Page 63 of Wake the Dream

Illaria started at the change in his voice. How it had dropped low. She felt the sudden urge to snap her eyes shut tight and think about porridge or something equally bland. Funny how her interest in Kieran had shifted into something...significant.

Kieran kept hold of her hand, warm water creeping up toward her feet as the tub began to fill.

“It’s a good thing when a man doesn’t know everything about a woman,” she said. “You can’t read me and I admit I like that.”

“I know the important things,” Kieran insisted. “I know your strength and your determination. I know you care about the people closest to you, and you are as stubborn as hell.”

“Yes, those sound about right,” she agreed.

They stood there with the porcelain tub separating them and she recognized the familiar stirrings of desire creeping up in her. Her aches and pains would disappear under the water, she was sure, and a few bites of food would bring her nearer to normal.

“I’m going to get you a snack,” he said, as if he’d read her mind, “then change the sheets on the bed. You need something to eat to get your strength back. After the shower, you get some sleep. I’ll take the couch again.”

She wanted to tell him how she’d feel better knowing he was next to her in bed. It would be nice to feel the heat, to be able to reach out to touch him in reassurance.

In the end, she said nothing.

Kieran yanked the shower curtain closed, then stomped out of the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Illaria stood for a long moment with the hot water swirling around her ankles.

With the shower switched on, she let the water course over her sore muscles, washing Caryss’s poultice down the drain. Beneath it, her skin had returned to normal, with no hint of the bites or scarring to show the world she’d been through torture.

She was like brand new.

The familiar emptiness lingered, though now accompanied by a new kind. Physical emptiness. She’d been drained to the point where she could have died if another vamp had joined the party. Or if Kieran had used the stake another second later.

That sort of reminder of mortality did strange things to a girl. Like make her rethink her priorities and the direction of her life. The things she used to consider important now seemed paltry.

Finding her sister remained in the number one spot. Although with the vamps dead and no solid lead on the “wake up grape,” she had no idea where to go from here.

Illaria stepped out of the shower minutes later feeling like a new woman. The salve had stopped the bleeding and allowed her natural healing abilities to take over. Most of the bites had healed entirely.

She couldn’t help staring at herself in the mirror as she looped her hair into a wet braid over her shoulder. She looked reasonably well for a woman who might have been turned into beef jerky. A hand smoothed over the skin of her neck and she shuddered, remembering how easily those fangs had slid into her.

Kieran had told her he would control when they came together, right?

Wrong.

She wanted him. And not to fill the empty spaces inside of her. Not to feel something for once, or to get the blood pumping. She’d had enough excitement over the last few days.

She wanted Kieran for himself. For his smile, his charisma. The uniqueness of his gift and that vulnerability he showed when he admitted that he couldn’t get a read off of her.

There was no turning back. Not once she made up her mind. Their time together, as delightfully disjointed as it had been until now, was limited. She knew where she wanted to go just as she knew how to go there.

She stepped out of the bathroom feeling much better and wearing nothing but a towel knotted above her breasts.

Kieran heard her from where he stood in the kitchen, taking care of the dishes in the sink. “I needed something to do with myself,” he said over his shoulder by way of greeting. “To keep busy while you were unconscious. I decided that cleaning the house was a good alternative to filing paperwork. The boss wanted me to come in but I...did not.”

“What about interrogating the vampire in the trunk of your car?” she asked, memorizing the planes of his back and the way the muscles moved beneath his t-shirt.

“I keep forgetting about that guy...” Kieran turned, trailing off when he saw her. His eyes went wide, darkened. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Her hands moved to the knot keeping the towel in place. “I’d think it was obvious. Or has it been so long that you’ve forgotten?”

He took his time drying his hands on a dish towel and never once breaking eye contact. “You need to rest. This isn’t a good time.”

Was he blushing? No, impossible.

He stared at her from under his lids. God, no one had ever looked at her like that, let alone someone this absurdly handsome.

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