Unbound (31 page)

* * *

Cayden knocked on the bedroom door at dinnertime. It’d been nearly two hours since he’d left Dani to get settled. She didn’t answer the door, so he knocked again but heard nothing from inside the room. The thickness of her scent told him she was there, so he turned the unlocked doorknob and peeked into the dark room. He was really hoping he wouldn’t get choked, again.

“Dinner’s done, Dani,” h
e said into the darkness and drew in a lungful of her sweet scent. She didn’t answer. He opened the door further to let in the light from the hall. The light splayed across her on the other side of
the bed. He entered to wake her.
“Dani, dinner’s on the table.”

He walked around the large bed and froze in his tracks. She was wearing only a bathrobe and, dear God, it was open. He could see the luscious curve of one breast and half of her nipple was exposed to him. Most of her left side was hanging out. Her bare leg drew his eyes all the way up her thigh to the wedge of beauty he so desperately wanted to touch and taste. She was sleeping so soundly with her soft lips parted and inviting. He remembered the feel of those lips under his when she’d kissed him. He’d been shocked but elated to have her willingly bless him with such hot affection. Her lips were so damn sweet. Not only did she smell like floral vanilla, she tasted like it, too. In the moments he was allowed to worship her mouth, he could smell the blood on her face, and was so confused by the intoxicating allure of it. He again thought of tasting her blood and making love to her at the same time. This thought shocked him. Tasting her would bond her to him for the rest of their lives, and he had never wanted that with anyone else. He had never really made love to anyone. He’d had a lot of sex, but never loved anyone. Looking at her made him want to find out what that would feel like. He wondered if he could love her. Stepping closer to the bed, he wanted to touch that creamy bare skin with his hands, his body, and his lips. He needed to leave before she woke and caught him gawking at her like a pervert. If he woke her, she’d be embarrassed that he’d seen her this way. She must have been exhausted after the day she’d had, so he let her sleep. If she were hungry later, he’d get her some food. Cayden left the room quickly, quietly securing the door, and went straight to his room for a cold shower. He needed to get his head on straight if Dani was going to be staying in his home. His plan to take up his family mantle in an effort to get closer to her had worked like a charm. Now he would need to learn how to balance his desire for her with his duty to protect her as his charge.

* * *

Dani woke up hours later and couldn’t believe how long she’d slept. It was ten thirty and she wondered if Cayden had ever come to get her for dinner. She dug out a nightgown and put in on under the robe to go look for him. The house was completely quiet and she felt like an intruder walking around
their private space. She smiled
imagining Cayden growing up here. This is the home that helped shape him, just like her home had shaped her.

Her tummy rumbled, unsurprisingly since she hadn’t eaten all day, unless she counted the blood she’d taken from Charlie. A creaking noise sounded from out back. Dani crept to the kitchen window, imagining assassins creeping around the yard looking for a way to get at her. She didn’t see anyone at first until a small movement caught her eye at the far end of the yard. There was someone swinging in a hammock out there. An odd thing to be doing on a fall night, she thought, but the day had been very warm and the night was supposed to be the same. She figured a killer wouldn’t stop for a swing and she wondered if it was Cayden out there. She wanted to talk to him. Even if it seemed a bit underhanded, Dani was willing to use their new closeness to get some information out of him. Her mom and Mason hadn’t told her much, and she wanted some more answers about vampire behavior and protocol. Cayden knew she wasn’t raised among his kind so he might answer her without too much suspicion.

Back in the guest room, she slipped into a cute nightie. The bottoms were cute little boy-shorts and the matching baby-doll top in a soft cottony fabric clung to her breasts. It was sexy without looking like she was trying to be sexy. She pulled on the robe without tying it up and slid on slippers. She was fairly sure it was Cayden out there, and if it wasn’t, she just hoped it wasn’t a crazed vamp hunter on a break. Guilt assailed her when she opened the door and stepped out onto the patio. She’d never used her body to get what she wanted before, but she also had never had her life threatened before. She needed all the information she could get to protect herself. It’s not like she was going to ha
ve sex with him or anything. S
he’d show him a little leg and hope it distracted him enough to loosen his lips. Once these people found out what she really was, they would turn on her. She’d need to protect herself somehow. At the moment, it felt like the right thing to do, so she padded softly over to the hammock and was rel
ieved to see that it was indeed
Cayden. He didn’t open his eyes so he startled her when he said, “Good evening, Danielle.”

After finding her voice, she replied in a breathy whisper. “Hello, Mr. Paris.” She hadn’t meant it to sound sexy but it did.

“What are you doing out here?” He opened his eyes and gave her a crooked smile.

“I was going to ask you the same question.” She decided to go for broke and see what happened. “Do you have room for me in there?”

His lips stretched across his face and he scooted over slightly, extending his arm to help her climb in with him. Once in the hammock, it held them tightly against each other. He let her use his arm for a pillow and, as close as they were, it didn’t seem unnatural when she cocked her leg up on his hip, exposing the length of skin. It was quiet for a bit but the electricity that was buzzing between them was almost audible. She decided to let him speak first, not wanting to give the impression that she’d come to talk. He was very good at letting you think without pestering you, but in these close quarters with her hand tucked under his shirt rubbing soft circles on his muscled abs, and as much of her exposed body pressed against his as was possible, he would crack before she did.

“So, about that kiss today?” he murmured.

“I’m sorry if I offended you.” She started to pull away from him as if embarrassed.

“You didn’t offend me, but you surprised the hell out of me. To tell you the truth, I’ve wanted to kiss you since that first night at the club, but Chase saw you first and made it clear that you were off limits.”

“Off limits, huh? I guess it’s too bad you listen to him. You could have saved us some time.” Holy shit, she’d just implied they could have a relationship and she was pretty sure she meant it. “Maybe I should try it again to see if you really want to kiss me, or if you’d still rather hand me off to your friend. Maybe that Darren guy would be more interested. He didn’t seem to want you around me either. Maybe they know something I don’t.”

He stiffened and looked down at her with knitted brows. She’d hit the nerve she was looking for. He didn’t like that guy at all, and in a growl, he started to say, “If he touches you…”

She cut him off by rolling herself farther up onto him and pressed her lips to his for the second time that day, causing the hammock to sway with the motion. She liked tasting him and feeling his long hard body under her. He was a warrior, strong and deadly but under her touch, he melted and molded to her will. She fisted her hand in his hair and kissed him roughly, invading him to take what she
wanted. It was nothing like the
earlier
kiss that had been soft and sweet
. This was a deep and demanding joining of mouths. His hands ran over her body at the same insistent pace. Pulling his hair to tilt his chin up, Dani wondered where she’d gotten this aggressive streak. She liked it the same way she’d liked fighting with him. She bit his lower lip gently and slowly nibbled her way up his jaw to his ear.

“I guess I can see why you’d let someone else have me without a fight. I’m not nearly worth the trouble am I, Cayden?” she purred. Letting go of his hair she gently sucked his tongue into her mouth. His stiff length pressed against her pelvis through the barrier of their clothes. That was enough for now. She wouldn’t have sex with him tonight to get answers, but she had laid the groundwork for more closeness and would see how it played out. She was pissed about his easy acquiescence to Chase. Did everyone do what he said? Walking away was the best thing for now. Before he could gather himself enough to respond, she rolled off of him and quickly fled. She shot over her shoulder, “I’m sorry, Cay. I won’t do that anymore. I just thought we had chemistry when we kissed earlier but I understand that Chase is more im
portant to you. Bros before bitches
, right?” She heard his feet hit the ground to come after her. Reaching the French doors, she went inside quickly and locked the doors.

Shit! She didn’t know what happened. She’d gone out there to gently coax some information out of him and ended up stirring up a beehive. It pissed her off that Chase had had so much influence over everything from the moment she had met him.

FIFTEEN~

Cayden reached the doors that entered the guest room and crashed through them with his shoulder. There was no damn way he was letting her walk away after the performance she’d just given. She had just told him she was thinking about a future with him and then walked away angry. She couldn’t say that shit to him, melting his brain with hot kisses and
her luscious body just to say, ‘I won’t do that anymore’
and stomp off.

For the first time he wanted to think about the future too, but he knew it would be difficult when he took her to Chase’s place. Maybe she didn’t need to go to Chase’s house. She was standing on the other side of the bed, hands on her hips, glaring at him. She was wearing a sexy little pink thing that distracted him from his stampede.

The next move he made could have gotten his ass handed to him by this beautiful woman who looked as though she couldn’t hurt anyone. He crossed the room in three long strides. Without thinking he reached out and grabbed her face. His large hand was wrapped around her jaw, pushing her back against the wall.

“Did you think
that door could keep me out?” h
e growled and made an effort to gentle his hand.

Dani looked up at him with glassy eyes, “No. I don’t believe that anything could keep you away from something or someone you wanted, Cayden.” She put a huge emphasis on the word ‘wanted’. “That’s why I walked away from you. If you had wanted me, and I mean really wanted me, not just to have sex with me, you wouldn’t have let anything stop you.” She smacked his arm to dislodge his hand.

“You don’t understand Dani. There are so many things you don’t understand.” Cooling, he shook his head and raked a hand through his hair.

“You know what I don’t understand? I don’t understand how you could say you wanted me from the night you first saw me, then you just stood by and allowed him to hurt me. You knew he was engaged and he was playing with me, but that was alright. I was a virgin. He was going to take that from
me and drop me as soon as his d
addy said so. And that was alright because I was off limits to you. So what did you care if I got hurt, right?” The anger and hurt bled from her tone.

Cayden was shocked by this bit of information. It was rare these days to find such a lovely girl that hadn’t given in
to lust. He was also instantly annoyed at the knowledge that the human boy Dani was so attached to must have been the one to have that first experience with her.

“Did Chase know…did he know that you were…?” Cayden stuttered, unable to say the word he was reaching for.

“He did the night you helped me at that party. He spent the night in my bed thinking about what he was going to do to me. The only reason he didn’t do it then was he wanted me to remember it, and I was totally wasted,” she supplied.

“You can’t know what he was thinking, Dani,” Cayden countered.

“I know exactly what he was thinking. He shared every little detail with me when I was in his bed. He reached out to me and showed me what happened that night. I was afraid, and he was trying to distract me. In the process, I was able to see his point of view of the evening. So yes, I do know exactly what he was thinking and what his plans were.”

“In his defense
,
and mine, Chase wasn’t made aware of the arrangement until after he met you
,
and I didn’t know about it until after you stormed out of his place the day of the incident with Sam.” He tried to explain without giving Chase too much credit. He stepped closer to her and she stepped back.

“I want you to tell me what you think I don’t understand. I want to understand, Cayden.” Still angry she hopped up on the bed like she was ready for a bedtime story.

Cayden watched her, trying desperately not to think of her on that bed naked and sprawled out for him. He wasn’t doing a very good job with her sitting there in what amounted to panties and a little shirt that was doing a lousy job covering her perfect body. He knew now what was under those clothes and after she had kissed him so deliciously he wanted to get a closer look.

“I’ll tell you what you want to know after you answer a few questions of mine. Deal?” He wasn’t about to let what had happened today go without some understanding. She didn’t respond, but seemed to be waiting for his questions.