He just watches me with those cold, black eyes of his and it unnerves me for a second until I remember what lies behind them. I climb out of the pool and take his arm, shaking him, feeling the electricity that still lies there.
“You shouldn’t be here, Constantine will kill you if he finds you within a thousand miles of me,” I hiss at him, afraid for his life.
He regards me for a moment. His eyes searching mine intently. “I know,” he says mildly, then he inclines his head respectfully. Well, mock respectfully I suppose, when he adds with his delicious sarcastic tone that I remember so well, “Mi’ lady. How lovely to see you again.” His gaze rakes over my body and I remember that I am as naked as a blue jay. I magick up a towel to wrap around me in case my husband should walk in. His gaze is full of amusement now.
“What are you doing here?” I hiss at him again.
“I heard the tales,” he says just as quietly. “I wanted to come and see if they were true.”
“And which tales would they be?” I ask archly, to cover up the fact that I want desperately to reach out and hold him, even for a brief moment, to see if he is really here.
He chuckles and for that second, it lights up his face before he resumes the cruel smirk that usually adorns his ruggedly handsome features.
“That you are no longer a Vampire,” he replies.
“Oh, that,” I say dismissively. “Yep, all true. Now if you will excuse me…” I turn on my heel and stalk towards the poolroom door. My stomach feels like lead, conflicting emotions rearing their heads at his sudden reappearance in my life. One thing is screaming at me though. I need to get to Constantine and make sure that he has no idea that Frederick is here. There is a long and very messy history there and I don’t need another drama to clean up.
“Why did he not turn you again?” Frederick asks, his quiet voice catching me off guard.
I face him again and he has a curious look on his face. “He tried,” I say and leave it at that.
“Hm,” he says. He stalks a bit closer to me and curls my soaking wet hair around my ear. I want to run my hands up his chest and into his own long black hair, but I refrain as it is forbidden. He is forbidden. “Would you like me to try, Aefre? I know that I would love to be your sire and have you do all of those deliciously wicked things to me that you do with him.”
I jerk back from him and slap his hand away. “Don’t touch me again,” I say coldly. I can’t do this with him. I just...can’t.
He laughs softly, but it’s not an amused sound. “There was a time, mi’ lady, that you wanted me to touch you,” he says, his eyes smoldering into mine as he flicks the towel loose and it drops to the floor.
I swallow. He is not
wrong. There was a time when I desperately wanted him to touch me, not unlike now. My body has lit up at feeling his touch again and with the excitement of doing something daring and adventurous.
Even though I should, I don’t stop his finger as it trails down my neck and pauses at my pulse thumping in my neck. I freeze, wanting him to bite me, even knowing that Constantine will kill us both if he knew I had these thoughts, let alone acted on them. His finger continues down in between my breasts and then he smirks at me as he circles my hard nipple. I gasp as he flicks it gently. He leans forward and whispers, “Do you want me to carry on?”
I smile sinfully, but coming to my senses finally, I take his hand. His eyes hood fiercely as he senses my apparent arousal and then they pop open wide as I crush his hand in mine.
“Don’t touch me,” I say to him again and drop his broken hand. I had to. I did what Constantine would want me to do.
He flexes it and it heals instantly. I half expect him to strike me, but instead he looks impressed. “No longer so delicate,” he remarks as he rubs his knuckles. “Much more to my liking.”
I am quite insulted by that comment, because I was under the impression that I was very much to his liking a few centuries ago. But then I grit my teeth. What am I doing?
“Leave,” I say to him and step back, nearly tripping over the discarded towel.
In a flash of Vampire speed, he reaches out and catches me by my elbow before I tumble. His need to still protect me shining through with that move. I shake him off, with great effort, not needing his assistance, and I bend to retrieve the towel and wrap it around me tightly again.
“Such a pity,” he murmurs. “I wasn’t finished looking.”
“Too bad,” I say, stiffly. “You will never see it again.”
“That’s what you said the first time I saw your breasts,” he says with a wicked smile. “It definitely wasn’t the last.”
I have no comeback for that. Infuriating beast.
He steps forward and his eyes bore into mine. I feel myself reach up to undo the towel again, but then I stop and shake my head vehemently.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” I snarl at him.
“Such a dirty mouth,” he says, tracing my lips with his finger. “It would be put to much better use wrapped around my cock.”