Untamed (Vampire Awakenings, Book 3) (14 page)

He took hold of her hand as he led her toward
the large front gates and the ticket booth tucked within the rock
walls. She took hold of a map as he paid for the tickets and they
entered the museum. They explored the grounds and the small
waterfall as they made their way toward the old keep at the top of
the hill.

The smell of must assailed her as they
stepped into the cool and shadowed interior of the massive home.
All of the windows had been opened to allow the breeze to drift
through the home. The dark wooden floor beneath her feet creaked as
they moved through the rooms of the building. She examined all of
the pictures hanging on the walls and read the plaques beneath them
that told about the history of Bermuda and the events that had
taken place here. She ran her fingers over the large tables and
chairs that filled many of the rooms, examined the coin collection,
book collections, and spent nearly two hours admiring everything
within each room of the house.

Ethan remained patiently by her side as she
explored every inch of the seemingly endless home. If he'd been
with anyone else he probably would have been bored out of his mind
and left by now, but he relished in her endless fascination of the
things within the house and her enthusiasm as she excitedly told
him about the things she was reading on the plaques. She really did
have a sincere fervor for history and he was incredibly glad that
he'd found out about this place after their talk on the boat.

Stepping onto the balcony that ran around the
entire upper floor with her, he stared across the glimmering aqua
sea to the cruise ship parked at the wharf. People walked about the
house below them but he didn't pay them any attention as he stood
behind Emma and slid his arms around her waist. Resting his chin on
her head, he watched the boats and jet skis skimming across the
water as he savored in this moment and this woman.

"This is amazing, thank you for bringing me
here," she said.

"Anytime, you actually make history
enjoyable."

She laughed as she turned to face him. He
kissed her cheek and took hold of her hand as he led her back into
the building, downstairs, and outside again into the powerful rays
of the sun. They walked a different pathway down to the pool where
the dolphins and sea turtle were kept. Emma's face was filled with
delight as she watched the mother and baby dolphins swimming
through the water and then the sea turtle as it was being fed.
After a half an hour they moved on to explore the rest of the
fort.

They walked through a couple of side tunnels
before climbing up to stand beside the massive cannons. He'd
brought his phone to take photos with and snapped pictures as she
posed and smiled. A passing tourist offered to take their picture
together and he gladly accepted, which was something he'd never
done before, but no matter what happened he knew he would always
want a picture of the two of them together. They went through
another building that told of the wild animals on the island and
the numerous shipwrecks around it before exiting the gate.

He kept hold of her hand as they explored the
shops and peeked in the windows of the stores in the area. There
were so many beautiful and unique things that she would like to
take home with her but the limited space in her suitcases, and the
limited funds in her wallet, kept her from picking up most of
it.

Ethan was examining a chess set carved from
stone as she stopped before a dress that was a deep purple and
swirled through with vivid blues and greens. The sleeves were short
and off the shoulder, the waist cinched and high. She ran the soft
material through her fingers before grabbing hold of the price tag.
Her eyes widened at the price and she dropped it as if it had
burned her. She cast one last look at the dress before strolling
over to join Ethan by the board.

"Do you play?" she inquired.

He shook his head as he straightened away
from the board. "My father does though and I think he'd really like
this. I'll come back and buy it for him when we're ready to
leave."

"You're really close with your family," she
said as they exited the store.

"I am."

It was strange to hear him be so open about
it. Tristan had always hated to talk about his family, the only
time he would mention them was if she asked a question, and even
then he'd been terse and uninformative. She'd never met his parents
and she wasn't sure if he had any siblings. He'd mentioned a sister
once, but she'd gotten the impression that she may have been dead
as he'd spoken about her in the past tense.

Emma slid her hand into Ethan's again as they
made their way through a few more stores before stopping at a
restaurant. "Ready to take a break and get something to eat?" he
asked.

"Am I ever," she told him. Her stomach was
rumbling and though she was wearing her comfortable pair of
flip-flops, her feet were tired. It would be nice to sit down and
take a break for a little bit.

The restaurant was crowded when they stepped
inside. Ethan stopped at a little desk to talk with the pretty
brunette hostess standing behind it. Emma couldn't hear what they
were saying over the noise of the place, but she could see the
lustful gleam in the woman's eyes as her gaze ran eagerly over him.
Anger simmered through Emma, she wrapped her hand around Ethan's
arm and took a step closer to him. The woman didn't even glance at
her as she started to shake her head but then began to nod along
for some reason.

The woman grabbed two menus and gestured for
them to follow her. He'd had to use his power of persuasion in
order for the woman to give them one of the reserved tables in the
packed place. Keeping hold of Emma's hand he stayed protectively in
front of her as he led her through the crowd to a deck at the rear
of the building. A young man stumbled back and almost bumped into
Emma but Ethan managed to move her out of the way in time. He shot
the man a look that made him blanch and hurry back toward his
friends. Emma didn't seem to notice though as she was looking at
the photographs of fishermen and boats lining the wall on their
left.

She inhaled the fresh salt air as they
stepped onto the large deck. The sea breeze drifted over them and
blew the hair back from her face. The hostess sat them at a table
in the corner, placed the menus on the table and cast one last
lingering glance at Ethan before she hurried away. Emma had no idea
how he had managed to get them such amazing seats so quickly but
she loved it.

"I could get used to this." Ethan folded his
arms over his chest as she placed her hands on the rail of the
banister and leaned over to stare at the water. "There's a lot of
fish down there," she said excitedly.

Her eyes sparkled in the sunlight when she
turned toward him. Something inside of his chest constricted, his
hands fisted as he fought the urge to grab her and kiss her. He
knew that one kiss wouldn't be enough though and he really didn't
think Emma, or anyone in this restaurant, would appreciate anything
more than that. Instead, he simply enjoyed watching her as she rose
and leaned over the banister to look at the water below.

It amazed him how much joy she found in life.
He hadn't realized until now just how much he had taken it all for
granted. She danced in the rain and gushed over the fish because to
her life was finite and every second of it was to be savored.
History fascinated her because one day she would be one of the
human ghosts she read about and others would be walking in her
footsteps. He'd never been careless about life, but since he was
old enough to understand, he'd known that mortality wasn't a
concern for him. He'd never been as enchanted with life as she
was.

Until now.

What he found enchanting now was
her
. He admired her backside as she
leaned further over the railing and pointed at something that
caused the young boy who had joined her to smile up at her. Ethan
understood why the child had been drawn to her, she was impossible
to resist as her laughter ensnared him and her smile warmed even
the coldest recesses of his soul.

Drawn forth by the overwhelming need to touch
her, to share in her happiness, he rose from his chair and walked
over to join her. He slid his arm around her waist and pressed his
chest against her back as he leaned over her to look into the clear
water below. The honeysuckle scent of her drifted up to him as she
turned her head to smile at him. He was unable to resist dropping a
kiss on her silken cheek.

He'd thought that finding his mate would
frighten him and, make no mistake, he
was
terrified about what might unfold between
them. He was a monster, he survived on blood and the compulsion to
kill was always with him. What would she do when she found out?

His arm tightened on her at the thought,
something sinister rippled just beneath his surface. She might run
screaming from him and he wouldn't blame her if she did, but he
didn't know what kind of reaction that would illicit from him. He
couldn't think of that now, if he did he wasn't sure he could stop
himself from dragging her out of here and forcing the change upon
her.

He would despise himself forever if he did
that. If there ever came a time when he told her the truth about
himself, and she ran away screaming, he would let her go. He would
set her free to enjoy the rest of her life. There was no way he
would ever take from her the simple bliss that encompassed her, no
matter what the consequences for him might be.

He nuzzled her neck and leaned over to look
as the boy pointed at a silver fish darting through the water. He
held onto her waist as she climbed onto the bottom railing and
leaned over the top rail to look beneath the deck. The boy wasn't
much smaller than she was as he climbed up to join her.

"Teddy, get down from there!" a woman
scolded. She grabbed hold of the boy's hand, shot the two of them a
look, and hurried away from them with her child.

Emma had to bite on her inner lip to keep
from laughing as she turned toward Ethan. "Are you going to yell at
me too?" she whispered.

His hands slid over her waist and up to her
belly. "I don't think it would do any good."

She hopped off the railing and grinned at him
as she turned in his arms. "It probably wouldn't," she
admitted.

He kept his arms locked around her waist as
her back rested against the rail. Her legs were stretched out
between his, her hands rested on his stomach. If she had the
foggiest idea of what she did to him, she would move those hands;
instead they began to make small circles over him. Her hands
clenched in his shirt as he leaned over her and pressed a kiss
against her lips.

Her mouth opened to the questing probe of his
tongue. His hands clasped either side of her face, he held her
tenderly as he tasted her in a tantalizing dance of his tongue that
caused her heart rate to skyrocket. He might have found some
satisfaction in the fact that he affected her so much, if she
didn't do the same exact thing to him.

Her eyes were filled with awe when he pulled
away from her. "I think we should probably sit before we give the
people here a show," he told her.

Emma didn't particularly care what the people
around them thought when he was standing so close to her. "I think
we may have already given them a show," she said with a laugh.

He didn't disagree with her as he stepped
away and returned to his seat. The waiter stared at them both
before hurriedly taking their order and disappearing again. "Can I
see the pictures on your phone of your woodworking?" she asked.

"Oh yeah," Ethan had forgotten he even had it
on him as he pulled it from his pocket.

He'd shut the data package down so that no
one could call in or out but he could still access his pictures. He
brought up the photos and flipped past the ones from today and of
his siblings, before coming to the ones he'd taken of his work.
Turning the phone, he handed it out to her and she took it from
him. He found himself riveted and barely able to breathe as he
waited to see her reaction to them. The smile slid from her face as
she flipped through the pictures and when she looked up at him
there was a look of astonishment on her features that captivated
him.

"They're beautiful," she said honestly. In
fact, they were some of the most breathtaking pieces of furniture
she'd ever seen in her life. The intricate flowers and vines that
had been carved into the gazebo must have taking hours of endless
patience. The rocking horse and blocks on the front of the trunk
meant for Isabelle were done with such tender care that she could
feel the love he already had for his future niece or nephew. "You
have an amazing gift."

There'd been so many times over the years
that he'd felt as if he'd been cursed, to hear her say that he had
a gift seemed so strange, yet she truly believed her words. But
then she didn't know that he was a monster. "Thank you."

She smiled at him as she handed the phone
back. "Do you plan to try and sell some of them one day?"

"Maybe one day," he said as he slipped his
phone into his pocket, though he had no intention of doing so. They
were for him and his family only; he didn't want to deal with the
interaction he'd have to have with others in order to sell his
pieces. "I'm glad you like them."

"I love them." For the first time in his
life, he actually felt a little shy. Thankfully he was saved from
having to say anything more as she rose to her feet. "I have to go
to the bathroom, I'll be right back."

Ethan fought the urge to go with her as she
wound her way through the crowd to the restrooms he'd seen next to
the bar. He didn't like the idea of her going alone into the bar,
but he could see the bathroom from here and he couldn't be that
overprotective of her. She would fight against any restrictions he
might try to place on her. She'd already had a bad experience with
an overbearing, frightening man, she wouldn't put up with it from
him, he was certain of that.