“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“You kept trying to tell me that, but Iwouldn’t listen to you.”
Walking over, he knelt before her and tookhold of her hands. “There are always things we never want to hear;things we have a difficult time believing.”
She squeezed his hands then released them.She’d believed him to be a murdering, heartless bastard, but he wasthe kindest man she’d ever met, far kinder and more selfless thanher. “Yes, there are. Will they come looking for us here?”
“Not if they plan to live.” A shiver wentdown Paige’s spine when his eyes became the color of rubies. “Whois it that keeps coming after you?”
Paige opened her mouth to blurt outeverything, but the words stuck in her throat. It wasn’t that shedidn’t trust him; she simply couldn’t bring herself to reveal thathorror to him.
She stared up at him helplessly; her eyesshimmering with uncertainty. Ian sighed as she remained mute andbroken before him. Anger festered in him, but he kept his faceimpassive so that she wouldn’t see it. He’d mistakenly believedhe’d been making headway with her. “I have to shower.”
She gave a brief nod, but her eyes remainedhaunted. The idea of leaving her there, looking so vulnerable, toreat him but he didn’t have a choice, he had to get this blood off ofhis body. Walking into the bathroom, he turned the water in thesmall shower on as hot as he could stand it before stepping intothe driving spray. He’d believed her when she’d said she wouldstay, but he kept his senses honed on the other room just in case.He’d have no qualms about dragging her to safety kicking andscreaming if it became necessary.
Resting his hands against the shower wall,he bowed his head as he let the water wash over his aching musclesand knotted back. The wounds may have healed already, but hismuscles were still sore from the pounding they’d taken today.
He stared down at the pink water runningdown the drain as the blood washed away from him. He tried not topicture her out there sitting on that bed looking so lost. What washe going to do with her? He couldn’t simply let her go out intothis world, unprotected, with everything she knew? The idea ofletting her go caused his fingers to curl into the tiling and hehad to fight the impulse to drive his fist into it. She hadn’t flatout told him no; she’d actually seemed to contemplate what he’dtold her, but he refused to get his hopes up. She’d hated vampiresfor far longer than she’d known him.
She was a walking bull’s eye, and she wouldbe alone in the world if she refused him. He knew what she was tohim, but he couldn’t force her into something she wasn’t ready for,not when she was trying to sort out her life and everything shebelieved in. If she would only open up to him, maybe he couldbetter understand what drove her obsession. Maybe he could helpher. It was getting her to open up that would be the tricky part.She was one of the most private people he’d ever come across.
He grabbed the small motel bar of soap andscrubbed his skin as the water began to run clean. When he wasdone, he turned the now warm water off and stepped out of theshower. He toweled himself off, slipped on a pair of jeans and at-shirt. When he exited the room, Paige slipped by him and into theshower beyond. He listened as she moved about and the water turnedon, but he sat on his hands as he fought the urge to go to her.
Steam followed her when she re-emerged in apair of loose fitting sweats and a baggy blue tee. He watched asshe mutely brushed out her hair before crawling onto the other bed.The news she’d turned on before going into the shower, barelyregistered as he watched her simple, mundane movements.
“Paige…”
“I need to sleep,” she murmured.
Though she doubted she’d be getting anysleep tonight, not after the events of this day, and therevelations that had unfolded. She’d believed in the hunters,believed she could carry out her mission, and now she had nothing.He believed she was meant to be with him for an eternity. Shewanted more than anything to trust in him, but all she’d ever knownwas disappointment and betrayal.
She watched him walk over to the other bed,pull back the comforter, and climb in. The sound of his breathingdrifted to her, if she stretched her hand across the two feetseparating them, he would take hold of hers, she was certain of it.Instead, she forced herself not to think about him being so closeto her. Rolling over, she focused on the opposite wall. He switchedoff the light and changed the channel on the TV.
CHAPTER 17
It took her a few minutes to figure out where shewas when she woke in the middle of the night. Nothing around herlooked familiar; there had been no light or power in the cabin, butimages flickered across a TV screen. Then, the happenings of theday crashed over her. Her father had found her again, somehow, andnow he was recruiting vampires to help him. Terror curdled in herbelly like month old milk. She didn’t know how he always managed tolocate her, but she knew now she’d never escape him. She’d beenliving under a false sense of security with the hunters; she’dallowed herself to believe she had the upper hand and that when sheencountered her father again it would all be over, and she wouldwalk away the winner.
She’d been delusional and lucky she hadn’tgotten herself killed.
Rolling to the side, her gaze fell on theclock on the table next to the bed. Two thirty blazed back at herin vivid red numbers. She’d actually managed to sleep for fourhours straight; she must have been far more tired than she’drealized. It was rare she slept more than two or three hours at atime. Sleep meant being vulnerable, and that was one thing shecouldn’t afford to be.
Beyond the clock, Ian’s azure eyes met hersin the dim light. Her breath caught in her throat as he gazed ather. Her fingers curled into the pillow. He hadn’t moved, hadn’tmade any sound, but there was something so magnificent and sensualabout him that heat pooled within her belly and spread lowerthrough her limbs. This man was brutal, fierce. He was everythingshe’d been trying to fight, yet all she wanted was to run her handsover his flesh and feel his body against hers, inside of hers.
The yearning was so strong she almost threwback the covers, slipped out of her bed, and crawled into his. Shewanted to feel anything other than this extreme sense ofhopelessness. She knew he was the only one who could do that forher.
“Why were you with them, Paige?” heinquired.
“Who?” she asked.
He could smell the heightened lust driftingfrom her body; the increased beat of her heart sounded in his ears.Blood flooded his cock causing it to harden and lengthen againsthis stomach. He forced himself to stay in his bed. He’d alreadybeen rebuked enough by her; he didn’t feel like getting his pridestomped on again tonight.
“The hunters, how did you know theyexisted?”
She pulled the worn bedspread closer againsther shoulders. “I didn’t. Not until a couple of years ago, and thenit took me a while to find them.”
“Who is it that keeps coming after you?”
