Lifebound (3 page)

But before he could find out, a strong arm wrapped itself around his shoulders and steered him away.

“Hey, Josh!” the deep voice that belonged to the strong arm said as it pulled him away from her. “I don’t think we’ve met. My name is Rekkus. Tomorrow morning, I’ve got a group of boys who are just desperate to meet you.”

Rekkus walked with him back up to his room, talking nonstop all the while about these kids and how they were huge fans of his.

Only after they’d reached his room did Josh realize that Rekkus’s strong arm had also helped support the weight on his injured hip so they made the trip back in half the time and with half the effort.

“Who was that girl in the dining room?” Josh asked as Rekkus unlocked his door and practically pushed him inside. Those candles were back again, enough in the room to burn it down.

“What girl?” Rekkus asked. “I didn’t see anybody.”

Josh sat on the edge of the bed, but the walk downstairs had made him tired. Suddenly he was very sleepy. The scent from the candles filled the room and his head began to spin. He couldn’t hold his eyes open anymore and fell back against the pillow.

Somebody pulled his feet onto the bed as well, maybe Rekkus. He dragged open his eyelids and tried to focus.

That blond woman, Sage, was in the room as well. She slipped his shoes from his feet and covered him with a blanket from the end of the bed. He wanted to tell them to get the hell out and leave him alone, but he was too sleepy to talk.

“Are you trying to drug him or kill him?” Rekkus said in a pissed off tone. “You’ve got enough stuff burning in here to roast a pig.”

“You saw what nearly happened, Rekkus,” Sage said. “Now let’s get out of here and let him sleep.”

What nearly happened? Who was that girl?

But the door had shut behind them, and he was alone. Her face floated before him in his mind’s eye for just a moment. He’d only wanted to take her hand. Then he was asleep.

Chapter Three

A
driana sat at her table in the dining room in a state of shock.
Who was that guy?
His eyes had penetrated into her as if he knew her, as if he knew what she was.

But that wasn’t possible. He was human. He’d never met her before. How could he know her?

His dark hair was cut short and sexy like a race car driver or something. He wore a baggy T-shirt and shorts, but his clothes couldn’t completely disguise the muscles of his shoulders or the leanness of his stomach.

But his blue eyes had pierced into her. He’d looked deep into her soul with those clear cerulean eyes—so help her, they were cerulean—and had held out his hand to her.

And oh, she’d wanted to take it so badly. The life inside him snapped and sparked off him like tempting golden coils of electricity. But before she could lift a finger from her lap, Rekkus had swooped in like some black T-shirt-wearing club bouncer and escorted him away.

It wasn’t fair. She wasn’t going to touch him. She didn’t even know his name.

“Josh. His name is Josh Trenton,” Cemil said as he took a seat beside her. “And by now, he is so drugged by Sage’s sleep candles he wouldn’t know his own name.”

“I wouldn’t have touched him,” Adriana began. “I am not looking for another host.”

“I know that.” Cemil reached out one hand to touch her himself in an instinctive gesture of connection and comfort, but pulled back just in time. She didn’t even flinch.

“I am sorry,” he said. “Does that bother you?”

“Not at all.” She picked at her dinner salad. “I am used to it. Most humans do not have any desire to get very close to me. It’s as if they can feel what I might do to them. And no paranormal will get within five feet. It is only with my own people that I feel free to touch and be touched.”

And her own people had practically disowned her.

“All I want is for you to help me control this so I can exist in the world without a host. I do not want to hurt anyone else.”

“I am not sure you can exist without a host.” Cemil frowned a little. “Very few lamia have ever been able to do without the give and take of energy to survive. If you wish to try, we will need you to move to one of the isolated cabins on the island, but none are available at the moment.”

“Then I will manage in my room. I will not leave it.”

“That might be for the best.” Cemil rose from the table. “Enjoy your dinner. We will talk again tomorrow.”

Adriana sighed and picked up her fork to finish her meal, but every bite tasted like paper on her tongue.

She couldn’t help but notice how the lights in the building dimmed and brightened in her presence, almost with her pulse. Even the elevator struggled to keep moving as she headed to her room on the second floor.

Inside the room, she lay down on her bed and wondered about the man at dinner. Josh. Josh Trenton. The name sounded familiar. Why had he come to her table? What did he want?

Josh slept and dreamed.

He dreamed he lay beside her, his fingers running through the rippling silk of her hair. Her hair like birch leaves. He caressed the soft outline of her cheek and traced the incredible pink of her lips. She felt like a rose petal, soft and velvety.

He kissed her, and she tasted sweet and real like homemade wine. He could get drunk off that intoxicating kiss. He was drunk already. He pushed his hand underneath her camisole across the silk of her skin to reach her breast. It fit his hand perfectly with its warm, rounded smoothness. Her nipple brushed against his palm, rising against him.

He wanted this so badly. He needed to be beside her, inside her, so that her warm softness could wrap around him completely. Without her, he was so cold.

With a start, he woke up. He was standing at the window of his room, the cool night air blowing in through the open casement. What was he doing? How long had he been standing there?

His injured hip ached with the exertion and the coolness of the room. He began to shiver.

A knock at his door stirred him from his spot, and he limped over to open it.

Rekkus filled the doorway. “You okay in here, Josh?” the big man asked. “Thought I heard something.”

“I’m fine. I was just going out for a walk.”

“It’s two in the morning,” Rekkus said. “How about you take your walk when it’s closer to daylight?”

“Yeah, whatever.” Josh shut the door and then shut the window. He lay back down to sleep, but kept thinking about her, about how it would feel to be next to her. He didn’t even know her name.

“What have you done to him?” Sarka asked Adriana the next morning in her office. “Rekkus said he nearly jumped out of the window last night.”

“I haven’t done anything,” Adriana said for what felt like the hundredth time. “I went to bed and went to sleep. That’s all.”

Adriana refrained from mentioning the fact that her dreams had been anything but peaceful. In fact, she’d woken up orgasmic at least three times. Or that her energies were far more balanced that morning than they’d been in weeks. Because they were dreams. Only dreams.

“We have never had a death on the island.” Sarka’s voice was so firm that the air in the room had grown a little heavy and the shadows had gotten much darker.

Adriana recalled that Sarka was a very powerful enchantress and one she would do well to respect. “I am no threat to anyone here. I will stay far away from him and everyone else. I just want to rest.”

Sarka stared at her silently for several more seconds and then dismissed her with a wave of her hand.

Adriana left the office feeling troubled. Had she somehow caused Josh to nearly jump out a window? She didn’t even know him.

On the way back down the hall to her room, she stopped in the lobby to pick up a couple of books to read. The rooms didn’t have televisions—part of the rest and relaxation policy, she assumed—so she needed something to do. Chattering voices diverted her from the selection of books on the lending library shelf.

“I still can’t believe Josh Trenton is here on the island,” a boy’s voice called from the entry. “He’s like a legend!” Four teenage boys pushed into the door, each bearing a skateboard.

“Rekkus said he’d introduce us.” One of them flipped back his shaggy blond hair.

“Who is Josh Trenton?” she asked the group as they drew nearer.

“Where have you been?” the first asked. “He’s a skateboarding legend. X-Games champion. Cover of
Sports Weekly
.”

“Twice,” one of the others interjected.

“Makes really epic skateboards.” Another held up his board and pointed to the bright graphic of a wolf emblazoned upon it.

“Nearly killed himself a couple of months ago skating the loop,” came a voice behind them.

“Dude! It’s Josh Trenton!” The boys practically fell over themselves trying to get to him. “Dude, sign my shirt!”

“Sign my deck!”

“Dumbass, that’s not a Josh Trenton deck. You can’t ask him to sign the competition’s deck!”

Josh just laughed and offered to sign anything they brought to him. In a few minutes, the boys were showing off their signatures to each other.

“How about you? Can I sign anything for you?” Josh asked Adriana with a smile.

In addition to the bad boy race-car driver haircut and the incredible blue eyes, Josh also had the most amazing dimples. She smiled back at him. “That’s okay. Maybe later.”

“Hey, Josh, will you show us some stuff on the new videogame?” one boy asked.

“I’d rather show you something on the board. But give me some names first.”

“Telly.” Then the boy pointed around the circle. “Ben, John, and Joseph.”

Each boy gave Josh a cool nod as his name was called.

“And you are?” Josh turned toward Adriana and looked at her expectantly.

“Adriana. Adriana Velen.”

“Josh Trenton.” He held out his hand to her, but she pretended to be distracted by one of the boys.

“Show us some stuff? Please?” Ben flipped back his blond hair.

“Well, I can give you some pointers, but as you can see, I’m not really up to skating right now.” Josh followed the group down the steps outside, staying close to Adriana. “However, I have to say I feel better this morning than I have since I messed myself up.”

They headed out into the paved courtyard where Josh gave the boys tips on doing all kinds of tricks with all kinds of strange names. Before long, they were talking a different language around her—ollie, fakie, 180, kickflip. She’d never even been on a skateboard.

The boys began to practice their tricks as she and Josh sat on one of the many benches scattered around the grounds. She made certain to keep plenty of space between them, but even with the distance, a pull, like a magnetic force, drew her closer to him.

“So what do you do when you aren’t vacationing?” Josh stretched his injured leg out in front of him.

“I am a refugee from Silicon Valley.” She sighed. “I used to work for Tom Bridges before he died. I was his personal assistant.”

“Wow.” Josh’s eyes widened. “I met him once at the release of one my computer games. He was pretty intense.”

“He never quit.”
Not until he died
. “But I’m between jobs at the moment.”

“I know some people in the industry. Want me to call up a few contacts? See who’s got something?”

“That’s okay.”

He looked away briefly.

Had she said something wrong? “It’s just that my family has lots of connections. I know they’ll want to help me find something.”

He looked back at her and smiled with those incredible dimples. “I’ve got twenty-five first cousins. I know about family.”

Adriana didn’t have nearly as many cousins, but the Velen family was connected to every other lamia family in the world. To function and survive, lamia had to find hosts. But the only real closeness they could have was with each other.

Unfortunately, closeness wasn’t something any of her people were very good at. They put a constant watch on their contacts in their everyday lives. Maybe that reservation made them cautious with everybody, turning them all cold, even with their own families.

But Tom Bridges had been a warm, friendly person, and she’d enjoyed working for him. With him, she mattered to someone.

As the boys skated, she asked Josh all kinds of questions about his career. At last she remembered where she’d heard his name. Tom’s young nephew had asked for one of his videogames for Christmas a few years ago, and Tom had gotten Josh to sign the game for him at the release party. At the time, she was unimpressed. But hearing Josh talk about his business and the competitive circuit opened her eyes to the world of extreme skating in all its crazy glory.

Skateboarding came to life in his descriptions like part spring break madness, part Olympics, with a good measure of entrepreneurship thrown in. She’d had no idea there was so much money in endorsements and video games. Josh clearly loved what he did, and the wistful tone in his voice told her how much he missed it.

“Do they think you’ll be back competing again soon?”

He shrugged and looked away. They sat quietly for a while.

Then he turned that blue-sky gaze on her. “Just because I’m not skateboarding doesn’t mean you’ve got to babysit me.” He pulled himself to his feet, leaning on his cane for support. “How about it, Adriana? Want to ride?”

Adriana shook her head in terror. The last thing she wanted was to fall on her face in front of these boys—in front of Josh.

But the boys wouldn’t take no for an answer. Telly stood on one side and quiet John on the other.

“Don’t you let me fall,” she said.

They assured her she was perfectly safe with them, and before long, they had her gliding across the courtyard, doing slow, lazy turns.

She’d done plenty of ice-skating as a girl, which paid off as she found her balance pretty quickly. The board responded to her as she shifted her weight, curving back and forth across the pavement.

A movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Josh had borrowed a board and was also gliding along, weaving in and out of the benches that bordered the edges.

“You guys need to work on grinding these benches and popping ollies over them,” he said. “This could be a great place to skate.”

“Something tells me Sarka would not approve of us grinding her benches,” Joseph warned.

Adriana suddenly remembered her promise to Sarka that she would go to her room and stay far away from Josh Trenton. She sighed then. The morning had been surprisingly enjoyable. But for her own good, she needed to pack it in.

Sadly, she pushed off back toward the group of guys. “I’m going to have to call it a day,” she said as she drew closer to them.

“For real?” Josh asked, disappointment in his voice.

“Yes, I’ve got to get some work done,” she lied as she rolled up.

Just as she reached the edge of the pavement where the group stood, her front wheel hung on a pebble, stopping the board suddenly and throwing her forward. She threw out her hands to catch herself, but Josh got there first.