Page 11 of Viktor's Temptation
Gracie rubbed her temples, her mind spinning. “This can’t be real,” she murmured. “It just… can’t.”
Viktor leaned forward slightly, his presence magnetic, his tone softening. “Tell me about that night. You came home late. What time?”
She bit her lip, the action sending another small thrill through her when her tongue brushed against her sharp fangs. “I’m not sure. I think it was around nine-thirty? The surgery finished at seven, but I stayed to make sure the patient came out of anesthesia okay.”
“That’s very conscientious of you,” Viktor said, his voice warm.
Gracie flushed and shrugged awkwardly. “I enjoy working with my patients. I want to know they’re doing well.”
Viktor nodded, clearly approving. “What time did you leave the hospital?”
“A little after nine,” she replied. “Maybe closer to nine-fifteen. It’s a ten-minute drive home, so I should have been home by nine-thirty, maybe a little later.”
“Did you notice anyone unusual at the hospital or in the parking lot?” Viktor’s gaze sharpened, his intensity drawing her back into her jumbled memories.
Gracie stared down at her hands, fidgeting as she tried to think. But Viktor was sitting so close, his sheer presence making it impossible to focus. And then there was the other issue—that she was a vampire! A monster! How could she think clearly when her very identity felt like it was unraveling?
“Gracie,” Viktor said, his tone firm but not unkind. “You need to concentrate. This is important.”
“Iamtrying!” she snapped, her frustration boiling over as she leapt to her feet. She gripped her hair tightly, her fingers curling into the strands. “Why is this happening to me?”
Viktor rose as well, and the sheer size of him made her heart pound even harder. She turned to him, her silver eyes meeting his stormy grey ones. His expression was grim, but beneath the hardness she caught a flicker of… kindness? No, that couldn’t be right. Men like him didn’t care about women like her.
“Who are you?” she demanded, her voice trembling.
He let out a heavy sigh—not with his lungs, but with his entire body. It was a gesture that spoke of centuries of weariness. “You know who I am,” he said quietly. “As for the rest, that’s what I’m trying to discover.”
He stepped closer, and Gracie instinctively backed away, her heart racing. The creeping pain in her body was back, but it was mingled with something else—an awareness of him that she didn’t want to feel. It was too much. He was too much.
“I won’t ever hurt you, Gracie,” he said, his voice steady.
“I know,” she whispered, surprising herself with how much she believed him. She hugged herself tightly, both to ward off the growing ache in her body and to suppress the maddening pull she felt toward him.
“You’re feeling it again, aren’t you?” he asked gently.
Gracie’s eyes widened. How did he know? Was he reading her mind?
“Yes, I can read people’s minds. That’s one of my gifts. But no, I’m not reading your thoughts at the moment,” he said, as if answering her unspoken question.
“How did you…?”
“Because I can read your body language, Gracie,” he replied, stepping back to give her space.
Her eyes followed him, betraying her struggle. He was so lean, yet his body exuded power, the muscles beneath his dress shirt visible with every subtle movement. She forced herself to look away, but the image of him was burned into her mind.
“Gracie?” he prompted, forcing her eyes to lift from his chest. He handed her a bag of blood.
She took it, but didn’t open the bag. “What?”
“The parking lot. Did you sense anything unusual?”
Gracie closed her eyes, trying to push past the jumble of memories and focus. She tilted her head back slightly, her mindreplaying the moments she’d walked to her car. Had there been someone lurking? Watching?
“No,” she finally said. “I didn’t sense anything.”
“Good. What happened next? You drove home?”
“Yes. It’s a ten-minute drive. My house is pretty close to the hospital.”
