“Did you?” He nips at the side of my throat, grips the shoulder of my robe with his teeth, and slides it over my shoulder.
“I did. More than once, I stopped myself from coming over here or walking into your pub and demanding what I wanted.”
“And what is it you wanted?” His fingers slide up my thighs, sliding around the front and massaging the delicate skin of the inside of my thigh.
“You,” I whisper.
“What about me?”
My entire body begins to tremble. I burn for him, the throbbing between my legs now more than I can bear. All I know is that I can’t think, can’t breathe as my need intensifies. Need for release, need for him to bury himself inside of me and fuck me against this countertop until we’re both satisfied. “I—”
“Tell me, Bronwyn.”
“I—” The doorbell rings, the interruption as though someone popped a massive balloon right in my face.
He withdraws his hands and pulls away. “We’re finishing this later.”
I turn to face him, my eyes dropping to the massive bulge in the front of his sweats. “You’re going to scare whoever that is,” I say with a smile of my own as I gesture to his erection.
He glances down and chuckles. “I guess you’re probably right.”
“I’ll grab the door. You hide that.” He slaps my ass as I pass by. I rearrange my robe and pull open the door to a grinning Winnie.
“Since when do you knock?” I ask.
“Since you stopped living alone.” The older woman winks and moves inside, grocery bags in hand. “Things are changing around here. The last thing I want is to walk in and see a naked arse running up the stairs.”
I nearly choke on air as I stifle my laugh and reach for the bag.
Tarnley blurs down the stairs and appears—shirt on—right beside me. “Winne, lovely to see you.”
“You as well, dear.” She smiles at him, a charming grin I’ve only ever seen her give the vampire. It’s adorable, and I sure as hell can’t blame her.
Tarnley grabs the bag from me and turns to head toward the kitchen. I start to follow, but Winnie grips my arm, keeping my feet planted firmly in the entryway as Tarnley disappears through the door and into the kitchen.
“What is it?”
Her amused expression falters, morphing into one of uncertainty and, if I’m not mistaken, a bit of fear. She shuts the door and clicks the lock behind her then leans back against it. “I was followed today.”
“By who?”
She shakes her head and releases me. “I’m not sure. A man I’ve never seen before. But he got close enough for me to get a good look at him.” She leans in and points to her eyes. “His eyes were red.”
Vampire.And a fresh one, too, if the color of his eyes is any indication. The older a vampire is, the more their eye color fades. The oldest of their kind have human eye colors since they typically fade to the color they were before they were made. Born vampires? They never have red eyes. “You’re sure he was following you?”
Frantically, she nods. “He followed me to the pharmacy to get my heart medicine, then to the grocery store, and down three different streets before I came here.”
“Did he follow you here?”
Winnie’s cheeks flush. “I’m no amateur, dear. I lost the tail before I came back here. Hopped on two different busses before I finally lost the bastard.”
My best guess is that he realized she’d made him and took off, though I don’t mention it. “This is the first place you should have come.”
“Absolutely not. I will not bring trouble to your door. Especially not when you finally got a night off from disaster.”
“I can handle myself, Winnie. And with Tarnley here, there’s two of us.”
“Well, I’ve no clue why he was following me, and the last thing I wanted to do was lead him right to your doorstep. You’ve suffered enough.”