Blood Drive

She doesn’t realize how futile it is, of course. But she will soon. The next time we speak.

I decide to go home. A hot bath and a good night’s rest are what I need. Vampires, like humans, have their emotional limits and I’ve reached mine.

I don’t realize how weary I am until I trudge out of the elevator and get right up to my door before something stops me-light shining around the edges of the door. And I hear music.

I know I didn’t leave a light or the radio on when I left this morning.

The exhaustion vanishes. I sling my purse across my chest bandoleer style and lean closer, listening for any other sounds from within. All I hear is the beating of my heart as it pumps adrenaline. I know if I use my key to unlock the door, I’ll alert who ever is inside. I’d rather catch them by surprise than the other way around.

I gather strength and lunge at the door, hitting it hard. Wood splinters with a deafening crack and the doorknob knocks a chunk out of the plaster wall behind it.

I leap inside, a snarl escaping my lips.

And there, standing at the door to the bedroom, is… Max.

He blinks at me. He’s got a drink in one hand and a towel in the other. He shakes his head as if to clear it and blinks again.

I blink too. He’s naked. His skin glistens, and his hair is slicked back. He must have just stepped out of the shower.

We stare at each other for a minute, and then he smiles.

“Wow, A

Chapter Sixteen

Naturally, my first reaction is to rail at Max. Ask him what the hell he’s doing here and why he didn’t leave me a message letting me know?

But he’s naked. And a naked Max is a joy to behold.

“I thought you were going to di

He lets the towel drop and takes a step toward me. “Are you sorry I didn’t?” His voice is husky, too.

Suddenly that craving I had a while ago for a little physical activity comes screaming back. I don’t say anything at all. I kick the door shut behind me, prop a chair against it to hold it closed, and I’m on him.

Max responds just the way I hope he will. He doesn’t waste time with words either. He tears at my clothes, pulling off my sweater, fumbling too long with the zipper on my jeans. I lose patience, push his hands away, and peel them off myself.

His words are breathless in my ear. “You’re so cold.”

“Then warm me.”

He does, with his hands and mouth. Vampire physiology is a fu

Max and I find the tempo that binds our bodies together and sends us soaring higher and higher. When Max comes, and I feel his love flow into me like warm honey, the release shatters the night around us into a million glowing stars.

And I know.

Avery was a liar.

Chapter Seventeen

Max rolls off me and collapses with a groan onto the carpet. I lay quietly beside him, listening to his breathing, listening to the pounding of his blood, listening to the beating of his heart. Suddenly he sits up and his face hovers over mine, an expression of concern twisting his features.

“My God, A

I actually laugh out loud. “It’s okay, Max. It’s safe.”

“How can you know that?”

Because I’m no longer human and bearing children or contracting STD’s is not something a vampire has to worry about. Of course, what I say to Max is, “Because I know. It’s not the right time of the month. Trust me.”

“You’re sure?”

There’s disappointment in his voice. He lays a hand on my abdomen. “Making a baby with you wouldn’t be such a terrible thing.”

An alarm shrieks in my head. I sit up now, too, and point to Max’s glass on the floor beside him. “Fix me one of those, will you? I’m going to take a shower.”

Before he can respond or ask if he can join me, I’m out of the room. The turn this conversation has taken is too bizarre and fraught with consequences Max can’t begin to comprehend. When did he get so serious ? The only future I have ever envisioned with him is based on what we have now-great sex, strictly recreational. It never occurred to me that he might see it differently.

When I get out of the shower, I slip into the best buzz kill I can think of-a pair of man-tailored fla

Max eyes me when I rejoin him, holding out the drink and raising an eyebrow. “Nice outfit. Very sexy in a L.L. Bean kind of way.”

I take a sip of the drink, scotch, straight up, and perch myself on the couch, tucking my robe around my legs. Max has slipped on jeans, but he’s shirtless and I avert my eyes because those pecs and biceps have a predictable effect on me. Already, my skin is heating up.

He sits beside me and casually slips a hand between the folds of my robe. His hand feels warm through the fabric. “I didn’t mean to scare you,” he says.

“Scare me?” I act like I haven’t a clue what he’s talking about.

“The baby thing.” He pauses. “Ever thought about it?”

I pretend the drink is in the way and move just out of reach. Max snuggles closer on the couch and the hand is back. This time his fingers play with the waistband on my pj’s, wiggle their way inside and inch downward.

I squirm away. “Max, you can’t be serious. You have a job that keeps you gone for weeks. I have a missing niece. No, I haven’t thought about it.”

My tone has the desired affect. He pulls away and reaches for his drink. I can tell he’s embarrassed. I clear my throat.

“So, Max. Let’s talk. How did you and David make out today?”

He eyes me. I’ve gone for the let’s get past this silliness and on to something else tone. It seems to work because he takes a drink and says, “Piece of cake. It was fun. David’s not such a bad guy after all.” He takes another sip of the scotch and adds, “We discovered we have something in common.”

I snicker. “You and David? Let’s see, it can’t be that you’re both jocks and adrenaline junkies. That would be too obvious. So it must be that you’re both in love with Gloria.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Close,” he responds. “We both love you.”

I almost choke on a mouthful of scotch.

Max laughs. “I don’t mean we both love you that way. I mean David thinks of you as a sister. He wants to protect you. He’s having a hard time getting over what happened a few months ago. He says he’ll never forgive himself for that.”

Another topic I’m not about to get into. Neither David nor Max knows the true story of what happened that night and they never will. Just as David will never know that I saved him from certain death at Avery’s hands-or teeth.

But what does Max mean about loving me that way. What’s going on with him?

I give myself a mental shake. Later. Right now, there are more important subjects we need to discuss.

I temper the panic out of my voice. “I need to talk to you about something important.”

He leans back on the couch cushion and waves a hand in a “go ahead” motion.

“What do you know about kiddie porn?”

An eyebrow shoots up. “Kiddie porn?” Then there’s a reflective pause. “Does this have anything to do with that girl that was killed?”