Wanton With a Vampire (28 page)

Now, they were all outside the warehouse with
only two cars to get home in— Justin’s Range Rover and Drew’s
little Lexus RC F, which Trish didn’t know he had. She supposed he
didn’t want to drive the car he’d transported his mother’s body in.
At least, that’s how normal people would react. Drew wasn’t exactly
normal, so he could simply be getting the blood cleaned out of his
other car.

Drew tossed his keys to Alek. “You can take
my car.” He turned to glare at the others. “Before any of you start
bitching about riding with me, I’ll walk.”

“Enough with the pity party,” Justin said.
“You’ll ride with us. I can drop you at Sofia’s, or you can stay in
your old room at Nathaniel’s.”

Drew looked like he was about to argue when
Nathaniel spoke. “Get in the car so Aiden can get back to Tempest
and his babies.”

Drew nodded and started toward the Range
Rover.

“Drew,” Trish called after him.

He turned to face her but said nothing.

“Thanks for saving me,” she said. “Call me if
you need anything.”

Drew looked decidedly uncomfortable with
Trish’s gratitude. He nodded and looked down at his feet. “No
problem. Take care of the kid.”

“I will,” she assured him.

Alek hadn’t said much to her since he’d shown
up at the warehouse, and she figured this was going to be one of
those uncomfortable moments they’d have to work through.

Alek was gripping Drew’s keys tightly and
staring down at his feet when he suddenly tossed the keys to the
ground. Trish was caught completely off guard when his hand snaked
around the back of her head and his fingers threaded through her
hair to hold her in place for his kiss.

Even knowing she shouldn’t allow herself to
go down this road with Alek again, Trish was powerless to stop
herself from reacting to him. Clutching his shirt, she tugged him
closer, needing the contact. When Alek pulled away, she made little
whimpering sounds of protest.

“Don’t ever scare me like that again,” Alek
rasped out.

Trish’s giggle was somewhere close to
hysteria. The shock and horror were finally setting in. “Believe it
or not, I didn’t exactly plan on being kidnapped.”

“If you hadn’t left me, you would have been
safe,” he said, sounding almost desperate.

“Left you?” she asked. “You pushed me out the
door.”

Alek let out a frustrated sigh. “I was an
idiot for letting you go. When I heard you talking to Caitlin, it
reminded me of what happened with Helena all those years ago.”

“Wait a minute,” she said, piecing together
what had happened. “You were eavesdropping on me when I was talking
to Caitlin yesterday?”

He nodded. “I know I’m not great husband
material, but I love you more than you can ever imagine. I’ll do
whatever it takes to prove that to you.”

Trish smacked him in the chest. “You idiot!
Had you stuck around longer, you would have heard the whole
conversation and realized I love you. I just didn’t want to make
you feel obligated to stay with me.”

“Did I hear you correctly?” he asked
hesitantly.

“Yes,” she muttered. “I said you’re an
idiot.”

He chuckled and pulled her closer. “Not
that.”

“Fine, I love you,” she said.

“Thank God!” he said and kissed her again.
When he pulled away this time, they were both breathless. “I want
to take you home and spend hours in your body.”

“As much as I like the sound of that, I have
Hunter waiting for me,” she reminded him. “If you want to be with
me, you’ll have to get used to sharing me with him.”

“I guess I’ll have to get used to sharing you
with all of our children,” Alek said.

“What do you mean
all
of our
children?” she asked.

“I was thinking we should have four, maybe
five,” he reasoned.

She snorted. “Unless you’re planning on
getting pregnant, you might want to revise that number.”

“How about if we start with one?” he asked
with a playful grin.

She tried hard to look serious, but her lips
were twitching. “You’re just looking for an excuse to touch my lady
parts.”

Alek chuckled. “I like it when you talk
dirty.”

“I really do love you, Alek,” she said,
staring up at him.

“I never thought I could love a woman as much
as I love you,” he said in wonder.

“Take me home. Hunter needs me,” she said,
leaning her head against his hard chest.

“
Us
,” Alek corrected. “Whatever
happens from now until the end of time, we’re in this
together.”

It was a big day. Hunter had been living with
her and Alek for the last two months, and they’d been in their new
home for a month. Tonight, Hunter was moving into his own room,
something Alek was incredibly excited about. It’s not that he’d
been sleeping in their bed, but his bed had been in their room.
That meant they weren’t getting very much time to do the sorts of
things couples did.

“Are you thinking about all the naughty
things I want to do to your body?” Alek whispered close to her ear.
His warm breath caressing her skin made her tingle all over.

“What makes you think that?” she asked with
an innocent bat of her eyes.

“You’re blushing,” he said. “Either you’re as
anxious to have our room all to ourselves as I am, or you’re
running a fever.”

“I have been feeling a little under the
weather,” she teased.

“I think I have the cure for what ails you,”
he said, running his fingertips along her hips.

Batting his hands away, Trish stepped out of
his reach. “Behave,” she ordered, wagging a finger at him. “We need
to get Hunter to bed first.”

Just then, the little boy in question bounded
out of the bathroom, still holding his little red toothbrush. “Two
stories!” he shouted as he darted past them.

“Leave your toothbrush in the bathroom!”
Trish called after him.

Hunter raced back to the bathroom to put his
toothbrush away. This time, he caught Trish’s hand as he passed by,
dragging her to his newly decorated bedroom. It wasn’t nearly as
extravagant as she’d expected when agreeing to let Hunter pick out
the theme for his room. She’d envisioned cowboys or cars all over.
Hunter wanted a blue room with a table for his blocks. He was easy
to please.

“Two stories,” Hunter said again as he
climbed into bed.

“You want me to read two whole stories?”
Trish asked, pretending to be horribly put out.

Hunter rolled his eyes, an adorably grown up
habit he had. “Don’t be silly. Alek has to read one too.”

“Mine will be the best story,” Alek promised,
lying down beside Hunter on the bed.

“Only because you always cheat,” Trish
accused. “You can’t just make up your own ending to each
story.”

“Make up the whole story!” Hunter practically
shouted.

“Yes, Alek, go ahead and make up the whole
story,” Trish said with a teasing grin.

“Once upon a time, there was a brave knight,”
Alek began.

“Can he be a robot knight?” Hunter asked
excitedly.

“Once upon a time, there was a robot knight
who was sent to slay an evil dragon,” Alek continued.

“What does slay mean,” Hunter asked, looking
confused. “He’s not going to hurt the poor dragon, is he?”

“No, he won’t hurt the dragon,” Trish assured
Hunter. “The knight just wants to put the dragon in timeout for
being very bad.”

“Who’s telling this story?” Alek asked.

“Go right ahead,” Trish said. “Just make sure
the brave robot knight isn’t mean to the dragon.”

“Fine,” Alek said with an exaggerated sigh.
“The brave robot knight planned to put the dragon in a long
timeout.”

“What was the dragon doing?” Hunter
asked.

Trish covered her mouth to stifle her
giggles. This happened every time Alek agreed to make up a story.
Luckily, Alek was getting much better at responding to the many
questions Hunter threw his way.

“The dragon was biting people,” Alek
explained.

“Biting is bad,” Hunter said with a nod.

“Yes, it is bad. That’s why the brave robot
knight was going to put the dragon in timeout for a long time. Then
the robot knight met the most beautiful princess in the world,”
Alek continued.

“I hope he doesn’t kiss her,” Hunter
grumbled. “I don’t like the stories where there’s kissing.”

Trish leaned forward and kissed Hunter’s
cheek. As expected, he made a face as he wiped his cheek with his
blanket. “Ugh! No kissing!”

“Let Alek finish the story,” she said. “I
know what you’re trying to do, and it won’t work. You can’t stay up
extra late by making Alek’s story last a really long time.”

Alek’s eyes lit with realization. “Is that
what you’re doing?” he asked Hunter, as if the thought had never
occurred to him.

Hunter gave him a sweet smile. “I like story
time.”

Alek chuckled. “Let’s see if we can get
through the rest of this story with no more interruptions,
okay?”

“I’ll try,” Hunter said with a precocious
grin that reminded Trish a little of Drew.

“Where was I?” Alek asked.

“I believe the robot knight was going to put
that naughty dragon in timeout for biting, when he suddenly came
across a princess,” Trish said helpfully.

“Not just any princess,” Alek continued. “She
was beautiful and kind. The robot knight had never met a princess
like her. He fell instantly in love with her, but robot knights
cannot marry princesses.”

“Why not?” Hunter asked, and Trish was
impressed that he’d let Alek get this far into the story without
asking a question.

“Because it’s not allowed,” Alek said.

“That’s a dumb reason,” Hunter countered.

“I agree,” Trish added.

“Fine,” Alek conceded. “He knew he could
never be with the princess because she was too good to fall in love
with someone like him. The princess, however, was much smarter than
the robot knight.”

“What about the dragon?” Hunter asked.

“I imagine the dragon was smarter than the
robot knight too,” Trish said.

“Probably,” Hunter agreed.

“Now you’re all taking the dragon’s side?”
Alek asked. “That dragon is out biting people and needs a long
timeout!”

“Yes, but the knight is too busy looking at
the princess to put the dragon in timeout,” Hunter said. “This
story isn’t very good, is it?”

Alek chuckled. “Fine. The robot knight put
the dragon in a long timeout, and the dragon felt bad for biting
people and promised to never do it again. The robot knight was very
sad without the princess, so he decided to find her.”

Alek suddenly stood and walked around the
bed, as if searching. “The sad robot knight searched the entire
kingdom until he finally found his beautiful princess. When he saw
her, he immediately dropped to one knee.” Following along with the
story, Alek dropped to one knee, as well, and reached into his
pocket. “Then he asked her to marry him.”

Holding out a box with a simple, but
beautiful ring, Alek smiled nervously at Trish. “Will you marry
me?”

Trish stared at the ring for several moments.
Still sitting on Hunter’s bed, she was shocked speechless.

“This is the part where you say you’ll marry
Alek,” Hunter whispered in her ear. “We practiced all day while you
were at work, and you gotta say yes.”

“Yes,” Trish breathed out.

Alek jumped to his feet and pulled her into
his arms. “Good God, woman! I was beginning to think you were going
to turn me down.”

Trish laughed. “It’s already been established
that I never turn you down.”

“I love you,” Alek said.

“I love you too,” Trish replied.

“And me?” Hunter asked as he jumped up and
down on his bed.

Alek scooped him up in one arm and held them
both. “How could we not love you?”

Trish smiled, happier than she’d ever
imagined she could be.

This is a story I never expected to write.
When I began this series, I did not intend for Trish to be more
than a supporting character. It wasn’t until I was writing
The
Vampire Will See You Now
that I realized Trish needed her own
happily ever after. I hope you enjoyed reading Trish and Alek’s
story as much as I enjoyed writing it. For those of you who are
wondering, yes, I do plan to write more about the hunters in
Isaiah’s story, which will be released in 2016.

If you enjoyed this book, please take a
moment to write a review. I truly appreciate the extra few minutes
readers take to write reviews of my books.

To keep posted on the details of my next
book, or just to see what I’m up to, you can follow me on
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.

Cassandra Lawson lives in the San Francisco
Bay Area with her husband and her two youngest children. When she
is not writing, she enjoys spending time with her family, listening
to music, or curling up with a good book.