Untamed (Vampire Awakenings, Book 3) (9 page)

"So he's not in the mob then?"

He laughed as he shook back his raven colored
hair. "No, he's not in the mob."

"Jill will be relieved to know that."

The sound of his rumbling laughter caused her
to smile in return. Emma couldn't remember the last time she'd been
this happy as they continued to talk. He told her more about his
massive family and his home in Oregon. She told him more about her
mother who was a nurse, and her father who was a reporter at the
local news station. They'd lived a simple life, in a small home,
but she'd been loved and she'd had a lot of friends throughout high
school. She saw most of them when she returned home for breaks and
they all shared stories, it wasn't the same but she knew that most
of them would be returning to live there when they were finished
college.

"Is that what you plan to do, return home and
stay there?" he asked as he cast his line out again.

For some reason the question made him tense
up, he didn't like to think of her returning home and being so far
away from him. He didn't understand where the sudden feeling came
from or why it lodged so firmly inside of him. He enjoyed talking
to her and the feeling of peace that being in her presence brought
to him, but he barely knew her and he had no investment in her
life.

"I'm not sure. I love it there, I love my
parents, but I also really enjoyed being away from home. Mandy and
Jill have asked me to go to California, Jill is from San Francisco
and Mandy will be going to Stanford in the fall. They're hoping to
get a place together and asked me to room with them too. I'm
actually considering it, it would be fun and I'd like to see
California. I enjoyed experiencing new things while at school, I
don't think I'm ready for that to end and I'd like to travel
more."

"Then don't let it end."

She gave a small laugh. "It's just a matter
of finding a job so I could stay there. I waitressed for a couple
of years; maybe I could find work doing that again or a job in a
museum. I had planned to teach history but I think I'd prefer to
work in a museum or something like that."

"You like history?"

Ethan couldn't help but smile at her as her
face lit up. "I love it. There's just so much to learn from it, so
many lives that were once lived, so many people that walked through
these places, paved the roads, and built the world before us. They
fascinate me and I love to hear their stories, see the pictures,
and touch the things that those people once touched. I'd love to
see and explore as many historical places as I can before I
die."

"I never really thought about it that way,"
he admitted.

"I also really enjoyed meeting different
people while at school. Some of them weren't always so great." She
refused to let thoughts of Tristan ruin this day. "But most of them
were."

He was looking at her as if she'd just told
him that the ocean was purple and the clouds were full of pink
giraffes. She glanced over herself but she didn't see anything out
of the ordinary and she was pretty sure she didn't have anything
hanging out of her nose. When she looked at him again there was a
strange gleam in his eyes and a small smile on his face that warmed
her heart.

She was so different from him, he realized.
She was eager to get out in the world and to explore new things.
She enjoyed being around other people, the one thing he couldn't
stand, unless he was with her. When he was with her, he could focus
on something other than the blood pulsing through people's veins,
and the driving urge to bury himself in the release that he knew
their deaths would finally give to him.

Unable to resist, he brushed back a stray
tendril of her silken hair. She watched him with wide eyes as her
lower lip trembled slightly. It was good to know he seemed to
affect her as much as she affected him as she leaned closer to him.
His gaze slid over the swell of her breasts that were thrust upward
in her orange bikini top, and then over her rounded hips and flat
belly. Her skin was in the early stages of a tan and a golden color
that brought out the dark gold in her hair and eyes. His fingers
slid over her shoulder and toward her cheek, her skin was as soft
as a flower petal against his and he couldn't get enough of it. He
had to forcefully pull his hand away before he forgot about
everyone else and lost himself to her again.

"I'm sure you could find work anywhere and I
think it sounds like a great plan," he told her.

She gave him a half-hearted smile but she
missed the contact with him. "I'm not sure my parents would
agree."

"It's not their life, is it?"

"No, it's not, but they expect a lot out of
me."

"I'm sure they do but I'm sure they're
already proud of you."

Beginning to feel a little self-conscious,
she decided to steer the conversation away from her. "So what about
you, you never really said what you do."

He cast his pole out again and began to reel
it back in. "School's not my thing, never really was and I'm not
much of a traveler. I like to work with my hands and mainly do odds
and ends."

"A jack of all trades?"

"I guess you could say that. I helped to
build a house last year; I really enjoyed doing that. I discovered
that I also liked to carve things out of wood around the same
time."

He didn't tell her that this newfound love of
his was a great way to keep himself distracted from his more
disturbing thoughts and urges. He could often lose himself for
hours amongst the smell and feel of the wood within his hands as he
carved intricate designs into it. It was never something he'd ever
thought to do but once he'd started the hobby, he couldn't
stop.

"I've built a gazebo for our lake at home, a
porch swing, dining room table and chairs. My favorite is a
children's chest that I plan to give to Isabelle and Stefan when
they have a baby."

"That's amazing." It also suited him, she
realized as she studied his profile. There was something almost
wild about him, she couldn't picture him wearing a suit and sitting
behind a desk. It was too restricting for him and though she barely
knew him, she knew that he would be miserable if he were confined.
No, he definitely belonged in a natural element of some kind, on a
construction site, or on a fishing boat. "I'd love to see some of
it."

The sun played over his handsome features and
lit his eyes as he turned to smile at her. The warmth of the rays
had caused a thin sheen of sweat to break out on his body and made
his skin gleam enticingly. "Isabelle doesn't know about the chest
but I have some photos on my phone I'll show you. I turned it off
and threw it in a drawer when I got here though so I don't have it
on me."

She laughed as she leaned against his side;
she enjoyed how easy it was becoming to just be with him and how
good he could make her feel. "I did the same, there's no way I'm
paying
that
bill."

"Me either," he agreed.

She swung her legs back and forth over the
edge of the boat. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-six, you?"

"Twenty-two."

Emma cast her line back out as they fell into
an amicable silence. Neither of them had even had a bite but she
found she didn't mind as she listened to the water lapping against
the boat and the splashing and laughter from the others as they
swam. She was getting ready to reel her line back in when he leaned
toward her and placed his finger under her chin. He turned her face
toward hers and before she knew what he intended, he leaned forward
and kissed her tenderly.

A sigh escaped her, but just as she was about
to lose herself to him he was pulling away from her. Her eyes
searched his face; he stared at her for a minute before leaning
away. "You had a bite."

"I had a what?"

That grin did funny things to her insides and
made her feel like she was a kid on Christmas morning all over
again. He gestured toward the pole in her hand. "A bite."

"Oh,
oh
," she
said again as she finally felt the tug on her pole. She had
completely forgotten about it. She lifted it and began to reel it
in again, but whatever had been there didn't pursue the lure.

The boat shifted, she looked back to see
Stefan and Isabelle climbing on board. Isabelle frowned as she
studied the two of them but she turned away when Stefan put his
hand on her elbow. She gave a brief nod before slipping into the
lower cabin of the boat. Jill and Mandy climbed on next, Jill
grabbed two towels off of one of the seats and then handed Mandy
her prosthetic leg.

Isabelle reappeared and tossed another towel
to Stefan. She was toweling her hair off as she made her way toward
them. "We're going to head back, Mandy and Jill are hungry."

"Sounds good," Ethan said and began to reel
in his line. Emma frowned as Isabelle continued to stand there,
staring back and forth between them. She gave Emma a tremulous
smile before turning and walking back to Stefan. Though she didn't
get the feeling that Isabelle disliked her, there was something
standoffish about her that Emma didn't understand and it made her a
little uneasy.

Gathering their poles, they walked to the
back to join the others. Black clouds began to roll in over the
island as they drove back to the dock in silence. The ozone aroma
of impending rain hung heavily in the air as the wind started to
kick up and blew the hair around her face. She brushed it back and
kept hold of it as Stefan slid the boat into its spot at the
dock.

Emma accepted Ethan's hand and he helped her
to climb off of the boat. Their footsteps resonated on the wooden
boards beneath their feet as they walked up the dock with her hand
in his. Emma studied the people hurriedly gathering their things on
the beach. Some die-hard beachgoers looked as if they were going to
stay and ride out the storm, but others were already running for
cover.

"Would you like to go to dinner tonight?"
Ethan asked. "Just the two of us."

She smiled as she tilted her head back to
look at him. "I would."

Taking comfort in his solid presence, she
rested her head against his bicep. Emma lifted her head from
Ethan's arm when a man separated himself from the crowd on the
beach. A shiver ran down her spine as she watched the man walk down
the sand with an easy grace. His broad shoulders were hunched
forward against the rising wind and he had his hands shoved into
the pockets of his jeans. He looked so out of place on a beach full
of barely dressed people, but he moved as if he fit in amongst
them. The heavy clouds that had turned day into an early night made
his hair appear even darker but she knew it was a light reddish
brown color.

Emma's heart slammed against her ribs,
tremors racked her body and despite the heat of the day she was
suddenly extremely cold. Closing her eyes, she shook her head and
took a deep breath before opening them again. Her gaze ran
frantically over the beach but she didn't see the man amongst the
crowd again.

"Are you ok?" Ethan inquired.

Emma reluctantly tore her attention away from
the beach and back to him. She realized she must have looked
absolutely ridiculous standing there gawking at the beach. He was
staring at her with concern as she had abruptly stopped walking in
the middle of the dock. "I'm fine. I thought I saw someone I knew,
but I was wrong."

She
had
to be
mistaken because there was absolutely no way that Tristan could be
here, there was no way that he could even know she was here. He'd
been out of her life for a year now. Surely her mind was playing
tricks on her and she was just imagining things. Even still, she
couldn't shake the icy chill that had settled deep into her
bones.

Ethan pulled the chair out for Emma and
settled in across from her as the waiter placed their menus on the
table and filled their water glasses. It was their fifth date this
week. They had spent most of the days with his family and her
friends, but dinner had been just between them and that was the way
he liked it. They would meet up again with the others for drinks
afterward, but these couple of hours that they got to be alone had
become his favorite hours of the day.

Her hazel eyes danced in the candlelight as
he settled in across from her. Over the past few days he'd come to
enjoy spending time with her more and more. Her smile could light
up a room and her laugh was so buoyant and carefree, that just
hearing it always made him smile too.

He'd always believed that humans were only
good for blood and even then he had only ever used the blood bags
to feed from. Though he knew his brothers and The Stooges had sex
with humans, he'd never trusted himself enough to, just as he'd
never trusted himself to feed directly from one. He wasn't sure if
the others knew those two things about him, he'd never told them
and he tried to play it off that he was like them. They had never
asked about his habits, but they knew he didn't go to the clubs as
often as they did and he'd never walked out of the club with a
human like they had.

She may be human but he was eager to have
Emma beneath him, even if he was concerned about what might happen.
There was no driving urge to kill when she was around but he was
afraid that he just might lose control of himself with her. She was
a human, she was weak and vulnerable, there was a chance that he
could injure her, maybe even kill her. Even as he thought it he
knew it could never happen, he'd kill himself before he ever even
put a bruise upon her.

The idea of tasting her blood without her
knowing was repulsive to him. It would be delicious, he knew that,
powerful and filling, but he would never taste her unless she knew
about it. For the first time, he wanted to feed on a human without
the driving compulsion he'd always felt to lose himself in their
blood as he watched the life slip from their eyes. Without feeling
as if he would welcome the eventual death of the person more than
the actual blood itself.