It also didn’t escape my notice that the last time we’d been reclined in a car, it had been under very different circumstances. I shifted, finding a more comfortable position, and the movement caused a twinge of soreness down below. Good thing we weren’t going over unpaved roads.
Bones stared at me while his other hand slid down until it rested below my navel. “I was too rough before. Let me heal you.”
His voice was soft, and with the radio blaring, the human driving the car couldn’t overhear us. It made our conversation feel private even if our circumstances weren’t.
“No,” I whispered. “I like feeling you there. You said my scent was comforting? Well, this is to me, and you weren’t too rough. I loved it. This is what I usually feel afterward, but it isn’t pain, believe me.”
I was telling the truth. This was a pleasant sort of ache, and it increased when his eyes began turning green.
“You deserve so much better than a backseat, but I couldn’t help myself. I felt so much while touching you that it broke my will. Gregor might have stolen you from my mind, but it’s clear you went deeper than that. You’re beneath my skin, Catherine, and now I know that no person or spell can take you away from me.”
Happiness coursed through me. “Well, if it helps your progress… I guess we’ll have to do it every night.”
He let out an amused snort. “Believe me, you’re not keeping me from your bed any longer. You only succeeded before because I didn’t know any better. I’d have been howling outside your door like a mangy dog if I had.”
“That would have been the last straw for Spade. He’d have slugged me.”
His arms curled around me. The feel of him was like therapy, soothing away my prior hurts.
“Tell me how we met. I want to know everything about it.”
I settled back with a contented sigh. “You were on a job, and you’d tracked your mark to a bar in Ohio. I was there too, just itching to kill any vampire I could get alone. I saw you, came over and asked if you wanted to fuck…”
***
The new house didn’t have a barn, horses, or a large, pasture-like backyard. It was in the woods, nothing but trees all around. The interior also wasn’t as upscale as the last few places. In fact, it was kind of rustic. Spade wrinkled his nose in mild distaste. I loved it.
We’d flown the past few hours, then switched back to cars for the past forty minutes. It was well after dawn, and I just wanted to shower, brush my teeth, and go to bed wrapped up in Bones’s arms. Mencheres, however, had other ideas.
“No, because he’s coming with me,” was Mencheres’s immediate response when I asked Bones if he’d be right up.
“Huh?” I stopped on the stairs, my suitcase still in hand.
“I’m afraid I won’t see you until tonight.” Bones nearly sighed the words. “Training. We’re already a bit late.”
“But you haven’t slept,” I protested, starting back down.
“That does not excuse him,” Mencheres stated.
Now I was mad. “Aren’t you a little too old for spitefulness by, oh, a few thousand years?”
Bones came forward to rest a soothing hand on my arm. “I already knew this was my penalty. Think I’d change my actions because of lost sleep? You just get plenty of rest yourself. After all”—he brushed his lips next to my ear—“you’ll need it.”
Short of throwing a fit, there didn’t seem to be much I could do. I contented myself with mentally informing Mencheres that he was a coldhearted, nasty shit and turned back around. Guess it was just shower, brush my teeth, and go to bed alone for me.
“I’ll be waiting for you,” I said as I headed back up the stairs.
Bones gave a short laugh. “You’d better be.”
I picked the bedroom on the farthest corner of the second floor. Not the largest, but it was farther away from the others. The privacy was an illusion, but it was the best I could do. It would be so nice to have actual privacy again and not just its counterfeit.
After my bath, I slept for a few hours. Not as many as I should have, but I kept waking up and reaching across the empty space. Eventually I gave up and went downstairs.
Annette was watching TV, giving instructions to the actress on the screen. “Don’t run up the stairs, fool. The killer’s right there!”
Ah, a horror movie. Then I sniffed in confusion. “Are you wearing perfume?”
Annette glanced up and laughed. “Are you blind? Look around, Cat.”
At that, I finally took in the rest of my surroundings. Jeez, she was right. If these had been enemy forces, I’d be dead. Roses were on almost every available tabletop. Long-stemmed, gorgeous, crimson roses.
“Bones had these delivered?”
“No, the juice boxes picked them up,” she replied, turning her attention back to the movie. “They’re in a house up the road.”
I wanted to tell her that calling the live-in blood donors juice boxes wasn’t polite, but I didn’t bother. All I did was mutter, “You’ll never be normal,” and headed back upstairs.
“Neither will you, darling!” Annette sang out.
Uppity English tart. And yet when she was right, she was right.
***
Denise set down her cards after Spade nudged her.
“No fair,” I protested. “Each player for themselves.”
The three of us had been playing poker. Denise was better at bluffing, but her other skills hadn’t matured as fast. She and Spade partnered up shamelessly.
“It’s not that. We’re going out,” Spade said, setting down his hand.
“Oh.” I dropped my cards. “Well, don’t get freaky in a parking lot. Cops don’t like that.”
Denise burst out laughing. “Is that what happened last night?”
“Let’s just say we disturbed the peace and leave it at that.”
Spade didn’t laugh, but his lips twitched. “It’s a wonder Crispin didn’t kill them.”
I wasn’t about to explain more. Should have just zipped it to begin with. “He might have wanted to. I didn’t ask.”
“Indeed.” His mouth quirked again. “Appears he’s taking precautions this time. We’re going out, Mencheres is leaving, Annette will be staying overnight in the other residence, and Fabian will be floating elsewhere. You’ll have the house to yourselves.”
A slow flush crept its way up my face. “Bones arranged that?”
Now Spade did laugh. “What do you think?”
Well, what indeed? No fewer than six dozen roses were around the house, plus I’d also gotten a box of new lingerie. That had cracked me up though, because of the note inside: Now you needn’t fret about wearing someone else’s knickers.
Whatever Mencheres had Bones doing, he’d clearly allowed him some time to make arrangements. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Bones had intentions about tonight, lack of sleep or no lack of sleep.
“Um, have a nice time,” I said, trying to play it cool.
Spade didn’t say, “You too!” with a knowing wink. He only smiled and took Denise by the hand. “We’ll be back before dawn.”
They left, and shortly after, Annette followed suit. Since it was after dark, Bones would be here soon. I cleaned up the poker debris and then went in my room.
A lot of women have a ritual for a planned sexual encounter. In a way, it was the pre-foreplay foreplay. I took a quick shower and brushed my teeth. I’d already shaved from my earlier bath, so that was done. Then I applied unscented lotion, further smoothing my skin. After a quick blow-dry, I put a few curls into my hair to make it messily full. Finally, I applied a hint of makeup with matte lipstick.
I’d just finished when I heard the car pull up. I went downstairs, wanting to be semi-posed. As the car stopped, I positioned myself on the couch, then thought, What if he wasn’t alone? I jumped up, starting back up the stairs, but relaxed a second later. I’d only heard one car door shut, so Mencheres must not have returned with Bones.
The key turned in the lock, maki
ng it too late for me to repeat my former pose. I only had time to turn around as Bones came in. Instead of the sultry hello I’d prepared, all that came out was a breathy, “Hi.”
Bones didn’t say anything as his eyes moved over me. I was wearing the long, tonally dyed slip that had come with the new bras and panties. At the top it was the palest pink, with whisper-thin straps and a deep neckline. As it went past my hips, it darkened in color until the bottom was a deep rose. I wasn’t wearing anything under it, and since it revealed far more than it hid, his gaze didn’t miss an inch.
“Catherine.”
His voice, thicker with desire, made warmth course through me.
“Take me to bed.” Not very original, but I couldn’t seem to say anything else. Really, the last two words were redundant anyway.
In a blink, he was in front of me, his hands on my hips. They massaged me with slow circles as his mouth went to my neck. His tongue at my pulse shivered me, as did the brush of his fangs, then he went past my collarbone, dragging his lips down farther. Finally he settled on my breast, licking the peak before sucking it through the material.
The chafe of silk and his mouth grew while his hands explored my curves. He didn’t raise the slip but used the fabric to his advantage as he dragged it along my body. I gripped his head, feeling dangerously weak when his mouth descended on my other breast.
“Take me to bed now,” I managed to say, glad it hadn’t come out as another, more explicit demand.
A strong suction had me arching my back to press closer to him. My nipples throbbed when he lifted his head. His eyes met mine, and they were scalding green.
His arms coiled around me, lifting me though his head stayed near my breasts, kissing the valley between them. The staircase didn’t even creak with his quick steps, and he went straight to my bedroom. He could probably smell which one I’d slept in.
Bones set me on the bed, but I pushed him back when he began to stretch out next to me.
“Take off your clothes.”
He stopped me when I began to undo his buttons. “Not yet.”
“Yes. I want to touch you.”
A groan came out of him. “Later, luv. I’m barely clinging to my control as it is, and I have plans for you.”
That wasn’t what I wanted, no matter how great it would feel. “Forget your control. I want you, not your willpower.”
“Willpower?” He chuckled, smoothing the nightgown up my leg. “You’re very wrong. I don’t have any with you.”
I stopped his hand. “If your clothes stay on, so do mine.”
He began unbuttoning his shirt. I slid my palms along his chest when it was revealed. His skin felt incredible, so sleek and tight. When his shirt came off, he started on his pants. I slid closer to him, kissing his neck. His other hand climbed higher up my thigh.
My breath caught at the intimate stroke of his fingers. His touch was gentle, finding and then teasing the most sensitive parts of me. I opened my legs, gasping, and he began to suck on my throat. Not breaking the skin, just capturing my pulse in his mouth and tonguing it.
I pushed his pants down his legs. Two small thuds on the floor were his shoes, then finally he was naked. I couldn’t stop touching him, reveling in the hum of power under his skin, his muscles, and all the familiar ridges and valleys of his body. Feeling them again aroused me almost as much as his seeking fingers. When I reached down to close my hand around him, he caught it.
“Let me look at you.” Lust deepened his voice. His fangs were also out and his eyes were green fire. He dragged my nightgown up and over my head before letting it fall to the side. When he spoke again, his voice was throatier. “Sometimes I think I’ve dreamt you. Or that I’ve died and you’re my heaven.”
I stroked his cheek. “Or your hell, but I don’t want to debate. I want you inside me.”
“Yes.” It was a hiss.
His body covered mine, pressing me back. My legs cradled his hips as he took my hands, stretching my arms over my head. Then the hard, thick feel of him grazed me.
I strained against him, impatient, wanting to grab him and feel him cleave into me. “Now, Bones.”
His eyes glowed brighter at my panted words. “Not… yet.”
He slid down, his mouth settling between my legs. A long, slow lick tore a cry from me, then additional, sensual delves left me burning with need.
“So sweet,” he growled. “You taste like crushed flowers, and I must have more.”
His tongue went deeper, almost convulsing me. Bands of pleasure yanked together in my belly, my heart thumped, and every inch of me felt on fire.
“Bones, now!”
A high-pitched demand he responded to by pulling my thighs over his shoulders, continuing his erotic assault. I clutched his head, all my words replaced by moans. He tasted every millimeter of me until I rocked against him in ecstasy. Everything inside me tensed when he began to suck on my clitoris, his fangs rubbing instead of piercing. Those strong pulls detonated the fireball in me, that inner throb erupting so fast I didn’t even have time to scream. Bones moaned, caressing my thighs as I shuddered from my climax.
Then languorous warmth filled me, making me sound drowsy though I was far, far from sleepy. “Your mouth is deadly, you know that?”
A laugh tickled me and he gave a last lick before answering. “I enjoyed that so much I almost came with you.”
I kissed him when he slid up, winding my arms around his neck. “Not yet,” I breathed as he grasped my hips and moved between them.
“No?” he asked, stilling. “Too soon afterward?”
I pushed him away enough to maneuver. “No, but first…”
My head was at his stomach when he stopped me with a steel grip.
“Don’t.”
The flat refusal in his voice surprised me. “Why not?”
Something lurked in his eyes, gone in an instant, but I still caught it. If I hadn’t known him so well, I wouldn’t have.
“Not now.” He moved me up and smiled. “My control is thin, and I want to take my time. Not be disgracefully quick like in the car.”
“Bones.” I held his gaze. “I’m not asking, and don’t stop me again.”
I slid lower on the bed, and he held himself absolutely still. It pierced me, because I’d seen in that glimpse what the real problem was. Raw, guilty shame had flashed in his eyes. The memory of what I’d overheard with Cannelle bothered him as much as it did me, it seemed.
I rubbed my cheek on his stomach while handling him with soft touches. “I love your skin. It’s like a drug. I have to feel you when I’m near you, and when I’m near you, I want to taste you…”
I flicked my tongue into the crease of his thigh and his tenseness eased a notch. He couldn’t see it, but I smiled. In this, I was confident. Long ago he had taught me all his weaknesses.
I licked along both creases of his thighs, only letting my breath fall on the hard length that throbbed against my cheek. Then my tongue grazed the sensitive skin of his sack, and he shuddered.
He sat up, reaching for me. “Catherine, let me—”
“No.” I batted his hands away. “Just you.”
He laughed somewhat unsteadily. “Why do I feel as though I’m in trouble?”
I met his eyes, giving a single, long lick along the length of his shaft. “Because you are.”
Several minutes later, he came with a shout that would have caused someone to call the police if we’d been back in that bar parking lot.
“You think that my mouth is deadly?” His voice was strained as he pulled me up to him. “You’ve shown me to be a rank amateur.”
My laugh was throaty. “If you’re just being polite, you have only yourself to blame. You taught me what to do.”
“Then well done to me.” Bones captured my mouth with a long, deep kiss that excited me almost as much as hearing his shout of pleasure.
I slid on top of him, straddling him. “Too soon afterward?” I teased.
Hard flesh pierc
ed me, replacing my laughter with an extended moan. Oh, the feel of him! Moving slowly but powerfully, swaying me to his pace. I balanced with my hands on his shoulders until he sat up, gripping me close. Then his mouth went to my breast, sucking with erotic intensity before his fangs penetrated the tip.
It wasn’t a deep bite. Just enough to send throbs of pleasure through me from the juice in his fangs. My nipple felt seared, and when he sucked and bit the other one, all my defenses fell away.
“I love you.” It was a gasp I couldn’t hold back even though logic said it was too soon. My reason had just flatlined, however, leaving only my emotions in control.
Bones’s mouth left my breasts and he froze like I’d flipped a switch.
Suddenly, I was nervous. “I meant, I love this—”
“Don’t you dare.” His hands left my body to hold my face. “Say that again.”
“I don’t want you to… to feel obligated—”
“Never say that to me again.”
He was still inside me but not moving anymore. Back at the compound, I’d admitted to Bones that I loved him but hadn’t said it since. Now, however, the intimacy of our joined bodies was too powerful, forcing out the words that fear wanted to hold back.
“I love you, Bones. I love you so much. God, so very, very much.”
“Do you know how that makes me feel?” he whispered. “I’ve been many things these past two centuries, but I haven’t known real happiness until this moment. I don’t know if these are old emotions or new ones, and I don’t care anymore. Please, Catherine. Please. Say that again.”
He kissed me with the longing of someone starved, then began making love to me with an intensity that had tears coursing down my cheeks. I forgot that he was running on no sleep. Forgot Annette’s advice on what tricks to try. I forgot everything except his last request, and I told him that I loved him with almost every gasping breath.
***
Author’s note: This is the end of the deleted alternate “middle” of Destined for an Early Grave. The rest of the story would have gone on pretty much as the published version, with Cat turning into a vampire and Gregor kidnapping and then forcibly changing over her mother. I had planned to have Bones regain his memory during the climactic fight scene with Gregor at the end. In that, Gregor would have used a knife secretly filled with his blood, intending to kill Bones in those vulnerable moments when his memories came crashing back. Cat’s reaction would have been the same: blowing Gregor’s head off when she realized that Bones was about to die. Cat would have gotten away with interfering in their duel the same way she did in the published version: Veritas would have examined the knife and found the secret device on it, confirming that Gregor had cheated. Cat’s confirmation that Bones’s memory had returned would have come right afterward, the first time he called her Kitten again.