CHAPTER 1
Ian opened his eyes and blinked against the sunfiltering through the blinds. He glanced at the woman lying next tohim in the bed; her blond hair splayed out across the pillowtickled his arm. He frowned as he searched his mind for her name,but his memory failed him. That wasn’t unusual, he couldn’t recallmost of the women before her. It didn’t matter anyway, she’d knownwhat she was in for when she left the bar with him last night. Henever made promises he couldn’t keep.
Throwing the blankets aside, he swung hisfeet to the floor and ran a hand through his disheveled hair beforeglancing back at her again. Even though he couldn’t recall hername, he wasn’t so callous he would wake her up and kick her out ofhis room, no matter how much he wanted to do just that. She’d givenhim what he needed most; now she’d become an insignificant detailtaking up space in his bedroom.
Over the years, the women he’d slept withhad all blurred together to become an endless one-night stand hecouldn’t escape. At the reminder of the unnatural appetite plaguinghim since reaching maturity, Ian shoved himself to his feet. He’dalways enjoyed women, had made no secret about that, but sincereaching the point where he no longer aged, that enjoyment hadturned into something more, something almost uncontrollable.
His need for a woman, and sometimes morethan one woman at a time in his bed, had increased. He could barelygo more than two days without sex, and when he did he felt liketearing his skin off. It was a bonus to be able to feed off of thewomen he had sex with, but the blood alone wasn’t what drove him toseek out a new companion every night. He didn’t know what it wasinside of him now, what drove him from woman to woman, but it wasrelentless and the only thing that satisfied his inner beast wassex. It was a good thing he couldn’t get STD’s, though he stillused condoms to avoid an unwanted pregnancy. The last thing heneeded was to explain to a woman he barely knew that her childwould be part vampire.
Gathering his clothes, he glanced at thewoman again before exiting his room and walking down the hall tothe bathroom. Laughter drifted up from below; he smiled when thethudding sound of a football hitting open palms drifted to him fromoutside. Showering quickly, he toweled off before tugging on hisclothes, brushing his teeth, and returning to his room.
The woman was finally awake, laying in waiton his bed. Her arm stretched over her head. A lazy, satisfiedsmile curved her lips when he entered the room. Her eyes slid overhim, before she patted the empty space he’d vacated. “I’d thoughtwe could go for round two,” she purred.
“Told you, one night.”
“We can pretend it’s areallylongnight.” She let the blanket fall back to expose her ample breastsand rounded hips. What had been so appealing last night made hisupper lip curl in disgust now.
“I don’t pretend.” He tossed his towel intothe hamper in the corner. He didn’t like being short with her, buthe made it clear to every woman who came to his bed there wouldonly be one night. He didn’t intend to lead anyone on, or getanyone’s hopes up by pretending there could be more. It irritatedhim when they tried to break clearly established boundaries orbelieved they could somehow change him.
No one would change him, not unless hesomehow stumbled across his mate, and he wasn’t sure that wouldeven be enough to change his ways. He’d seen the intensity of thebond between his parents and his siblings with their mates, but hisinternal insatiable hunger tore fiercely at him when it kicked in.He’d never been able to maintain a monogamous relationship before.He’d given up trying in high school when he’d broken his firstheart and realized he would break many more if he continued to tryto be a one woman man, especially since none of those women hadbeen the one he was meant to spend eternity with. He’d neverexpected to walk this path in life, never thought he’d bounce fromone woman to another this way, but then the future was a completeunknown, even to immortals like himself.
Her fingers slid over her hip and up towardher breast. “I’m sure this once…”
“No. I’m sorry, but it’s time for you togo.” Bending, he gathered her discarded clothes and handed them toher. “I’ve got things to do.”
Her smile slipped away, her thin lipspressed into a pout that set his teeth on edge. “Didn’t you havefun?”
“I did, but it’s over.” Turning on his heel,he walked over to the door and looked back at her. “You don’t haveto bother to lock the door on your way out.”
Her face fell as she tugged her shirt overher head. Ian hurried down the hall of the frat house he’d beenliving in since freshman year. The distinct sounds of music, videogames, and sex could be heard from the rooms he passed as he madehis way toward the front door. The familiar noises and smells ofalcohol, sweat, and clean linen Glade air fresheners had becomehome to him over the past four years. It could be a jungle,sometimes the privacy was nil, but he was accustomed to that aftergrowing up surrounded by fifteen other people. He’d miss this largehouse and the friends he’d made here when he graduated in a coupleof months.
Pounding down the stairs, he walked throughthe main living room toward the front door. A few guys were pickingup the trash from the party last night. A party he’d missed due tohis overwhelming need for female companionship. After four years,and his rabid increase in pickups this year, the pickings hadbecome rather slim at the frat house parties. Last night must havebeen relatively calm as there weren’t as many discarded plasticcups lying around as usual.
“Hey Ian,” a couple of the guys greetedhim.
“Hey, fun night?” he inquired.
“Always,” one of them replied with alaugh.
He wasn’t so sure about that, but he didn’targue with the kid. Opening the front door, he walked across theporch and down the steps. He walked around the house toward the twoguys tossing the football in the backyard. He’d just rounded thecorner when the ball flew at him with a ferocity most would haveconsidered hard and fast. The kind of throw that would have knockeda human back a step.
Ian faked a grunt as he caught the ballagainst his stomach. “Nice throw,” he said before tossing the ballback to his friend Milo.
“Nice catch.” Milo threw the ball to theirfriend Oscar. Milo and Oscar were the other members of the frat whohad been on the football team with him. The team hadn’t made it farinto the playoffs this year, or any other year, but he’d had agreat time playing with these guys, and they’d become his bestfriends during his time here. They didn’t know he was a vampire,but they knew everything else about him. They’d been good friends,but he doubted he’d see much of them again after graduation. Thewhole not aging thing tended to put a damper on extendedrelationships with humans.
“We going out again tonight?” Oscar asked ashe passed the ball to Milo.
“Not staying in,” Milo replied with alaugh.
Ian caught the ball and tossed it awayagain. The door to the house opened and closed. Ian leaned back towatch the woman he’d been with last night walk down the sidewalkand make a right at the corner. He really wished he could rememberher name; he wouldn’t feel like such an ass about what had passedbetween them if he could. He didn’t think of himself as a bad guy.He knew how he was behaving wasn’t entirely sane or normal, but hecouldn’t stop himself.
He didn’t know how to stop, and whenever hetried, the clawing sensation in his chest and gut made it nearlyimpossible to think, let alone control himself. Lack of control ina vampire could spell death for any human within reach if he wereto slip even a little bit. Control was imperative and not somethinghe’d given much thought about, until last year when his life hadabruptly changed.
Milo glanced back at the girl and shook hishead. “I don’t know how you do it man.”
“The ladies love me,” Ian replied with alaugh. “It must be my good looks, something you wouldn’t knowanything about.”
Milo flipped him the finger and threw theball at him in a perfect spiral. Ian leapt up to catch the ball asMilo charged across the ground at him. Short and spry, Milo hadbeen difficult to catch while playing quarterback, but he’d neverbeen able to tackle anyone. He lowered his shoulder and plowed intoIan; they both knew Milo would never be able to take him down, butIan faked being knocked off balance before Milo ran away again.
