It was a great day.
The apartment door opened and closed, widening Roksana’s gritty eyes.
She waited for footsteps, but there was only silence. Tension.
“Roksana,” Elias called sharply.
The worry in his voice made her frown. “I’m in here.”
She crossed her arms over her breasts just in time for him to zip into the doorway…and right away, she noticed differences in him. Eyes clear, skin glowing with health. He looked as well rested as she did, but unless he’d taken a snooze standing up, there was no way he’d slept.
Discomfort oozed into her middle. “Did you go out to…feed?”
He glanced away, throat working. “Yes.”
His answer deflated her lungs, oxygen leaving her in a rush. “Oh.”
It took her several recovery breaths to realize her fingernails were digging into her palms. Did he feed on a human? A woman? She’d already been aware of the fact that Elias needed to feed. She’d been aware for a long time. But his eating habits were an abstract thing. They happened sometime, but what time? Who knew? Who cared?
Obviously she did. Like a typical shit for brains.
Even steeped in neck-deep water, she was frozen. Yet her throat burned.
“Can I have some privacy, please?” she managed haltingly.
“Christ, Roksana,” Elias growled, digging harassed fingers into his hair. “I don’t like it any more than you do. Would you rather I withered and died?”
She smacked the water, sending droplets in every direction. “Yes!”
His laughter sounded thoughtful. “You’re acting like a jealous wife.”
“You are delusional, vampire,” she scoffed, shifting sharply in the bathtub. “I don’t care who you drink from.”
“Who I drink from?” Jaw flexing, he dug in his back pocket and tossed two empty blood storage bags onto the floor, complete with puncture holes from his fangs. “There’s a blood bank half a mile from here.”
Roksana took a deep breath and sank down into the water until it covered her head.
Maybe when she surfaced, he would be gone.
She peeked up at him from behind a wet hank of blonde hair.
Still there, only now he was leaning back against the wall, visibly enjoying himself.
“I think it’s time for me to go,” she whispered, and his face fell. Her stomach dropped in response to his disappointment—and that was even more reason to go. Being in close quarters with Elias was no longer wise. The more time she spent with him, the more thoughtful gestures he inflicted on her, the easier it was becoming to lose sight of her goals.
Avenge her friends.
Be the slayer her mother wanted her to be.
“What time is it? What…day?”
He stared at her hard. “Nine thirty on Wednesday.”
Panic shot down to Roksana’s toes, her sudden scramble sending a wave of water cresting over the edge of the tub. “I slept through an entire day?”
“The game isn’t until midnight,” he said calmly. “There’s plenty of time to get there. You needed every minute until then to rest.”
Roksana shot to her feet in the tub, only then remembering her naked state.
Time stopped, the sound of dripping water and her own breaths amplified in her head.
Elias came off the wall slowly, watching the water stream down her body, his face contorting with pain. He approached her as if in a trance, that whiskey gaze raking her in a long, hungry sweep, his long fingers curling into fists. “Your body ruins me,” he rasped, almost to himself, as if she wasn’t even there. “I can’t stand this. I thought if I fed, the worst of my cravings for you would stop…but they persist in the fucking extreme.”
His words turned her breasts heavy, the dusky buds tightening into peaks. “Elias…”
The attraction between them had always been poignant, but this was a side of him she’d never seen before. A side he’d never allowed her to see.
Her body liked being perused by him. There was no denying it. She turned soft and pliant between her thighs, her clitoris seeming to pulse for attention. There was more than just her physical response, however. He looked at her like she was a rare treasure, even though she was decorated in bruises and something about that made her heart ache.
Elias’s eyes squeezed shut. He pressed his fists to his temples, knuckles turning white, until finally he jolted into action. Eyes blazing open like golden glowing coals, he removed his T-shirt, jerking it down over her head, covering her drenched body. Stepping back and observing his handiwork—and it was immediately obvious he hadn’t thought through this impromptu wet T-shirt contest.
“Sweet Jesus,” he breathed, raking a hand down his face. “Can you get out on your own Roksana? I’m afraid if I touch you…”
Imagining his hands on her waist, gripping, sliding lower, she barely managed to nod. “Da, I think so.” Gathering the hem of the sodden shirt, she stepped over the rim of the tub, but her hamstring chose that moment to spasm and her heel caught, causing her to lose her balance. “Elias.”