"I'll never beg," I say, my eyes still closed. Tears bite at the corners of my eyes, because of what he's said about Michel not coming back.
"You will."
Finally, he sits up and pulls me up as well, fastening my seat belt again and I open my eyes and watch him, and he's so beautiful despite the frown. He runs his fingers through his hair and takes in a deep breath, rolling his neck from side to side as if to ease tension.
"Let's go," he says to the driver and then he turns back to me. "Eve, you should have stayed in the café when you came out of the washroom and Marco wasn't there. You should have gone straight to the car and let the driver know. It was foolish of you to go to the other store on your own. Didn't you stop to wonder where Marco was? Didn't you think of the danger you're in? Michel told you that you needed secure custody."
"I know." I close my eyes, preferring his stern words of reproach to the self-assured tone he used when he was telling me I'd beg him for sex. "This is just all so unreal to me."
"It's real. Don't forget. If you weren't recovering from a head injury, I'd show you just how real this is – I'd spank your little ass."
"You better not try," I say, turning back to him. "Michel showed me how to stake a vampire. I killed him temporarily. Don't think I won't kill you to stop you from hurting me."
"Things are different, Eve," he says and shakes his head. "Don't even think you could beat me now."
"What do you mean?" I frown, but he ignores me and turns to the window, stroking the several-days worth of stubble on his jaw. "Tell me!"
"I'm different. That's all you need to know so get any ideas of staking me out of your pretty little vengeance-filled head."
Finally, I glance out the window at the neighborhood.
"Where are you taking me? Aren't we going back to Michel's place?"
"Can't. Security was compromised. Someone from within betrayed Michel. We're putting in a new security system, renovating the grounds. We're going to my place." He says nothing more and I'm too in shock to argue and just watch out the window, wondering where we're going. We drive towards the docks, to an old warehouse area. The car enters a long alley between red-brick warehouses and stops at a loading dock. Julien helps me out of the limo and takes my hand in his, leading me up the stairs. The warehouse is empty on the main floor. We walk to an old freight elevator and wait for it, taking it to the fifth floor.
The interior is open space with a series of rooms to one side and looks as if construction is still underway. Plastic tarps separate areas that aren't finished from the rest. The whole floor has shiny dark hardwoods and exposed brick and ductwork. Huge multi-paned windows reach to the ceiling in every room, revealing a panoramic view of the city to the north and east.
In one corner of the main room beside the kitchen sits a grand piano with sheet music spread out on the stand. It looks like a brand new Steinway. Beside it is a music stand and a violin case. In the west, walled off by wooden dividers, is an office-like space with desks, computers and a wall of security monitors showing different views of the warehouse exterior.
Julien opens a door and enters a bedroom. Inside is a huge four-poster canopy bed with a lush white silk cover and gauzy white drapes. The windows look out over the river.
"We sleep here." He points to a door. "There's a washroom if you need it. I'll have a man go to your place and get some clothes for you." He turns to go. "Now I have work to do."
"You meanIsleep here, don't you?"
"I meanwe, Eve. You're mine. Get used to it."
"You really think I'm just going to hop into bed with you?" I say, frustration filling me. "Just because you look like him doesn't mean I'll want you."
He grabs my hand and pulls me close against his body.
"Michel said you lie to yourself. You've already thought of being with me." His gaze moves over my face and I feel him at the edges of my mind, trying to get in. "This is war, Eve. Now's the time to just obey."
He closes the door, leaving me alone in the huge room. I sit on the bed and just cry.
I go to sleep, lying on my side on the bed, and its only much later that I wake. The sun's down and Julien’s under the covers with me, spooned against my body. I gasp when I remember who it is beside me and my body tenses.
Despite my grief, my body betrays me, warming to him immediately and I remember how much lust I felt for him after drinking his blood. I try to block those thoughts out of my head, for I don't want him to read them. I dig my nails into my palms once more.
"I already know," he whispers, and squeezes me. I want to scream at him because I hate how he knows. I hate him and his brother and all vampires. They've ruined my life.
"You were crying in your sleep," he says, his voice soft in my ear. "Now, shh," he says and strokes my hair. "Go to sleep. Don't worry. I said I'm not a rapist and I meant it. I'll wait until you're ready. Your body already is, but your mind isn't. I'll wait until you offer yourself to me. Don't make me wait too long, or I'll make you do it on your hands and knees."
"Don't hold your breath," I say. "I'll never go on my hands and knees to anyone." But then I think,famous last words, Eve.
Despite my arousal, I can't keep my eyes open and my body is helpless to fight him. I drift in a drugged-like warmth, my eyelids heavy.
The next time I wake up, I'm alone in the bed and I feel like I have a hangover. I get up, and in the bathroom is a box of my clothes from Michel's house, including a makeup bag with my personal things. I take off the cocktail dress and pull on a clean pair of jeans and a sweater, but I have no bra since I only brought the one I was wearing yesterday. I wash my face and put on a touch of makeup and check out the bite mark on my neck. How come I didn't wake up when he bit me? Did he drug me? How come I didn't see the bite mark in the morning when I looked in the mirror?