Untamed (Vampire Awakenings, Book 3) (3 page)

Jill had recently suggested that she move out
to California so that they could all rent a place together. At
first Emma had been unsure if that was something she'd like to do,
but the more she thought about it the more appealing she found the
idea. She'd always wanted to see California, she'd get to stay with
her two best friends, and if she couldn't find a job she could
always wait tables or return home, but at least she'd get to try
something new.

Her parents wouldn't be happy when she told
them about her change of heart, but that was a conversation saved
for after this trip. For now, she was determined to relax and enjoy
the next month with her friends. The three of them had been saving
for this trip since they'd been placed together as roommates their
freshman year. One day in passing, Mandy had told them that her
grandparents owned a home in Bermuda that had been in their family
for generations and that they rented out to people.

Talk of renting the home had originally just
been a fun idea that they'd batted around between them. As the
semester had worn on, and their friendship had strengthened,
renting the house had become something they were determined to do.
They'd busted their asses at some really crappy jobs, but they'd
scrimped and saved until they'd raised enough money to rent the
house for a month. Now it was finally
their
time to celebrate.

"Beach tomorrow for sure," Jill said. "I want
to hop in on a couple of volleyball games. Scope out some of the
guys."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Mandy said.

"Maybe we can even get Emma a date," Jill
teased.

Emma gave her a wan smile as she fiddled with
the tiny umbrella she'd placed on the table. "I think I'll continue
to stay away from men for a little while."

"It's been a year Emma," Mandy said.

"Not long enough," Emma muttered.

The waitress returned with Jill's drink order
and placed it on the table. Jill grabbed her new drink and leaned
forward. "You need a good fling to completely forget about that
asshole."

Emma stared back at her as her foot began to
tap on the floor. She realized that they were concerned about her,
but she wished they would understand the fact that right now she
was content to stay single, and a fling wasn't exactly her thing.
"It will take more than that to forget about Tristan," Emma
said.

Jill sighed and pushed one of the shots of
tequila toward her. "Ugh, let's not say that piece of shit's name
again for the rest of this trip. Drink up."

Emma was more than happy to agree to those
terms as she picked up the shot glass and downed the tequila. Her
face scrunched up as the liquid hit her tongue and burned all the
way down her throat; it wasn't overly unpleasant and made her feel
warm and fuzzy. She placed the glass on the table and turned to
watch the waves roll in and out again as Jill ordered another
round.

"Well now that should be illegal," Jill
purred.

"Wow," Mandy breathed.

Emma didn't look to see what they were
talking about, which was something that annoyed Jill enough that
she kicked her shin under the table.

"Ow," Emma said and leaned forward to rub her
shin. She shot Jill a disgruntled look but Jill just smiled
annoyingly in return and nodded her head toward whatever it was
that had caught her and Mandy's attention. Emma immediately spotted
the two men that Jill had indicated as they were both large and
exuded a raw sexuality. They were two of the best-looking men Emma
had ever seen in her life. Her jaw almost dropped open completely
but she caught herself in time to stop
that
from happening.

Both of the men had dark hair that framed
their faces, broad shoulders, and powerful forms. That was where
the similarities between the two of them ended though. The one with
black eyes appeared older, he seemed more aloof as he searched the
room, and his hair was more the color of coal. The one with the
most beautiful emerald eyes she'd ever seen had a more youthful air
to him as he leaned against the counter. His hair was a blue-black
color that reminded her of a raven and made her itch to run her
fingers through it. The muscles in his forearms flexed as he
clasped his hands before him.

She couldn't tear her eyes away as she drank
in the details of his body. Stubble lined his chiseled, square jaw;
she could almost feel it rubbing against her cheek and over her
throat. The sensation was so real that everything around her became
irrelevant as she became solely focused on
him
. Her gaze drifted to the full lips curled into
an endearing smile that made her heart melt. There was a dimple in
his right cheek as his smile grew and he unclasped his hands to
gesture around the room. The form fitting dark blue T-shirt he wore
hugged his broad chest and emphasized the sculpted muscles
underneath. Her gaze traveled over his waist and the obvious bulge
in his jeans before she hurriedly looked away.

She kept her lashes lowered over her eyes as
she looked surreptitiously at him again. Her breasts began to
tingle as her mouth watered, there was something about this man
that made her entire body react in a way that it never had before.
She almost rose from the table to go to him but caught herself
before she made a complete fool out of herself in the crowded
bar.

It was all so strange, she didn't understand
her reaction to him, but she welcomed it. Seeming to sense her
stare, his head turned toward her. The smile slid from his face as
his eyes locked upon hers. She felt as if she were being hurtled
through space and the stars and cosmos were flying by her as she
was lost to the intensity of his gaze.

He continued to stare at her as people moved
and flowed around them. A tall, brunette woman with golden
highlights flowing through her hair walked over to the men. She was
speaking as her hand gestured around the room. Jill and Mandy
released a low groan when the other man bent to kiss the woman, but
Emma barely heard them. With the kiss broken, the woman grabbed
hold of the man Emma was looking at, drawing his attention away
from her.

Emma had the strangest urge to cry when the
connection between them was broken. She took a deep breath and
bowed her head as she tried to calm her accelerated pulse and the
quickening of her breath. It had been over a year since she'd been
touched by a man; that was the
only
reason she felt so completely out of control right now.

Turning back around, she grabbed one of the
fresh shots that Jill had ordered and downed it in a single
swallow. "I wonder if the other one is single," Jill said as she
played with her straw.

"Looking like that, I doubt it," Mandy
replied.

Emma didn't even want to think about it as
she gulped her drink down. The last thing she needed was another
man in her life, considering the debacle that the end of her
relationship with Tristan had been. A shudder worked through her,
she didn't like to recall the time she'd spent with the only man
she'd ever had a serious relationship with. Everything between them
had started out well enough; he'd been kind to her and even if she
hadn't been head over heels for him, she'd thought it was a good
relationship until it had all gone so horribly wrong. What had
started out as pleasant took an ugly turn into a threatening world
that at one point she hadn't been certain she was going to
escape.

"Maybe it's time to head back to the house,"
she suggested.

"Things are just getting interesting here
though," Jill protested.

"We shouldn't spend all of our money on our
second night," Emma replied casually when all she could think about
was bolting out of the bar. The bizarre reaction she'd had to the
man had left her rattled and in need of some fresh air.

"True," Jill said. "Plus there's alcohol at
the house for us to enjoy."

Relief filled her as Jill agreed; sometimes
she could be relentless. Emma pulled out some cash and tossed it
onto the table before rising from her chair. Her gaze involuntarily
returned to the trio standing at the bar. The man she had been so
focused upon had his back to them now and was leaning on the bar.
It was a very fine back too, Emma decided as her gaze settled on
the taut ass that was well defined by his jeans.

Jesus, she had to get out of here, she
decided as she forced herself to turn away from him. Jill slipped
her arm through Emma's and leaned against her side. "There will
also be plenty more eye candy for us over the coming weeks."

Emma chuckled but her thoughts were still on
the man standing in the corner. She forced her eyes to remain ahead
of her as they left the restaurant.

Ethan sensed the minute the woman left the
bar, his head turned, his nostrils flared as he inhaled her
lingering scent. He spotted her standing outside the door with her
friends. Ethan's gaze was riveted on her as she laughed and placed
both of her flip-flops into her right hand. There was something
about her, something that drew him forward a step before Isabelle
rested her hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Would you like another drink?" she
asked.

"Yeah," he answered absently as he watched
the woman disappear from sight.

He shook his head and turned back to his
sister when she handed him a beer. The woman was a human, someone
he should stay
far
away from, but
he found his gaze going back to where she had been standing as he
took a sip of beer. Around him, the sound of the beating hearts
began to reach out to him. He'd thought he'd fed well enough on the
blood bags from the house, but there was that craving for death
again, rearing its ugly head. Taking a deep breath he focused on
Isabelle and Stefan, he could control it, just like he always did.
Just like he would be forced to do so for an eternity.

Ethan stepped onto the sand and glanced
around at the people gathered on the beach near the restaurant
where they had gone last night. Isabelle was carrying the blanket
in her arms but he had possession of the cooler loaded with water
and beer. Standing beside Isabelle, Stefan didn't look at all
pleased with the idea of being on the beach, but he didn't offer
any complaint. He did give a scathing glance at a few men lustfully
eyeing Isabelle as they walked by. The men bowed their heads and
scurried away.

"Behave," Isabelle told him.

"They're still alive aren't they?" Stefan
retorted.

Ethan chuckled as they walked through the
crowd toward an open piece of sandy real estate. They could have
gone to the private beach by the house, but he had been the one to
suggest coming here. Isabelle had looked as startled as he'd felt
when the words left his mouth. He hadn't understood why he'd had
the idea at first either, but as his gaze scanned the crowd, he
found himself searching for one particular human. The grunts of a
nearby volleyball game drew his attention and he focused on the
tall woman with braids in her hair that he'd seen with the object
of his attention last night.

The woman with the braids dove forward,
digging the ball out before it hit the sand. She sent it soaring
back over to the other side. A few cheers drew his attention to the
crowd gathered by the makeshift volleyball court. He searched for
the woman, but although her other friend from last night was
standing on the sidelines, the one he sought wasn't there.

He was a little thrown off by the odd sense
of disappointment he felt. It was a sensation that he didn't like
and he almost told Isabelle and Stefan that he would prefer to go
somewhere quieter, but Isabelle was already spreading the blanket
out and settling onto it. He'd look like an idiot if he said he
wanted to leave now, and she might get suspicious as to his
reasons. The last thing he needed was Isabelle becoming nosy. She
would never let it go if she thought there was a girl he might be
interested in, or if she sensed that maybe there was something he
wasn't telling her.

His gaze ran over the crowded beach as he
placed the cooler down. Grabbing hold of his shirt, he pulled it
over his head to let the hot sun beat down on his shoulders. "Whoa
Casper, I think you just blinded me," Isabelle said and threw her
hands up.

He scowled at her before glancing down at his
chest. He spent a fair amount of time outdoors in Oregon, but
compared to the deeply tanned bodies surrounding him, he was a
little pale. He had no concerns over burning though; his body would
heal itself faster than the sun could damage his skin. "Some of us
don't spend our days tanning," he retorted.

She laughed as she pulled her white cover-up
off and shot a pointed look at Stefan. "Believe me, that's not how
I spend my days."

"Ugh," Ethan groaned.

Isabelle laughed as she dropped her cover-up
on the blanket and stretched out her legs. "Like you haven't said
or heard worse over the years from Ian and Aiden."

"I have," he agreed, he didn't want to hear
it from
her
though.

Ethan stretched his shoulders as he continued
to scan the beach. A glimpse of golden brown hair mixed with
tendrils of honey blond swirling through it caught his attention.
The woman from last night's hair had been that color and she had
been shorter than her friends, Ethan recalled, as the head bobbed
well below most of the heads of the beachgoers. He strained to see
her more clearly, but her face remained hidden by the bodies
surrounding her.

The head broke free of the crowd and Ethan's
gaze latched onto the face that had intruded upon his dreams last
night as she stepped next to her friend. The blond in her hair
gleamed in the sunshine, she'd pulled it into a ponytail but the
tips of it still hung to the middle of her back. A smile lit up her
face and caused her eyes to sparkle as she cheered on the girl with
the braids. Even from here, he could see the flecks of jade green
and brown that speckled her hazel eyes.