Vampires and Vixens (Psy-Vamp) (20 page)

“Thank you.” She hadn’t been able to
bring her clothes from the house. Her mind kept going back to what Lenore had
said about Noah’s feelings.

He seemed to sense her discomfort, and
frowned. Then he leaned down and kissed her on top of the head. “Eat your
food.”

That was an order she was happy to
follow. Hannah managed to stay up only a short time after dinner. She was
exhausted. Lenore showed her to her room, and she was fast asleep almost as
soon as her head hit the pillow.

It was early when Hannah walked into the
living room, dressed in the jade green jumper and white blouse that Noah had
bought for her the night before. It was baggy but comfortable, and she was sure
she would fill it out soon enough. The sight of Noah asleep on the couch made her
smile. He wore the same clothes as the night before.

“The poor boy was so exhausted that I
didn't have the heart to wake him.” Lenore spoke quietly as she came into the
room. “I always thought it was silly to tell someone to wake up so that they
could go to bed.”

“I’m not surprised that he fell asleep
out here. He drove for the better part of three days.” She stared down at Noah.
His blonde hair was tousled, and swept down across his forehead. It was hard to
resist the temptation to reach down and push his hair back.

Lenore took her arm, and motioned her
toward the kitchen. “Let me fix you some breakfast.”

“Thank you. I'd really like some-”

“French toast with fresh strawberries on
top,” Noah interrupted groggily. He pushed his hair out of his eyes, and sat up.
“I picked up the strawberries last night.”

“How did you know what I was going to
want for breakfast?” Hannah asked.

He stood up and stretched. The fabric on
his shirt clung to his muscular arms and chest. “You have the same thing every
morning.” He tweaked her nose on the way to the kitchen.

Hannah placed her hands on her hips, and
called after him. “You don’t eat breakfast with me.”

He laughed, and looked back at her over
his shoulder. “Who do you think cooked it, with the exception of the days I was
out of town?”

Hannah followed him into the kitchen. “No
wonder it tasted so bad when you were gone.”

“Not my fault,” he said as he took out
the eggs, vanilla, milk, and orange extract. “I told them how to make it, and
they didn’t listen to me.”

Hannah sat at the breakfast nook, and
waited impatiently. It seemed to take forever, but finally he set her plate in
front of her. “What else can you cook?”

“I can cook just about anything you
want.” He winked at her, and then handed a plate to his mother.

“Thank you,” Lenore said as she placed a
napkin on her lap. “Why don't you take Hannah out to the lake? I think she
would enjoy some fresh air after the long trip.”

“It really is a beautiful spot, and it's
not far from the house. I can pack a few snacks,” Noah offered.

Hannah looked up from her food. “Why do
you need to pack snacks if it’s not far from the house?”

“It will take us at least ten minutes to
walk there, and I’m positive that you’ll be hungry by then.” He leaned back as
though she might hit him, and grinned playfully.

“Very funny.” She pretended to be
offended. “Can we bring the leftover strawberries?”

His mouth was full of food, so he
nodded.

After they finished their breakfast,
Hannah asked, “When can we go? I haven't been able to wander around freely for
what seems like forever.”

“I just need to take a shower, and put
on some clean clothes,” Noah said as he headed out of the room.

Hannah watched him walk out of the
kitchen, and gave a little sigh.

When she looked back at Lenore, she
noticed a very pleased smile on the other woman’s face.

Hannah looked down at her empty plate to
hide her blush.

“There are plenty of goodies in the
pantry, at the bottom of those stairs.” Lenore pointed her in the right
direction. “Why don't you go pick out what you’d like to bring?”

When Hannah returned with a basket of
snacks, she found Noah dressed and ready to go.

“Are you coming with us, Lenore?” she
asked. “I packed enough for all of us.”

“No, you and Noah have a nice time. I'm
going to do some reading.”

Noah kissed his mother on the cheek, and
held her hand as he spoke. “We’ll be back in time for lunch.”

Lenore waved them out the door.

Clouds covered the sun, so Noah slipped
his sunglasses into Hannah’s basket, took it from her, and then set out for the
lake.

“Will I need to wear dark sunglasses?”
Hannah asked. It seemed like there was always something new to wonder about.

“When you get older,” Noah said. “Our
eyes get more sensitive to sunlight as we age.”

They walked along a wide dirt trail for
a short while, and then Noah held aside a leafy branch for her.

“After you,” he said with a polite bow.

She hesitated, and looked around. “Are
you sure it's a good idea to go off of the trail? I don't want to get lost. We
don't have enough food for that, and you might starve,” she teased.

“I've gone this way at least a dozen
times,” he assured her. “Don’t you trust me?”

“Are you kidding? I trust you with my
life.” She walked past him through the small opening he had made for her.

Noah pointed to a shady patch of lush
green grass. A few trees offered shade. There was a small lake surrounded on
all other sides by rocky peaks. It looked like something out of a painting.

Hannah looked around in awe. “This is
incredible, Noah. It’s so peaceful and pretty.”

The grin on his face was that of a
little boy who had just done something good. “I’m glad you like it. When it
warms up this is a great place to swim.”

“This is kind of embarrassing, but I
don’t know how to swim” she admitted, “I’ve always been afraid of the water.”

“Really?” he asked in disbelief. When
she nodded he continued. “Well, there’s always skipping stones. You can do that
in almost any weather.”

“I don’t really know how to skip stones
either. To be totally honest, I didn't know anyone really did that. I thought
that it only happened in movies about small hick towns.”

He gave her an incredulous stare. “You've
never skipped stones? How can a person live twenty-four years without
ever skipping stones? What were they teaching you in those fancy boarding
schools?” He grabbed her hand, and pulled her to the edge of the water. “I'll
show you how it's done.”

She marveled at his zeal. “If you
insist.”

He fumbled through the rocks at the edge
of the lake. “First, you need a good stone.” With a rock in hand he smiled
proudly. “This one! This is a good skippin' stone.”

“Did you just say it was a good
skippin'
stone?” she drawled.

He turned his back to her. “Oh fine,
just make fun of me. I guess I won't teach you how to skip stones,” he said
playfully, then turned around and shook his finger at her. “Then you'll have to
live the rest of your life without ever skipping a stone.”

She laughed harder than she had in
weeks, and it felt wonderful. “I'm sorry, oh great stone skipper. I just didn't
realize the importance of stone skipping. Please, teach me this valuable skill
so that I can be as cool as you are.”

He put his hand under his chin, and
tried to look serious. “Well, I would hate to deny you the privilege of seeing
my exemplary stone skipping skills.” He stood on the edge, stone in hand, and
turned toward her as he spoke. “Watch the master at work.” He tossed the stone,
and it skipped four times before going in.

“Very impressive.” Hannah feigned wonder.
“This must be one of you super cool vampire powers.”

“Now it’s your turn.” He picked up a stone,
and handed it to her, then wrapped his arms around her from behind. His voice
took on a husky tone, and his hand shook a little as it clasped hers. “Maybe you
should do it without my help,” he said and took a step away from her.

She tossed the stone, just like he had,
and it skipped once before it went in. “I did it!” she shouted, feeling more
excited than she had expected to. Noah caught her as she threw her arms around
him. “I have so much fun with you.”

“Ditto,” he said in that same husky
voice. His hands rested on the sides of her waist.

“I wish you didn’t have to leave,”
Hannah said sadly. “You’re my best friend, and I’m going to miss you.”

She hugged him tighter, pressing her
breasts against his chest. Noah swore under his breath, and then turned his
back on her. “I can’t do this anymore. I know I’m a jerk, but I don’t want to
be just your friend, Hannah,” he said almost angrily. “I haven’t wanted that
for months. That’s part of the reason I need to leave. I can’t keep pretending
with you. It just gets harder every day. You should go back to the house.”

“No,” was her only reply.

“Please, don’t make this any more
difficult for me,” he pleaded. “I need to get myself under control before I do
something to ruin our friendship. Go back to the house, and give me some time
alone.”

“No,” she repeated.

He looked into her eyes, and let her see
his lust. “If you stay here, I am going to kiss you. If you let me kiss you, I
don’t know if I can stop. Please, Hannah, just go.”

She moved closer, and put one hand on
his cheek. That was all the invitation he needed. Noah crushed her mouth with
his. It was not a sweet kiss. It was demanding, consuming. Hannah groaned, and
he shuddered. His tongue probed her mouth. When his mouth finally pulled away,
Hannah was surprised to realize that she was now pressed against a tree. The
kiss had distracted her so much that she had no recollection of being moved.

Noah bent his knees slightly so he could
press his erection between her legs.

“Noah,” she moaned breathlessly.

“I know that I should say something romantic
about how much I want to make love to you,” he said against her neck, “but I
don’t want to make love to you. I want to fuck you until you can’t walk, and
then I want to fuck you again.”

Hannah gave him a seductive smile. “I
think I’d prefer that anyway.”

Noah kissed her again, grinding his
erection against her. When he tore his mouth away, he knelt in front of her and
lifted up the hem of her jumper. Impatiently, he tore her panties off, and
tossed them to the side.

He lifted her right leg over his
shoulder as she leaned back against the tree. Then she felt his tongue move
against her. His tongue swirled, teased and then he sucked. She nearly screamed
out. She couldn’t take any more. “I want you in me now!” she demanded.

Quickly, he undid his pants. He lifted
her off of the ground, easily supporting her weight with one arm as he slid
into her. This time Hannah did scream. She came so hard that she thought she
might lose consciousness. She gripped his shoulders tightly as he continued to
thrust.

The muscles in his arms tightened, and
he stifled a scream as he finally found his own release. Hannah stroked his
hair as he caught his breath. His scent was everywhere, that musky smell that
she found so comforting was now combined with the smell of sex.

“Do you have any more secrets?” Hannah
asked, as he set her on the ground.

He hesitated, and flushed. “Kind of.”

She looked up at his face. Her hands
remained on his shoulders. “What does ‘kind of’ mean?”

“When you were dressing with me in the
room that one time, I saw you naked.” He quickly added, “It was only for a
second. Well, a few seconds. A minute at most.”

She laughed, and snuggled in close to
him. “You are such a pervert.”

“I love you, Hannah,” he whispered
softly.

“I love you too,” she answered without
hesitation.

Noah pulled away to readjust his
clothing. Suddenly, he stiffened. Hannah’s sense of peace turned to panic as
she noticed what had caught Noah’s attention. Nathaniel was staring at them in
silence. His mouth was slightly open as if he would speak, but he didn’t.

Noah quickly pulled away from her, and
put himself between Nathaniel and Hannah.

“What are you doing here?” Noah asked
nervously. “How did you even find us?”

“There’s a tracking device in Hannah’s
phone. I was hurt when you took Hannah away, but I figured you had some noble
reason.” Nathaniel’s voice cracked. “When I tracked you down, I had no clue I
would find you
fucking
my fiancée.” His fist slammed into a nearby tree.
“My assumption was that you took her away because of your friendship with her,
but this . . .” He choked back his pain, as he waved his hand in
the air. “This I didn’t see coming. How could you betray me like this?”

“I’m sorry that I had to lie to you.”
Noah struggled for words. “I won’t let you take Hannah back with you. She
doesn't want to be with you.”

Nathaniel let out a humorless laugh. “I
trusted you, and you stole her from me. I should have known from day one that
you wanted her, but I chose to believe that you were just being nice.” He ran
his fingers through his hair, staring up at the sky before he continued. “You
really played me for a fool. You planned this, didn't you? Why, Noah? When was
it that you decided you were going to take her from me?”

Noah looked down, and shook his head. “I
didn't plan this. I love you, but I won't let you hurt her anymore. You had no
right to manipulate her and then force her to stay with you like that.” His
gaze met Nathaniel’s. “I’ll do whatever it takes to protect Hannah, even from
you.”