Enraptured (14 page)

Forcing his attention away from her, he
focused on the kitchen. It had a two-burner wood stove to cook on,
and what he assumed people had once considered an ice chest. There
were bags of ice stored in the chest, along with the few
perishables Emma had bought and stored inside. He’d grabbed a
couple more bags of ice while he’d been in town. The ice cracked
and broke apart when he banged it on the counter. It clinked
together when he dumped it into the chest.

Paige opened up the first Styrofoam
container from wherever he’d ordered it. The sight of the crispy
bacon made her mouth water. She grabbed a piece and munched on it
as he finished unpacking the last two bags. Her eyebrows rose at
the sight of the sketchpad and pencils he placed on the counter.
Her fingers tingled with the urge to grasp hold of the supplies and
open the pad.

“What are you doing with those?” she asked,
unable to tear her eyes away from them.

He turned toward her. “You don’t remember
telling me you liked to draw last night?”

Paige glanced between him and the pad. Her
brain slogged through the memories of last night until it drummed
up the one he was talking about. She
had
told him about her
love of drawing sometime during one of their umpteenth hands of
cards. She couldn’t recall what had driven her to pick up her first
pencil and put it to paper, but she’d always felt the urge to take
the images in her mind and put them to paper. It had been a way to
escape a world that had been more than a little frightening when
she’d been a child.

Looking up, she found him raptly watching
her with an almost hopeful expression on his face. “I didn’t think
you would remember,” she murmured.

“I remember many things,” he replied with
ease. The suggestive gleam in his eye made her toes curl. She
ducked her head away and focused on her meal again. “The store
didn’t have much of an art section, but I figured with the lack of
all things electronic you’d like something else to do.”

She couldn’t help but smile at him. “Thank
you. It’s one of the nicest things someone has done for me in
years,” she replied honestly.

Ian glanced at the simple pad and assortment
of pencils before looking at her again. She deserved far more than
these simple things, and he wouldn’t mind being the one who gave
them to her. “It shouldn’t be, you deserve far more than this, and
you should have it.”

Paige found herself completely speechless as
she stared at him. What kind of a murderous vampire bought a girl a
sketchpad? He was, without a doubt, the most confusing man she’d
ever encountered. She tried to keep hold of her hate and distrust
of him, but he kept hammering away at all of her firm resolve.

She focused on her meal and dug into the
eggs with the plastic utensils the restaurant had supplied. He
closed the last cabinet he’d placed some canned food into before
turning to face her. She knew she must look like a pig, but she
didn’t care. She’d never been one not to eat or to curb her
appetite in front of others; she loved food, all of it. Using her
toast, she pushed the remaining eggs onto it and finished off her
meal.

“Full?” he asked.

“I am. It definitely hit the spot. Thank
you.” His white teeth flashed as he rested his arms on the counter.
“You didn’t expect me to run while you were gone?”

“No, I thought you might, but like I said
you’re not a prisoner here. I need you to stay here until I know my
family is safe.”

“What would you have done if I did run?” she
inquired.

“I would have found you.” She had no doubt
about that, especially if he could run forty miles in five minutes.
Stepping away from the counter, he slid into the rickety chair
across from her. “But better me than the grizzlies,” he teased.

“Maybe,” she muttered.

“Are you back to being a Grumpy Gus again?”
he inquired. “Perhaps we’ll have to keep you drunk on Scotch the
whole time we’re here.”

“Ugh,” she groaned.

“I’ll take that as a no.”

“Absolutely not.”

“I took the canoe down to the lake earlier,”
he said as he tapped his fingers on the table. “There’s not much
else to do around here, would you like to try some fishing or
boating on the lake.” She bit on her lip as she pondered his
question. “I promise not to bite,” he cajoled.

A small laugh escaped her. “I’m not sure my
stomach is up for water right now.”

“Ah, I see. The pitfalls of being human. We
could always go for a walk.”

“I think I can handle that.”

He rose so swiftly, and in such an elegant
way that she had to clamp her mouth shut in order to keep from
gawking. “Good.” He held his hand out to her. She stared at it
before reluctantly sliding her hand into his. The feel of his skin
against hers caused a delicious shiver to travel down her spine. He
may be one of the undead, but no one had ever made her feel more
alive than he did.

“That didn’t hurt, did it?”

The words came out of his mouth like a purr.
She had a feeling he knew her body had an instinctive reaction to
his. She almost jerked her hand away from his, but she couldn’t
give him the satisfaction of knowing how much he affected her. Her
pulse picked up as she found herself almost pressed against his
broad chest. She tilted her head back to look at him.

His eyes were hooded, his mouth quirked as
his gaze traveled over her. It had been three days since he’d last
had sex, he hadn’t gone this long in a couple of years, but looking
down at her he didn’t feel the piercing urge that usually drove his
sexual needs with such intensity. She calmed him in ways no one
ever had before. She made him feel sane again, made him feel like
he had before he’d stopped aging. He’d missed feeling normal; he
hadn’t realized how badly until now.

Unable to resist, he brushed back a strand
of her damp, curling hair and tucked it behind her ear. “See, I’m
really not a monster.”

Words were something she spoke every day,
but she found herself struggling to find some as his breath tickled
her cheek. The warmth of his body caused her breasts to tingle; she
instinctively swayed closer to him as pleasure rippled over her
sensitized skin. “It’s still early in the week,” she said.

He laughed, his hand fell away from her face
as his thumb caressed the back of her hand. Paige took a reluctant
step away. She had to put some distance between them to regain
control of herself. “Yes it is, Paige. Yes it is.”

A shiver slid down her spine at the unspoken
promise within his words.

Ian walked by her side through the woods and toward
the lake about a half a mile away from the cabin. He’d done a fair
amount of exploring the area while she’d still been asleep, in
order to keep his mind occupied. The lake, mountains, and
surrounding area reminded him a little of the home he’d shared with
his family. A twinge of longing filled him at the thought of the
home he’d most likely never see again. He’d called his mom when
he’d gone into town and discovered cell phone service. She’d
confirmed they’d decided to play it safe and leave Oregon. He’d
miss his home, but there was nothing to be done about it, and he
didn’t think he would change anything, even if he could.

He glanced down at Paige’s bent head as she
walked. A tingle went through him when he spotted the vein pulsing
in the side of her neck. He wasn’t used to denying himself, not
with women. Indulging in the female race was how he managed to get
through his days, but Paige was different. She wasn’t like one of
the many other women he’d taken back to his room. She wasn’t one of
the women he’d taken into backrooms or some hotel. Mainly because
she wasn’t willing to be taken somewhere with him, and also because
he knew his one and done rule wouldn’t apply to her. He’d want much
more from her.

The sun filtering through the trees played
across her chocolate colored hair and brought to life the shades of
mocha and sable within it. She glanced up at him from under her
sweeping lashes; a scowl curved her mouth when she caught him
staring at her. The turquoise color of her eyes deepened before she
hastily looked away.

“Did you find it strange to grow up as a
vampire?” she inquired.

“Did you find it strange to grow up as a
human?”

Her eyes shot up to his; she blinked at him
before releasing a small chuckle. “No, I didn’t.”

“Neither did I,” he assured her. “We went to
school when we were old enough to control ourselves. I had friends,
played on sports teams, went on dates, went to prom, and attended
college.”

She stopped walking, causing him to turn to
look at her. Her gaze ran over his tall, broad frame as she tried
to sort through what he was saying to her. “It all sounds so…
normal.”

“It is, for me.”

“You aged like a normal human?”

“Until ten months ago.”

She brushed back a strand of her hair and
held it as a breeze drifted over them. “What happened ten months
ago?”

“I reached maturity and stopped aging.”

Her gaze raked over him again. “So this is
what you’ll look like, forever?”

“Impressed?” he asked with a crooked
smile.

She didn’t look at all impressed when she
rolled her eyes at him. “You’re so arrogant.”

“Only when I’m right,” he assured her.

“Ugh.” She waved her hand at him
dismissively before she started walking again. He fell into step
beside her. “You won’t age anymore?”

“No, I won’t.”

“What does that feel like?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean how does it feel not to age? Not to
have to worry about death, for the most part anyway, or arthritis
or cancer? To know your family and loved ones will always be with
you? It must be such a freeing feeling.”

“I never really thought about it,” he
admitted.

“No, I suppose you wouldn’t,” she
replied.

“I still know loss and grief,” he told her.
“I’ve had human friends die. I don’t get to keep the friends I’ve
made for long, as they age and I stay the same. I may be immortal,
but I can still be killed. The same goes for the rest of my family.
I still have a fear of death.”

Paige pondered his words. “Yes, I suppose
you do. Just no fear of wrinkles.”

The muscles in his neck stood out when he
threw his head back and laughed. She couldn’t help but admire the
way the sun played over his blond hair and chiseled features. His
eyes twinkled with amusement when he looked at her again. “I may be
missing out on something, I’ve heard men become more distinguished
with age.”

She couldn’t help but chuckle. “You would be
the guy chasing women around the nursing home in a wheelchair if
you were human,” she admitted.

“Only the nurses, that uniform,” he replied
with a wink.

He liked uniforms, did he? The idea of it
caused a flutter in her belly. She definitely had to steer them
away from this conversation. “You grieved for the friends you
lost?”

This time he was the one who stopped
walking, and she turned to face him. “I’m not a monster, I have
feelings, no matter what you may think.”

The hand holding her hair fell back to her
side. “I didn’t mean it like that,” she said. “I was only
asking.”

“Yes. I grieved for them.”

She gave him a wan smile before starting
down the path again. “I’m sorry for your loss then.”

“Thank you.”

They walked another quarter mile before she
spoke again, “What were you going to college for?”

“I majored in early education and minored in
psych.”

Paige almost tripped over her feet when she
spun to look at him. “You were going to be a teacher?”

“The idea of a vampire teacher a little too
much for you?”

Paige thought she might have to pick her jaw
up from the ground, but she finally recovered her composure. “Yes,
it is.”

“I’ve always liked children, and not to
eat,” he hastily added. The hearty belly laugh she emitted brought
a smile to his face. Her clear, brilliant eyes radiated light and
amusement as she gazed up at him. “One day I’d like to have a
family, maybe not as big as mine, but I wouldn’t mind having four
or five kids.”

“You are most definitely full of
surprises.”

“And what of you, Paige? What do you want to
be when you grow up?”

She reached out to shove back a branch
overhanging the path, his hand shot out and he pushed it aside for
her before she could touch it. “When I was a child I wanted to be
an astronaut or a famous painter. I would have loved to have seen
the stars, up close.”

“And painted them?” he prodded.

“I would have painted them all,” she said
with a wistful smile.

“And as you got older?”

She shoved her hands into the pockets of her
jeans. “I stopped dreaming of silly things.”

He rested his hand on her arm to draw her
attention to him. “Why?”

Her hands fidgeted in her pockets, she
pulled them out before taking a step away from him. “Because we all
have to grow up some time.”

Before he could question her further, she
turned away from him and started down the path again. Her shoulders
were hunched; her head bowed as she walked away. She stopped at the
edge of the path and took a step forward to look over the side of
the hill. He remembered the view from earlier, but he still walked
over to look down at the lake nestled in the valley below. The sun
glimmering off the water lit a pathway across its smooth surface,
turning it the color of a sapphire.

“Beautiful,” she murmured.

Sadness radiated from her as she stared at
the water below. “It is,” he agreed.

Wrapping her arms around herself, she
clasped hold of her elbows to ward off the chill of the breeze
drifting through the massive pines. “How did you plan to be a
teacher when you don’t age? People would have noticed that,
eventually.”