«Yes?»
He attempted to form words and failed, the silence stretching out between them once more. Fucking hell, no matter how much he tried to put sentences together, he found that there was no magical combination of syllables to properly phrase what was in him.
Then again, maybe it was less a function of vocabulary, and more a case of what he’d just done to himself: He felt like he had something to confess to her, and he couldn’t quite do it.
«Come home,» Jane cut in. «Come see her, and if I’m not in the clinic, find me.»
«All right. I will.»
«It’s going to be okay, Vishous. And you need to remember something.»
«What’s that?»
«I know what I married. I know who you are. There’s nothing that’s going to shock me — now hang up the phone and get home.»
As he told her good-bye and hit end, he wasn’t sure about the noshock thing. He’d surprised himself tonight, and not in a good way.
Putting his phone away, he rolled up a cigarette and patted his pockets for a lighter before remembering he’d tossed his Bic POS back at the training center.
His head cranked around and he looked at one of those goddamn black candles. With no other option, he went over and leaned in to light his hand-rolled.
The idea of going back to the compound was the right idea. A good, solid plan.
Too bad it made him want to scream until he lost his voice.
After he finished his smoke, he meant to extinguish the candles and go straight home. He honestly did.
But he didn’t make it.
Manny was dreaming. Had to be.
He was dimly aware that he was in his office, lying facedown on the leather couch that he regularly crashed on for REM catch-ups. As always, there was a set of surgical scrubs wadded under his head for a pillow, and he’d kicked off his Nikes.
All this was normal, business as usual.
Except then his little nap warped on him. . and suddenly he wasn’t alone. He was on top of a woman—
As he reared back in surprise, she stared up at him with icy eyes that were blazing hot.
«How did you get in here?» he asked hoarsely.
«I am in your mind.» Her accent was foreign and sexy as hell. «I am inside of you.»
And then it dawned on him that beneath his body, she was so very naked, and warm — and holy Christ, even with his confusion, he wanted her.
It was the only thing that made any sense.
«Teach me,» she said darkly, her lips parting, her hips rolling under his own. «Take me.»
Her hand moved between the two of them and found his erection, rubbing at it, making him moan.
«I am empty without you,» she said. «Fill me. Now.»
With an invitation like that, he didn’t give anything else a second thought. Fumbling around, he shoved his scrubs down his thighs and then. .
«Oh, fuck,» he groaned as his hard cock slipped up her slick core.
One shift over and he would be buried deep, but he forced himself not to breach her sex. He was going to kiss her first, and more to the point, he was going to do that right because. . she’d never been kissed before—
Why did he know that?
Who the fuck cared.
And her mouth wasn’t the only place he was going to go with his lips.
Pulling away a little, he ran his eyes down her long neck to her collarbone. . and went even lower — or at least tried to.
Which was his first clue that something was off. Although he could see every detail of her strong, beautiful face and her long, braided black hair, the sight of her breasts was hazy and staying that way: No matter how much he frowned, there was no clarity coming. But whatever, she was perfect to him no matter what she looked like.
Perfect for him.
«Kiss me,» she breathed.
His hips jerked at the sound of her voice, and as his erection slid against the very heart of her, the friction made him groan. God, the feel of her pressed up tight to him, with the head of his cock having parted her and burrowed in, searching for that sweetest spot. .
«Healer,» she gritted as she arched back, her tongue coming out and dragging over her lower lip—
Fangs.
Those two white tips were fangs, and he froze: What was underneath him and ready for him was not human.
«Teach me. . take me. .»
Vampire.
He should have been shocked and terrified. But he wasn’t. If anything, what she was made him want inside her with a desperation that left him in a sweat. And there was something else. . it made him want to mark her.
Whatever the hell that meant.
«Kiss me, healer. . and don’t stop.»
«I won’t,» he moaned. «I’m not ever going to stop.»
As he dipped his head to bring his lips to hers, his cock went off in an explosion, the orgasm shooting out of him and going all over her—
Manny came awake on a gasp that was loud enough to rouse the dead.