’t you prefer a live performance.” She played with the sheet to get his attention.

Tempting, yes. Was it going to happen? Oh, hell no. They had an agreement. “I have to wash up. Why don’t you sleep a little longer?”

He left her in the bed and entered the bathroom. As he undressed, he thought back to last night. Not taking her on that bed was torture. Especially when she had called out his name several times while he had educated her in the delights of her body. She writhed and screamed in pleasure and he had wanted her so badly. He tasted her last night, not just her blood, but also her slick folds. That was a first for him. He had never wanted to pleasure a woman in such a way before since that act always seemed too intimate, and more about her than about him. All those years, he was a selfish lover because it had always been about him. Well, last night was only about Kate and her pleasure – and he enjoyed it. He discovered that she didn’t just smell like peaches, but tasted like them as well.

Once he had physically worn her out, she had fallen asleep in his arms. He had found it difficult to fall asleep though in his overly aroused state, but eventually he did by listening to the rhythmic beating of her heart and counting her sweet breaths like one would count sheep. He remembered counting hundreds of breaths before sleep overpowered him.

He quickly showered and put on clean clothes, rinsing his dirty pants out in the sink. When he walked back into the bedroom, Kate was sound asleep. Her beautiful naked body twisted in the sheets as she lay in the bed. Thinking back, last night blew him away. She responded so beautifully to his touch. His theory about extreme pleasure was right, but he experienced a wonderful surprise last night himself. As his body touched her, he felt her pleasure for himself. His ability had always allowed him simply to read the emotional state of the women he was with, never before could he experience their sensations as well.

Several hours remained in their arrangement. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he now realized he would also experience her pain when they would make love tonight. He would know exactly how she felt when he penetrated her. He wasn’t sure if he could perform while watching her react to her pain, and him feeling the pain himself. But if it meant they would have the rest of their lives together to enjoy each other in that way, he’d have to do it.

He thought back to last night again. She moaned loudly all night. She’s what he and Ben always referred to as “a screamer.” Her voice rang like music in his ears and he loved her moans. She couldn’t be loud enough as far as he was concerned. He loved listening to her growl each time she climaxed. He was thankful that hotel security didn’t knock on their door.

It occurred to him that the walls of Fang Manor were paper–thin. He grabbed his cell phone and made some arrangements.

Kate decided to forgo pins for the rest of the trip, and that concerned Sterling. But, the idea excited him as well. He kept her pins in his pocket for easy access if needed. To allow for her lack of pins, Sterling decided not to wear his top skin covering. This allowed him to wear a short sleeve shirt and gave her more access to his skin. Sterling only wore one glove so his other hand could constantly touch Kate on the way home. She not only held his hand, but touched his entire arm as they walked.

Arriving early at their gate gave Kate some time to call and check on the reunion of Tiffany and her family. The extra time also gave Sterling the opportunity to check on the team and make all the arrangements for his night with Kate. He also wanted his car driven to the airport so he wouldn’t need to take a cab back to Fang Manor. Sterling could tell by his father’s monosyllabic answers over the phone about the team’s progress that the man remained upset with him. So be it. As long as the kids were okay, and the team didn’t need his help, he could live with his father’s wrath.

Sterling’s plan was to take Kate back to his home. Kate staying with him at the mansion was important to him. She was his mate, even if he had not shared that information with her. If she didn’t want to live there, they’d find another place. Sterling had made only one other arrangement. He hoped she liked surprises.

They sat, cuddled in the plane, pitching their voices to a level that only vampires and dogs could hear so they would have privacy.

Kate’s eyes widened and her lips slightly parted in shock. “That’s a very high number Sterling.”

“Yes.” He took a deep breath. The truth was out there, and there was no turning back.

Kate fell silent for a moment. “Please tell me you’re a thousand years old or something like that.”

The number was still high, even at that age. “I’m almost 180 years old.”

Kate gazed out the airplane window, not looking at Sterling.

“Sweetheart, I told you because I want you to know the truth. I don’t remember any of those women. Being with them was only a way to cure my pain.” He still held her hand, the lifeline she had for sensing her body, and he brought it to his lips and kissed it.

She turned to face him. “You’re that old, huh?”

He nodded¸ tears welling up in his eyes. He didn’t want to lose her. “Do you think you can forgive me?”

“There’s nothing to forgive Sterling. It’s your past, and your past made you the man you are today. And I can accept it.” She took a cleansing breath, “I didn’t think the number would be an estimate needing a calculator to figure out, that’s all.”

Sterling nodded. A low estimate of 300 different women a year for 166 years was a conservative number at best, but the estimate was pretty accurate. “It is my past. If it makes you feel better, it makes me appreciate what we have.”

Kate gently touched his face, her fingertips resting on his smile. “Do you have any children?”

“No.”

She glanced up questioningly. “Really?”

“As far as I know, I don’t have any.”

“But you’re older than one of my grandfathers.”

“Well, that does make me feel old.” He kissed her forehead and smiled, grateful for her understanding.

Kate’s eyebrows rose suddenly. “Wait. That explains it then.”

“What?”

“Your father and the way he treated me. I overheard him calling me your ‘date’, or even ‘the civilian’, never by my name. He must have thought I was just another bimbo.”

Sterling shook his head. “Yes, that’s him all right.” Sterling’s face grew red. “He and I have never seen eye to eye on the remedy for my cure. It’s what we have fought over for so long. He always wanted me to find a wife.” Sterling caressed Kate’s hand. “The man was right though. I was too stupid to believe an angel like you would come into my life. Of course, he could have been a lot more understanding.”

She playfully smacked him on his arm. “It’s a freakishly large number, Sterling! Imagine if we had a child, maybe even a daughter, who slept around like you had. As a father, how would you feel about it?”

Sterling shook his head. “If I had been a girl, my father would have cast a chastity belt for me when I was fourteen,” he joked.

Kate didn’t laugh. “Seriously, Sterling. If you reverse the roles, what would you do if it were our child?”

Our child.
He liked the sound of that, and had never seriously thought of having children before now. But then, reality set in. “I would kill any man who touched our daughter.” He bit his lip, took a deep breath, and then said in a saddened tone, “Since I’m a half–breed, I can only give you sons – vampire purebreds. Only my vampire genetic material can be passed to our children, which includes my Y chromosome from my father. So, no girls.”

She looked like she was mentally doing a complex math problem in her head. “I had forgotten about half–breed genetics.” Kate then smiled. “I’m okay with little Sterlings.”

He grimaced slightly. “I resemble my mother. Since only my vampire genetic make–up will be passed along, that means our sons will be half–brothers to me.” His face twisted in a painful expression. “They will probably look more like my father than me.”

She remained silent for a moment, but appeared to follow the mini–biology lesson. “You look more like your father than you think you do. Plus, you would love them no matter what. Right?”

Tears welled up in his eyes. “I would love to have a child one day.”

“Even if our son had your skin issues?” Kate asked, returning to the original issue.

Sighing heavily, he admitted, “I don’t want my child to suffer like I had to. I hope that doesn’t get passed on. But if the curse did, I would take pity on our child and …” He shook his head, deep in thought. “No, I wouldn’t. I would encourage him to find a wife. I guess I would have done the same as my father did to me.”

“Your father wanted only the best for you. Besides, you never told him you were molested. I think he would have behaved differently had he known.” She brushed his hair aside as she caressed his cheek, “I think you need to forgive him for treating you the way he had for so long because he didn’t know the entire story.”

Sterling sighed and said in a hurt voice, “There’s nothing he can do to atone for the hurt he’s caused me.”

“That’s right. There’s nothing he can do to change what happened, so be the bigger man and forgive him for his actions. Haven’t you ever done something that hurt someone else? And even though you didn’t mean to hurt them, you know it did, but there’s nothing you can ever do to take that pain away?”

He smiled. “You know, you’re going to make a great therapist one day.”

Kate’s eyebrow furrowed. “Answer the question.”

Sterling glanced past her, through the tiny airplane window, and thought of the fateful day nearly forty years ago. Finally he admitted in a hushed tone, “Yes. I have hurt someone like that.”

“Did this person ever forgive you?”

Sterling nodded. “Almost immediately. But every time I see him I’m still reminded of what I did to him.”

“But didn’t his forgiveness make you feel good?”

Sterling looked back at Kate and threw up his hands. “No. It makes me feel weird.”

“Why?” she asked.

He looked her squarely in the eyes and told the whole story. “Because I murdered him, and then I had him turned, against his will, to clear my guilty conscious.”

Kate let out a tiny gasp, but then cleared her throat. “Okay, that is pretty big to forgive.” After a pause she asked, “You murdered him?”

His shoulders sank in submission. “Not on purpose. The incident was a feeding gone bad. Gone terribly bad.” He swallowed hard, hoping that was the end of the conversation.

“You don’t normally kill when you feed, right?” she asked.

His eyes grew wide. “Of course not,” he said, a bit louder than he intended. Correcting his high–pitched voice, so only she could hear, he explained, “He was the only one, I swear. I never meant to … It wasn’t supposed to be like that … I … I don’t know …”

“Shhhh,” she cut him off, placing a finger across his lips. “Was he a friend? Or a random feeding?”

He shook his head no. “A stranger.” He fell silent, but his eyes gave him away.

“Something else happened, didn’t it? It wasn’t just a feeding gone poorly.”

Sterling bit his lip and nodded yes. “I was having sex with his eighteen year old sister at the time and he shot me in the back to protect her.”

“He shot you?”

“Six times. All in the chest. Two bullets directly in my heart.”

“Good Lord. Have you forgiven him?” Kate asked, her eyes wide in surprise.

“She was his
sister
.”

Kate held him tighter in her caress. “Wow. Well, it sounds like he’s moved on, but you haven’t. So tell me everything, because you still haven’t forgiven yourself.”

It was a day of true confessions, of baring one’s soul. Sterling opened his heart, and let Kate completely in.

They discovered the longer they were in physical contact with each other, the longer sensations remained in Kate’s extremities. She could walk from the terminal to the bus shuttle, and from the shuttle to Sterling’s red Ferrari without holding his hand. Sterling could tell by the smile on Kate’s face that she enjoyed this freedom.

He opened the passenger side door and helped her into the Ferrari. She gladly accepted the help since the sports car was so low to the ground. Once Sterling got in, she placed her hand on the back of his neck. It was the only bare skin, except for his hands and arms, that was exposed, and he needed his hands to drive.