Wanton With a Vampire (11 page)

“Drew is harmless,” she assured him, even
knowing that wasn’t exactly true.

Alek looked incredulous. “He’s a bloody
sociopath.”

Drew nodded. “He’s right. You shouldn’t get
in a car alone with me.” He stood and grinned at her. “Ready to go
buy those sexy panties?”

“What makes you think I’m going there to buy
undergarments?” Trish asked.

“You blush every time I suggest it,” Drew
said with a laugh. Turning toward Alek, Drew’s face sobered. “I’m
not going to hurt Trish. She’s one of the only people who are nice
to me. The reason she’s bringing me instead of you is that I’ll
leave her alone. If Isaiah was here, she’d take him. Truth is,
you’re so far up her cute little ass that there is no way she’d get
to shop in peace. If it makes you feel any better, I’ll stalk her
from outside the stores. I could even send you some pictures of her
while she’s shopping.”

Alek let out a frustrated breath, and Trish
shocked him by going up on tiptoes to kiss his mouth. Rather than
letting her pull back with a quick brush of her lips, Alek’s arm
snaked around her waist, and he crushed her against his body for a
slow kiss. When Alek released her, she was a little dazed and found
him smiling at her as he supported her weight with one arm. “Please
be careful,” he whispered.

“I will,” she assured him before heading out
with Drew trailing behind her. “You’d better not be staring at my
fanny,” she said without turning around.

“Hard to avoid,” Drew said. “Most skinny
girls are all flat back there, but you’ve got a nice round ass. I
can’t help wondering what it would look like if you put on twenty
pounds.”

“Do you ever think before you speak?” she
asked as she slid into the passenger seat of his car.

He laughed. “Sure do. I was thinking about
how nice your ass is, and how good you’d look if you weren’t so
skinny. I was also wondering if your boobs would get even bigger if
you put on some weight.”

She was trying hard to look annoyed, but sick
as it might be, she found Drew kind of amusing most of the time. “I
meant do you ever think that you should keep your mouth shut?”

“Nah,” he said and started the car. “I don’t
do polite. I do shocking.”

She smiled while shaking her head. “You
certainly do.”

His face sobered. “I meant what I said about
you being nice to me. I’d never kill you or anything like that.
Even if I thought about it, I wouldn’t do it.”

“Thanks, I think,” she murmured a little
uncomfortably. A trip to the mall with Drew might be a bad idea.
She closed her eyes to avoid seeing overlays of the past in the
moving car.

“So, you want my uncle to bang you? Is that
why we’re going to the mall for sexy panties?” Drew asked.

“I suppose you’re assuming that because of
the kiss,” she said.

“Nope,” he said seriously. “You know how my
kind all have some special gift?”

“Yes, Lydia told me about that, but she never
mentioned yours.”

“Mine has been coming in bits and pieces over
the last couple of years. I can sense what people want, like sex,”
he said. “Also, I know when they’re aroused, and I know what they
need to take care of things. I’ve been picking up on how hot you
and Alek are for each other since the first time I saw you
together. It keeps getting stronger, and sometimes, I get really
hard being around the two of you. I’d give just about anything to
watch when you finally let Alek fuck you senseless. It’s going to
be a truly epic fuck.”

Trish had no idea how to respond to that. She
was sure Drew was telling the truth about his ability, and he
didn’t seem to be trying to shock her. That was the thing about
Drew; he said what he thought without considering how anyone might
react.

“When I first met you, I couldn’t pin these
things down so well. I knew you were a little hot and bothered the
day we met at Hannah’s party, and I was hoping it was me you
wanted. Turns out, it was Noah, which I totally don’t get. You’re
the type of girl who needs a man who’s gonna talk dirty to
her.”

Trish snorted. “I am not that type at
all.”

“Sure you are,” Drew insisted. “That’s why
you get all wet when Alek is around.”

Trish felt her cheeks heat. “Could we please
talk about something else?”

Drew chuckled. “Sometimes I forget how easily
shocked you are. I’ll bet my book made you blush like a virgin
while you touched yourself.”

“I did not touch myself while I read your
book,” Trish nearly gasped. Okay, so she hadn’t touched herself
much
while reading Drew’s book. She didn’t read many
romances, and never read erotica, so Drew’s book was a surprise.
After reading it, she now found herself wondering if she needed to
get some book suggestions from Caitlin and Lydia.

Drew chuckled again. “I’m trying to be good—
well, as good as I can. You’re making it hard for me by getting
turned on thinking about my book.”

While she was a little embarrassed, Trish
figured she should be grateful Drew was exercising some
self-control.

“Fine, your book is hot,” she admitted. “I’d
never even considered trying some of the stuff you mentioned in
there.”

“That surprises me,” he said thoughtfully.
“I’d have thought your friends would have shared some of their
crazier fuck tales. They both seem like the adventurous types.”

“Caitlin and Lydia love sharing with me,” she
said. “I think they do it to embarrass me, so I’ve learned to tune
them out over the years. But, I’ve had to listen to Caitlin with
Justin, and that’s hard to tune out.”

“What kind of stuff did they do?” he asked
eagerly. “Justin’s always been uptight, but I got a look at his toy
drawer about a year ago, and he’s a freak. From the way they
interact, I’d guess Justin is the top in bed, but Caitlin seems
like the dominatrix type. With my talent, I can tell Caitlin wants
to be dominated in bed, but I don’t know if she’s given in to that
yet.”

“Not sharing,” she said.

“Come on,” he crooned. “I’m doing you a
favor. Just tell me who’s holding the riding crop in the
bedroom.”

Trish let out a sigh. “I really wish I’d
brought a spray bottle to use when you’re misbehaving.”

That statement made Drew let out a
full-bellied laugh.

Trish was enjoying her shopping trip, while
Drew kept to his word and watched her from a safe distance.
Stalking might be the best word to describe what he was doing, and
he clearly enjoyed it. Trish was walking out of Victoria’s Secret
when an attractive young man separated from his friends to approach
her. She stifled a groan. While cute, this guy was way too young.
He also wasn’t Alek.

“Hey!” His voice was softly accented like he
spoke Spanish at home but felt comfortable with English. The smile
he flashed was confident but not cocky.

“Hi,” she said, adjusting her bags.

“Can I help you carry those?” His cheeks
flushed when his eyes landed on her bags. He seemed sweet, so she
didn’t want to embarrass him or seem rude.

“No, I’ve got them, but thank you,” she said
with a smile. Sadly, that smile seemed to encourage him.

“My name’s Jesus,” he said, drawing out the
‘h’ sound at the beginning of his name.

“Trish,” she said. Damn her need to be
polite.

“What are you up to?” he asked, clearly
encouraged by her friendliness.

“Just shopping.” That should have been
obvious.

“Can I buy you lunch? I got the place all to
myself today, so we could go back there and hang out after.”

“Thanks, but I need to meet my
boyfriend.”

Drew came up behind the guy and gave Trish a
scary close lipped smile. “You ready to go, baby?”

Jesus turned around and nodded at Drew, not
at all intimidated. He grinned at Trish. “Sorry if I came on too
strong. I didn’t realize you were with someone.”

“No worries,” Trish said as he walked
away.

“Alek owes me for saving you today,” Drew
said with a smirk.

Trish then rolled her eyes, which seemed to
amuse Drew. “I’m gonna get a lemonade. Want one?”

“Sure,” she said, waiting until he walked
away to text Lydia.

Got propositioned by Jesus.

It didn’t take Lydia long to respond.

WTF? Knew those boobs could tempt a saint,
but not Jesus.

Trish smiled.

Said he has the place all to himself today.
Guess his dad’s not home.

Lydia texted her back.

That is wrong on so many levels.

She couldn’t resist messing with Lydia
more.

Drew scared him off.

It was always amusing when Lydia got too
excited to make the voice recognition software on her phone
work.

WTF??? Y r u with Drew???

That’s when her phone rang.

“Hello, Caitlin,” she said without looking at
the caller ID. Naturally, Lydia had texted Caitlin to tell her
Trish was at the mall with Drew.

“Do I need to make a list of men you should
avoid?” Caitlin asked, sounding bored.

“I needed to buy undergarments,” she said,
lowering her voice so people passing by wouldn’t hear, which was
foolish since she was carrying two large Victoria’s Secret
bags.

“You needed panties, so you called Drew to
help you pick them out?” Caitlin asked incredulously, and Trish
enjoyed making her normally cool friend’s composure slip.

“He showed up at the condo while I was
getting ready to go to the mall. It was either him or Alek. If I
went with Alek, he would have been in the store with me, which
would have been kind of embarrassing.”

“You could have called me to go shopping with
you,” Caitlin said, sounding almost hurt.

Trish smiled, mouthing a thank you to Drew
when he handed her the lemonade, and was happy when he wandered off
to let her talk on the phone. He really was the perfect shopping
companion. “I didn’t even think about it,” Trish admitted. “Dying a
couple of days ago and proving my dad was murdered yesterday has
kind of thrown me off a little.”

“What the fuck?” Caitlin asked, drawing out
each word.

Trish felt her cheeks heat. “Um, my dad was
murdered. I went out to the place they said he killed himself with
Alek, Ivy, and a police detective. One of Ivy’s cousins who sees
dead people was also there. I saw him murdered and saw the men who
did it.”

That was met with silence. Silence when Lydia
was on the other end of the line was a rare occurrence, but Caitlin
wasn’t the chatty type. Still, this was one of those times when
Trish was sure she’d managed to either make Caitlin speechless or
piss her off. She was betting on the latter.

“If you ever go through something like this
again without taking Lydia along for emotional support, I will make
your life a living hell. Am I making myself clear?” Caitlin asked
calmly.

Trish’s lips twitched. Caitlin was her
closest friend in the world, but she preferred delegating emotional
support to others. “She would have freaked out,” Trish said.

Caitlin let out a long suffering sigh. “Fine,
call me, because I don’t want you going through this kind of stuff
alone. How about if I come back and stay at the condo with you?
Justin can survive without me for a few nights, so you won’t have
to listen to us fooling around.”

“No,” Trish said. “It would be awkward having
you hanging around, trying to be supportive. It’s not your
thing.”

“And you bought sexy panties to seduce Alek
Draksel,” Caitlin added.

She was totally busted. “Well, yes. It’s time
for me to start living, and this is my first step.”

“You understand things aren’t going anywhere
with him, right? It might seem like he’ll take things further now
with the psychic thing, but he’s not the commitment type.”

“I’m not looking for a commitment,” Trish
said. “In fact, this is perfect, because Alek is the one man who’s
not going to suddenly take an interest in me because I’m
psychic.”

Caitlin laughed. “In that case, have fun. You
deserve it.”

“Thanks. I’ll give you a call tomorrow.”

She hung up on Caitlin and found an empty
bench to sit on while she waited for Drew’s return.

“Is this seat taken?” asked a soft feminine
voice.

Trish looked up and smiled at the woman. “No,
help yourself.”

“Thank you,” the woman said with an angelic
smile. She was beautiful with long blonde hair, deep blue eyes, and
a face that could shame an angel. The woman looked at her bags.
“You’ve bought quite a few things from Victoria’s Secret
today.”

Trish nodded, feeling more than a little
uncomfortable having this conversation with a complete stranger.
“Yes, I needed to replace some things.”

The woman’s soft lilting laugh was almost
creepy. “Yes, there are times when we all need something new and
sexy. My name is Phoebe,” the woman said and extended a slender
hand.

Trish had a sinking suspicion she could guess
the woman’s last name. Her smile was harder to maintain as she took
the woman’s hand. “Trish,” she replied.

When Phoebe looked over Trish’s shoulder her
smile widened.

“What are you doing here?” Drew asked from
Trish’s side. Trish turned her head to see Drew standing there,
still holding his lemonade. The fist on his free hand was clenched
tightly, and his lips were pinched together. He obviously wasn’t
happy about running into his mother.

Phoebe gave him a brilliant smile. “Can’t a
mother get to know her son’s girlfriend? Or is she a
plaything?”

Drew didn’t answer her question. “There are
people looking for you.”

“I know,” Phoebe said with a wave of her
hand. “It’s best if we leave this area as soon as possible.” She
stood, clutching her purse.

Drew shook his head, saying nothing.

Phoebe looked annoyed. No, she looked scary
and angry, but she quickly masked her anger. “You can bring your
lady friend with us. She seems rather soft for our hobbies, but we
can work something out.”