Cafe in the Park (Siren Publishing Classic) (16 page)

“We had to establish that you hadn’t fought with the deceased, thrown her from the roof in the fight and fell back to knock yourself out on the roof. So he’s been there to make sure you stay here.”

Emily gasped. A mixture of annoyance and surprise rippled through her. “I told you the truth last night.” She put her fingers over the tender spot on her jaw.

“We know that now. There’s nothing to suggest a fight, nothing to suggest anything other than you are telling the truth. Why do you think Veronique did this?”

Emily shook her head. “I have no idea. I hardly knew her. I thought she’d come along to start making a friend of me. I’m shocked by what happened. I wish it hadn’t.” Tears built behind her eyes, and she looked down at the sheet to see them splash there.

The detective closed her notebook. “There’ll be a coroner’s report. We’ll be in touch if we need to ask any more questions. The doc says you can go home.” She stood.

Emily sniffed. “Do you know what happened to my cell phone? I have to call work. I need to tell them I won’t be in today.”

The detective nodded. I’ll have it sent in. She left the room.

The police officer who sat outside came in and held out her cell phone.

Emily took it. “Why?”

The officer knew what she meant. He tried a smile. “To make sure you didn’t contact anyone and have them remove evidence.”

The door opened and Chris came in. He rushed to her and caught her against his hard body in a hug.

“Emily, I can’t believe what happened. Are you okay? They wouldn’t let me see you.”

She held his face. “I’m okay now. Will you take me home?”

Chris kissed her cheek and smoothed her hair behind her ears. He nodded.

Emily saw tears well in his eyes. She hugged him.

* * * *

Chris took Emily home in a car she didn’t know he owned. Art had arranged for her door to be fixed already, and a new blue door hung where the old white one had. Chris gave her the new keys and held her hand. He led Emily to the roof garden to show her they’d tidied it. The big pots of night-scented stock were back in their usual place.

He hugged her close. “I don’t think I could live without you. I keep thinking what if she’d succeeded, what if you were the one found dead on the pavement?” He rested his face against hers tenderly.

Emily felt a tear on her cheek. She knew it wasn’t hers. She wiped it away with her fingertip and snuggled against Chris. “I need a shower and some clean clothes. I’m hungry and I want to talk to you, tell you the things she said.”

Chris took Emily’s face in his hands and kissed her jaw where Veronique had hit her.

“I’ll make you breakfast while you shower. What do you want?”

Emily smiled. “Toast, lots of toast and honey.”

As she took a shower, Emily thought about it all. She had no doubt that Veronique was the liar. She gauged that the only truth was what Veronique had told her about Chris’s blood. It made more sense than the other explanation.
Poor Veronique
. Despite everything, sadness filled Emily’s soft heart at Veronique’s death.

She cleaned her teeth even though she was going to have breakfast, and inspected the bruise on her jaw. It wasn’t so bad. She was okay.

Chris had put breakfast out on the roof garden. “I think you should forget what happened here or it will be spoilt for you. I know you love this place.”

Emily sat down alongside him to eat. “I don’t know what happened, Chris. I know she slugged me, but the rest is unknown. How she came to be the one who fell, I have no idea.”

She ate a piece of toast and honey.

“The police know. They said she caught her shoe strap on a pot. There was a sliver of leather, the same pink as her shoes, caught on the side of one pot. The terracotta is flaking away there. I know where. I’ll show you.”

Emily widened her eyes. “It’s where some of your fur was caught isn’t it?”

Chris nodded. “Yes. Isn’t that weird?”

They were silent for a moment.

Emily finished her slice of toast and took a sip of coffee.

“I didn’t get dinner last night and only ate a couple of bites of a sandwich at lunch,” she explained.

Chris smiled at her. “I had dinner plans for you.” His expression turned sad. He leaned over and hugged her. “Emily, I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

She looked into his eyes. “It’s not your fault.”

“Can you bear to tell me what she said now, so that I can defend myself?”

Emily took his hands. She told him everything.

Chris sat back in the chair and shook his head. “I feel responsible somehow for her death, for her misery. I had no idea about my blood. She told me the other reason. As for hunting, I don’t, but I do eat my meat raw sometimes, or when I’ve shifted. You’ll never have to see it. I’ll never kiss you after without cleaning my teeth.”

Emily understood the plea in his voice. “It’s okay, none of that matters.” She wanted to reassure him and squeezed his hands.

“I’ve just finished negotiations for the apartment I was giving Veronique. I’ll give that to a charity or something. I certainly don’t want it now. I have no idea if she had family. She couldn’t have, could she?” His expression conveyed sorrow as he looked to Emily for affirmation.

“Probably not, Chris. Do you think there could be anyone else that you’ve given longevity to?”

Chris smiled sadly. “I very much doubt it. I don’t remember anyone giving me a love bite in the last three hundred years.”

“I must call Art and thank him for the door. He wasn’t supposed to tell you about me being in hospital. I worried about the questions they might ask.”

“I’m taking you back to my place, so you can thank Art then. I couldn’t stay away from the hospital. I was terrified of losing you. They didn’t ask much in the end. I was with the band when it happened. The lot of them said so to the detective. That’s why Art answered the call from you. We were in a sound studio. I have a cabin higher up in the hills that I use as an address. I have a cell phone number for legal matters. The thing is, Emily, I do have to lie a little to the authorities, but I haven’t lied to you. I didn’t tell you the whole story at first, but there have been no lies.”

“I believe you. Shall we go now? To your place, I mean. I want to leave this sadness behind. I’m sorry about what happened to Veronique, but I can’t dwell on it.”

Chris stood. “We can go.” He picked up their coffee cups.

Emily brought in the plates.

They locked Emily’s apartment and left for Chris’s place.

* * * *

Art came out to greet them as Chris parked the car on the drive next to the SUV Emily had seen before.

He smiled. “How are you?”

“I’m good, thank you. Thank you for fixing my door and everything.”

Art nodded. “No worries. I’ll leave you to it then.”

He got in the SUV and drove away.

Emily glanced at the only flat expanse of ground to the left of the house. A small Bobcat excavator was parked there on the newly dug soil.

“What’s going on there?”

Chris smiled. “We’re having a garden made for you. I did say I wanted you to think of my place as a home.” He put his arm around her shoulders. “I have something for you.”

Emily leaned into him as they walked. “A garden, that’s so kind. Thank you.”

Chris took her into his sanctuary. He let go of her to pick something up from the low table.

Emily couldn’t see what it was.

He turned to her and held out a little blue velvet box. “Will you marry me, Emily? I was going to ask you at dinner last night. I love you. I can’t imagine life without you.”

Emily opened the box. A ring nestled in the center groove. She took it out. The golden band was set with a huge emerald. It was a vivid deep green and so beautiful Emily gasped in awe. “I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s beautiful, Chris. I love you, too. I will marry you. I can’t imagine life without you either. Thank you.” She held out the ring and her hand. Tears threatened to fall, but they were tears of happiness.

Chris slipped the ring onto her wedding band finger. He crushed her to his chest and rocked her for a moment. Then he held her face and kissed her, lingering, his tongue tracing hers. He murmured low, a sound she’d come to recognize he made in pleasure. He ran his thumb gently on her mouth. “I love you so much.”

The kiss lit a flame of desire in her. She molded her body to his. “I need you. Make love to me.”

He lifted her to sit on the sofa across his knee. As his fingers trailed between her thighs, his lips met hers again. He whispered between kisses. “Anytime. Always. All the time.”

Two months later

His breath grazed the back of her neck as he stood behind her in the crowded room. Emily heard him breathe her in and sigh. Her heartbeat sped up at his nearness. Her body betrayed her as she remembered his hands on her thighs that morning and a rush of wet heat slipped between her legs. The music was loud and yet as he whispered in her ear, she heard him clearly.

“I know you want me…I can taste your need…turn around.” Her nipples responded, hardening, waiting for his mouth on them.

Emily turned to face him. They were so close the warmth of his body reached her even through the black jeans and leather jacket. She gazed into his emerald eyes.

He smiled. “I need you…You’re addictive.”

He moved slowly to kiss her. He stopped a fraction from her lips.

She waited. It was too much to bear and she threw her arms around his neck dragging his mouth to hers.

He kissed her then, softly and slowly until he lifted her, his hands cupping her ass to grind against her body, and his tongue slid against her lips. The hard column of his erection pressed deliciously against her stomach.

Eyes closing, nose pressed on his, she opened her mouth to his tongue.

He thrust against her.

The buzz of the nightclub fell away. The proximity of people faded as she sighed, wrapped in his arms and his love. “Chris, please.” That was all she needed to say, a soft plea against his mouth.

He led her from the club where the band had finished playing their gig. He walked silently with her down the alley next to the building.

She loved the tightening of his arms around her and the rush of air as he leapt.

They were on the flat surface of the nightclub roof behind the neon sign announcing the club name. The late summer night air caressed her bare arms.

Chris put her down gently, and then he leaned to kiss her.

Emily registered his low murmur of desire through her daze of lust. Excitement built in her stomach muscles at what was to come, and she turned in the circle of his arms.

He unzipped her dress, kissing along her neck and shoulder. He pushed it off her arms, down her hips to the floor. His fingers roamed across the swell of her breasts, trailed inside the delicate lace of her bra, and then he tore it off her. He sucked each nipple as he shredded the tiny lace panties she was wearing.

Her pussy clenched and creamed. Her juices ran down the inside of her thighs. The sight of her panties thrown aside heightened her desire. Her breath came in short gasps as his touch made her mindless with need. She was naked in his arms, trembling with love for him. The cool leather of his jacket against her skin so sensual, she rubbed against it like a cat, her back arched.

He drew back to look at her. “You’re so beautiful, so sexy.”

Emily tugged at the zipper of his jeans and freed his erection. She held it, curling her fingers around the thick, hard length.

His gasps caressed her ear as he bent to thrust into her hand. He kissed her mouth then, hard.

It was devastating, and all she could think of was having his cock thrusting inside her, driving her to one of those incredible orgasms he gave her.

“Fuck me,” she murmured against his lips as he let her breathe.

“If you suck my blood, if you give me another love bite. Open your legs.” His voice wavered with passion.

Emily moved her legs further apart. She waited, longing for his fingers to slide into her. The wait excruciatingly sexy, sent throbs through her pussy.

“You have three huge marks on you already. I think we’re safe. I already have your hearing. I’m stronger. This is killing me. Put your fingers in me.”

He smiled. “I want to make sure I’ll always have you. You’ll always be mine. See, I don’t think you get it. I’ll die without you. You’re my life.”

His words filled her with love. “I’ll always be yours.” Her voice reduced to a whisper by emotion and the delicious pulsing in her clit as he brought his hand to between her legs.

He teased at her clit with a fingertip. He eased two fingers into her pussy.

Emily rocked her hips to have them deeper. It was hard to breathe, and she needed to come so badly. Her breath catching, she murmured, “This is torture.” She pulled his head down, her hands fisting in his hair. She nosed his jacket away from his neck and sucked.