“It appears as though it’s been an expensive search.”
“You have no idea,” I muttered as I took our luggage from the trunk.
We entered the door leading to the kitchen and Chansey stopped just inside. “This kitchen is huge. Why did he want this? He’ll never use it.”
“Resale value.”
“Really?”
“If we decided to sell, no one is going to want to buy a house without a kitchen. Besides, it would seem a little weird to the builders to not have a kitchen. It might bring up issues best left alone.”
“Yeah, I can see that.”
We walked down the hall off of the living room where Gia and Lairah told me our quarters would be. I opened the door and stepped back for Chansey to take the lead in seeing what my sisters had created for us.
“Oh. My. Goodness. Curry. It’s incredible.”
The king size canopy bed was what grabbed my attention first. It was facing us as we walked in and it was covered in ivory and deep red bedding with sheer ivory fabric hanging from the top of the canopy frame. I couldn’t stop the smile from forming on my face because it reminded me of our wedding night at the Bed and Breakfast.
The wood plank flooring was a rich brown, but a deep red and gold wool rug lay in the center of the room covering most of it. The walls were deep red with a dark glazed overlay finish and the windows were covered with layers of long, deep red luxurious drapes that blocked all sunlight. I had to give it to my sisters; they might be vampires, but they knew ambience and romance.
“They did a good job,” I understated just to see how she would correct me.
“Are you kidding me? They did a fantastic job,” she said as she walked toward one of the closed doors. “What’s behind this door?”
She opened the door and we saw all of my art supplies on one side of the room and the other was set up as an office with a desk and computer. She turned and looked at me smiling. “Gia and Lairah are so awesome. They remembered the studio for you. I told them Harvey was building one for you at the New Orleans compound.”
I was worse than a child at Christmas. I couldn’t wait for her to see her room. “I saw some other doors. Want to see what’s behind them?”
“What else could there be besides a bathroom and closets?”
“I don’t know. I guess we’ll have to see,” I hinted and she eyed me suspiciously.
After we inspected the bathroom and closets, I opened the last door for Chansey and she walked into the sitting room designed with her in mind. Its decor was an extension of our bedroom’s minus most of the romance. A plush gold couch stretched against a red glazed wall and it faced two built in mahogany cabinets from floor to ceiling. Her guitar rested on a stand next to the couch and I watched the smile form on her face as she realized the room was hers.
“For me?” she asked as she smiled.
“Yea, I wanted you to have your own room as well,” I explained.
She wrinkled her forehead in confusion at me. “Why would I possibly need my own room all to myself?”
“Maybe you’ll take up knitting or crocheting and need a quiet place to do it,” I laughed.
“Well, I love it and I love you,” she said as she slipped her arms up around my shoulders and placed a slow, seductive kiss on my mouth as she arched against me. Her lips brushed along my jaw and hovered over my ear.
“They’re asleep for the day?” she whispered.
“Doesn’t matter if they’re not because there won’t be a sound to pass through these walls around us,” I reassured her.
She reached for my T-shirt and pushed it up over my head and I heard her ask, “So we don’t have to hold back?” as she tossed my shirt to the floor.
I picked her up and tossed her over my shoulder to carry her to our new bed. “As if you could hold back, Mrs. Brennan,” I laughed.
15 Love It When A Plan Comes Together
It was incredible how easy it was to fall asleep with Chansey pressed against me in our bed. Our bed...I loved how that sounded.
When I woke up, I had no idea how long we had been asleep, but it felt like it must have been a long time because I felt incredibly rested. I turned to the clock to see what time it was because the vampire in me was steadily losing its natural ability to differentiate between daytime and nighttime. Eight o’clock. That meant Sol and the fledgeling were up and wondering where I was.
“Chansey,” I whispered and she slightly stirred. “Chansey, Love, it’s eight o’clock. I have to go see Sol and the fledgeling.”
She sat up in the bed with the sheet tucked under her arms. “Give me a minute to get dressed and I’ll come with you.” She gave me a quick kiss on my mouth and said, “I want to meet my fledgeling,” Her fledgeling? Awesome.
She slid off of the bed and gathered the clothes on the floor. She slipped on her black bra and panties and then held up a pair of jeans too big for her. She tossed them in my direction and said, “Not mine.” I reached for the jeans that landed in front of me and put them on after my boxers. I watched her put on her jeans and black blouse and I wondered how watching her get dressed could be as sexy as watching her get undressed. It was incredible.
“Give me a sec to freshen up in the bathroom.”
After she disappeared behind the door, I went in search of my shirt lost in the ruckus and found it on the floor of Chansey’s sitting room. I pulled it over my head as I stood in the middle of her room and looked around. It was really a great room and I knew she was going to put it to good use for something.
“I’m ready, Curry,” I heard her call from our bedroom and I shut the door behind me as I left.
We walked to the living room and found Solomon sitting on the couch waiting for us. He got up to give me a hug and said, “Finally! It’s about damn time you showed your ugly mug.”
“I’m sorry,” I apologized. “We fell asleep and just woke up. Jet lag,” I laughed.
I could see from his expression he wasn’t buying, but I didn’t care. “Yeah, right. I don’t think that you can blame jet lag when you never changed time zones.”
I watched his expression completely change when he looked at my wife and then he hugged her. He looked so tender and loving, a Solomon I had never seen before. “I’m sorry, Chansey. I really didn’t want to interrupt your honeymoon. I debated about it and discussed it with Sebastian, but we couldn’t find a solution without Curry’s help, so we were forced to call.”
I took notice how Chansey was the one to let go first. “I just thought of something. Curry never told me the fledgeling’s name.”
“Her name is Jennifer Ferrand, but she prefers to be called Jenn.”
“Jenn,” she repeated, as though she was repeating it so she wouldn’t forget it later. “Where is she?”
“She’s downstairs.” He finally took his gaze from Chansey and looked at me. “A Blood Swan came today, so I gave her plenty of blood to curb her appetite for this meeting. Is it o
kay if I go ahead and bring her up to meet you? ”
I had to be certain of Chansey’s safety. “She understands about Chansey?
“She does.”
“Then I’m okay with it,” I consented. “But warn her again, just so she is clear.”
“Of course,” he agreed. “I’m not going to put Chansey in danger.”
He left to go downstairs to get the fledgeling and Chansey asked, “He’s going to tell her you’ll kill her if she tries to come after me, isn’t he?”
I stood with my arms crossed as I watched the door to the stairs. “After the way he looked at you just now, I think he’s telling her that he’ll be the one to kill her if she makes a move for you.”
“I can feel that you’re jealous, but you shouldn’t be,” she whispered, as if that would keep Sol from hearing her. “Solomon thinks of me the same way you think of Gia and Lairah.”
She was right, but I didn’t have time to agree with her because Sol came through the doorway with Jenn, the fledgeling that would help bring my human wife one step closer to becoming a vampire.
Sol and Jenn stopped a few steps outside of the door and he was holding her hand. “Is the craving too much for you?”
She shook her head and looked up to smile at Sol. “No. I’m okay.”
She looked back at us and Sol introduced, “Jenn, this is Curry Brennan and his wife, Chansey.”
She looked so young, much younger than Solomon and I were when we were turned. Her straight blonde hair was cut into long layers that hung well past her shoulders and her blue eyes were surrounded by black smokey eyeshadow.
Chansey stepped forward to offer her hand because she was a nice Southern girl, but I quickly threw my arm in front of her to act as a barrier. She looked up at me and I shook my head to tell her it wasn’t a good idea.
When the introductions were complete, we went into the living room to sit down and Sol announced, “We all know why we’re here, but Jenn needs to explain this situation from the beginning so there are no misunderstandings.”
He turned to Jenn and said, “It’s okay. Go ahead and tell them everything you told me about Vincent and his coven.”