Drawing Deep (3 page)

Part of her was terrified it was just the opposite, and that uncertainty was making her absolutely batty.

With a bracing breath, Ria got out of the SUV and trailed after the others who were now joined with the welcoming party.

“So I get you for a whole week this time,” Gwen’s smile was bright as she hugged her brother.

“Well, I do have to work you know.” Lance replied with a chuckle before making the introductions.

“It’s so nice to see you again,” Melinda surprised Ria by clasping her hand with both of hers. “I do hope we’ll have a chance to get to know each other this time.”

Unsure at the reason behind the open affection, Ria didn’t have a clue how to respond. Before she could, Chris laid a hand on her shoulder and gave it a hard squeeze. “Oh, our Ria is a closed book. I hardly know more about her than I did three years ago. Isn’t that right?”

Though his words could have been construed as teasing, it was the snide undercurrent of his tone that made Ria’s lips firm in irritation. As far as she was concerned, the only new thing Chris would ever know about her would be her new place of employment. As soon as she found one.

Not quite ready to lose her source of income, she refrained from punching him in the face by the expedient act of crossing her arms over her middle, keeping her own tone light. “That’s because you’re male, Chris. You don’t care to hear about my feelings, cramps or fashion preference.”

“Amen to that,” Rome stated solemnly in agreement, but Ria saw his eyes go hard and flat before they flashed with amusement when Gwen gave a verbal protest combined with a swift elbow jab to his gut.

“Come on in and welcome to the Orchards.” Melinda waved them inside with brisk cheeriness. “Let’s get your room keys so you can get settled in. You must be exhausted after traveling all day. Do you need help with your bags?”

“Thanks, but we’ve got it,” Lance replied, taking the truck keys from Chris. While their boss headed inside to deal with the sleeping arrangements, his attitude now engaging and gracious, Lance, Robby and Ria moved to the back of the SUV to gather their luggage.

“Jesus.” Robby hissed as he pulled out one of the bags. “What crawled up his ass and died?”

Ria sighed and accepted a suitcase from Lance, along with his worried frown, and set it off to the side. “He’s always an ass for awhile when he doesn’t get his way. I knew it was coming.”

“But it’s getting worse, Ree.” Lance whispered, calling her by the nickname he’d bestowed on her from the start of their friendship. “I’ll have a talk with him.”

“No. Please don’t.” Though her voice was low, it wasn’t any less urgent. She took a quick peek around the SUV to make sure they were alone. “It will only make things worse. He’ll calm down soon enough. He’s really only being such a prick because of the lost luggage, anyway.”

The two men glanced at each other as they pushed a long, thick canvas bag containing a tent, camping shower and fold-a-privy, to the side. It would remain in the SUV as they planned to take the vehicle out to the access gate. No reason to move it more than necessary. “I don’t think the younger guy – Rome was it? – appreciated the boss’s comment.” Robby said.

Lance smirked. “Caught that, did you?”

Ria stepped back to glance at the front door again. The hair on the back of her neck was lifting and her blood started to move swiftly through her veins. She felt like she was being watched.

“First impressions are rarely on target, and one shouldn’t be quick to judge.” A verbal reminder to herself.

Robby slung the strap of his personal bag over his middle and gripped the handle of a large, rectangle case. “And sometimes the immediate gut reaction is the most accurate.”

Ria looped her own huge duffel over her head out of habit before she remembered she didn’t have her second piece of luggage. Agitated at that, and at the unceasing feeling of having a target on her back, she slowly turned in a circle, peering with particular interest at the various vehicles parked in the lot in front of the house. While it was far from pitch black, she couldn’t see much beyond the well-lit area. Shapes and shadows, yes, but nothing finite.

The sound of the vehicle’s hatch slamming shut made her jump.

“You okay, Ree?” Concern lighting his eyes, Lance took a step toward her.

With a hand on her racing heart, Ria shot him a crooked smile. “I’m good. Just wondering why we all still work for the man.”

“Money.” Robby didn’t hesitate, letting his brows rise and fall in an exaggerated motion. “He not only pays well, he takes care off all the travel expenses. Plus he doesn’t look over our shoulder all day long.”

Lance nodded in agreement. “Most of the time it’s fun, and Robby’s right. Professionally, Chris trusts us. It’s the personal that’s so irritating.”

Wasn’t that the truth.

With the strap of his own bag over his shoulder, Lance picked up a heavy plastic container. “Get our laptops, Ria?”

Doing his bidding, Ria moved to gather four laptop bags and her purse from the backseat. She flipped the straps over each man’s head, then did the same with her own, adding Chris’s over her shoulder. Then she locked up.

As they made their way to the front door Ria happened to glance up, and stumbled to a stop, air rushing into her lungs in a swift inhalation. She blinked, peered and blinked again. For a second, for the tiniest moment, she thought she saw a pair of greenish-yellow eyes glowing down at her from way up high. Attic high. Now there was nothing.

Swallowing, she quickened her pace and piled in the foyer/reception area on the heels of her cohorts.

“Ah. Ria.” Melinda said from behind a mahogany counter. Rome was next to her, staring at a computer monitor and tapping away. On top of the desk were several notepads, a cylinder pen container and a swirl-rack that held information packets about the orchards and various other suggested places to visit while staying at the b&b. Both Andreas and Gwen had vanished. “I was planning on placing you in the same room as last time since you seemed to like the location. Will that be suitable for you?”

Ria passed over Chris’s laptop bag. “That’s fine. Perfect actually. Thank you.” The room was right next to the women’s shared bathroom which she appreciated. With three showers, toilets and sinks, it was dorm-style and meant for relatively quick turnover. Being right next to it meant she could hear when the room was empty or a shower available without having to leave her room. Plus, it made for finding a toilet in the middle of the night much easier.

“As an FYI, you’ll be sharing the bath with four other ladies over the weekend.”

Ria picked up her key card. “Thanks for the warning.”

Melinda’s lips curved in response. “While these two gentlemen only have to share the bathroom with two others, they will have to share a bedroom. Two doubles.”

“I’m used to it,” Lance took one key and handed the second to Robby who added, “I’m just thrilled to have a bed. Sleeping on the hard ground gets old real quick.”

“And Chris. You requested one of our suites. I’ve placed you in, ah... Room 208?” Melinda looked from the key card Rome handed her to the monitor. “208 it is. A lovely suite, with a spectacular view of the bay.” She passed the card to Chris. “Gwen has gone to collect some snacks to help tide you over until breakfast. Rome will show you your rooms.”

“Excuse me,” Robby hurried to ask. “But what time is breakfast?”

“Between seven and nine in the dining room. It’s buffet so you’re welcome anytime between then. Dinner is at six-thirty, also buffet. The week’s menu is posted on the nightstand in each room as is the b&b’s information. If anyone has special requirements or food allergies, please let me know. There’s a refrigerator stocked with drinks and snacks in the dining room alcove if you get hungry during the day or miss a meal. There are also several baskets of muffins, cookies and bags of chips in the same location. We do ask our guests not to gorge or horde as that’s not only discourteous, it is unnecessary. If you find something to your liking and wish to leave with a care package, you need only ask.”

With that politely orated warning, Melinda bade them goodnight and swept down the hallway toward the back of the house.

“Wow.” Robby whispered as he stared after Melinda. “I’m in awe of your mom.”

Rome’s eyes narrowed on the male who had yet to reach thirty, but after a deep inhalation, his shoulders relaxed. “She has that affect on people. Let’s get you to your rooms. You need help with any of those?” He nodded at their array of luggage.

“No, we’re good.” Chris said and, when Rome turned that arched brow to him, quickly added, “Thanks for the offer, though.”

Behind their boss’s back, Lance, Robby and Ria shared wide-eyed looks, then followed Rome and Chris down the short hall to a wide staircase. The rich, smooth mahogany banister matched the checkin desk and flared gracefully out at the base where the steps gradually became wider.

After agreeing to meet the others in the dining room at seven sharp the next morning, Ria was finally able to enter her room. As anxious as she was to get out onto the site and get going, she was exhausted and didn’t relish the rising sun.

Once she locked the door behind her, she dumped her bags on the bed and immediately began to rummage in her oversized purse. Bypassing a pack of herbal cigarettes, she reached into an interior zippered compartment and pulled out a cell phone. Not her usual one, which was in an exterior pocket, but a special phone that had her breathing a sigh of relief when the screen lit up. It still had power. Taking out the charger, she walked over to a small vanity and plugged it in. Compared to most cell phones today, it appeared thick and on the bulky side. Old fashioned. That was the beauty about advancing technology. Anyone seeing this particular phone would think Ria behind the times for having something so antiquated. Except it wasn’t what it appeared. Yes, it was a cell phone, and would function as one for a short time, if she actually had service to it. She didn’t, because that’s not why she carted it around.

On the side was a miniscule slide button. When she pushed it over, the battery cover slide free, which she set on the counter, followed by the battery itself. What was revealed looked like the back of any other phone, except for an almost unnoticeable black piece of tape. Carefully pulling that free and placing it right side up next to the other pieces of the phone, she looked at the tiny switch hidden by the tape. Flicking it caused the phone to separate in half, and she ran a finger over what had been hidden there.

The quarter pint of blood was cool to the touch.

Satisfied, and amazed at her friend’s ingenuity, Ria reassembled everything. Dax had given her the phone as a mutual favor. She was testing for durability, longevity and passibility. It was also a back-up to the back-up. Though she’d had plenty of blood before this trip, she, and he, had noticed her need for the liquid nourishment had recently begun to increase.

Neither knew what it meant.

What she did know was that explaining away her occasional pouts of fatigue or deathly paleness of skin beneath her sun-kissed tan as symptoms of her autoimmune anemia was preferable to the reality.

Because everyone knew vampires were myths.

Though showered and dressed, Ria was still bleary-eyed as she stepped out the slider door onto her little private balcony. Reaching fingers from the weak morning sun crept over the large garden at the back of the house, bringing warmth to the beautiful and vast arrangement of flowers and vibrant plants interspersed with benches, a gazebo and a covered swing. An inviting wonderland that beckoned one to come on down and sit a spell.

Affected by the chilly dawn temperature and her damp hair, she wrapped the light-weight jacket tighter across her middle. Flicking her lighter, she breathed in a lungful of the herbs contained in her cigarette. A special blend of herbs created by her friend Dax to mask one’s scent against those who had a nose for sniffing out the truth.

Like a shifter finding out she was a vampire. A dangerous situation she most definitely did not want to become a reality.

Eyes narrowed at the possibility, Ria took another drag. She didn’t much care what was in it, as long as it worked. And from experience, she knew it did. At least against full-bloodied vamps who also possessed heightened senses. Ria, on the other hand, was only part vampire. She was also the great-granddaughter of a sorcerer. Not that she had any magic powers to speak of, or if she did, they had yet to manifest. Her bite, on the other hand, did contain a type of temporary paralytic when she needed to take sustenance from the source rather than a bag. An intimate act she tended to shy away from, as the drawback was arousal, for both her and her host.

As she smoked, and occasionally shivered, she looked beyond the garden to the orchards that made up the majority of the Felix family reputation. Rows upon rows of trees heavy with ripe oranges, black olives and avocados covered nearly half the land. Buildings of different shapes and sizes were scattered throughout the area as well, including the barn she knew Porter lived over. Off to her left, she could just make out a section of a two-story house the oldest son, Santos, lived in.

Santos. Just the thought of the dark-haired, dark-skinned man made her twitchy, and not in a fight or flight sense. This was pure feminine nerves running amok at the memory of a man she must have combined with a too-good-to-be-true fantasy. No male was that good-looking, that virile, that damn fascinating that she couldn’t stop thinking about him. Her memory had to be faulty. It was the only explanation why an almost stranger drew her to him like a magnet to steel.

Or blood to a vampire.

Maybe that was it. Maybe the blood that coursed through his veins was stronger, more potent because he was more than human. Then again, she hadn’t felt this sharp tug toward any of the other shifter males, and she certainly hadn’t had naughty dreams about them. Or waking fantasies, which was completely humiliating to Ria who prided herself on refusing to allow any male to control her actions or thoughts since leaving her dysfunctional family behind. Growing up with a dominating father, a demented great-grandfather and a deranged much older sister had nearly warped her, but thankfully she’d had enough morals left that when daddy had demanded Ria, then barely sixteen, lay with her brother-in-law “for as long as it takes to get pregnant”, Ria had bailed.

And panicked every damn day since her escape over eleven years ago that she would be found and dragged back to that hellish environment.

She unclenched her jaw at those memories and took another drag. At the same time, movement in the middle of a row of orange trees caught her attention. Santos stepped into view. Though he was too far away for her to scrutinize each detail of his face, she had no problem appreciating the feline grace of his movements, the strength of his body and pull of his muscles as he braced a foot against a tree trunk. She had no idea what he was doing until several oranges fell into his waiting hands. And the way his fingers closed over the round fruit nearly made her eyes cross in jealous desire, wanting to know how those fingers would feel on the bare flesh of her breasts. Even now they grew heavy and achy with need, her body reacting as if she caught sight of a long-lost and longed for lover.