In Blood and Worth Loving (16 page)

“Go ahead,” he said. “Answer it.”

Great. Was he going to read her mind too? She opened the phone and put it to her ear. “Hello?”

“Hi, Brandi. I was wondering if we could have dinner tonight.”

With
Adrian
’s mirror image seated so close, her resolve to see Doug wavered. “I’m not home yet and I’m a little tired.”

“Can I call you later tonight to discuss your birthday?”

“My birthday?” She smiled. “You remembered.”

“Of course I remembered. I was hoping we could celebrate it together at my place at the shore.”

She had spent two weekends at his small beachfront house at the
New Jersey
shore when they’d dated before. Now the thought of walking along the beach with a man with an even temper who wanted more than a weekend of meaningless sex appealed to her.

“That might be nice.”

“Yeah?” He sounded pleased.

She nodded. “Yes.”

“Great. We’ll make arrangements later.”

“Ok.”

“Have a safe trip home, sweet.”

“Thanks. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Brandi ended the call and put her cell phone back in her shoulder bag. Had Conner heard Doug’s end of the conversation? If so, would he share what he’d heard with
Adrian
? If he did, how would
Adrian
react?

Chapter Ten

“I’d like to stretch my legs. Let’s stop for coffee,” he suggested.

“Okay.”

“Great.”

She glanced at his smiling profile. He was as handsome as
Adrian
, but he smiled a lot more than
Adrian
. He was easier to be around than
Adrian
. So why couldn’t she stop thinking about
Adrian
?

They stopped for coffee at a small country diner several miles from the highway.

She had a sandwich with her coffee. Although the coffee was hot and milky as she liked it, she found herself comparing it unfavorably to the tea
Adrian
had made her. The sooner she started dating Doug again the sooner she could forget
Adrian
.

On the remainder of the drive back to Philly Conner showed her all the consideration
Adrian
hadn’t. Yet it was Adrian who she wished was seated beside her. Getting over him was going to take a little more effort than she’d expected.

Conner insisted on carrying her bag inside her apartment and checking to make sure it was secure. He was so kind she felt compelled to ask if he wanted a cup of coffee before he left.

“What a charming offer, but I’m afraid I’ll have to pass.” He glanced around. “Is there anything I can do for you before I leave?”

Brandi shook her head. “No. Thanks.” She hesitated.

He waited in silence.

It felt strange to offer him her hand after the intimacy she and Adrian had shared. “Thank you for coming to get me and for driving me home.”

He placed both hands over hers, flashing her a warm smile. “It was my pleasure. If you need to talk or if I can help you in any way, please feel free to call me.” He released her hand and handed her a card from his wallet. “Here are all my numbers. You can call anytime—day or night.”

While she appreciated the offer, she would not be calling him to discuss
Adrian
. “Thanks again.”

He leaned down to kiss her cheek before he left.

Alone, she castigated herself for not having at least asked him where
Adrian
was and who he was with. The thought of some other woman kissing his lips and raking her nails up and down his back as she enjoyed his hard cock, made her wild with jealousy.

Adrian
found Conner lying on one of the sofas in the family room reading when he arrived home early Sunday morning. After a night of sex with casual lovers, instead of feeling relaxed, he felt tense and angry.

He sank onto a loveseat opposite Conner. “Did you…”

“See Brandi safely home? Of course I did.” He closed his book and placed it on the sofa beside him.

Adrian
sighed. “Go ahead. Ask.”

“All right. I will. What happened between you two?”

Had she told Conner how close he had come to raping her? “Nothing that she didn’t precipitate.”

“So whatever happened was her fault?”

Does seeing something good and decent and worth loving in you…
He raked his hand through his hair and shrugged.
  

“She asked me if I intended to terrorize her.”

“I didn’t terrorize her!”

“What did happen between you two?”

Feeling guilt and remorse knotting in his gut, he shot to his feet.
 
“I don’t want to talk about her.”

“Fine. So it’s over between you two?”

“Yes.” He walked towards the door.

“Great. Then I won’t be stepping on your toes when I take her out.”

Adrian
swung around to stare at Conner. “When you take her out where?”

“To dinner. I asked her out.”

“You asked her…and she said yes?”

Conner nodded. “Like you, I don’t often get rejected.”

“The little bitch!”

Conner arched a brow. “I’m assuming you got what you wanted so there’s no need to malign her, Adrian.”

He bared his incisors. “Don’t preach to me, Conner!”

“Who’s preaching? I’m just saying there’s no need to call her names.”

“When I want your advice, I’ll ask for it.”

“When I think you need advice,
Adrian
, I’ll offer it whether you asked for it or not. She didn’t strike me as a bitch.”

“You only spent two hours with her. So how would you know?”

“What makes you think I only spent two hours with her?”

The implication of Conner’s words infuriated him. “What? You…you spent more than two hours with her?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Conner shrugged. “I wanted to get to know her.”

“Why?”

“Why not?” he countered.

“Just how well did you want to get to know her, Conner?”

“Not as well as you did.”

Instead of reassuring him, Conner’s answer made him angrier. “Why the hell did you ask her out?”

“You can ask that after having fondled that big ass and sucked that magnificent rack of hers?”

Conner’s use of such language in relationship to Brandi infuriated him. He clenched his hand into a fist. “I asked you to take her home not behave like a dirty old man with her.”

Conner sat up. “I haven’t touched her—yet. Tell me, Adrian, are they natural?”

“Yes.”

“Holy shit. And you walked away from her before the weekend was over? You’re a better vampire than I am.”

Conner’s interest in Brandi pissed him off. “Do me a favor.”

“Another one?”

“Yes. Stay away from her.”

“Give me one good reason why I should.”

“I asked you to!”

Conner rose. “Maybe that’s not reason enough.”

 
Adrian
stared at his twin. “She’s too damned young.”

“That didn’t stop you from fucking her. Why should it stop me?”

He stormed across the room to glare at Conner. “Why the hell are you doing this?”

“I haven’t actually done anything—yet.”

“Since when have you gone in for my sloppy seconds?”

Conner compressed his lips. “What the hell is wrong with you, Adrian? You know she doesn’t deserve that shit from you.”

The rebuke, which he knew he deserved, increased his anger. “What I know is that you’d better stay the hell away from her.”

“If this is how you behaved with her, small wonder she was afraid of you and anyone who looks like you.”

That stung far more than it should have. “She’s not afraid of me!”

“The hell she isn’t.”

“She’s not afraid of me. I don’t care what she told you—”

“She didn’t tell me anything,
Adrian
. But clearly you left your manners at the door of the cabin before you entered and proceeded to fuck and run.”

“Keep your sanctimonious lecturing to yourself and stay the hell away from her.”

“Or?”

“Take her out and find out!” Uncaring what Conner would make of his threat, he quickly left the room and ran up the staircase to his bedroom.

He undressed and stepped into the shower.

With cold water pouring over him, he closed his eyes and made no effort to dismiss thoughts of Brandi. He’d repaid her trust by hurting and frightening her. And that bothered him.

Conner was right. He had been out of line talking about her as if she was some whore selling herself on a corner. She was just young, passionate, and foolish enough to fall for him. Of course he’d probably cured her of that folly by forcibly penetrating her and then ingesting her blood when she so clearly wasn’t willing.

And now she’d met Conner and agreed to go out with him.
Adrian
balled his right hand into a fist. He sucked in a breath and unclenched his fist. Punching the wall wouldn’t help. He just had to hope…hope what?

Why was he wasting time worrying about Brandi Knight liking Conner more than she did him? For all he cared the two of them could spend the next two weekends fucking like rabbits. He was finished with human women in general and Brandi in particular.

After his shower, he dressed in dark slacks and a pullover. He paced the length of his bedroom for over twenty minutes, staring at the sketches of Brandi he’d framed and hung on the wall opposite his bed.

Finally he acknowledged that Brandi was the source of his anger and irrational irritation. The admission only served to increase both. He had to get her out of his system. Maybe one more fuck would do the job.

He returned to the family room to find Conner reclining on the sofa reading again. Conner glanced up but didn’t speak.

Adrian
shrugged. “Where does she live?”

“Why do you want to know?”

He counted to ten and then exploded. “Where the fuck does she live, Conner?”

Conner closed his book and rose. “Why the fuck do you want to know,
Adrian
?”

“Fuck you. I’ll find her without your help.”

Conner flashed across the room to swing him around to face him. “Why? Why are you going to see her?”

He jerked away. “That’s none of your damned business.”

“If you’re going to do anything to frighten her, I’m going to make it my business,
Adrian
.”

“Fuck off!”

“I will—as long as you remember how young and vulnerable she is and that she’s Rayna’s friend. There's a reason we stopped dating human women, Adrian.”

“I didn't know she was human. How is it my fault Rayna tricked me?”

Conner shrugged. “If all you want is a meaningless fuck, find another victim.”

“Victim? What the hell are you implying, Conner?”

“I’m not implying anything,
Adrian
. I’m suggesting you remember she’s human, young, and easily hurt both physically and emotionally.”

“You think I want to hurt her?”

Conner sighed. “I think you’ve already hurt her.”

Recalling her tears and pleas for him to stop, he couldn’t deny Conner was right. He stalked away, struggling to control his temper. During their two hundred year existence he and his brothers had few major disagreements and almost none that had ended in a fist fight. He wasn’t going to be driven to violence by the likes of the teasing, conniving Brandi Knight.

Conner followed him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “
Adrian
, we don’t fight over women.”

“We’re not fighting.”

“We are. Tell me what’s wrong.”

He slowly turned to face his twin, swallowing the hot, angry words tightening his throat. He sighed, hesitated and then admitted everything that had happened since his meeting with Brandi.

Conner kept his face expressionless and listened without interrupting.

Adrian
finished and sighed. “Go ahead. Say it.”

Conner gave him a long stare. “That you’re in blood?”

“No! That I fucked up!”

“Are you saying she’s not your blood?”

“Yes!”

Conner shook his head. “There’s no need to pretend with me, Adrian. I know she’s not just another easy lay for you.”

If only she were, things would be so much easier. “What do you want me to say, Conner?”

“I want you to admit how you feel.”

“Fine! I’ll admit that sex with her is incredible, but that's all it is. Sex. I am not in blood with her.”

“Was there blood in your semen with Marcella?”

The question annoyed him. “What has that to do with anything?”

“Was there?”

“No,” he admitted.

“I thought not.” Conner squeezed his shoulder. “It'll be easier for you if you accept the inevitable.”

“What makes you think there's anything to accept?”

“Let's see. It was all right for you to fuck her until she was walking bowlegged, but I'm a dirty old man when I mention her charms. You're secreting blood when you make love to her, and you've been an absolute bear since you met her.”

He shook Conner’s hand off his shoulder. “I didn't make love to her. I fucked her. There’s a big difference.”

“Call it what you like,
Adrian
. I think you've met a woman capable of making monogamy and wedded bliss seem semi-attractive. By any of our definitions that would make the charming Brandi your blood.”

“You sound delusional. You must have gotten a hold of some tainted blood.”

Conner smiled. “Unfortunately, it’ll happen to us all sooner or later,
Adrian
.”

He shook his head. “There's nothing special about her.”

“If you really believe that, leave her alone to settle down with a man who does think she’s special.”

Adrian
narrowed his gaze. “And who would that man be?”

“What’s your interest in him?”

“Who is he?”

“I think he’s someone who wants to marry her.”

He clenched his jaw. “Marry her?”

“Yes,
Adrian
. Marry her or at the very least spend her birthday weekend with her.”

When hell iced the fuck over! He took a deep breath before he spoke. “You told me she was between boyfriends.”

Conner shrugged. “I was wrong.”

Adrian
stared at him. “How do you know about this man?”

“He called her on the drive back.”

“And?”

“And she agreed to spend her birthday weekend with him.”

Adrian
felt a knot in his stomach. “The hell she did!”

“Did you know her birthday is in two weeks?”

“Why should I care about her birthday?”

“Maybe you don’t, but he does and that’s probably why he’ll be sharing her bed while you’ll be trying to pretend Marcy still gets the job done for you when we both know she doesn’t.”