Enraptured (20 page)

Paige’s head spun; she didn’t know what to
say or how to respond to what he was telling her. It couldn’t be
true, he had to be wrong. She hated the piece of her that longed to
believe she was special to him. That maybe, just maybe, she could
have this man. She’d never planned for something like this in her
life, she should be trying to kill him; instead, she wanted to lose
herself to him.

I really am an idiot
. “I can’t… This
isn’t supposed to happen.”

“How do you know what is supposed to
happen?” he inquired.

“This isn’t part of the plan!” she cried
impatiently.

“What
is
the plan, Paige?”

“Not this!”

His eyes narrowed on her face. “One of these
days, you will open up to me. You
will
trust me.”

She gave him a lingering look before walking
past him. She paused in the beginning of the hallway to look back
at him, but his gaze remained focused on the doorway. Turning away,
she rushed down to her small bedroom and closed the door.

Her legs trembled as she leaned against the
frame and stared at the curtained window across the way. She had no
idea what to do with herself. What had transpired between them was
something she’d never expected to experience in her life, had never
imagined possible. Sex with him might actually kill her, but she
thought she’d be willing to find out, if it didn’t mean she’d be
bound to a vampire and the world of the living dead for the rest of
her existence.

The idea turned her stomach, the thought of
causing Ian any distress made tears burn in her eyes. A shower
would help to clear her head, she decided. Before she could move,
she heard the water turn on in the room next to hers. The image of
him standing naked in the shower did nothing to ease the turmoil
and lust still rolling through her. It didn’t matter if she became
a vampire or not, that man was going to be the death of her, she
decided.

Ian walked down to the bathroom and paused
before opening the door. He stared at the closed door of her
bedroom. She was right there, so close and so far away. He hoped
she didn’t decide to pull a Dillinger again tonight. This time he
would grab her, throw her over his shoulder, and carry her back
here kicking and screaming.

He’d had all he could take for tonight. He
was as wound up as a teen with his first Playboy; he’d gotten zero
sleep while she’d been napping in the woods, and his pride had
taken a swift kick in the nuts. Yes, he’d definitely have no
problem with hauling her hot and cold ass back here and tying her
to the bed if need be, he decided.

Something he would thoroughly enjoy
doing.

Paige stared at the ceiling as she tried to sort
through the tumultuous mess of her mind. It had taken her hours to
fall asleep last night. She’d tossed and turned, trying to ignore
the needs in her body that his kisses and hands had awoken. She
could still feel his body against hers as he pushed her over a
precipice she hadn’t gone over in years. And she had a feeling what
she’d experienced with L.J. would be nothing compared to what Ian
could do to her, if she allowed him inside of her heart and
legs.

He’d had plenty of practice that was for
sure.

As the bitter thought flitted through her
mind, she cursed herself. She kept using it as a defense against
him because she was struggling to keep her hands to herself, and
her legs closed around him. It made her sound like an insecure
bitch, but she was insecure around him, or at least unsettled and
unsure she would be able to satisfy him. Even when she’d been face
to face with the worst monster she’d ever known, the monster that
had turned her onto this path in life, she’d never been as
frightened as she was by the way Ian made her feel.

He rattled her in ways no one ever had, and
she was certain a lot of the women he’d been with had had far more
experience than her. He’d said she was different than any other
woman, that he only wanted her, but had he only been saying that to
try and sleep with her? No, she knew immediately he wouldn’t do
that. He didn’t need to, he could have any woman he wanted.
Besides, Ian was a lot of things but a liar definitely wasn’t one
of them. In fact, he was the most brutally honest man she’d ever
come across.

Rolling to the side, she shoved herself into
a seated position. The bruised muscles in her back, arms and legs
protested the movement, but she couldn’t lie around all day
avoiding him. Head-on, it was the way she’d always gone about
everything in her life, and she wouldn’t change now. No matter how
much she longed to bury her head under the pillow and stay there
until it was time for her to go, she refused to do so.

Her legs protested her rise to her feet; she
had to bite back a groan. She’d taken many beatings over the years.
Most worse than what she’d gone through yesterday, but the
battering her soul had taken afterward made her feel as badly
beaten as she’d ever been over the years. Had he meant what he said
about her being his mate or had horniness clouded his judgment? She
may not have crawled into his bed, but he wouldn’t have made that
up; it didn’t mean he couldn’t be wrong though.

Digging through the remains of the clothes
she’d been given, she pulled out a pair of jeans and a red sweater.
She showered, brushed out her hair and forced herself to leave the
bathroom. The hush of the cabin alerted her she was alone before
she did a search for Ian. She stepped into the kitchen, grabbed an
apple and walked out to the porch. Looking over the trees, she
searched for him amongst the woods, but nothing stirred within the
branches.

Had he gone back to town?

Wherever he was, it had given her a reprieve
to gather her thoughts and courage. She wasn’t going to argue with
it. She munched on her apple as she made her way toward the forest
and the path they’d walked before. Attempting to escape didn’t
cross her mind this time, he’d only find her again, or maybe he
would decide she wasn’t worth the hassle and let her go. She wasn’t
sure which thought bothered her more.

Arriving at where the path split off toward
the lake, she took a right and walked down to the water. She could
hear the water lapping against the shore before she rounded the
corner in the path. Finishing her apple off, she tossed the core
into the woods for the animals.

She’d just stepped onto the dock when she
spotted his blond head on the opposite side of the lake. The water
had turned his hair a shade darker. The sun glinting on it as he
sliced across the water brought out the golden highlights within
the thick mass. She abruptly stopped walking; her mouth went dry.
She gawked at the fluid flex of the muscles in his biceps,
shoulders and back as he swam. Her heart leapt in her throat; she
vividly recalled what it had felt like to be held within those
arms, what it had felt like to have that frame enveloping hers.

Torn between turning and running into the
woods or jumping into the water in order to cool herself off, she
took a step away from the end of the dock. She was so busy trying
to decide what to do, that her choice was taken away from her when
he reached the end of the dock. Resting his hands on the metal
dock, it shifted in the water when he heaved himself effortlessly
out of the lake.

Water trickled over his golden skin, down
his carved chest, and over abs she wouldn’t have believed real if
her own fingers hadn’t run over their inflexible ridges. She
followed the water downward to his bared groin area. She could
clearly recall his smooth, taut skin swelling within her hand. Even
flaccid, his dick was still thick and hung against his thigh. That
could have been inside of her last night, she realized. Her heart
raced with excitement; a strange tingling began inside her.

She finally tore her eyes away from him and
focused on the dock beneath her feet. She couldn’t be one of the
many who he barely remembered. No matter what he’d said about her
never being like the others, about possibly being his mate, they
would part from each other, and time would make her fade into the
multitude. Especially for him, as there were hundreds of years in
his future compared to her handful. Maybe, if she was lucky, she
had a dozen years left, but she doubted it. She’d never expected to
live past twenty-five; even when she’d been a little girl, she’d
anticipated an early end to her life.

So, if hers was an early demise, what did it
matter if she became one of the many fifty years from now? She
wouldn’t be here for it. She wouldn’t know if he remembered her or
not. She would know now though; she could experience him now and
for the next few days. The urges of her body warred with her pride,
and her apprehension of what this man could do to her heart. She’d
been nearly broken many times in her life, but she’d always managed
to pull herself back together again.

She wasn’t sure she could pull herself back
together after him. Not if she let her guard down, not if she
allowed herself to open up to him. Her father may not end up being
the one to destroy her after all. It may well be Ian instead. And
then there was her mission, the only thing that had been keeping
her going for the past four years. The only thing she’d had to
focus on in order to keep her sanity, and he was definitely the
biggest distraction from it that she’d ever encountered.

Water ran off of him, dripping in splatters
onto the metal dock. He had no care for his nudity as he stood
before her in all his glory. The dock shifted beneath her feet as
he walked down it without making a sound, something she’d thought
impossible given he reminded her of an impenetrable mountain most
of the time. She had to lift her arms to keep her balance when he
stepped off of the dock.

He walked across the sandy beach toward a
towel she hadn’t seen draped over a rock there. A pair of jeans sat
on the rock next to it. Treated to the vision of his taut ass, she
had the urge to grab hold of it, and more insanely, bite it. A
hysterical giggle rose up her throat; she held it back.

Ian kept his gaze focused on the trees as he
toweled himself off. He’d been hoping the chilly lake water would
help to drown his sexual appetite a little, and it had been
working, until he’d spotted her standing on the dock. Now he
realized he could stay in the lake all day and still desire to be
inside of her. He felt her gaze boring into his back as he
moved.

“If you keep staring at me like that, I’m
going to forget your constant refusal of me and take you right
here,” he said as he ran the towel through his hair. She didn’t
know how to respond to that. She hastily glanced away from him and
focused on the shimmering water of the lake. “I didn’t say you had
to look away.”

“You enjoy making me uncomfortable,” she
accused.

“I was out here, minding my own business
until you came along.”

“Won’t happen again.” She spun on her heel
and stepped off the dock. The sandy beach slipped beneath her feet
as she walked away from him. The smell of fish and fresh water
filled her nose, but she was focused on one thing, not turning
around and kicking his balls up inside him.

She never heard him approach. He
materialized at her side like some kind of genie let out of its
bottle. “Where are you going?” he asked.

“For a walk,” she replied without looking at
him.

“I’ll come along.”

“I was minding my own business until you
came along!” she retorted.

He slapped his hands over his heart, “You
wound me lady.”

If blood could actually boil, hers would
have been bubbling over. Thoughts tumbled through her mind rapidly,
but she couldn’t think of anything to say to him. Choosing silence,
she continued on, pretending he wasn’t beside her. She was almost
all the way around the lake when he spoke again. “Is your plan to
ignore me now? We should talk about what happened last night, about
what you are to me.”

“What you
think
I am,” she
replied.

He stared at her bent head as she walked;
her eyes remained focused on her feet. “I
know
what you are
to me. I understand if you’re reluctant to talk about it right now,
but it will have to be addressed. There are things you have to know
about mates, what this bond could do to me if it’s not completed,
or if we allow things to continue to grow between us.” She finally
looked at him again. “This is an eternal bond.”

“Maybe you’re mistaken.”

“We’ve already established my past, I can
assure you not one of those women
ever
made me feel the way
you do.”

“Lust…”

“This is far more than lust. If you’re not
ready to talk about it, fine, but don’t brush it off as something
simple and passing, it’s not.”

Paige stared up at him, uncertain of how to
proceed. “I’m not ready to talk about it.” Maybe it was cowardly,
but there was only so much she could deal with right now. Head-on,
she reminded herself. But right now she wanted to give a big old
finger to head-on. She’d gotten out of bed and spoken to him, she
figured that was good enough for now. She still needed time to
think over everything happening between them and what he believed
her to be.

“Fine. Would you like to go for a swim?”
Heat flushed her face as she recalled his undressed state earlier;
she shook her head. “The water is refreshing, once you get used to
it.”

“No.”

“You don’t need a bathing suit. I’d far
prefer you without.”

She shot him a fierce look. His eyes
sparkled in the sunlight filtering through the trees when he smiled
sweetly back at her. “I wouldn’t wear one anyway.”
There
,
she thought, happy to throw him a little off balance like he did to
her all the time. His eyes darkened; they raked her from head to
toe with a hungry gleam that made her breath catch. So much for
throwing him off balance; she felt like she’d been knocked over by
a wrecking ball. “But I’m not going swimming.”