The Lost Centurion (The Immortals Book 1) (13 page)

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Her mind reeling, Diana watched as Marcus closed a door on her once again. She looked down at her nudity and pulled up the shorts stranded at her ankles, then looked for her top which had landed near her panties. She pocketed the torn lace, then stretched the top over her breasts. Finally, she laid on her side, her back to the door, her eyes on the window. The pine forest was a dark shadow taking over most of the visible landscape. The moon wasn’t out yet, but the sun had set, and the blisters that had immediately appeared when she had stormed inside his room were rapidly healing.

She was sleeping when his screams had woken her. She had followed the keening to the next room and found him seating on the bed, covered in sweat. His eyes open to a terror only he could see, he had called her name and cried until his voice had strained to the point she couldn’t understand his words anymore. The sunlight had blistered her skin, but she hadn’t let him go. She would have burnt for him. Then she had almost granted his request to drain him. With his blood, she had drunk his thoughts, his most hidden desires, and she had found herself hidden among the ones he wished to deny the most. The hate for her race was a sentiment deeply rooted at his very core and it scared her.

Soft sounds, like light steps on the beach’s gravel, interrupted her brooding. Marcus must have gone for a walk, and she felt free to leave the bedroom he had vacated in such a hurry to escape her. As she had expected, he wasn’t in the apartment. The pastel green hues of the atrium a soothing palette for her frayed nerves, she sat on the ivory wicker chair facing the French doors. From a sitting position, she could only see the blue ocean and the rapidly darkening sky. The beach and the gardens had disappeared from her line of sight. Long, white waves rippled the waters, swelling and showing the schools of fish swimming beneath the surface.

The sounds and smells associated to the ocean had always relaxed Diana. She could easily link her happiest memories to her time spent at her grandmother’s villa by the sea. Grandma Lavinia had lived in Rome, but had always spent her summers at the house her parents had left her in Ponza. It was a two-story, white plaster, rectangular villa always in need of maintenance. Fiery red and orange bougainvillea plants crept up the stucco and helped destroy the plaster already ruined by the saltiness in the air. Grandma had the house repainted once every two years, but it was never enough. Inside, the most beautiful Art Deco furniture lived side by side with the bright colored, industrial materials of the fifties fixtures.

Diana brought her legs up and folded them under her body. She wasn’t cold, but could have used a blanket to hug. The atrium door clicked open and she saw Marcus entering from the reflection on the French doors’ glass. His steps were hesitant. He walked toward his bedroom, then his head turned her way and he stopped.

Still facing outside, she raised one hand over her head. “Hi.”

“Diana—” He stood in the middle of the atrium, massaging one fisted hand with the other. “Would you like to go out?”

“I’d love to.” She jumped out of the chair, passed him on her way to the door, and was pleased by the smile her decision had put on his face. “Where to?”

“I thought it would be nice to take Alexander’s yacht for a ride.” He followed her outside.

“That yacht?” She pointed at the imaginary place beyond the wall where she had seen the cruiser harbored. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea.” She slowed her stride to face Marcus. “I mean, I know you are good friends and all, and he does seem a nice guy, but taking his yacht for a ride? I don’t know.”

Instead of answering her, Marcus took his cell phone out from one of the pockets in his faded dark gray jeans. He tapped the screen, then brought the phone to his left ear, stretching his neck from shoulder to shoulder as he waited for his caller to answer.

Diana noticed he had changed his clothes and showered. His hair was still damp, and his black V-neck shirt clung to his damp skin. She gave herself a brief mental assessment and decided she should have taken the time to at least splash water on her face.

Marcus opened his mouth to say something, then a voice resonated through the phone, and he mouthed to her, “Never mind.” Then he said out loud, “Alexander?” A small pause. “Yes, everything is fine.” Another pause, longer this time. “Speaking of which, would you mind if I take the
Sirena
for a ride?” He raised his eyes to the ceiling and laughed. “Of course. Thank you.” He closed the call with a tap, then gave her a big, white-toothed smile. “We have Alexander’s blessing.”

He took her hand and led her down the stairs to the big atrium, across and out through the large French doors opening to the gardens. Then they walked down the big, white-and-pink marble flight of steps leading to the lower terraces. Diana felt light and energized as she kept his fast pace. The lower they descended toward the pier, the darker the night became, but she could see as if it were midday. Soon she was the one leading them along the treacherous and narrow path excavated through the cliff.

He thanked her when she told him there was a missing step right ahead of him. “Your change is coming along fast.”

She shrugged. “You’re the expert.” The yacht was in sight around the bend. She focused on the path that became harder and harder to navigate. A sudden noise made her pause in her stride. “Did you hear that?”

He stopped a hair breath from her and put a hand on her shoulder. “Probably just wildlife.”

She found his touch reassuring and nodded, then remembered he couldn’t see her. “Probably.” They had reached the beginning of the wooden pier, and her flat-soled espadrilles proved to be inappropriate for the stroll. “Be careful, it’s slippery.” Her new and improved body would have kept her upright in any case, but his hands were immediately at her waist when—despite her own warning—she slid on the flooring.

His fingers were splayed over her exposed skin, between the shorts and the top, slightly pressing in an intimate hold. She found herself staring into his dark, liquid eyes, and she wondered not for the first time what it would feel to be loved by this unpredictable man. He leaned over her and she heard his intake of breath matching her own. His hands inched under the top and upward, his fingers grazing the side of her breasts. Underneath the hazy cloud of thoughts whirling inside her mind, a sense of déjà vu told her this wasn’t the first time they danced that tune. She ignored it, closed her eyes, and parted her lips.

“What—?” Marcus abruptly let her go.

Taken by surprise, she staggered to her feet. “Marcus?”

He had already run to the end of the pier and had jumped down to the shore. At her call, Marcus turned and made a sign to stay put, then she heard the sound of foliage being disturbed and he disappeared into the pine forest bordering the beach. She ran after him, following his scent through the natural maze provided by the dense woods and exited to the other side to find a small cove surrounded by white vertical walls cut into the rock. At the corner of her eyes, something moved, but when she turned, nothing was visible, just the undergrowth of the forest receding into the sea where the tide had swollen part of the shore. The loud caws of a solitary seagull flying in long circles over the inlet startled her.

“Marcus, where are you?” She pivoted on her espadrilles as cold, wet sand and pebbles entered her shoes.

He had disappeared.

Marcus heard Diana’s frantic call, but when he scanned the cove, there wasn’t enough light for him to make out her form. The sound he had heard had proved to be the scurrying of rodents and now he was regretting having left her alone for nothing. In his blind run, he had reached the opposite wall flanking the cove and noticed the set of crudely carved steps semi-hidden by the vegetation. He should have checked where they led, but the idea of Diana waiting for him to come back stopped him.

“Diana?” He squinted and finally saw her running toward him.

“What happened? Did you see anything? Are you okay?” She started firing the questions when she was several feet away, worry in her voice.

“Yeah, I’m fine. It was nothing. Sorry.” He passed his hand through his damp hair, stiffened by the waves of salty sprays coming from the sea.

She came to a halt before him, her chin raised to look at him in the eyes. “But you’re okay, right?”

Marcus couldn’t help but feel overjoyed at her concern for him. “I’m perfectly fine.” She was so small. Her head barely reached his shoulders and she was standing on tiptoes to lock eyes with him.

“Don’t do that again.”

“I won’t.” He held out a hand for her to take, and when she wrapped her small fingers around his, he felt a tug at his heart that resembled what he had once known as happiness. He blinked away the moistness from his eyes and smiled down at her. “The night is short. Let’s have our outing before the sun comes out.”

They walked through the forest and back to the pier in comfortable silence. He tried to voice his thoughts once or twice, but was too scared he would later regret telling her how much he enjoyed her presence. So he kept quiet, savoring the light pressure of her fingers on his, her womanly scent, the way her eyelashes blinked like butterflies when she caught him looking at her, the arch of her nose, and the fullness of her lips. Her top, the one he had chosen for her because he wanted to see her wearing purple—his favorite color—adhered to her contours and left nothing to the imagination. Yet, he had to fight the urge to yank it away altogether.

“So, you do know how to drive this thing?” She pointed at the
Sirena
gently bobbing ahead.

“Yes, ma’am. I picked up a skill or two along the way.” He realized if he were a peacock that would have been the occasion to display his tail. Once back on the pier, he helped her navigate the plank, then took her by the waist, raised her up, and deposited her on the yacht. A sudden doubt hit him. “Do you get seasickness?”

She laughed a throaty laugh. “Well, that would be inconvenient.” A higher wave made her falter forward and she ended in his arms. “No, I don’t suffer from any form of motion sickness.”

He inhaled her fragrance, the short hair tickling his nose and making him smile. With a sigh, he brushed her crown with a soft kiss he hoped she hadn’t felt. “Little thing…”

“Yes, big thing?” She laughed and snuggled closer to him, making him laugh as well.

He let her go and stepped back toward the wheel post. “We must leave.”

The sea was swelling, but he knew how to navigate the yacht out of the bay, and in less than twenty minutes, they were riding toward Capri and the Blue Grotto—the destination he had thought to surprise her with to make up for his rudeness. He was well aware of his mood swings when in her presence and had seen in her eyes how much he had wounded her. Words had never been his forte, but he wanted to make it right by her.

“I could get used to this.” She had her back to him, leaning over the polished brass rail, looking at the sea.

He checked the coast was clear, then secured the route and engaged the autopilot. “I thought you were—”

“Because of my profession?” Her shoulders straightened, and he saw her hands grabbing the rail with more strength than necessary. Then she slouched back and released the rail, but didn’t turn to face him. “I guess you just paid me a compliment if you thought I worked with people who could afford these kinds of luxuries.”

“I didn’t mean to offend you.” He longed to touch her, but didn’t dare.

She shrugged. “It is what I did for a living.”

“Why did you?” He had wanted to ask her since he had met her, but regretted his decision when she hugged herself, looking even smaller than usual.

She started shivering, her hunger wreaking havoc through her system. Her stubbornness in denying herself more than what was necessary was maddening to him, but he didn’t push her to feed. He wanted her to ask him.

“I had no choice.”

He hadn’t expected her to answer. “Why?” He reached out to her, then let his hand fall by his side.

“I had nothing.” She rocked back and forth following the sway of the yacht riding the long waves. “I was worth nothing.”

He understood feeling worthless, and his heart swelled at the thought of Diana going through that kind of pain. Without thinking, he stepped behind her and wrapped her in his embrace, then leaned to kiss the crown of her head, lowered his lips to the spot behind her right ear, then her left. Soon, she was moaning and his hands were everywhere on her body, marking her as his. He turned her and sought her lips, unable to think beyond the need of finally kissing her mouth.

She suddenly stiffened and he worried she would reject him. His first reaction was to press his arms on her back to bring her body flush against his, to make her understand how far gone he was in his desire to have her. When he worried he had scared her, she slowly relaxed against him, molding herself to him, and opened her lips.

Eyes closed, heart pounding in his chest, rugged breath, and shaking arms, he kissed her and lost himself in a kiss that took him on another plane of existence. She tasted sweet and pure as he had imagined she would, and so much more he couldn’t put in coherent thoughts. After the first frantic union, he gently explored and caressed her mouth as he was stroking her shoulders and back. When something warm and wet soaked his shirt, he opened his eyes to find her crying.

****

His hands went to her face to wipe her tears, and Diana couldn’t hold her sobs anymore.

“Did I do something wrong, little thing?” He brushed her eyes with his lips, his hands caressing her body again in long soothing caresses.

She lowered her head to his chest, too overwhelmed to find the words to answer him.

“Diana?” He raised her chin with a finger, then left a chaste peck on her closed lips. “Are you okay?”

She nodded and he lowered his head to kiss her again. When he gently pushed at her lips to coax them open, a rush of pleasure made her lightheaded, and she anchored herself to him, grabbing his arms circling her.

He misunderstood her gesture and leaned his upper body away from her. “May I kiss you?”