Page 44 of A Vampire Bewitched
She clenched her jaw. He had no right to be this angry. After all, he’s the one who’d barged in on her. “Just go, please.”
Stepping all up into her personal space, he took her chin and forced her to look at him. “Em-ma!”
Emma fought to keep more tears at bay, her chin and her inner wall of defense lifted high. “What.”
“We need to talk about this, Em.”
“There’s nothing to talk about, Nik.”
“Yes, there is.”
“NO. There isn’t.” Yanking her chin out of his hand with a quick jerk, she forced a measure of calm into her voice. “Now, please—leave.”
Nik stared at her, a lost expression on his face. He tried again. “Emma. Please, talk to me.”
“There’snothingto say, Nik.”
“I disagree, Emma.” Nik took her face gently in both hands. “You have nothing to feel ashamed of, do you hear me?”
She felt her cheeks burn and tried to look away from him. He thought he knew what she was feeling. He didn’t.
But Nik would have none of it. “What happened here…that was a perfectly natural thing. What happened to you seven years ago, that wasn’t your fault, and it doesn’t make you any less. You can’t let it ruin your life.”
Emma refused to look at him. “I know that. I’ve done the therapy, and Ihavehad sex since then you know.”
Nik recoiled at her words, dropping his hands from her face and moving away from her. “So, if this isn’t about your feeling ashamed of the act, it must bewhothe act was performed with.”
A sharp pain ripped through Emma’s gut at the hurt in his voice, but she said nothing.
He gave a harsh, derisive laugh. “Yeah, you know what? You’re right. There’s absolutely nothing to talk about.” Yanking the shower curtain closed behind him, Nik sloshed over to the bathroom door.
Emma stared at the closed curtain with a heart full of regret. She’d seen the flicker of pain in his eyes. But it was there and gone so fast she’d almost missed it.
“Will you stay?” she called from behind the curtain. “I mean, not here, but in your room?”
She started to think he’d already left, when she heard him reply, “Yeah, I’ll stay.”
“Good.”
Emma listened as Nik closed the door firmly behind him. After checking he was really gone, she pulled off her sopping towel and hung it on a rail inside the shower.
As the warm water hit her still tender breasts, she stifled a moan. How long had he been standing there before he’d said anything? She prayed she had covered herself fast enough and he hadn’t gotten more than a glimpse of her ravaged skin.
Other than her doctor, no had seen her undressed since that night. Not even herself. She avoided mirrors whenever possible. With the one lover she’d had, she’d always insisted on the lights being off. He hadn’t complained. She didn’t think he’d been that into her anyway, and she’d felt the same. It had just been two consenting adults staving off the loneliness for a little while.
Funny. She tended to forget about her scars completely whenever Nik touched her.
Grabbing the shampoo, she quickly lathered up while she still had some hot water. As she massaged her scalp, she closed her eyes and tried to enjoy the feeling. But as soon as her lids slid down, Nik’s handsome face appeared. Smiling at her. Teasing her.
Fixated on her in her kitchen, right before he pounced.
A surge of lust went through her again, so strong she nearly moaned out loud before she caught herself. Emma wiped the shampoo from her face. She really needed to stop this. She couldn’t fall for him. He was a vampire, for God’s sake. If she had an ounce of sense she’d be terrified, and would be counting the hours until she could be far, far away from him.
However, she wasn’t afraid. Not at all. Not even when he got all freaky scary looking. She didn’t understand it.
Or maybe she did. Taking a deep breath, she admitted the truth to herself. A truth she’d known deep down since the moment he’d walked into that bar. She’d never been more attracted to a man than she was to him. Inside and out. She didn’t care that he wasn’t completely human. She didn’t care about what had happened to her in the past.
Emma made a decision right then and there. If he wanted her, she wouldn’t fight it.
