Bite Me if You Can (9 page)

“I can’t read you.”

Her eyes shot forward to find him looking stunned, almost horrified. Frowning, she thoughtlessly pulled the bag away.

“What?” she asked, then cursed as she realized what she’d done. Fortunately, the bag had nearly been empty and it simply sagged, dribbling onto her upper legs and black skirt. “What do you mean, you can’t read me?” she asked as he began to mop up her legs.

Lucian stiffened, then handed her the cloth to clean herself and straightened. “Nothing. I’m just tired. I’ll try again later.”

“Try what later?” she asked with confusion.

“Never mind. How’s your stomach?”

“My stomach?” Leigh echoed with bewilderment.

“Any cramps, queasiness, or anything?” he asked, the question just confusing her more.

“No, I’m fine. My stomach’s fine. But—”

“Good. Go take a bath.”

“But I want to know—”

“After you bathe,” Lucian insisted. “You reek of blood.”

“Probably because I’m covered in it,” she said dryly.

“And whose fault is that?”

Leigh’s mouth tightened, then she heaved out an exasperated breath. Fine, she’d go clean up... if she could walk, she thought, recalling her earlier weakness, when she’d been flopping on the floor beside the bed. She stood carefully, and blinked in surprise. Her strength appeared to have returned. Her legs were shaky, but held her up as she walked into the bathroom.

“What do—” she began, turning back toward the door, only to see Lucian pushing it closed.

“Bath!” he snapped as the door slammed shut.

“I don’t want to take a bath. I’m going to shower,” Leigh said in rebellion, and childishly stuck her tongue out at the door. She hated being told what to do.

Silence was her only answer.

Sighing, she turned away, but paused as she caught sight of her reflection. If she had thought about it, she would have guessed that she’d look like hell—she certainly felt like hell—but the woman peering back from the mirror looked pretty okay. Her skin glowed, her eyes were bright and the color of...

She leaned closer.

“Gold,” Leigh breathed with awe. Her previously boring, brown eyes were now a golden bronze. They were beautiful, she thought with amazement.

“Cool,” she breathed.

Cheered by this, she briefly forgot all about her questions and concerns. Quickly stripping out of her clothes, she faced the mirror, then stared at herself for a long time. She turned this way then that, then faced the mirror straight on again, before leaning in to examine her neck closely.

She’d been sure Morgan had bitten her, and yet there was no mark. At first she thought it was simply because the blood staining her neck obscured it. She grabbed a washcloth that had been left neatly folded beside the sink, wet it under the tap, and quickly scrubbed the blood away in search of the bite. All she found was perfect, unbroken skin.

Yet her neck and chest and blouse were stained with blood.

Leigh peered at her body again, then her hands, looking for the little nicks from shaving and the burn she’d received the other night at work, but that skin was perfect, too. Even the cellulite on her hips and thighs was gone. And her figure was a little different as well. Not much, but her hips were a bit smaller, as was her waist. Unfortunately, her breasts weren’t, though they seemed higher than they had been, defying the gravity that had pulled at them as she turned thirty. Maybe they would still shrink some, she thought hopefully.

Her gaze slid back to the mirror and she wrinkled her nose as she acknowledged that she was also still short. She supposed it was too much to hope that becoming a vampire would make her suddenly shoot up a few inches.

Leigh’s smile faded as the word vampire slid through her mind.

Leaning forward, she opened her mouth to peer at her teeth, but they seemed no different. And yet they’d popped holes in the blood bags. Recalling Lucian lifting her shirt to her nose and the feel of pressure and shifting, she bent to grab her shirt off the floor where she’d dropped it and pressed it to her nose. The moment she inhaled, she felt the same pressure and shifting along her upper jaw.

Dropping the shirt, Leigh leaned toward the mirror and opened her mouth again to see two sharp fangs slipping out.

“Wow,” she breathed, her stomach fluttering.

Reaching up, she poked and prodded at the two canines, trying to see if she could push them back up into her jaw. No go. They seemed firmly in place.

“Huh.” She stared at them, then leaned toward the mirror and tipped her head back to see the tips, looking for the holes that the liquid slid through, but she couldn’t see any.

“Huh,” she said again, then just stood there, unsure how to get them to go away.

Staring at her new teeth—fangs, really, she admitted reluctantly—and waiting for them to go away, she began to consider other concerns she would now have. Like daylight. Obviously, she’d now have to avoid sunlight. Considering she’d worked nights for the last six years, she supposed she shouldn’t mind, but she did. She had chosen to work the night shift all this time, but now it appeared she no longer had that choice. Vampires could not go out in daylight without bursting into flames. She’d seen as much in the movies.

Then there were other things... She’d have to stay out of churches and avoid crosses. She was now cursed and soulless. She didn’t much care for that. Deep in her heart, Leigh believed in God, but often felt like God had forgotten her. He’d taken her parents, took her grandfather... and then there was Kenny. Though she didn’t suppose she could blame Him for her marrying Kenny.

Leigh peered at herself, trying to see if she could see a difference now that she had no soul. She didn’t feel any different. There was no sudden urge to go ripping the throats out of poor, unsuspecting humans. Maybe she still had her soul. Maybe you didn’t lose it unless you actually bit someone, she thought. She’d had only bagged blood up to now... and would continue that way, she decided. If there was a way to do it, she’d rather keep her soul. It might have been a long time since she’d gone to church, and she often felt as if God had forgotten her, but she had never forgotten Him and spoke to Him each night before sleeping. She intended to continue doing that, whether she was a cursed, soulless vampire or not.

Leigh searched her mind for other ways life would now change, and her first thought was garlic. Never having cared much for garlic anyway, it wasn’t of great concern. Then she blinked at herself in the mirror as she recalled that vampires weren’t supposed to have a reflection.

Hmm, well that one’s obviously wrong, she thought. Unless she wasn’t done turning. Or maybe it was something that happened over time. She’d have to ask about that.

“I don’t hear the bathwater running.” Lucian’s voice boomed through the door, and Leigh rolled her eyes.

“I’m taking a shower,” she reminded him.

“Then take it.”

Muttering under her breath, Leigh moved to the bathtub, opened the glass door and reached in to turn on the shower.

Lucian was most definitely a bossy man, she decided as she adjusted the temperature of the water. Kind of like her grandfather, who had been a crusty old soul with a heart of gold underneath.

But not like him at all, she decided in the next moment, as she recalled watching the play of muscles over his back and ogling his butt. She’d never lusted after her grandfather, but Lucian...

Leigh smiled as she stepped into the shower and pulled the glass door closed.

Though she would never have told him, she could admit to herself that Lucian was a very sexy man. At least, what she’d seen of him was. She found a new bar of soap in the soap dish, unwrapped it, then rubbed it between her hands under the spray.

Lucian had nice wide shoulders, a sculpted chest and back... and that ass! Leigh shook her head as she turned her back to the water to work a lather from the soap and admitted to herself that she’d wanted to run her hands all over his body; caress those muscles in his back, squeeze the taut muscles in his bottom and press herself naked against his chest. It was an unusual reaction for her. She didn’t generally run around lusting after men she’d just met. Especially when she hadn’t seen their face.

Although, Leigh thought, he could be the third man from the kitchen, the one who had pulled her back against his chest. He’d felt strong and sturdy there, reassuringly so. And he’d been very handsome. Lucian was the right height and size and also had the same ice blond hair.

Picturing the face of the man in the kitchen on Lucian’s body, Leigh dropped the soap in the dish and began to run her hands over her body, spreading the lather. Somehow in her mind they became his hands, smoothing the soap across her stomach and then up over her breasts... caressing them... rolling the nipples between soapy fingers.

Leigh shuddered and moved to lean against the tile wall as her legs went a little weak. It was so real... She could feel the rough calluses and heat of his hands, even smell him. He smelled spicy and musky in her mind, and she inhaled deeply, despite knowing she couldn’t actually be smelling and feeling this.

Unless it was something to do with being a vampire, she thought absently. Perhaps her imagination was somehow stronger. The thought drifted away as one of his hands moved from her breast to slide down over her stomach, running the soap over her trembling skin, then down over her hip.

In her imagination—if it was imagination—she pressed lightly against his chest, her sensitive, erect nipples scraping through the hair there. Then she pressed closer, transferring some of the lather.

A small sigh slid from her lips, and she pulled back slightly to run her hands over the smooth plains of his chest, spreading the lather around as she curved her hands over muscle and velvet-covered bone. He felt warm and solid under her hands, and so big and wide. He had the body of an athlete, or a warrior, and she wanted to lick every inch of him.

Leigh moaned in protest as his soapy hands dropped away, but then they caught her by the bottom and kneaded lightly as he urged her closer again. She caught her breath and clutched at his upper arms as she felt him press against her stomach. Like the rest of him, he was hard and big... at least he seemed big. Curious, she reached between them to grasp him in one soapy hand, and a little sigh slid from her lips as she felt his size.

Damn. Fantasies were wonderful, she thought as her dream man bucked at her touch, and then her fantasy lover took on a life and mind of his own and suddenly bent to kiss her. His tongue thrust into her mouth in time with her slow strokes; once, twice, three times, then he let go of her behind.

For a brief second Leigh feared he would end their embrace, but instead he tangled one hand in her hair, using it to shift her head slightly to the side as his mouth ravaged hers. Her dream Lucian was suddenly both demanding and commanding as he used the other hand to press her tighter, sliding her soapy body against his until he’d shifted her enough so he could slide one leg between both of hers.

Leigh moaned into his mouth as his upper thigh pressed against her, rubbing insistently. She found herself bearing down into the caress, her mouth becoming more demanding in turn as her excitement mounted. When the leg suddenly slid away, she nipped at his lower lip in protest, then gasped as his hand replaced his leg and his fingers slid over her slick skin.

Her body heavy and achy, Leigh arched into his touch, urging him on until she couldn’t stand it anymore and broke their kiss. Letting her head fall back, she cried out with need.

In answer to that cry, he knocked her hand away from his erection, then spun her briefly under the water, rinsing away the soap. Just as quickly, he spun her back out and lifted her.

The bathroom tiles were cold against her back as he pulled her legs around his warm body. His mouth traveled down her throat, then farther, until he caught one nipple in his hot, wet mouth. He drew on it, teeth grazing the tip and her body arching to offer him more, unintentionally making her lower body rub against his erection.

Growling deep in his throat, Lucian straightened abruptly and claimed her lips in a searing kiss as he shifted and drove into her hot and hard. Her cry this time was caught in his mouth as he pinned her there against the wall.

Leigh had been holding his upper arms, but now shifted her hands; one to his shoulder, where it dug into the hard flesh, the other to tangle in his hair and tug demandingly.

Tension strung through her body, becoming thinner and more brittle with each plunge of his body into hers. They were both panting, both gasping, both striving toward release... and then the line of tension suddenly snapped and Leigh ripped her mouth free of his and screamed with release.

That’s when her legs gave out. Her eyes shot open as she slid down the tile wall to sit on the back of the tub.

She was alone.

There was no warm Lucian, no hands holding her, no demanding lips claiming hers... No body had possessed her... yet her own body still trembled with release. She stared at the water shooting down from the shower head with bewilderment as she realized it all; scents, touch, caress, passion... It had all been in her imagination.

My imagination, Leigh thought weakly, and pressed her hot face against the cold tile. It was hard to believe... and yet probably for the best since it had ended before her dream lover found his own release.

Shaking her head, Leigh got carefully back to her feet. She eased forward until the water shot down over her flushed skin. Her legs were still weak.

Gad, she thought with sudden consternation. She’d never had such a realistic wet dream in her life, and while awake!

A small embarrassed laugh slipped from her lips, and she ducked her head under the water, thinking that—if nothing else—it had done wonders for her stress level. She wasn’t quite as upset about things as she had been. In fact, other than a little bemusement, Leigh was feeling pretty relaxed and happy at the moment. She could deal with this. So her life had changed. She was used to change. It seemed that’s what her whole life had been about. She’d deal with it one day at a time, one matter at a time.