Min's Vampire (50 page)

“
She’s a surprise.” Gabriel
thought about those words for a moment, smiling to himself as his
thoughts about Lucy did indeed surprise him. Just the thought of
her felt so fresh and cool and comforting, so welcomed. And her
smile…

“
That’s it? She’s a
surprise?” Micah sounded bewildered, yet there was humor in his
tone.

Gabriel tried to push the thoughts of
Lucy and her smile out of his mind. He couldn’t be having those
kinds of thoughts about her. He was in love with Delia!

Finally he looked to his brother and
said, more than a little ruefully, “She keeps surprising
me.”

“
Okay, big brother with the
stoic vibe. Now you’re surprising me.” Micah patted Gabriel’s arm,
their eyes met, and for one excruciating moment Gabriel wanted to
tell his younger brother everything.

He closed his eyes, taking in a long,
hungry breath of the ocean breeze. More than anything, right then,
Gabriel wanted to stay right where he was. He missed the sea. He
missed living on the boat, just hauling up anchor and heading out
into the vast nothingness of the ocean. To be able to go anywhere
you wanted, or all the way around the world—all on one tank of
gas.

And he missed having his brother with
him. For so long they’d been inseparable. Especially after college,
when Gabriel didn’t know whether or not he really wanted to go into
his field of choice. But then their father had offered him the CEO
position, and though he was reticent, the honor of it was
overwhelming.

But honor or not, being so close to
the ocean, and with his brother again, was pulling him apart
inside. He’d always been able to tell his brother all his problems.
And now he was standing right in front of him and couldn’t tell him
anything.

It sucked!

“
I’ve got to go,” Gabriel
said, handing his half full bottle of beer to Micah, then hastily
making his way toward the dock.

“
But you haven’t finished
your beer!” Micah groused. Gabriel waved him off without looking
back. But then Micah said something that stopped him in his tracks.
“And you haven’t told me why there’s female vampire scent all over
you.”

~*~

Gabriel stopped with his hands
gripping the cool metal of the rail. He was gritting his teeth and
seriously contemplating lying to his brother. After all, maybe he
was just bluffing. Gabriel hadn’t been with Delia in almost a
week.

“
I mean, really! I’m the
best tracker in the family, probably on the continent, and you
didn’t think I’d smell that?”

Shit…

“
Is that why you’ve been
avoiding me?”

“
I haven’t been avoiding
you. I’ve been busy—”

“
Busy boning a vampire?”
Micah’s eyes flashed, the beast in him looking out through his eyes
for an instant.

Gabriel shook his head. “I ran into a
couple a few nights ago. We fought and—”

“
Bullshit! My gift—besides
being beautiful and athletic as hell—is my nose. And I smell horny
vampire… a female, horny vampire.”

“
Micah.”

“
So fess up, bro.” His eyes
were back to normal—back to just being Micah again. “You know you
can trust me with your secrets.”

And Gabriel knew he could, he really
could. “But some secrets are deadly.” If either of the families
found out about him and Delia, there would be war, and they might
both lose their heads.

Micah wriggled his eyebrows. “Danger’s
my middle name.”

Gabriel laughed, and it made his chest
hurt in a really good way. “I thought your middle name was
Linus?”

“
You know what I meant.”
Micah’s voice was turning into a husky growl.

“
And I can’t remember… were
you named after Mom’s great uncle, or after the Peanuts
character?”

“
So are you going to tell me
about your undead lady love before or after I kick your
ass?”

They looked each other in the eye for
a long beat, both no longer joking around. “What do you want to
know?”

~*~

“
I’m not eating that.” Lucy
felt sick to her stomach just thinking about it. And to her horror,
it had smelled and looked really good. But she had asked what it
was, which usually didn’t matter. Gabriel wasn’t one for eating
gross food. There was always some kind of meat in what he ordered
for their office dinners, and usually the savory sauces and the
sources of the food spanned a multitude of cultures.

But when Gabriel had said “Lamb
Curry,” Lucy had envisioned Mary’s Little Lamb, and then the
adorable lamb that she had held during a Christmas pageant when she
was nine years old. She’d wanted her father to buy it for her, the
fleece was so soft, and it had licked sugar cubes out of her
hand.

But Adam Hart would not abide a farm
animal in his house or on his property. Pets of any kind had been
one of the few things he had denied Lucy and her
brother.

And that’s all she could think about
as Gabriel set out two high-end disposable plates on the coffee
table he had brought in when it turned out they spent most of their
dinner meetings lounging on the big black leather couch. She’d felt
pretty good that he’d added furniture to his office just for her.
But she would not be touching the baby lamb he was now spooning out
over the white rice that formed a base on the bottom of each
plate.

It really did smell good, and she’d
skipped lunch, opting to spend her break having her nails done at a
local, though excellent, nail salon. They now gleamed with an
incredible crimson orange, and shimmered with tiny gold hearts.
She’d missed getting manicures, and that sense of whimsy she’d had
about her nails. But right at that moment, Lucy was missing lunch
most of all. Maybe she should just call out for a pizza, maybe some
of that divine manicotti they’d devoured the night
before?

But then Gabriel pulled out from the
take out bag something wrapped up in aluminum foil, and as he
unwrapped it, steam rose into the air and the rich scent of garlic
bread engulfed her senses.

“
This is called naan bread,”
Gabriel said as he pulled a piece of the delicious smelling flat
bread from the pack. Holding it in his hand he ladled the lamb/rice
mixture onto the bread in big spoonfuls, wrapped it up fajita style
then brought it up to his lips and took a huge bite.

The look of utter bliss that took over
Gabriel’s face would usually have creeped Lucy out. But she was
starving. It didn’t help either, the look on his face as he chewed
up his lamb/rice fajita and swallowed—sighing rapturously before
shooting Lucy with a maniacal smile then taking another big
bite.

Lucy’s stomach actually
growled.

“
Come on Lucy… you’re
hungry, or at least your stomach’s hungry—and I know you really
want to.” Gabriel was practically laughing as he spoke, his deep
brown eyes electrified with mischievous taunting.

Lucy groaned in defeat as she sat down
on the couch and grabbed herself a piece of naan bread, then
shoveled as much of Mary’s Little Lamb onto it as she could, rolled
it up and took a big old honking bite.

It was good. No, it was incredible.
Spicy and rich, the meat had this juicy, tender quality, the sauce
was to die for, and the rice and flat bread added a wonderful
texture to the whole thing. She took another bite before she’d even
swallowed her first.

“
See?” Gabriel said with a
smug expression on his handsome face.

“
I hate you,” Lucy mumbled
through a mouthful of absolute bliss.

After wolfing down every last bit of
the lamb curry, they settled back into the couch and put their feet
up on the new—doubtlessly expensive—coffee table. Lucy spotted the
little red step stool sitting under the last photo she’d been
examining whilst waiting for Gabriel.

Strangely enough, the length of time
she spent waiting for Gabriel each day had drastically started to
dwindle. Today she’d only been perched barefoot on the stool for a
few moments, the total wait time since she’d set foot in the office
was just under five minutes now. A far cry from the first week’s
usual half hour.

“
So,” Lucy said, lazily
raising her arm up to point at the photo in question. “What is
that?”

Gabriel looked to where she was
pointing, got an unreadable look on his face for a moment, smiling
guiltily. He even started to blush.

“
That’s… well, you see…”
Gabriel squirmed in his seat then turned his entire body around so
he could face Lucy completely. “My brother and I have this…
tradition.”

Lucy couldn’t help it, she was
smiling. She could tell this was going to be one hell of a good
story. All the stories that involved Gabriel’s brother, Micah, were
hysterical.

“
We bet on
things.”

Silence.

“
Like?” Lucy prompted
him.

“
Well… sometimes it’s just
sporting events: horse racing, college football games, that
Ultimate Cage Fighter show.”

“
Okay,”

“
That’s usually just a money
bet. But sometimes we actually bet on who can…” He stopped and
stared at Lucy, and she could see in his eyes that he was editing
what he was about to tell her. He did that a lot, especially when
they’d discussed his family, but never when they’d talked about the
photos and his friends, or his brother. But he was doing it right
now.

“
You know, who can run
faster—sometimes we spar, like fighting.”

Lucy looked back over her shoulder at
the photo of the two of them on the boat. “You fight your brother,
the giant?” She chuckled. “I’m sure that goes well.”

Gabriel let his head loll back on the
couch, and Lucy found herself looking very slowly down the length
of him. He always took his jacket off when they ate, and his silk
dress shirt that night was ivory. As he leaned back it melded to
his body most enticingly.

“
I win… sometimes. But on
that occasion,”—he nodded his head toward the photo in question—“I
lost big time.”

“
So the picture is because…
you lost the bet,” Lucy said. “And I imagine its placement in your
office is significant?”

“
Very.” Gabriel rolled off
the couch and over to the photo, plucking it from the wall and
returning to the couch, plopping down on it in a very non-Gabriel
way. His every move was usually so careful and graceful. “There’s a
third part to the bet, though.”

“
Mmmm…” Lucy was getting
excited, looking at the strange piece of art being displayed in the
photo. This story was shaping up nicely.

The artful design was actually kind of
funny looking. It seemed like a coat of arms. Except… well, besides
the crossed swords and the detailed outline of the shield itself,
what was displayed in the center of the design made Lucy giggle for
a good thirty seconds before she got a hold of herself.

“
Is that—are they…doing what
I think they’re doing?”

“
Yes,” Gabriel said, turning
his head away as he scratched the back of his ear. “That’s two…
wolves…”

“
Screwing,” Lucy shrieked
with laughter.

“
I was going to say
mating.”

“
And I was going to say two
werewolves screwing doggy style!” She fell over on her side on the
couch, melting into peals of laughter and holding the framed photo
to her chest and tried to catch her breath.

“
They’re wolves,” Gabriel
said, looking like a kid getting caught with his hand in the cookie
jar.

Lucy practically barked out a snide
laugh at Gabriel’s protest. “I’ve seen wolves,” she said, holding
her stomach as she raised the photo up to her face to get a better
look. “Wolves don’t have human torsos, especially muscular He-Man
chests. And look!” She pointed at the photo. Gabriel tried to grab
it from her, but she scooted away as she fingered the point of
interest on the picture.

“
This right here. The… wolf
on top has definite clawed hands! He’s got one… well, wrapped
around the other wolf’s… torso, and the other is holding on to his
shoulder… for, um… leverage?”

Gabriel sighed unhappily. “Well, I was
drunk when I—” and then he just stopped, leaning back on the couch
and crossing his arms over his chest.

Lucy gave him a curious glance, and
then she held the photograph out away from her, taking the entire
image in from a distance, then bringing it back trombone-style and
noticed something interesting about the texture of the “canvas” the
werewolf mating coat of arms was stenciled on.

“
Is that a
freckle?”

Gabriel groaned and threw his brawny
arm up over his face. “I said I was drunk, for the bet and the…
the—”

“
Tattoo!” Lucy howled
joyously. “This is a tattoo, isn’t it? That’s the third part of the
bet.” Lucy reached over and pulled Gabriel’s arm from obscuring his
face. He looked to her pleadingly.

“
A framed photograph,
prominently displayed in your office, of a lewd tattoo on your—”
She stopped and turned to shoot Gabriel with a wrinkle of her
eyebrows. “Gabriel… where exactly on you is this tattoo?” She shook
the photograph in her hand for emphasis.