But his eyes are anything but casual.
They’re deep and dark, following my every move with cold precision.
“Nice dress,” he comments as I walk over to him.
“Thank you. A vampire bought it for me.”
“How do you know it wasn’t a human?”
“The roses,” I say, glancing down at them. “And the fact that I don’t have to wear a bra with it.”
The corner of his mouth lifts. “I see.”
I clear my throat and sit down on the small sofa across from him, not quite getting the “come over here and kiss me” vibes from him. I fold my hands in my lap and glance at him warily. “I’m missing time again.”
He puffs on his cigar for a moment, eyes never leaving mine. Then he leans forward. “So am I,” he admits to my surprise. “I slept like the dead.”
“What happened?”
“Well, for you, you’ve been under so much emotional duress, that it’s no surprise you’ve been reluctant to wake up. Easier to stay in your dreams, I suppose.” He gives me a hint of a smile. “As for me, well, you tuckered me out, moonshine.”
“I thought vampires could go all night long?” I ask, not quite teasing.
“We can,” he says through another puff, the smoke falling seductively from his mouth. “And we did…you don’t remember?”
I frown. It’s a blur now of our bodies writhing on his bed, the feeling of his immense power, of total surrender to him, body and soul. There are flashes of him fucking me up against the wall, taking me from behind on the floor, the feel of his cock in my mouth. Good lord, why would my mind block the rest of our night out? My skin flushes from head to toe in response.
“I suppose I should feel insulted that I didn’t leave a lasting impression on you,” he adds ruefully. “But I think it’s to be expected.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, squeezing my thighs together as I adjust myself in the chair.
He inhales sharply, and I have no doubt he can detect what my body is doing.
“Let’s just say that…I can be a bit much.”
I raise my brow. “You? A bit much?” is my dry response.
“Our senses are naturally, or preternaturally, heightened. What happens when they get overloaded? We…short circuit, for lack of a better term. Takes a bit for our minds and bodies to adjust. That’s all.”
I blink down at my hands. So mind-blowing sex can actually blow your mind? Good to know.
I can feel him smiling at me. I glance up and he’s grinning like the cat that’s got the canary. In this case, the canary is me.
But then his smile fades, his jaw set.
“I’m truly sorry about Elle,” he says to me, his voice low and grave. “That never should have happened.”
My throat feels thick. “But it did.”
“You shouldn’t have gone home…”
“Because she’d still be alive,” I snap, the guilt smothering me. “I know! Don’t think that I don’t know that!”
“Easy, Lenore,” he says, gesturing with his cigar for me to calm down. “That’s not what I meant. At all. I meant that you put yourself at risk. You shouldn’t be going anywhere, you shouldn’t even be in that hotel. I told your parents as much, but they’re stubborn just like you.”
His words bring me out of my guilt, and I snap to attention. “What? You’ve talked to my parents?”
“I had to,” he says grimly.
I blink at him, incredulous. The idea of him talking to my parents is insane. They are not friends, they are not on talking terms. “They tried to kill you.”
“I’m aware,” he says. “But they were protecting you. Regardless, when you were sleeping, I had to let them know you were okay. Wouldn’t have been very nice otherwise. I called your father. He’s a little easier to handle than your mother.”
“What did you say?”
“I told them what happened. The truth. About Atlas, about Elle. And I told them you’d be staying here with me.”
My eyes widen, imagining how they would have reacted to that. “That could not have gone down well.”
He sighs tiredly, tapping his cigar into the ashtray. “Not at first. They want to be there for you while you grieve.” My heart sinks, needing my mother’s arms around me in this moment. “But in the end, they know you’re safest with me. I know they hate the idea, and your father will keep the hotel room for you, to give you options, but they can’t help you anymore.”
“But you can?” I give him a pointed look.
“You know I can.” He sticks the cigar back in his mouth, fangs showing.
“So…what about Elle? Surely people wonder where she is?”
He nods. “She was reported missing by her roommate later that night. The whole city is looking for her. Ezra hacked both your Facebook accounts to erase any recent correspondence, including anything since you turned.”