Page 12 of Ouch! My Vampire Doms Keep Biting Me
Fuck.Fuck. I thought I was being so sneaky.
The librarian’s mouth opens in surprise, but she quickly closes it. I don’t see any more of her reaction because I duck my head once more and lean against the giant trash bin. This is utterly mortifying. Not only do I not have anywhere to sleep, but I just tried to break into a private library.
Head pressed against smelly plastic, I close my eyes, completely dismayed, and wait for the librarian to sound an alert.
But nothing happens. She doesn’t say a word.
In fact, I hear her high-heeled footsteps approach the front doors. I crawl around the side of the cleaning cart, keeping myself out of her view, but I peer around the side of it. She opens the front door, steps outside.
She locks the doors.
She left. She’s locked me in.
I stare as she checks that the doors are really locked, and her gaze flicks toward me once more and clashes with mine.
I suck in a breath. This is it. She really saw me, no denying it, and it’s over.
But the corners of her mouth tick up in the tiniest of smiles. She gives me a single nod. She’s letting me stay.
My breath comes out in a whoosh, my heart resumes beating.
Looks like I’m spending the night in the library.
Autumn
When I wake, it takes me a long moment to realize where I am.It’s dark, but it feels like daytime. Everything is cramped, and for a brief, panicky moment I think I might be in a coffin.
Then I remember.
The Corbin.
I’m in one of the cabinets beneath the display cases in a room dedicated to surfing. I carefully ease open the sliding wooden door and peer out.
Morning sunshine streaks through high windows, illuminating a large redwood surfboard mounted to one of the walls. No one is in sight. All is quiet.
What’s the best move, here? Wait until the library opens, I’m assuming, then sneak to a remote room and pretend like I came in as soon as the doors were unlocked. Someone might notice…but at least the friendly librarian is on my side. I wonder why she did that—she probably risked her job for me.
And she probably saved my life.
Once I get my bearings, once I feel safe, I’ll find some way to repay her.
In the meantime, I have to find the restroom and clean myself up, change clothes. Then I can park myself right back in that BDSM room and read the day away.
Will
This is the second night in a row that a sweet, flowery scent distracts me from my work. I pause in my aggressive online bidding for a rare book on the history of surfing at Waimea Bay and look around my office.
That woman from…three nights ago? Is it her perfume lingering on my furniture? Standing up, I inhale deeply. I don’t think it’s her.
I’m horny. Hungry. It’s been a few nights since we fed from the woman, and the blood we have delivered from the butcher will never appeal. I want human blood, and a warm female body writhing beneath me while I take it.
Fuck. I wish I could identify the scent and where it’s coming from.
“Xander!” I shout.
He appears in my office doorway a moment later, wearing a frown. “I’ve told you not to shout across the house to get my attention.”
“But it works every time,” I say.
