Page 41 of Only Fangs

We make out like teenagers: desperate, hungry, horny teenagers who can’t get enough of each other. Eventually we come up for air. I can feel the swell of him through his boxers and I grind my hips as he reaches both hands to cup my bottom.

“I…” he tries to say, eyes dark with lust.

“Shall we go inside?” I ask, desperate to pull him onto the bed, to feel the weight of him.

“Do you have any protection?” he asks, voice husky in my ear.

“Shit…”

“I have some. In my room,” he adds quickly.

“Go,” I tell him and he practically jumps from the hot tub, wrapping a towel around his waist. “Be fast,” I urge him.

He salutes. “Yes, ma’am.”

Chapter 22

Brody

I’m dripping water down the corridor and I don’t even care. I can also barely walk, but I won’t say any more about that particular problem.

I grabbed my phone when I picked up my room key and I take a look as I scurry to my room. I’ve had a message from Matt. Looks like you had another close call

What the hell does that mean? Oh, he’s sent a link to an article. It’s about a woman who’s been sentenced to five years for stalking an ex-boyfriend. Confused, I read on. Then I get to the woman’s name. Emily Fox. We dated briefly back in 2018, literally only a handful of dates. But she kept turning up in places I went to regularly, like my gym and the bus I took to the office and the corner shop just down the road from the flat Matt and I used to share with a couple of rowdy Australians. My sisters told me I should report her to the police but I just brushed her behaviour off, saying she was basically harmless. Except perhaps she wasn’t. Perhaps she was waving yet another red flag I failed to see.

Why do I always make such bad choices? And then it hits me. Is this yet another one? Making out with my boss in a hot tub. Even ignoring the fact she’s a vampire, she’s still my boss. And it sounds so… sleazy. So much of a cliché it almost hurts.

Would it be a mistake to get it on with Ari? I ask Matt.

Yes, he replies. But it’s the first in a stream of messages.

But it could be fun too.

You don’t have to date her.

Actually she wouldn’t date you anyway.

Apparently she only does one night stands.

But I don’t want a one night stand.

Going back to Ari would definitely be a mistake.

I want to go.

But I shouldn’t. I need to make better choices.

And so I pull on some clothes and head back towards her room. She makes a face when she opens the door, half smile and half grimace.

“I… er…” I say, not quite sure how to put my feelings into words. And not wanting to either. I want to stride into the room and pick her up and throw her on the bed and forget this would be a terrible mistake. But it’s time I grew up. Time I stopped making dumb decisions.

She takes in my outfit, the fact I’ve put on a t-shirt and jeans and I’m no longer dripping wet in a fluffy hotel towel. But hang on… she’s dressed too. A pair of wide leg joggers and a cashmere sweater. She smiles at me, but there’s something underneath it. Pity? Regret? A desire for me to leave her alone and for neither of us to ever mention this again?

“I’ll just…” I motion at the outfit I was wearing earlier before we stripped off for the hot tub.

“Yeah,” she says and steps to the side to allow me to rescue my clothes.

“Great. So… errr… good night, Ari,” I say and start walking backwards down the corridor.