A Bloody London Sunset (Sunset Vampire Series, Book 2) (26 page)

“Kat?” he asked with upraised eyebrows. “Are you okay?”

She broke from her reverie and bent down to kiss him on the lips warmly.

“I love you so very much, “ she whispered and kissed him again.

He sensed a slightly metallic aftertaste from the hint of blood on her lips and murmured, “I love you too.”

She deliberately adopted a mock-stern expression, placed her hands on her hips, and ordered, “You’re my mate, so what’s mine is yours. Now, sign.”

He smiled up at her with an appraising expression, impressed with her stern visage. “You’re so sexy when you do that,” he commented and turned to sign the forms.

While his attention was focused on the paperwork, she grinned slyly.
I know
,
and you love it
. Then she turned serious and pointed out, “You need to realize that having the strength of proper funding in some parts of the world is essential to ensure safe travel. And it can get you out of a lot of delicate situations with a minimal amount of questions.”

He put the ink pen down and turned his head to glance up at her with a grin. She reverted her facial expression to a more sedate one.

“Thank you,” she offered pleasantly. “I’ll let you know when your credit card arrives.”

Suddenly, Paige popped into the room from around the corner and teased with a mischievous grin, “Hey, tiger. Think you could heat up a glass of blood for me, too?”

“You hellion!“ he blurted and leapt from out of the desk chair with a lurch, leaving the chair spinning in his wake as he charged towards the doorway. Paige disappeared down the hallway with Caleb in close pursuit.

Katrina giggled at the sound of their footsteps rushing down the hallway and observed, “’Hellion.’ I like that one.” She shook her head with amusement and muttered, “Ah, how I missed the sound of children playing in a house.”

Abruptly, the phone rang, and she picked up the cordless handset from the desk with a flourish. “Hello?” she asked. “Hi, Gil. Yes, I’ll send someone to lead the way back. Where are you?” She paused a moment longer and said, “Got it.”

She moved to the open doorway and yelled down the hallway, “Gil’s at the Quick Mart about five miles away and can’t find his way back!”

“Well, crap!” Paige exclaimed irritably.

Katrina paused and heard Paige venture hopefully, “Um, Caleb?”

“Hey, he’s your boyfriend,” he countered.

Katrina grinned.

“Come on, kiddo, at least drop me off so I can drive the car back,” she pleaded.

Following a brief silence, Paige added, “Come on! Back rub?”

“We’ll be back soon, Kat!” came Caleb’s booming voice.

Katrina chuckled, heading back to her desk to finish preparing the forms. She was very pleased that everything seemed to be going so well for a change. Then she frowned and wondered how long that would actually last.

* * * *

By Saturday, an important first-time event was about to take place between Katrina and Caleb. It was February 14
^th
, marking their first Valentine’s Day together. Caleb had been thinking about the prospects of that particular occasion because it was a holiday that seemed uniquely suited for a vampire with the color red and the symbolisms of the human heart. He made sure to acquire a romantic greeting card, of course, but he also tried to think creatively regarding his gifts for Katrina. He even managed a little something for Paige, the second-dearest woman to his heart.

Caleb spent the day at the college assisting with a community outreach project to curb domestic partner abuse. He answered phones at the call center and helped prepare lunch for community members attending the free seminars and workshops. As a victim of abuse himself, he felt it was important to reach out to others suffering under abusive circumstances, understanding fully how helpless and lost a person could feel. He was grateful that his and Katrina’s relationship was nurturing, respectful, and violence-free.

By the end of the day-long event, he eagerly made his way home. Upon his arrival, he noticed that Paige’s rental car was nowhere to be seen, and he entered the house only to be greeted with the sound of silence. However, he did smell the scent of one of his favorite cuisines, barbeque.

“Kat?” he inquired as he slipped the backpack off his shoulder and sat a paper sack full of gifts on the dining room table.

Upon hearing only silence, he laid aside a small, shiny red gift bag covered with red tissue paper and a greeting card. He sat out a small square gift wrapped in silver wrapping paper, followed by a single red rose accented by baby’s breath in a slender crystal vase. He left the remaining two gifts in the sack at the other end of the table.

He walked into the kitchen, only to see Katrina standing before him wearing a black mesh gown open to reveal a matching g-string. Her long red hair cascaded down across one shoulder, and her emerald eyes glinted in the dim kitchen lighting as she smiled at him alluringly.

“Happy Valentines’ Day, my love,” she murmured in a sultry voice. “Do you like?”

She had shopped for just the right outfit to entice him. And while it seemed somewhat cliché, she sought to appeal to his baser desires before offering a more sentimental gift to him later.

“Oh, you’re ravishing,” he whispered with a growing sense of desire. He crossed the distance to her and bent his head up slightly to kiss her on the lips.

She reveled in his response and offered, “Gil and Paige are out for the evening, so the house is ours for a while. I hope you like what I’ve catered for you.”

His mouth watered from the scent of barbeque, and he appreciated how much of a sacrifice she was making to allow it to permeate through the house. “Oh, it’s wonderful,” he replied with a grin.

“Are you hungry?” she asked playfully.

He silently nodded.

“Food, or fun first?” she asked with a smirk.

He grinned, took her by the hand, and started down the hallway with her in tow. But then he stopped, turned, and led her back into the dining room. While the desire to make love to her surged through him, he made a deliberate effort for patience in order to present her gifts to her first.

She followed him into the dining room and observed the array of gifts before her. She picked up the vase with the rose and took a moment to savor its sweet fragrance. Setting it down, she opened the romantic greeting card. It included a poem about true love and his own handwritten note,
To my true love: the woman of my dreams, the fulfillment of my desires, and the angel who watches over me. My life, my blood, my body for you. I love you. Your mate, Caleb
.

She closed the card, her heart melting over his sincere declaration. She gave him a smoldering look and pressed her lips against his in a passionate kiss.

He grinned with satisfaction.
So far, so good
.

She placed the card on the table with a look of satisfaction and removed the tissue paper from the red gift bag. Reaching inside, she removed a small gift set of cherry blossom-scented body lotion, creams, and shower gel. It was her favorite scent and, she had discovered, Caleb’s as well.

“Perfect. How did you know that I needed some more of those?” she asked and glanced down at the remaining small, silver-wrapped box.

He picked it up from the table and placed it in her hands with a hopeful expression, prefacing, “The best for last.”

She removed the paper delicately from the box to reveal a soft, black leather casing. Her fingers slowly pivoted the lid open, and her breath caught in her throat at the sight of two perfect emeralds suspended from gold earring posts.

“Oh, Caleb, they’re beautiful,” she whispered appreciatively. She felt a small pang of guilt as she realized that they must have cost him a great deal of money, given their exquisite cut, clarity, and size.

He beamed with satisfaction and offered, “When the light catches the gems just right, they remind me of your beautiful, glowing eyes.”

She was both impressed and deeply touched and turned to embrace him. She nestled her nose against his neck, kissed his supple skin and moved to his lips.

“I love them,” she murmured. “And I love you.”

They held each other at length, relishing the closeness. Then she pulled away from him, gazing into his eyes with approval. It was definitely a memorable Valentine’s Day for her, the first in so many years. And now it was her turn to make it memorable for him. She took him by the hand and suggested, “Now, come with me. I have something for you to unwrap. It’s a gift I think you’ll find keeps on giving.”

He grinned and gratefully followed her down into the sublevel chamber.

During Katrina’s five centuries of existence, she had mastered a number of talents and skills, including the refined art of lovemaking. And while Caleb was no novice to sex, she reveled in the opportunity to explore a number of techniques that were wholly new to him.

Following their intimate time together, during which time Katrina made him work up an appetite, she served him a wonderful barbecue dinner. She also gave him a new Rolex wristwatch, engraved on the back with his initials. He had been shocked to receive such an expensive gift on Valentine’s Day.

Later that evening, they changed into comfortable clothes and lay on the couch together watching a romantic comedy in the living room. Before long, they heard Paige and Gil returning from their evening out, and Caleb quietly slipped from Katrina’s arms, kissing her on the cheek beforehand. She smiled and pinched him on the rear as he got up, resulting in his smirking back at her.

“Take your time,” she offered quietly as her attention returned to the movie.

“I’ll put the flowers in some water while you go upstairs to shower,” Paige’s voice emanated from the kitchen. “I’ll be up before long.”

“Sounds good, babe,” Gil replied eagerly as he strode through the kitchen.

Caleb leaned against the kitchen door jamb, casually folded his arms across his chest, and watched her retrieve an empty glass vase from one of the cabinets. She began arranging the dozen roses in it, then glanced up at him with a curious expression.

“Nice flowers,” he observed pleasantly.

She smiled wanly. “Yeah, that was sweet of Gil, actually.”

“What else did he get you?” he asked carefully, uncertain whether it was a good idea to ask.

She wrinkled her nose. “Lingerie. Black lace with pink accents, and skimpy, of course. I asked him to take it upstairs with him when he went up to shower.”

“Hey, you have the body to wear it, so be happy,” he offered with a smirk.

She shrugged and ran water from the tap into the vase. “True, I suppose.”

He regarded his friend soberly, realizing she wasn’t particularly happy. A pang of sadness ran through him, and he was suddenly pleased he had made the gesture to do something nice for her. He had the feeling a surprise was exactly what she needed at the moment.

“I took him to dinner at a nice seafood place downtown,” Paige said as she set the vase of flowers on the counter. “Reservations were hard to come by, but I sort of charmed my way into one last week, since I had anticipated we’d still be in town. Gil was really happy about that. Food is definitely one way to his heart.”

“Have time for one more surprise tonight?” Caleb asked as he stared into Paige’s pale blue eyes.

She grinned at him and replied slyly, “A surprise? From you?”

He feigned an indifferent shrug. “Maybe.” He glanced in the direction of the dining room and waited patiently.

Her expression immediately turned playful, and she darted past him in a blur into the dining room. “Are both of these mine?” she asked happily with a tone reminiscent of a child’s at Christmas.

“Yep,” he replied, following her into the dining room to watch. He glanced over to the couch and noticed that while Katrina still lay there, she had cocked her head to one side to listen more closely.

Both gifts were wrapped in bright red paper, one the size of a small jewelry box and the other about one foot square. Paige picked up the larger box, shook it, and tore the wrapping off in a flurry of hand movements. She popped the cardboard box open to reveal a black t-shirt. When she shook it open to look at the front, it had a picture of two white fangs with blood dripping from them and a slogan in white letters reading
Got Blood?
below the fangs. She giggled, held it up to herself, and glanced at him.

“I love it!” she exclaimed with a gleam in her eyes. “It’s so me!”

She set the t-shirt down and smirked as she picked up the smaller box. That one she took the time to open delicately at each end and slowly remove the wrapping paper from around it. It was a small, black velvet jewelry case, which she deftly popped open with her fingers. Inside was a sterling silver bracelet with an inscription.

She beamed at him and removed the bracelet to place it on her wrist. The engraving stated:
Happy V-tines to my guardian & babysitter. Luv, Caleb.

“Oh, Caleb, I love it,” she offered and moved in a blur to wrap her arms around him in a warm embrace.

He embraced her happily. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Paige.”

“They’re both perfect,” she assured him softly. “Thanks, tiger.”

“You’re welcome. I’m really glad you like them.”

“The t-shirt is too cute,” she added. “And if it wasn’t for Red, I’d kiss --”

“Oh, shut up, and kiss him!” Katrina barked with exasperation from the living room.

Paige giggled and reached her head up to kiss him on the lips discreetly. He responded in kind and gave her a big hug, lifting her off the floor momentarily.

“You’re the best, kiddo,” she said, her blue eyes seeming to sparkle in the light. She was touched and particularly loved the bracelet, suddenly realizing she hadn’t received a gift so special and sentimental from anyone in a very long time.

He smiled, watching as she gathered up the small jewelry box and t-shirt and walked back through the house with a huge grin.

“Nice earrings, Red,” Paige remarked as she passed by the living room and glanced in at Katrina.

“Thanks, Shorty,” Katrina replied. “All right, now get back in here and snuggle with me before I get jealous...kiddo,” she teased Caleb.