He sees me notice him and he says in Italian, “I am Ramon. Mr. D’Arcangelo sent me.”
Oh, did he now? Of course he did. He always knows exactly what I want, when I want it. Except maybe in the case of too much information.
“He said to give you whatever you need,” he adds.
Humph, I think rudely. How about the last afternoon back with none of this mess? “Thank you,” I say politely to him. He comes closer. He is really good looking. Whatever I need, eh? He is such an arse sometimes. I motion to Ramon to sit on the bench, which he does. I sit on his lap, fully aware that not only am I still just in my robe and nothing else, but also covered in ancient nursery dust. He doesn’t seem to mind though, as I squirm against him to get more comfortable. I’m not going to fuck him. I’m sorely tempted just to get back at CK, but that wouldn’t be fair to Devon and Cole. Ramon places his large hands on my hips to steady me as I push his head to the side, my fangs already down. He groans in pleasure and tightens his grip as I sink my fangs into his neck. I take my fill, then I lick his wounds and then my lips.
“Do you want me to please you?” he murmurs huskily and again, I really want to, but I shake my head. I kiss him softly and say, “No, but thank you.” I climb off him, feeling more in control now. I pick up the Scotch and the cigarettes and head back into the castle to find my sire.
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
I find him in his bedroom. He’s changed out of the dusty jeans and t-shirt and into sweats and a vest, also in black. I have to say, as much as he rocks the expensive suit look, he does casual so much better. Maybe I just think that because I don’t usually see him dressed down. I cast my eyes around the room and yes, there they are: In three’s. He remembered. I relax a tiny bit.
He seems surprised to see me and says, “I didn’t think I would see you so soon. Did Ramon not find you?” He keeps his distance from me.
“Yes, he did. Thank you.”
He nods at my gratitude while he peers at me.
“No, I didn’t fuck him,” I add thinking that must be what he is after.
Looking relieved, he comes closer. “Are you, okay?” he asks hesitantly.
“Depends what you mean by ‘okay’?” I snap, remembering everything I was trying to forget. “That was two major fucking bombs CK, I’ll give you that.”
He looks slightly abashed. “Sorry,” he mumbles.
“Are you? I don’t understand. Why would you tell me this now? Especially the last part,” I ask.
“Aefre, you have gone around for the last millennium thinking I didn’t care about you enough to want to commit to you. In a public, ‘everybody-knows’ sense. I started off thinking that our Vampire bond was enough, but it didn’t seem to be enough for you. You wanted me on a level I couldn’t quite comprehend, that I didn’t want to comprehend. I didn’t want you so reliant on me because I knew I would hurt you. How could I not? You were so sweet and innocent, and I was a disillusioned, dark soul with depravities you wouldn’t even know existed. You were the light of my life, Aefre, when I met you. You still are. No one else has even come close to what I feel for you and they never will.” He sits heavily on the bed while I stand there fiddling with my charms. “This. All of this,” he says as he waves his arm about indicating this afternoon. “I never wanted any of this. You pushed me in that infuriating way of yours. I was happy to let sleeping dogs lie. But it became apparent that it needed to be said. That you needed me to show you I wasn’t some heartless bastard. That I did have plans for us. Twice. What I said about the baby. Your baby. I should never have told you that. It wasn’t fair. I am sorry.”
My baby. My baby. My baby that would have been born to a weak mother and a vicious father in a world where even if it had survived the pregnancy, life was so uncertain. No, I didn’t want children, not with Radulf, probably not with anyone.
“What was your plan, Constantine? If you knew and still wanted me to come away with you and turn me. What was your plan?” I need to know, because I am at a loss.
He looks afraid that I would ask him that and says, “Honestly, I don’t know. I thought of not telling you and turning you anyway. I even for a second thought about telling you, letting you have it and then turning you after. But I was so sure you wouldn’t want me to after. I don’t know, Aefre.”
I nod, taking it all in. “You didn’t trust me to choose you,” I state.
He can’t quite believe I voiced his fear. “Would you have?” he asks earnestly.
“I don’t know. Probably. I do know that I never wanted a child. Not with him. Even if we had gone away together, I would still be forever linked to him, reminded of him every day. I didn’t want that. But it’s a moot point, my love. Don’t you see that the baby was doomed either way? It matters not now what decisions were made or not made. What concerns me now is that we have opened a can of worms that can’t be resealed, try as we might.”
“No shit,” he mumbles, making me laugh. A proper laugh now instead of the hysteria from earlier.
I pull him to me. “What are we going to do about it?”
He kisses me softly. “Nothing. We will do nothing. You will go back to your charges and your life in L.A. I will be here waiting for you, seeing you for two days every week and making the most of the time I have with you until I can make you mine. Then we will revisit,” he states it as a done deal.
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
“Move to L.A.,” I say on impulse.
His eyes widen. “Come again?” he says.
“Move to L.A.,” I say again.