Page 1 of Wanted 3

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My heart beat in my chest so loudly I couldn't hear the Count speak for a moment. His mouth moved, but the only sound I could hear was the panicked thumping.

"Why are we naked?" I looked around, trying to piece together the holes in my memory. A desperate fear teased the edges of my mind, but I couldn't remember why or what happened.

Our clothes lay in a folded pile on the iron-banded trunk at the end of the Count’s massive four-poster bed. As I scurried off the satin sheets to reach for my shirt, a lock of wet hair flopped into my eyes.

"And why are we both soaking wet?" I asked, my gaze catching on the damp hollow in the mattress in the shape of our bodies.

The Count swung his feet off the bed. As he joined me at the trunk to shrug into his own shirt, I saw my blood, still staining his crimson lips.

"And what the actual hell?” I jabbered, fumbling with my jeans. God, it was like someone had duct taped the pant legs together. My body buzzed, and my mind leapt from one thought to another, but none of it made sense. “You’re a vampire?"

The Count just stood there smirking. "Which question would you like an answer to first?" he asked softly, his voice sending shivers of pleasure through my traitorous body.

"I don't know," I shouted, my voice far too loud compared to his. "Just, tell me what the hell is going on."

Panic seized me, causing my heart to race, my vision to narrow, and my palms to sweat.

The Count searched my face and then with a frown, pulled me into his arms. “You’re safe,” he murmured into my hair, rubbing his hands up and down my back. "You're safe now."

I melted further into his chest, luxuriating in the feel of him even as I mourned the clothes that now created a wall between us. The memory of his body pressed against mine, skin to skin, melting me from the inside out. Part of me wanted to undress us both and crawl right back into bed together, staying there forever. But the rest of me knew I couldn't do that. I had to know what had happened.

Still, I stayed there in his embrace, tears stinging my eyes until I calmed enough to ask, "What happened?"

He brushed a stray lock of wet hair back from my face. "You showed up last night pumped full of drugs. You would have died from an overdose. I had to suck the poison out to save you."

Don. He’d kidnapped me. Kept me prisoner. Drugged me.

The car that almost hit me. My father. "Oh my God, Jeremy! My dad took him!" I attempted to pull away from the Count, but he held me closer still.

"Your brother is safe. I did not let that man take him. Leonard has been keeping an eye on him while I tended to you."

"Jeremy’s here?" I asked, tears falling down my cheeks. "Safe?"

The Count nodded. "I swear it. I will not let harm come to him.” He paused and then whispered, “Or you."

I froze, stunned by the longing and desire in his voice. Desire…for me? Emotion threatened to choke me, then the rest of what he’d said sank in. Overdose. “You saved my life?”

"Yes."

"But why were we naked? And wet?" I asked, not that I minded waking up naked with him, but if we were gonna get that sexy and shit, it would’ve been nice to remember it.

"You vomited all over both of us. I removed our clothing and put you in the shower to clean you up and help you gain some clarity. The latter goal failed, as you were too far gone, so I took you to bed to remove the drugs from your system.” As he finished buttoning the last button of his crisp white shirt, he added, “Leonard cleaned our clothes, returned them, and here we are."

"I vomited on you?" Even as I asked the question a flash of a scene paralyzed me. Him carrying me in his arms up the stairs. Me trying to flirt, then puking all over us both.

He hadn't flinched or shown any negative reaction. He’d just continued up the stairs, gently undressed me, and rinsed me off.

Nothing untoward had happened, which was good… cuz I wanted to be of sound mind and body for any untoward action I was going to get with the Count.

Oh shit.

The vampire.

My boss was a vampire.

"You're a vampire."

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