I smiled at her reaction, happy she liked her new home. “Do you cook?” I asked as I went about making her some tea. I glanced at her, and it struck me how young she was. She couldn’t be more than twenty, which made me feel even more ancient. I would eternally look as though I was in my early thirties, but that didn’t take away the years between us. Not that it mattered. She was mine, and I would never let her go.
“I love to cook, but my aunt prefers to use my money to have a chef.”
My brows rose as I turned to face Thana with a steaming mug. “Pardon?”
Her face flushed, the blood rushing to her cheeks and making me hungrier than I’d been before I found her outside my door. “Nothing. I—um. Yes, I love to cook.”
My lips curled down, and I made a mental note to come back to that later. At the moment, there was a more pressing situation. I beckoned her with my hand and started walking toward the door that led to a hallway where my office was located. I stopped and waited as she padded over, wincing once or twice. That’s when I realized she was barefoot. The paths leading to my house were a mixture of dirt and gravel, and I had no idea where from, or how long, she’d been running before ending up at my door. Her feet couldn’t be in very good shape.
I handed her the mug, and she wrapped her hands around it. “Hold that tight,” I warned her before scooping her into my arms. She was as light as a feather, even for someone who didn’t have my vampiric strength. A smile played at the corners of my mouth when she didn’t protest and even snuggled a little into my embrace.
Thana’s delicious scent tickled my nose, and I inhaled deeply, trying to imprint it in my lungs. She tilted her head to the side, and I licked my lips as I stared at the two spots on her neck just begging to feed my soul.
Fuck. I wanted her.
Her sweetness.
Her blood.
Her body.
All of her.
My first instinct was to sit on one of the small couches in the room and settle her on my lap. However, I argued with myself to go slow, and I wanted to take care of her feet, anyway. So I lowered her onto a seat and gave in to the desire to place a chaste kiss on her forehead. When I noticed her little shiver, I had to curl my fingers into fists and bite the inside of my cheek to keep from biting her. “Tell me what’s happened, Thana,” I requested as I knelt in front of her. She watched me curiously as I lifted her skirt to her knees.
The enhanced senses of a vampire could be a blessing and a curse. My eyes drifted to the darkness between her legs. I heard her heartbeat accelerate, and I smelled the tangy scent of her arousal. Squeezing my eyes shut, I thought about the name and species of every flower in my garden. After a minute, I felt a little more in control, but I was careful not to breathe again.
Grasping her foot, I slid one hand up her calf and the other on her heel, lifting it so I could look at the sole. Sure enough, a few cuts and scrapes had tiny bits of rock embedded in them. Rage like I’d never felt before filled me, and I vowed to send the one who’d hurt her straight back to hell.
3
Thana
The last time anyone had taken care of me was so long ago that I almost couldn’t remember how it felt. I couldn’t believe how tender Kieran was being with me. Or how gorgeous he was.
Tall, dark, and handsome wasn’t exactly the right way to describe him since his skin was paler than mine and his eyes were a shade of bright blue that reminded me of the Indian Ocean off the Maldives. One of my favorite memories of my parents was when we’d stayed at a luxurious bungalow on the beach there for an entire month. Maybe that was why I felt as though I could stare into Kieran’s eyes forever.
“We need to get your feet cleaned up. If we don’t get the dirt and pebbles out, you’ll end up with an infection.” He stroked his thumb down the middle of my sole, and goose bumps broke out along my calf.
He gave me an expectant look, and I forced myself to focus on what Kieran had said instead of how it felt to have his hands on me. “Uh-huh.”
His lips curved up just the tiniest bit, and I realized I wasn’t doing a good job of hiding how rattled I was by my attraction to him. I felt my cheeks heat and cursed my penchant for blushing. “Don’t move,” he ordered. “It won’t take me long to grab everything I need to take care of you.”
“Okay.” His smile widened at my one-word response, and I felt my blush deepen. When he brushed a kiss to my forehead after gently setting my foot back down, he foiled my plan to gather my scattered wits. Instead, I stared at his butt as he strode away and pressed my fingertips to the spot he’d kissed once I couldn’t see him anymore.
When he reappeared only a couple of minutes later, I dropped my hand onto my lap and tried not to look like I’d been mentally undressing him while he was gone. I wasn’t sure what was going on with me—I’d never reacted to anyone like this before. My libido picked a heck of a time to roar to life. I should be focused on what I was going to about my aunt promising my hand in marriage to a psychopath; not on the guy who’d rescued me from a bad situation.
“This might hurt a little,” Kieran warned as he placed a folded towel beneath my feet and opened a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. Wrapping his fingers around my ankle, he lifted my foot and cleaned it with a damp washcloth before pouring the peroxide over my skin.
“Ouch.” I must have cut the bottom of my foot while running because I felt the sting of the peroxide.
Kieran’s eyes were full of regret. “I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to apologize for,” I reassured him with a soft smile. “Even with your warning, I was surprised by the sting more than anything else. And you’re not the one responsible for me getting hurt in the first place. All you’ve done tonight is help me. I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t let me in your house.”
He gave me a jerky nod and was quiet while giving my other foot the same treatment. It wasn’t until he’d slathered my soles with ointment and slid a pair of socks over them that he asked, “What made you run barefoot in the night? Who is responsible for your pain and fear?”
Something about Kieran made me feel as though I could trust him with anything, even though we’d only met less than an hour ago. Going with my gut, I decided to confide in him. “Remember that aunt I mentioned when you asked me if I liked to cook? The one who uses my money to keep a chef on staff?” He nodded, reaching for my hands as I twisted them in my lap and giving me the courage to continue. “As the executor of my trust, she holds all the purse strings. I haven’t minded how she’s chosen to spend the monthly distribution; my parents left me more money than I’ll ever be able to spend in my lifetime. I’ve bided my time until I turn twenty-one, and she has no more control over me...until tonight.”
Kieran gave my hands a reassuring squeeze before moving to sit next to me. “What happened?”
His gentleness and caring were my undoing. Tears welled in my eyes and streamed down my cheeks as I remembered the betrayal I felt when Jonathan had told me what my aunt had done and the fear that followed. Kieran wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me into his side, and I felt every inch of where our bodies touched each other. Taking strength from his embrace, I pulled myself together and lifted my hand to show him the ring Jonathan had surprised me with. “What I thought was supposed to be a birthday celebration turned out to be a dinner in honor of my engagement to a psychopath I’d never even met before tonight.”