disappeared and was replaced by a growing alertness. She sat up in bed so quickly the
sheet fell to her waist, exposing her breasts. The rosy tips were puckered and he longed
to reach over and kiss them both. Realizing she was naked, Sophia grabbed the sheet
and yanked it up over her. Zane sighed, wishing this would be simple, knowing it
would be anything but.
"You. Me." She broke off and rubbed a hand over her face, careful not to let her grip
on the sheet falter. "We." She shook her head. "I don't usually have wild, unbridled sex
with a man I've just met. What time is it?"
"It's just after seven."
"That's impossible." She glanced over at the clock radio that sat on her nightstand.
"It's the next night, Sophia. You slept the whole day away."
"Damn it." She surged out of bed, dragging the sheet with her. "I had things to do
today. An article to write." She swayed on her feet and he reached out to steady her.
"You were in no shape for anything after last night."
She whirled around to face him. "I remember last night. You said you were a
vampire." Her face paled, making her few freckles stand out prominently across her
nose and cheeks as she sat down heavily on the mattress. He wanted to kiss each of
those freckles. "I saw your teeth and your eyes, but part of me didn't believe it."
"Believe it," he muttered darkly.
"You." She broke off and swallowed hard. "You drank my blood, didn't you?" She
reached behind her neck and rubbed it as if it were sore.
"Yes."
"I don't remember what happened after that."
Zane eased down onto the bed beside her. "The bloodlust took over. My need for
you was so strong the first time, I took too much."
Her eyes narrowed. "What do you mean you took too much?"
"You were already weak due to lack of food and sleep. Coupled with what had just
happened between us, well..." He searched his mind for the right way to explain what
he'd done. What he'd felt he had to do.
"So I passed out." She shrugged, tugging the sheet tighter around her.
Her nearness was affecting him. He already had a throbbing erection and bloodlust
simmered just below the surface. He wanted to strip away the sheet, spread her across
her milky white sheets and fuck her senseless. When she was exhausted with pleasure,
he wanted to drink from her again. Her blood was rich and thick and sweet. He'd felt
energized all last night and still felt the buzz in his body today.
"It was more than just passing out. You were weak."
"What did you do?" When he hesitated, her agitation grew. "Zane, what did you
do?" Her voice was raised to almost a shout.
"What I had to. I gave you some of my blood."
Sophia stared at Zane with growing horror. There was no apology in his stark
words. His stern face was set, his lips pursed in a thin line. His hands were resting
lightly on his thighs but his fingers curled into fists and his big body tensed. She tried to
imagine herself drinking blood and began to gag. A slightly metallic taste filled her
mouth.
"Oh God," she moaned as she surged off the bed and hurried into the bathroom
with him right behind her. She slammed the door in his face and locked the door. Not
that the puny lock would keep him out if he wanted to get in.
"Sophia." She wanted to put her hands over her ears to block him out, but she
could hear him perfectly through the wood door. "You haven't changed. You're still the
same as you were. Think of it as a blood transfusion."
She had the door unlocked and yanked open before she could think better of it. "It's
not the same as a blood transfusion. I drank your blood." She couldn't believe she was
actually saying those words out loud. "Furthermore, I didn't even know I was doing it.
You did something to me, didn't you?"
Zane nodded. "I won't lie to you, Sophia. You were weak and needed it. It was my
duty to take care of you." He crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at her, his
entire body uncompromising and reeking of male arrogance and testosterone. "I took
control of your mind momentarily and compelled you to drink. It wasn't easy, though.
Even weak, you still had a strong mind."
stop you."
"No human could stop me."
She shivered at the finality of his tone. What had she gotten herself into?
A more horrifying thought occurred to her. "Oh God," she gasped. "I'm not a
vampire now, am I?" She felt all the blood rush from her head and swayed. The
implications were just too much for her to take in. She didn't want to be a vampire. She
liked her life just the way it was, thank you very much. It was one thing to have a
vampire as a lover and another thing totally to even contemplate becoming one.
Zane cupped the back of her neck with his palm. The heat from his hand sent a
shiver down her spine. "No, you're not a vampire. It doesn't work that way."
"How does it work?" She locked her knees to keep from crumpling to the floor in a
heap.
"The small amount of blood that I gave you last night is not enough to convert you.
In order for that to happen, you'd have to be drained almost totally of blood and then
have it replaced by mine." He stared down at her, his eyes almost black with emotion.
"You'd have to die first, Sophia."
Right. She had a vague memory of him mentioning something about this last night,
but she was so muddled right now, she couldn't think straight. She so didn't want to
hear this. How did anyone agree to do that? The possibility of something going wrong
was enormous and there was obviously no going back or changing your mind once the
deed was done.
Zane's face softened as he gave her neck a light squeeze before releasing her.
"Everything is going to be all right, Sophia. Why don't you get a shower while I cook
you something to eat?"
"You're going to cook for me?" She shook her head, not quite sure she'd heard him
correctly.
"What about some eggs and toast with some bacon?"
Her stomach growled, shifting her mind back to the mundane and reminding her
that she hadn't been feeding it very much lately. "I don't have the stuff to make that."
"I brought it with me." Zane reached out his hand and brushed his thumb over her
cheek. Just like that her stomach clenched and her body softened. The man's charm was
lethal.
She took a step away and his hand dropped back to his side. "Okay. You make
breakfast while I shower."
The corner of one side of his mouth kicked up in a lopsided smile, which made him
appear younger. Which was impossible, of course. The man was a two-hundred-year-
old vampire.
Thinking about all this was giving her a headache.
He started to speak, but she held up her hand. She couldn't talk any more, not until
she had a cup of coffee and some breakfast or supper or whatever it was. Sighing
heavily, she started to close the door again and then stopped. "What you did last night.
The whole making me drink your blood thing. Don't do it again." She felt slightly
violated that he'd taken over her mind to make her do that.
"I won't," he promised and then ruined that promise when he continued. "Unle
ss I
think your life is in jeopardy."
Slamming the door in his face again, she turned the lock. "Your meal will be ready
in about twenty minutes," he called out. She leaned her forehead against the door and
listened to his footsteps as he walked away. She felt like banging her head against the
wooden panel but resisted the urge. The last thing she needed to do was addle her
brains further.
As she pushed herself away from the door, a piece of vampire folklore ran through
her brain. A vampire had to be invited into a person's home or they couldn't enter. She
didn't know if that was true or not, but she'd certainly held the door wide open for
Zane York. Her body ached and tingled in unexpected places. She hadn't been with a
man in so long that last night's wild sex had certainly put her muscles through a
workout.
Picking up her toothbrush, she wet it and then spread a generous amount of
She was supposed to have written articles for several different papers today. That was
money she couldn't afford to lose. Then there was the major piece for a weekly
magazine. Thank heavens she'd almost finished that. Another hour at most and that
would be completed. It wasn't due until tomorrow, so she still had time.
Leaning over the sink, she spit and began to rinse. Cupping water in her palm, she
slurped noisily, wanting to remove every last trace of the metallic taste from her mouth.
Then she had to check with her police sources and the detective in charge of the case
and see if they'd found out anything else. There was a follow-up with Janice Barton's
family as well as the research she needed to do on the Dalakis family. She definitely
shouldn't have slept the day away, but apparently that hadn't been her choice.
Satisfied that her teeth were clean and the taste was gone, she wiped her mouth
with the back of her hand. It was time to take stock of the rest of her body. Dropping the
sheet, she stared at herself in the small bathroom mirror. She appeared normal, if a bit
pale and tousled, but that was to be expected after everything she'd been through.
Grabbing her makeup bag, which she kept mostly for the rare business meeting that
called for being dressed up or special occasions, she whipped out her compact and
opened it. Angling the mirror, she turned and used both mirrors to try to see the back of
her neck. She could barely make out the faintest pinpricks of two marks, but there was
certainly no mistaking the hickey at the base of her neck. She remembered him doing
that, remembered the way his teeth had closed over her skin in an erotic bite.
She shivered.
Snapping the compact closed, she tossed it back into the makeup bag. Crossing over
to the shower, she flicked on the taps and tested the water before stepping beneath the
flow. The hot water pummeled her aching body, washing away the sweat and sex of the
night before.
What was done was done. She was doing her best to try to not remember the earlier
part of the evening. The sex between them had been phenomenal. Sophia had never
experienced anything remotely like it in her life. Not that she was overly experienced,
but even she knew that last night with Zane had been special.
Grabbing her bottle of shampoo, she poured a dollop into her hand and began to
scrub her scalp. As she continued to lather her hair, she could practically feel his
presence in her apartment. It was like a low-level electrical current running through her
veins. A level of awareness that she'd never shared with another person.
For a person used to being alone and quite content that way, it was more than a
little disconcerting to say the least. She felt uncomfortable, as if he was already a part of
her and she was a part of him.
She let the water cascade over her head until all the shampoo was rinsed away.
Picking up her scented soap, she began to wash her body, doing her best to ignore the
way her nipples puckered and her pussy throbbed as her thoughts continued to wander
to Zane and what had happened between them.
It was weird, but on a deeper level, she found it almost...comforting, for lack of a
better word. One of her deepest desires, which she hid even from herself most of the
time, was to find someone who she could depend on not to disappoint or abandon her.
She slammed the door on those thoughts. She was an independent woman and quite
happy that way, thank you very much. One night of sex, no matter how incredible,
didn't constitute a relationship.
For all she knew, Zane had slept with her to get information, to find out what she
knew. She ignored the pang in her chest. He was a vampire. Surely he could have snuck
into her home when she was out and gone through her notes and things if he wanted to.
And she was truly losing her mind if she thought it was better for Zane to break into
her home than it was to sleep with her for information. Maybe he hadn't done either of
those things. Maybe he'd slept with her because he wanted to. As for information--all
the man had to do was ask. She might not tell him everything, but still... Maybe he
would ask. They hadn't had time to really talk since she'd awakened to find him
hovering over her and a whole day of her life gone.
Stepping under the spray one final time, she washed the soap away, watching the
lather flow down the drain. She wished all her problems could be solved as easily.
Sighing, she turned off the taps and stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel and
wrapping it around her body.
She made quick work of drying her hair, dragging her brush through the short
strands. Tossing the brush aside, she unwound her towel and dried herself. After she
hung the towel over the shower rod to dry, she grabbed her moisturizer. Squeezing a
thick dollop onto her palm, she took her time, spreading the rich cream over her arms,
legs and torso. Usually it was a task she did quickly and without thought. Today, it felt
more sensual. Sophia had an awareness of her body that she'd never had before.
Cursing softly, she grabbed the sheet and held it in front of her as she unlocked the
door. The coolness flowed in, dispelling some of the steamy, humid air of the bathroom.
She peeked out, but thankfully there was no sign of Zane.
Hurrying into her room, she tossed the sheet aside and pulled open her dresser
drawers, gathering underwear, socks and a bra. She didn't always wear one, but she
thought it better to be as covered as possible around Zane. Her bras and underwear
were all white cotton, so they matched. Pausing at her closet, she donned a pair of jeans
and long-sleeved pale green pullover that was a favorite of hers because the color
matched her eyes. It made her feel more confident and Sophia figured that she'd need
all the confidence she could get in order to deal with the man currently cooking in her
kitchen.
Satisfied that she was as ready as she'd ever be, she stuffed her feet into a pair of
white canvas sneakers and headed for the kitchen. It was time to face Zane.
Chapter Eight
Zane knew she was standing behind him, watching as he continued to butter a slice
of toast. Everything was ready. With his preternatural senses, he
'd been able to follow
her every move since he'd left her in the bathroom. It had been nothing short of sheer
torture to listen to the shower running while he pictured the hot water cascading down
her naked body.
When she'd left the bathroom, her scent had reached his nostrils. It was a clean,
fresh smell of soap and vanilla, tinged with the lightest hint of feminine musk. It made
his teeth ache.
He groaned and shifted restlessly. He'd had a hard-on since Sophia had opened her
eyes and looked at him. Just one glance from those pale green eyes had him hot and
ready. But her mood was anything but amorous at the moment, even if her body was
slightly aroused. Sighing, he picked up the plate and took it over to the small, round
table. "You might as well come eat while it's hot."
She hesitated for a brief second but then joined him at the table. He'd already
poured coffee for her. There was nothing left for him to do but sit and watch her eat.
Not wanting to crowd her, he returned to the counter to wipe up some crumbs. When
he turned back to the table, she was seated there, mug in her hand, sipping some of the
potent dark brew.
"Did you go through my notes?"
He didn't know whether to be insulted or amused. "No, I didn't."
"Why not?"
Sophia was obviously feeling testy this evening and he couldn't really blame her.
Sauntering over to the table, he pulled out a chair, turned it around and straddled it. He
folded his arms over the back and leaned forward. "Because I wanted you to show them
to me."
"Why did you have sex with me last night?"
Zane was taken aback by the swift change of topic. "What do you mean?" As any
sensible male would, he sensed there was a trap here, waiting to snap around him if he
weren't careful. After two hundred years of living, he still didn't understand women.
She laid her mug carefully back down on the table, her motions rigid and
controlled. "Was it for kicks? Maybe you needed a snack and pizza didn't appeal to
you? You could have snuck in here when I was asleep or gone if all you wanted was to
read my files."
Anger surged through his veins and he gritted his teeth to keep from yelling. "No,
you sure as hell weren't a snack and it certainly wasn't for kicks." Zane gripped the