Until the Sun Falls from the Sky (22 page)

That made it sound stupid.

I dropped my eyes and looked at his throat.

“That makes it sound stupid,” I said in a small voice.

“Show yourself to me, Leah.”

My eyes snapped back to his. “What?” I breathed.

“Do it,” he ordered and it was definitely an order. I could see it in the hard set of his jaw and the intensity of his eyes.

I really had to make certain lighter fluid was on Edwina’s grocery list.

Doing my best to be Obedient Leah, I pushed against his arms at my waist to take a step back. He didn’t let me go. He kept his arms around me so I was forced to arch my back.

I looked away the minute his eyes dropped down. It was only a second before I was again pressed against him, his hand in my hair, cupping my head and putting pressure there so my cheek was against his chest.

He bent so he was talking into the hair on top of my head when he spoke again softly, “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Actually, it wasn’t.

But I’d never give him that.

So instead, in my most obvious, well-behaved voice, I agreed, “No, darling. It wasn’t.”

I felt his body go solid and his hand in my hair twisted before he noted, “You try me, pet.”

Good,
I thought.

His hand tugged back, taking my head with it so I was looking up at him.

“You’re lucky I enjoy it.” His voice was a warning.

Great. He enjoyed it.

Boy, I
was
lucky.

“Put on a robe, meet me downstairs. We’ll have breakfast in the kitchen,” he commanded before he touched his lips to mine and let me go.

I nearly flew to the bathroom and it took all my effort not to slam the door.

“Is there something particular you want for breakfast?” he called through the closed door as I slid on my robe.

“Whatever you want,” I called back and then stuck my tongue out at the door.

“I saw that, Leah.” I heard him say and he didn’t sound like I was trying him anymore. He sounded amused.

I didn’t care if he sounded amused.

My mind and body froze.

“What?” I called between stiff lips.

The door opened, I jumped and Lucien crossed his arms on his chest and leaned against its frame.

“I saw it,” he repeated.

“But… I thought,” I stammered then breathed, “you can
see
through
doors?
”

“No, I can’t see through doors. You were speaking to me.”

“I was
gesturing
to you.”

He grinned. “Same thing.”

I stayed silent.

This was not good news.

“This new game is fun,” he noted, freaking me
way the hell
out. “Almost better than the other one.”

I tried innocence. “What game?”

He shook his head, his hand shot out, curled around the back of my neck and he pulled me in so he could kiss the top of my head.

When he let me go he said, “Time for your lesson. I’ll meet you downstairs.”

Without another word, he turned and was gone.

I stared at the still open door of the bedroom.

Then I screamed.

But only in my mind.

And since I was screaming because of Lucien, I really hoped he couldn’t hear.

* * * * *

I took my sweet time doing my morning business and sauntered downstairs to the kitchen.

Edwina was at the stove. Lucien was nowhere to be seen.

“Hey, Edwina,” I called.

“Hello, dear.” Edwina threw a smile over her shoulder. “Did you have fun last night?”

I wrinkled my nose.

She smiled then shook her head, muttering with distaste, “Feasts.”

She turned back to whatever she was doing and I strolled to the coffeepot.

“You want a refresh?” I asked, reaching for her empty mug.

“Please.”

“I’ll take one too, Leah,” Lucien said, striding into the kitchen and I just barely controlled my glare.

“Of course, darling,” I murmured to the cabinet with the coffee mugs, taking two down.

“Black, three sugars,” Lucien continued.

He took
three sugars?

It really was too bad that vampires didn’t get diabetes and at that moment I didn’t care how unkind that thought was.

I measured three, gargantuan, heaping teaspoons of sugar into Lucien’s coffee, splashed mine with milk, asked Edwina her preference and then passed them around.

I took my mug and went to sit on one of the stools.

“Lucien’s ordered poached eggs on toast, Leah. What would you like?” Edwina asked.

I avoided looking at Lucien and replied, “I’ll have whatever Lucien’s having.”

I felt Lucien turn to me but I continued to ignore him.

Edwina stayed busy at the huge, stainless steel, restaurant quality stove and offered, “It’s no bother. I’ll make whatever you like.”

Finally I turned to Lucien, “What would you like me to eat, darling?”

Lucien’s gaze locked with mine but he didn’t speak. I tried to keep my face attentive and expectant like his decision on my morning meal was the reason for my being.

Finally he enquired, “Do you like poached eggs?”

“Do you
want
me to like poached eggs?” I returned on a breathy exhale.

“I want you to tell me if you like poached eggs,” he retorted.

We had a short staring contest but his black eyes were too much for me and I turned away.

“I like poached eggs,” I replied demurely.

Lucien looked at Edwina. “She’ll have poached eggs.”

Edwina’s gaze was drifting back and forth between Lucien and me. Then she bit her lip (and I could swear it was to hide a smile) and turned back to the stove.

Lucien took a sip of his coffee. I watched him under my lashes as I took a sip from mine.

“The grocery list is on the counter, dear, right in front of you.” Edwina was saying. “I have Saturday and Sunday afternoons off as well as all day Monday. So anything you want to cook or have in the house, write it down. I’m going to the store after breakfast.”

I was wondering if they sold gallon jugs of gasoline at the grocery store (or flame throwers) when Lucien walked to the sink, poured out his coffee and walked to the coffeemaker.

I just stopped myself from grinning.

Edwina stared at him in horror, a stainless steel spoon any television chef would give one of their kidneys for held aloft. “Is it too weak?”

Lucien poured himself another cup. “It’s fine. But Leah has a heavy hand with the sugar.”

“Oh dear, I didn’t do it right?” I chirped, sounding devastated, like someone ran over the beloved cat that I’d had since childhood.

Lucien turned to me. “Do you remember what your behavior bought you when you disobeyed me?”

Oh I remembered all right.

Boy did I remember.

I clenched my teeth and nodded my head once.

“You could get more of that before breakfast,” Lucien went on. “Would you like that?”

Lucien turning me on to the point my body screamed for release and then leaving me wanting?

No. I didn’t want that.

I shook my head.

He calmly took a sip of his coffee.

Edwina thankfully pretended she hadn’t heard a thing.

I pulled the grocery list to me and started to read it.

All of a sudden I felt Lucien behind me, the heat from his chest against my back as he leaned over me.

I detested a lot of things about him. His recent behavior was one shining example. When he went all nearly breaking the sound barrier vampire was another.

“Tonight, I want you to make your fried chicken for me,” he ordered. My mind cleared of the latest Humiliating Lucien Encounter and I twisted my neck to look up at him, dumbfounded.

“What?”

His eyes caught mine. “Your fried chicken.”

My fried chicken?

I did, of course, make great fried chicken. The best. It was one of my only real talents.

But how the hell would he know that?

A weird chill ran up my spine.

“How do you know about my fried chicken?” I whispered.

His chin motioned to the pad of paper on the table and he didn’t answer my question.

Instead he commanded, “Put the ingredients down.”

“How do you –?”

“Just write down the ingredients, Leah.”

I gaped at him.

Then I considered my recipe, which required at least overnight marinating of the chicken in my famous buttermilk marinade.

It wouldn’t be near as good without time to marinade.

“I can’t,” I told him.

His eyes narrowed.

“No, really, I can’t. It’s the marinade. It needs at least…” I looked at the clock on the microwave, it was nearly ten, “eight hours of marinading!” My voice was rising dramatically but what could I say? I had a fried chicken reputation to keep up. Every woman knew how important that was. “And even that isn’t optimal. Anything less just isn’t worth it. I don’t even have eight hours!”

He grinned, I caught it close up and my heart skipped.

But he was relentless. “Put the ingredients down.”

“Lucien!”

“You can make it for me tomorrow night.”

Oh. Right.

Tomorrow night would give me plenty of time. I could do that.

I wrote the ingredients down.

Edwina served up poached eggs on toast with crisp fried bacon. Lucien had three eggs. I had only two. I wanted to ask for another egg (or two), seeing as I was still on course to gain as much weight as possible to turn Lucien off my “beautiful body” but I felt I’d tried his patience enough for one morning.

He sat beside me and we ate while Edwina tidied the kitchen and I wrote stuff down on the grocery list. I omitted the flame thrower. When the laptop in the bedroom had broadband, something I discovered the day before it didn’t, I’d see if I could order one online.

Edwina whisked the plates out from under us when we were done, rinsed them, put them in the dishwasher and did a rub down of all the countertops while Lucien and I sipped at our final drops of coffee.

It was weird having a housekeeper.

It was even weirder living in a rambling mansion in the middle of nowhere.

In my ex-life I lived in a two bedroom condo in the city and although I didn’t do too badly career-wise, I didn’t have a housekeeper. I had been a Media Specialist, a field in which I’d never get a job again considering I gave them two whole days notice. Though I didn’t have to worry about that since Lucien would be taking care of me for the rest of my natural born life, something else that sucked.

My condo was excellently situated. I could walk anywhere to get anything I needed. Bars, takeaway pizza, movie theaters, grocery stores. My condo had enough room not to feel like I lived in a cave but not too much where it would take all weekend to clean or I could accumulate too much stuff which I had a habit of doing.

Luckily, although Edwina was a bit strange, I liked her and her living with me made the big house seem less monstrous.

Still, I missed my little place. I’d lived there for ten years. I’d made every inch of it mine.

I
liked
it.

On that thought, I heard the backdoor close heralding Edwina’s departure (further heralded by her calling out “good-bye”), and I came back to the room.

“Time for your lesson, pet.”

I looked at Lucien in time for him to take my hand. He pulled me off the stool and walked me to the comfy seating area. With me standing in front of him, he sat on the big, fluffy couch then grabbed my hips, pulling me off my feet. He fell to the side, twisted to his back with me on top, partially falling off his side, my back to the back of the couch.

Why we needed to be lying pressed together on the couch for my lesson, I didn’t know.

Obedient Leah also didn’t ask even though she wanted to.

I just looked at him expectantly like whatever wisdom he was about to share would soothe my savaged soul.

His eyes roamed my face.

Then he whispered, “You’re adorable.”

Not that again. I was
trying
to be annoying. It just wasn’t working.

“My lesson?” I prompted.

He smiled.

My heart skipped another beat.

His smile grew arrogant.

With effort I contained my frustrated growl.

He burst out laughing, his arms closed around me and he hugged me close.

“Are we going to hug or are you going to teach me vampire knowledge?” I asked, trying not to sound as annoyed as I was.