Page 31 of A Vampire Bewitched
Aiden smirked to himself and walked over to his cell phone. “I’ll give Bill a holler and see if things are ready.”
“Who’s Bill?” Emma asked as Nik brought her oatmeal to her. She smiled at him in thanks, but he refused to look at her, just set down her bowl and walked away. He heard her sigh, then pick up her spoon and take a bite.
“Bill is a friend of ours,” Aiden told her as he plopped down in his office chair. “A human friend. He’s going to be our pilot.”
“And you trust him? I mean, I would imagine it must be frightening to have your lives in the hands of a human.”
“Yes, yes, terrifying…Bill! Aiden. How are we doing out there? Mm hmm. Good! One hour. We’re in the hanger. See you then.” Turning his chair around to face them, he informed Nik, “We’ll be ready in one hour. He’s just fueling up. I think I’m going to go find a meal for myself. I’m feeling a bit peckish.”
Grinning nefariously at Emma, who had stopped eating with the spoon midway to her mouth, he pulled on his boots and entered the code to unlock the RV. With a casual wave, he shut the door behind him with a bang.
Carefully setting her spoon back into the bowl, she asked, “When he says he’s going to find dinner, he means…a human dinner?”
“He’s a vampire, Em.” Nik re-locked the door and came over to sit across from her. “Don’t look at me like that. He won’t hurt anyone. Aiden’s prey of choice is usually a pretty little female who is more than happy to give him what he wants.”
She looked slightly relieved, but not entirely convinced. “But don’t you all worry someone will say something and your secret will be out?”
“Won’t happen. He erases their memory before he leaves them.” He didn’t mention he only erased the feeding part, not the sex that inevitably came with it. Aiden liked to be remembered as the sex god he thought he was, at least until the female got too clingy.
Feeding and sex went hand in hand for vampires. It was hard to do one and not the other, as Nik’s little performance last night proved.
Thinking of the intense lust that had overcome him in her kitchen, and the revelation afterward, had Nik rubbing his palms restlessly up and down his thighs.
“You can do that? Erase memories?” At his nod, she asked him weakly, “Are you going to erase mine when you’re done with me?”
His eyes traveled over her. She had no makeup on, but her hazel-green eyes shone brightly from beneath dark lashes, and her strawberry hair was curling chaotically around her face. As he watched, a faint blush bloomed on her cheeks at his close perusal of her, and she lowered her gaze, hiding her eyes from him. She was absolutely lovely.
He didn’t mean to say it, he really didn’t. But it came out anyway. “No. I won’t. I don’t think I’ll ever be done with you Emma.”
At his softly spoken words, her gaze flew up and crashed with his across the small space of the vehicle. They stayed like that, the look between them saying more than words ever could, until Emma finally broke the connection by clearing her throat and looking away.
Getting up, she took her bowl to the sink and washed it, putting it back up into the cabinet. “Should I pack up some of this stuff to bring with us?”
Nik ran his hands through his hair, tugging at it with both hands. What thefuckhad made him say that out loud? He really needed to chill the fuck out with this bonded shit. He was never going to do anything about these feelings he had. It wasn’t fair of him to lead her on. Not even a little bit.
What the hell makes me think she’d even want to be with me anyway?
Taking a deep breath, he psyched himself up to harden his resolve against her. He shouldn’t even like her. Her sister was keeping his brother hostage. Well, maybe not directly, but there was no way in hell Leeha would be able to hold him without her help.
Maybe Emma was just a really good actress. Maybe she knew about this all along. Maybe it was all a big plot to capture all of them. He was grasping at straws, he knew, but he needed to findsomethingthat would help him battle this obsession with her.
All of this ran through his head within just a few seconds as he stared at the table in front of him.
“Nik?”
“What,” he snapped.
Visibly startled by the tone of his voice, Emma said, “I was just asking if I should pack up some of the food to bring along with us, or is there stuff on the plane?”
“Oh. Um. Yeah, I don’t know. It would probably be a good idea.” He went over to help her, removing her recycled bag from where he’d stashed it in a drawer. “We probably won’t be able to fit it all. What would you like to bring?”
She found what she wanted and set it on the counter. “Would you mind grabbing the tea? I can’t reach it.”
Stepping up behind her he reached over her head to get it and the agave sweetener for her. He heard her breath catch in her throat as he pressed the length of his body against her back.
Nik immediately backed off and leaned back against the opposite counter.
She was still for a moment, and then continued loading up her bag. “What exactly did you mean before, when you said you’d never be done with me?”
