Cora nearly collapsed onto the bed, and it had nothing to do with her medical condition and everything to do with the naked guy in the shower. His tight boxer briefs had left little to the imagination, and her brain was having no trouble filling in the blanks as she listened to the water turn on.
She cursed him again under her breath, not caring if his vamp hearing could pick it up.
It was driving her nuts, trying to figure him out. Had he intentionally been trying to get a rise out of her, or did vamps just not see anything wrong with stripping in front of humans?
If it was the former, then what kind of game was he playing? It felt like seduction, but why would he be interested in her? She needed to figure things out fast because if it was a game, she was pretty sure she was losing.
It dawned on her then that he never really answered her question about his needing to feed. He said she was safe with him, but safe was a very subjective word, and one that they might not agree on. Was that his game? Was he trying to seduce her so he could bite her?
Fucking undead asshole. He was trying to turn her into dinner. Just because he was convinced that he could control how much he took, didn’t mean she would offer her neck up as a midnight snack.
Or maybe she should. Maybe if he got a sample of how disgusting she tasted, then he would give her a wide berth. It’d be like eating a burger and realizing the cow had Ebola.
Okay, that was an exaggeration, but there was no way she could taste good. Not with all the medication coursing through her diseased blood.
She’d spent a good chunk of time debating if she should bring up her condition. If he heard about her situation, he might take pity on her and let her make her film. It’s not like she was freaking Spielberg and the entire world would see her movie. He could show a little damned compassion.
Ultimately, she decided to save that ploy for her chat with Marquin. She would not use her illness to invoke pity unless she had to.
Well, at least not a second time. The first one barely counted, though. He should have been willing to let her swing by her apartment just as a basic human decency. It wasn’t her fault he wasn’t human, and she had to employ a little manipulation to stay on his level.
She heard the faucet turn off and leapt from the bed. Grabbing his pants and shirt, she deposited them right outside the bathroom door and then slid into the desk chair, pointing it noticeably in the opposite direction. Her willpower was only so much, and if he walked out naked and dripping wet, even a hoard of catholic nuns wouldn’t be able to resist the allure of his seductive darkness.
Reaching into her bag, she pulled out her phone and scrolled through her messages. There were a few texts from her crew letting her know they were fine pausing the film for a few days while she dealt with family business. Mentally she thanked Jinx for handling all ofthat. There were also a couple emails from actors who had missed her open call but would like to be considered. She dug out her laptop so she could watch the videos they sent over.
She was halfway through a rather painful demo reel from an acne-riddled adolescent when the door to the bathroom opened.
Don’t look. Don’t look. Don’t look.
She forced herself to continue watching this kid butcher Shakespeare in his garage. It was beyond painful, but she was caught between a rock and a very,very, hard place. She had known Saiden was in good shape but hadn’t realized he was hiding that many muscles under his baggy t-shirt. He was the complete opposite of those lean, emaciated vamps she typically saw in horror films. Which was precisely why she’d been drawn to him. She wanted her villain to radiate strength and virility. There was just something decidedly un-intimidating about Bram Stoker’s pallid and sickly kind of vampire. How were you supposed to be scared when they looked like a strong wind might knock them over?
Saiden, on the other hand, looked like he could stroll through a damned tornado with less concern than a lamb frolicking in a field.
Hot breath tickled her neck as Saiden leaned down behind her.
Don’t look. Don’t look. Don’t look.
She looked.
And found herself with a washboard stomach inches from her face. A bead of water rolled down his olive skin. She watched that single drop slide down the valleys and ridges of his six—eight?—pack abdominals until it reached the band of his jeans and wicked away.
“My eyes are up here, Cora.”
His words were all sinfully smooth, but she could have sworn she heard a tiny waver, as if he was almost worried about how she might react.
Slowly, she slid her eyes up to meet his and gulped at how intensely he was drinking her in.
He tracked the subtle bob of her throat and gave her a lascivious grin. “You know,” he purred, all hesitancy fading as he dropped his already sultry voice into a deeper octave. “I still owe you a third question from the car ride. So, if you’ve seen anything that you want to ask me about, and I do mean anything, I’m all yours.”
The implications behind that statement almost broke her, but irritation kicked the door shut on her lust. Instead of breaking, she snapped.
Slamming the laptop shut she burst out of the chair, forcing him to back up quickly.
“Okay, I’m not doing this,” she blurted out. Perhaps this was one of those times Jinx kept mentioning when she lacked the social awareness to keep her mouth shut, but she lost all ability to care about stupid shit like that when she found out vampires existed.
“Yes, you are hot,” she declared, gesturing animatedly toward his chiseled torso. “You are extremely attractive. You look like the kind of guy that women imagine in their heads when they read romance novels. You look like the kind of guy who would awaken a number of sexual kinks both disturbing and oddly fulfilling. You look like the kind of guy who could walk into a bar and suddenly there would be so many wet pairs of panties that the owner would need to open a window.”
Saiden’s eyebrow quirked up at that last one, and she didn’t miss the slight curl to his lip as he fought off a grin.
