Wanton With a Vampire

Copyright ©2015 Cassandra Lawson

Smashwords Edition

Cover Image © Can Stock Photo Inc./konradbak

Proofreading by Kendra’s Editing and Book
Services

This book is a work of fiction. All characters and
events are creations of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance
to actual people or events is purely coincidental.

The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of a
copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is
investigated by federal law enforcement agencies and is punishable
by up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Psy-Vamp Series

Vampires and Vixens (Book 1)

Safe Hex With a Vampire (Book 2)

Vampires Prefer Blondes (Book 3)

The Vampire Will See You Now (Book 4)

Moon Virus Series

Raven’s Blood (Book 1)

Embrace the Heat (Book 2)

Seducing Death (Book 3)

I want to begin by saying how grateful I am
to have the best beta readers any author could ever hope for.
Amber, Kari, Levenia, Ria, and Trista, you ladies rock! I also want
to thank all of my wonderful fans who take the time to contact me.
I love hearing from you. A very special thanks goes out to those
who take the time to write reviews for my books. I know we all get
busy, but the few minutes you take to write a review are more
helpful than you know.

As always, I am grateful to my wonderful
husband for putting up with my weird hours and endless musings.
Thank you to my dear friend Jessica for helping me with my girls
when I have a deadline looming. With this cover I especially want
to thank my fabulous cover design team, Daniel, Kari, and Levenia
for putting up with my indecisiveness.

Even though it had only been a week since
Trish had held Hope, it felt like months. She could already tell
Hope was going to look a lot like her mommy, with dark red hair and
full lips. The little girl also had Hannah’s sweet temperament.
Hope’s eyes were the one thing she’d gotten from her father. Rather
than being emerald green like Hannah’s, Hope’s eyes were the same
icy shade of blue all the Draksel men had.

Cuddling the drooling little girl close,
Trish inhaled. “Oh, Hannah,” she said on a sigh. “Your daughter is
perfect.”

“Thank you,” Hannah replied with a huge grin.
“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you coming over to watch
her on short notice. I have no idea where my mind has been this
last week. Finding a sitter didn’t even occur to me until this
morning, and this dinner is really important to Noah.”

“Any time,” Trish assured her. “I guess I
should say, any time I can.” As embarrassing as it was, she’d
needed a ride out to Hannah’s house. “Lyd dropped me off. Do you
think you could take me home later?” In one of her less graceful
moments, Trish had stepped on her own glasses and couldn’t drive
after dark until she got a new pair. Actually, she wouldn’t be able
to drive after dark much longer even with her glasses.

“Of course,” Hannah said. “I’ll have Noah
drive you so I can nurse Hope when I get home. By that time, I
should be about ready to explode.”

Trish forced a bright smile and said the last
thing she felt. “Sure, no problem.” Truthfully, she didn’t want
Noah to drive her home, because Noah was one of the few guys she’d
shown any interest in, and he’d been totally in love with Hannah at
the time— a fact she should have picked up on right away. Things
wouldn’t be as embarrassing if she hadn’t practically thrown
herself at Noah. Trish turned away from Hannah so her friend
wouldn’t see the blush that came whenever Trish thought about that
humiliating evening. She’d gotten tipsy to work past her nerves and
made a complete fool of herself. Noah was much too nice to bring up
that awkward evening. Nope, he was still just as polite as always,
but it played through Trish’s mind every time she was in the same
room with him.

After a much needed mental slap, Trish
reminded herself she could handle fifteen minutes in a car with
Noah without dying of embarrassment. He was living with one of her
closest friends, so it’s not like she could avoid being around
him.

“You okay?” Hannah asked, her brow creased
with worry.

“Sure,” Trish said, turning with a forced
smile on her face. “Just thinking about the doctor’s appointment I
need to make Monday morning. I’m seeing a different guy and hoping
I can get contact lenses. Maybe I’ll even get colored ones. Don’t
you think I’d look great with blue eyes?”

“You’re adorable with glasses,” Hannah
said.

“I’m short with a cute little voice,” Trish
said as she adjusted Hope in her arms. “Adorable is the last thing
I want to be.” Looking over at the clock on the mantle, Trish was
surprised by the time. “Didn’t you say the dinner starts at
six?”

“Where is that man?” Hannah grumbled as she
walked to the foot of the stairs. “Noah! We’re going to be
late.”

Just then Noah Christiansen, AKA Hannah’s
man, AKA the man Trish had been crushing on, walked down the stairs
looking too sexy in his green dress shirt with a tie hanging
loosely around his neck. His blond hair was combed back neatly, and
his hazel eyes were alive with adoration for Hannah. Trish was
happy for her friend, but she couldn’t deny being a little jealous
too— an emotion she hated.

Noah’s surprise was obvious when his eyes
landed on Trish. “Hey, Trish!” he greeted with a warm smile. “What
are you doing here?”

“Watching Hope while we go out,” Hannah
explained.

“Sweetie,” Noah said with a patient smile.
“You told Nathaniel he could keep Hope overnight while we went
out.”

One finger raised in the air, Hannah was
about to argue with Noah, when she suddenly looked a little
embarrassed. “Damn,” she said. “I’m so sorry, Trish. Where is
Nathaniel?”

“He lost track of time, so he’ll meet us at
the restaurant, but we need to go now or we’ll be late,” Noah said
as he grabbed a diaper bag from the top shelf of the coat
closet.

“Would you mind waiting here until we get
back?” Hannah asked Trish.

“That’s fine,” Trish said, because there
really weren’t many other options. While she could take a cab, she
always ended up with a creepy cab driver hitting on her.

The doorbell rang, and Noah went to answer it
while Hannah strapped Hope into her infant seat.

Standing in the doorway was Alek Draksel.
Trish had met him just over a month ago, and he was what her friend
Caitlin called
the ultimate man-whore
. Alek came on to her
like most men, which was usually just a minor annoyance. The
problem with Alek was, she got more than a little turned on when he
flirted with her— something he did frequently to annoy the rest of
the Draksel family.

She was off-limits to all the Draksel men, so
no matter how much Alek flirted, nothing was going to happen
between them. That annoyed her even more, because she was tired of
having domineering vampires try to run her life. Okay, they didn’t
really run her life, but listening to them tell Alek to stay away
from her, as if she couldn’t handle the situation herself, made her
want to smack one of them.

Normally, Alek was all flirty smiles and
youthful vigor, but he was all business today.

“Alek, we were just heading out,” Noah said
before glancing at Trish over his shoulder, obviously hoping to
keep Alek away from her.

“This’ll only take a few minutes,” Alek
insisted, as he arrogantly sauntered into the room uninvited. “I
need to ask you some questions about Phoebe.”

Phoebe Draksel was the real reason Alek was
in town. The woman was a psychotic serial killer, and Alek was
responsible for tracking her down. From what Trish had heard, the
family had tried keeping Phoebe under control for decades with
little success. While Alek knew she was in the bay area, finding
her was proving to be harder than anyone in the Draksel family had
expected.

“Can you come back tomorrow?” Hannah asked.
“Noah’s giving a speech at the dinner ceremony, and we’re already
running late.”

Alek hesitated; he wasn’t a man who liked
being told no. “I’ll come back at ten in the morning,” he said
somewhat reluctantly.

“Sure,” Noah said before turning his
attention to Trish. “As soon as we get back, I’ll drive you home.
I’m really sorry about the mix up.”

“I’ll drive Trish home,” Alek offered,
shifting into ultimate man-whore mode in the blink of an eye. His
sexy smile was in place as his gaze moved across Trish’s body like
a lover’s caress. He had the same icy blue eyes, chiseled features,
and muscular frame as the other Draksel men, but his hair set him
apart from the rest of his family. Rather than being a dark shade
of brown, Alek’s hair was a lighter brown with blond streaks.

Surprisingly, Trish was more than ready to
take Alek up on his offer. Sure, Alek put her on edge, but it was
only a short drive. Besides, being stuck in a car with Alek would
be much less awkward than being stuck in a car with Noah. “That
would be great!” she said a little too eagerly.

Alek’s smile changed, and the only word she
could think of to describe it was
predatory
. That smile sent
a shudder of desire through her body. This was one of those moments
she was glad the Draksel men were overprotective of her. If not,
she was sure Alek would try something, and she wasn’t completely
sure she’d turn him down.

Trish was a positive and upbeat person by
nature. She didn’t sit around feeling sorry for herself when life
didn’t go her way, and she was the first person to encourage those
around her to see the bright side. Still, even she had her limits.
This day sucked! To be honest, the last year of her life had kind
of sucked.

Under normal circumstances, being the only
single woman in her close-knit group of friends would be awkward,
but it wouldn’t usually get her down. Trish wasn’t looking for a
relationship, and she didn’t mind time alone. Of course, the
circumstances of her friends’ relationships were far from normal.
Her closest friends hadn’t gotten involved with ordinary guys; they
were all involved with vampires— honest to God vampires! Unlike her
friends, Trish didn’t have psychic abilities, so she couldn’t join
the vampire-lovers club.

At the moment, she was on her way to a dinner
to discuss her friend Hannah’s upcoming wedding— a dinner she had
hoped to miss. Stupid freakin’ Department of Motor Vehicles! That
was supposed to be her excuse for missing this gathering. She had
to renew her license and took the appointment for this afternoon,
knowing there was no way she could make it from the Pleasanton DMV
to Carmel for dinner. So, her friends had moved the dinner to a
restaurant in downtown Pleasanton. Still, that wasn’t a problem
since there was always a delay. Well, except for today, when the
strangely courteous and efficient staff took her right on time. The
text to Lydia apologizing for being stuck at the DMV was already in
her drafts.

If she hadn’t been forced to park three
blocks from the restaurant, she might have even been on time.
Instead, she was trudging along wearing cute shoes, one of which
had a broken heel. The broken shoe was another thing she was
blaming the DMV for. Had she not been left with enough time to go
home and change, she’d still be wearing sensible flats. Despite it
all, she was working hard to put a smile on her face.

Alek was drumming his fingers on the table,
bored out of his mind. Why did Phoebe have to pick this area for
her latest killing spree? If she were killing people somewhere
else, he could get away with avoiding these family gatherings. In
all honesty, he hadn’t expected it to take this long to find
Phoebe. When his brother, Roman, had asked for his help, he’d been
happy to track her down and put an end to Phoebe’s life. The woman
had been a serial killer before becoming a vampire and, despite
countless warnings, had continued killing humans, putting them all
at risk. Unfortunately, she’d been clever enough to avoid Alek’s
traps up to this point, so this whole endeavor was taking much
longer than he’d expected.

Alek couldn’t hide his smile when he spotted
Trish. He had to admit that not everything about these family
gatherings was bad.

Trish was nearly a foot shorter than him,
with wavy brown hair that fell to the middle of her back and brown
eyes that were always full of warmth. The woman also had breasts
that could literally make a man drool. With her petite frame, she
often looked like she might tip over, especially in the heels she
frequently wore. Today, her hair was pulled back in a loose
ponytail, revealing the tantalizing column of her throat. Delicate
wire-rimmed glasses framed her eyes, and he found it impossible to
look away. Damn he loved a woman in glasses! That had been one of
the first things to catch his attention when he’d met Trish. Most
people would accuse him of being drawn to her body, but it was the
glasses and her smile. He’d known right away she was too nice for
him to fool around with. Then his family had told him in no
uncertain terms that he was not to have any involvement with her.
Trish was like forbidden fruit, and everyone knew how that story
always ended.