Part 11 (2/2)
”I want to make love again,” she said. ”Right now.”
So the adrenaline rush had the same effect on her as it had on him? Unfortunately, they couldn't indulge right now.
”I called for cleanup. They're usually very prompt. And I don't think you should stay here any longer than it takes to pack. You're not safe here, Bella.” He tucked her hair behind an ear and kissed her eyelid where it tasted like soft woman. The flutter of her lashes tickled his mouth. ”Come stay with me.”
”At your house? Where do you live?”
”About twenty miles north of the city. You'll be safe there. I have protection wards against vampires, demons and others. No one messes with me out there.”
”Leave my home? I'm not sure.” She glanced about the havoc, still clinging to the sheet wrapped about her. She was still frightened, he knew, but too proud to admit it. She impressed him with such bravery.
”I have my work, and tomorrow I practice at the studio. This is all happening so fast,” she said. ”I've only known you a few days.”
”It doesn't take a lifetime to fall in love, Bella.”
”Love. Yes. I said that, didn't I?”
Maybe he had been too quick to grasp for the untouchable. ”It's the adrenaline talking.”
”No, I...I think I meant it.” She stroked his beard and kissed him again. ”But is it because I've fallen down the rabbit hole?”
He quirked a brow. ”The rabbit hole?”
”Alice's tumble into the wild and weird. First there's you-and believe me, that's all good. But now vampires want to kill me and my best friend?”
”And they will if you don't take action. You cannot beat them here, unprotected and vulnerable. You need my protection to stand against them. Will you take it?”
She stared at his outstretched hand. Once before she'd accepted that offer.
Could he win her? She'd confessed love, and that felt splendid. But she hadn't fully entered his world yet. And indeed, it would be a tumble down some kind of rabbit hole.
”You can do your work from any computer, yes?”
She nodded.
”Come with me, sweet.”
Bella slid her fingers over his. ”Yes.”
The cleaners arrived as Severo toted Bella's suitcase out the front door. He paid them in advance and shuffled Bella out before she could see their equipment. They were not overly respectful of the dead. A Hoover vacuum picked up vampire ash ”real swell,” as one of the cleaners commented. Severo was cool with that, yet he didn't want to push Bella over the precipice she'd been forced to toe this morning.
There was yet a good amount of tumbling down the proverbial rabbit hole to be done.
The sun dashed a thin line of orange across the horizon as they stepped out onto the sidewalk.
”Where's your car?” she asked, yawning. They'd had about an hour of sleep after a night of making love.
”I don't normally use it. We can hail a cab.” With a suitcase in each hand, he headed a few blocks up, closer to the businesses.
She followed, clicking along beside him in the high heels she'd tugged from her closet. He loved that she was a practical woman who did unpractical things, like slipping into spike heels at dawn.
”You don't drive? But how do you get from your house to town?” ”I drive on occasion. Gotta take the Mercedes out for a spin once in a while. But usually I walk or run.”
”As a wolf?”
He chuckled. ”No. When I change shapes from wolf to man, I'm naked. The clothing doesn't change with the rest of me.”
”So what if you wolf out during a fight with some vampires? Does that leave you...?”
”Naked, but successful. I tend to carry extra clothes with me in my backpack.” He looked up the street. ”There's a cab. You can sleep as soon as we get to my house. You need it after the night we've had.”
Chapter 9.
B ella woke to find herself eye level to a tray with orange juice and breakfast sitting next to the bed. Warm, b.u.t.tery toast, and fresh-picked strawberries sat atop the ramekin of sweet jam.
She didn't remember much after arriving at Severo's mansion in the country. Exhausted after a long night, Bella hadn't taken the time to look around. Her lover had carried her to his bedroom, like some kind of knight delivering a princess to her slumber.
The last thing she recalled was him kissing her on the forehead, her chin, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and he must have navigated lower, but she had nodded off by then.
Long dark velvet curtains, half-closed, allowed but a narrow strip of bright afternoon sun down the center of the room and across the bottom of the bed.
The bedsheets were soft white and the comforter was a deep navy satin. Piles of pillows supported her as she sat up and reached for the orange juice.
Cold and freshly squeezed, it hit the spot.
She took her first opportunity to look around.
The simple room was huge, as big as her whole loft. The walls stretched to a barrel-vaulted ceiling painted with pastoral scenes.
All the overstuffed, overlarge furniture was upholstered in the same navy velvet as the curtains.
A painting on the wall opposite the bed attracted her interest. Looked like birch trees. The face of a wolf was cleverly hidden among the birches, so a glance might have never picked it out.
At the end of the room were two doors-the closet and the bathroom. Bella went to shower.
After the shower, with a towel wrapped around her, she found Severo waiting at the end of the bed. He wore boxer briefs and no s.h.i.+rt. Daylight surfed across his broad chest, glinting on the dark hairs.
”Waiting for the shower?” Bella asked.
She boldly stepped between his legs and he eased his hands about her hips. His hopeful gaze pleased her.
”I would have liked to join you, but I just got in. Will this work, then? You staying with me?”
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