Wild (11 page)

“Funny, very funny,” I responded dryly, but I couldn’t suppress my own smile for very long.

The waiter placed the dessert in front of me. It was an upside down apple tart. I could smell the caramel it was interlaced with. A scoop of vanilla ice cream had already started to melt on top of the cake.

“Bon appetit!” I knew what that meant.

“It’s the most authentic French dessert you will ever taste, better than chocolate mousse or crème brulée. Trust me.” Vince was very sure of himself.

As I took the first bite, I noticed the cake was warm. The apples were so soft they melted in my mouth. The caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream were the perfect complement to the apples. The crust was only wafer thin. He was right again. It was excellent.

“Why didn’t you order one for yourself? Do you want a bite? It’s really good.”

“No, no, I’m full,” he insisted while he watched me devouring the delicious dessert.

When the bill arrived, he paid cash and left a very good tip. This time the maitre d’ didn’t give us a strange look when Vince lifted me out of my chair and carried me to the door. He probably figured I was handicapped.

“Thank you and please come again.” He kissed my hand and waived us good bye as we went outside. I caught Vince giving him a strange look.

“Thank you,” I whispered to Vince. “It was lovely.”

“Thank you for the company.”

When he placed me back into the car, I suddenly felt the pain in my leg again. He noticed the change in my face and reacted immediately.

“The pain killers are wearing off. Are you sure you don’t want any more morphine? It works better than the other pain killers.”

I shook my head. “No, I’d rather not.”

“Okay. We’ll be back in fifteen minutes,” he promised.

I stared at him in disbelief. I knew we were in Forest Hill, I’d recognized Laguna Honda Hospital on the hill. By my calculations it would take us closer to thirty minutes to get back downtown.

I hadn’t quite counted on his driving. I was almost sure we would get stopped by the police the way he was weaving in and out of traffic, but I was wrong. The police were nowhere to be seen and we were back in the garage in the fifteen minutes he had promised me.

His driving didn’t scare me, but I was sure it wasn’t legal. I wondered how many speeding tickets he got in one week.

As soon as we were back in his place, he had me swallow two more pain killers. I sat on the couch again and he joined me, sitting at the other end of it, when I really wanted him much closer. But it wasn’t something I could ask for. Men hated clingy women.

“You must be tired.”

“Not yet,” I managed to say while I tried to suppress an involuntary yawn.

He grinned. “Right.”

There was no way I could fool him. I was tired, but I didn’t want to go to sleep yet.

“I’ll be right here on the couch if you need anything.” It was as if he could read my mind.

“No, I’ll sleep on the couch. I already took your bed last night,” I insisted.

“Nice try,” he smirked. “But you’ll take the bed, I’ll take the couch.”

There was no fighting with him over it. He carried me to the bathroom so I could get ready for bed. I changed into a long t-shirt I could sleep in.

When he carried me to bed, I wondered if he would kiss me again, but he didn’t make any attempt. He checked my vital signs. My heart was racing.

“I’m starting to wonder what makes your heart race like that.”

“As a doctor shouldn’t you know these things?” I teased him.

“Maybe, but I get the feeling it’s nothing medical …” He gave me a knowing look.

“Is this the doctor talking?” I continued teasing him.

“No, this is a man talking, so stop being cute and go to sleep.” He tried to be strict, but the twinkle in his eyes betrayed him. He got up.

“Good night. Sleep well.”

“Thank you. For everything,” I said.

The way he looked at me for a second told me he thought about the same thing I did: our kiss. But he made no attempt to kiss me again.

Vince went back to the couch and turned the TV so low I couldn’t hear it. I wondered if he could.

Soon I drifted off to sleep. I felt safe in his huge bed knowing he was watching over me.

When I woke I felt well rested, even though I could still feel some pain in my leg. I looked around and saw light streaming in from the skylight. It was morning.

As I sat up in bed I saw an unfamiliar item standing next to the bed. It had four metal legs, handles and wheels on two of the legs.

“Vince?” I called out and he appeared instantly. He looked like he had just stepped out of the shower. His hair was still damp. He was unfortunately already fully dressed.

I promised myself to wake up earlier the next day, so I might catch a glimpse of him again like the first morning.

“You’re awake,” he stated the obvious with a smile.

“Good morning.”

“Did you sleep alright?”

I nodded. “I did.” I paused. “Vince, what’s this?”

I pointed at the item which stood next to the bed.

“Ah, yes. That’s a Zimmer frame,” he confirmed my suspicions. “Believe me, it’s so much easier using this rather than crutches.”

It could only mean one thing.

“You don’t want to carry me anymore.” I was disappointed.

His look was regretful.

“Annette, it’s not that I don’t want to.” He stopped. It looked like he had a hard time explaining himself.

“Oh?”

“After what happened yesterday …” He stopped himself. “I went too far. I have to apologize. I think I should just try to keep my hands off you.”

“Nobody’s asking you to,” I assured him.

“Please hear me out. You really don’t know me.”

I wanted to protest, but didn’t get a chance.

“I want to give you a chance to get to know me first before I let myself go like that again. There is so much …” He broke off and started again. “You’re so young.”

I protested. “I’ll be twenty-six in October!”
In three years,
I added in my head.

He raised his eyebrow.

“As I said you’re so young and I’m older than you might think.”

So what if he was thirty-five?

“What I’m trying to say is, I’m having a hard time controlling my emotions around you, and carrying you in my arms doesn’t help.”

I looked at him, and my look must have been sad.

“I want you to know everything about me before, before … Annette, I know myself. Don’t you see? Didn’t you feel what happened last night was way beyond what I should have allowed myself to do? You’re in my care.”

I couldn’t see what was so terrible about that.

“Do you regret kissing me?”

He shook his head.

“No, how could I? But there are things you won’t like about me, bad things.”

“You make it sound so sinister.”

“Because it is.”

His eyes tried to burn through me.

“Well, I’m not afraid.”

I reached for the Zimmer frame to lift myself up. I was aware that my t-shirt had hitched up and was revealing my panties. I checked for his reaction. His eyes were filled with desire, and I guessed it wouldn’t take me too long until I would seduce him into kissing me again.

I got out of bed and started moving toward the bathroom.

“And don’t even think about trying to seduce me,” I heard him say behind me. Somehow his voice sounded a little unsure. “I can spot it a mile away.”

 “Fine.” I challenged him without looking back.

8. Vince’s Temptation

She was feisty, I had to admit. She reminded me of myself at that age: ready for any challenge. Twenty-six? I didn’t think so. Generally women tried to make themselves younger, not older. She would have to do much better to come even close to my age.

But I wasn’t really worried about her age. I was worried about the pain I would cause her once she found out what I was, and the pain she would cause me when she left me.

I needed a strategy. The longer I could hold off having sex with her, the more I could show her and myself that there was still enough humanity left in me, the less likely it would be that I would involuntarily transform in front of her.

My transformation was triggered entirely by emotions. The stronger the emotion, the faster the transformation would be. So far my transformations had always come at times of fear, hate and the desire to save somebody’s life. Yesterday had shown me that passion was just as powerful a trigger, and I had come extraordinarily close to transforming. It had taken all my strength to suppress the transformation.

There was nothing I wanted to do more than throw her back into bed and make love to her until she begged me to stop. I balled my hands into fists to suppress the desire I felt.

Not only was I afraid she would run away once she saw me in my transformed state, but I was even more terrified that I would hurt her, even if it was accidental. I was so strong when I was in my animal form that what I thought would be a gentle touch could turn out to be a violent move slashing her skin open.

I hadn’t been with a woman since I had become what I was now. I didn’t know what I was capable of. Not even I could imagine how much danger she could be in.

I had no plan of how and when to tell her. I suspected the longer I held off touching her, the more she would come up with ways to seduce me. I had seen it in her eyes. She wanted me. Hadn’t I hoped for that? Hadn’t I fretted about it for the last two days, wondering if she would want me? And now that I had seen it in her eyes and felt it in her kiss, I was afraid of the consequences.

I hadn’t expected for this to happen so fast. I should have never given into the temptation to kiss her. There was no way back from there. Now I wanted more and so did she.

When she came out of the bathroom, now fully dressed, my eyes were undressing her already. I had to cut out those thoughts.

“Would you like some breakfast?”

“Yes, please.”

She looked funny as she pushed the Zimmer frame toward the bar. The bar stools were too high for her to lift herself up without help.

“I can bring you your breakfast to the couch,” I offered hoping she wouldn’t see through me.

She did.

“No, I’d rather eat at the bar.” Of course, she did, because it meant she needed my help getting onto the bar stool.

“Would you?” She made a gesture indicating she wanted to be lifted up.

I complied and put my hands around her slim waist. It took me less than two seconds to lift her onto the bar stool and let go of her again.

Nice try.

I grinned when I saw her disappointed look.

“As I said, I can spot it a mile away.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she claimed.

I walked over to the opposite side of the bar.

“Would you like some orange juice?”

“Sure.”

I poured her a glass and set it in front of her.

“What would you like to eat?”

“I’m not that hungry.” She drank from the glass.

“You should eat something. You’ll need to take some more pain killers and I want you to have something in your stomach first.”

“Okay. Here’s the deal.”

What was she planning?

“I’ll eat one bite for every question you’ll answer.”

“That’s not how it works.”

“Well, wasn’t it you earlier today who suggested I should get to know you better?”

She was right.

“Touché! Would you like yogurt, cereal, eggs or steak?”

She gave me a triumphant look. “I’ll have cereal mixed with yogurt.”

I mixed her concoction and placed the bowl in front of her. “One spoonful for every answer? No cheating.” I wanted her to confirm.

She nodded.

Instead of giving her a teaspoon I gave her one of my oversized tablespoons. She looked at it and gave me a sharp look. Two could play that game.

I could tell her mind was working overtime trying to pick the right questions which would reveal more about me. While she was busy figuring out her questions, I took a steak out of the fridge and slapped it onto the grill. I forced myself to leave it on there for longer than normal. I didn’t want her to notice how
rare
I really ate my meat.

I almost made a mistake when I reached to turn the steak over with my bare hands and stopped myself in mid movement. I needed to use the tongs in front of her. She watched.

“Do you only eat meat?” She asked.

I turned around and put the steak on my plate. “Pretty much.” That was an easy question.

She made no attempt to eat any of her yoghurt. “One answer, one spoonful,” I reminded her.

“Oh!” She exclaimed and I realized she hadn’t meant to ask this question. “I didn’t …”

I cut her off. “Nevertheless, I answered it, so if you please …” I pointed at her bowl. This would be more fun than I had expected.

She put a small amount of food onto the large spoon.

“That’s not a very full spoon,” I protested.

“It wasn’t a very long answer.”

“Well, if I may elaborate. I’m pretty much what you would call a carnivore. I used to eat vegetables and all the rest, but I’ve gone off it. I don’t have a sweet tooth either. Satisfied?”

She put a little more onto her spoon and ate it. I involuntarily smiled at her. She was cute when she pretended to be upset.

I put my plate next to hers on the counter, walked around the bar and sat down. I dug into my steak forcing myself to eat slowly. I was curious what she would ask next.

“When did you last kiss a woman? And I’m not talking about a peck on the cheek,” she qualified quickly. “And last night doesn’t count either,” she added hastily.

Interesting. She was honing in on my love life, or better, the lack thereof. I couldn’t very well say,
thirty years ago
, so I had to come up with something which was the truth, but not create any suspicion in her.

“In July of the year I turned 32,” I told her truthfully.

She looked like she was calculating how long ago it was, but without her knowing how old I really was, the calculation didn’t make any sense. She didn’t look like she wanted to waste another precious question on my age.