I frowned. “How do you know my name?”
“We all know your name and your room number, Miss Brighton. Everyone in the hotel does.” He continued to stare at my breasts, a look of wonder on his face.
I was getting a little turned on by the attention, thanks to the Itch. I slipped an arm around his neck and pressed myself against his torso. It felt so good to my starved body that I wanted to cry, but I forced myself to remain on-task. “Were you coming up to visit me?” My voice dropped an octave, husky and seductive.
Good and distracted, the busboy planted his hands on my behind and rubbed it, his eyes wide and unbelieving. “You smell like camels, Miss Brighton,” he whispered, dipping his face down for a kiss.
I averted my mouth at the last moment, noticing his very bad teeth and even worse breath. “Is that going to be a problem?”
“No, miss,” he said reverently, and buried his face in my cleavage.
Zane stalked past me down the hall and turned the knob to my room, shutting the door behind him.
The busboy bit the side of my breast, jerking my attention back to him with a gasp. The feeling was pleasurable, and I could tell from the look on his face that he was willing to go at it right here, right now in the middle of the hallway.
My body wanted it
“Kasib, miss.”
“Well, Kasib,” I said, sliding one of the hot breakfast plates off his cart. “What time do you get off work?” I touched the tip of my finger in the pat of butter sliding off a pancake and licked it suggestively.
His jaw dropped at what I was implying, and I must admit, it sent a thrill straight through me as well. The fact that I had so much power over a man went straight to my head at times. No wonder Remy was such a slut.
Kasib began to stammer. “I … I … I am free after seven tonight, miss.”
Making a note to be long gone before then, I smiled seductively. “Come to my room then, Kasib, and we’ll finish what we started here.”
“Yes, miss!” He adjusted his crotch and raced back down the hallway with his cart.
I ran to my room, heading straight for Zane, who was seated on the far side of the bed, bent over. His injured hand was splayed out before him, his good one clutching his wrist.
“Oh my God,” I said, dropping beside him as I stared at his injuries. Shriveled and blackened as if scorched in a fire, his fingers were curled into his palm against the pain. The skin of his hand was charred black and looked like it had been melted by intense heat. Blisters covered every inch of skin up to his elbow.
“My gun did that?” I put my fist to my mouth and bit down hard, determined not to cry. “Oh Zane, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
“I know you didn’t,” he said, his voice tight with pain as he slowly uncurled his fingers. “Get me something to wrap this up.”
I quickly brought him a cool, wet towel, and he carefully wrapped it around his hand. As he did, I caught a glimpse of a small tattoo-a symbol I had never seen before-on his inner wrist. An angelic symbol, just like Noah had. It was a stark reminder of what he had once been.
“I’m so sorry that I shot you,” I apologized again. “Remy told me to use the gun if I got into trouble and I, uh, jumped the gun. No pun intended.”
He snorted. “Count on Remy to buy an outdated gun with terrible accuracy and only two shots. No doubt it was stylish, or something idiotic like that.”
“Pink,” I agreed, feeling like a moron. “I didn’t know it was that bad of a gun.”
“All guns are shit in the wrong hands.”
I couldn’t disagree. “Will it heal?”
He gave me a wry look, a return to the old, familiar Zane. “In about two to three days; faster if I get a few good feedings in to rejuvenate my system.” He cast a meaningful look at me.
Desire shot through me and I swallowed hard. When he’d asked me a few hours ago, I’d turned him down. But I’d seen some aspects of Zane recently that confused me, and some that charmed me, as well. He was human underneath his tough vampire exterior, underneath the wings. He’d saved me, kept me safe when he could have abandoned me. He’d carried me back to Cairo with an injured hand, when he could have left me to wander in the desert.
Underneath it all was a man who I could have fallen in love with when I was human.
But things changed. I had changed. And he wasn’t a man I could ever, ever fall in love with.
He was the enemy, an agent for the Queen of Vampires.
I sighed and moved away from him to try to ease the fierce longing throbbing through my body. My vision was hazy at the edges, my hands unsteady, and I knew it’d only get progressively worse as I continued to fight the Itch. “I can’t, Zane.”
“Your eyes are so blue,” he said, catching my hand with his good one, pulling me back down close to him. “You must be in terrible distress.”
A good, if old-fashioned, way to put it. My clothes were chafing my ultra-sensitive skin, and I had to resist the urge to fling them off and jump on him. “You’re wounded, I’m dirty, and we’re both worn out,” I reasoned, trying to remain strong in the face of opposition.
His fingers skimmed my cheek, brushing away sand. “Liar. You don’t get tired.”
I looked into his eyes, seeing the rim of red slowly flaring into the black irises. He was interested, all right, wounded or not. I averted my eyes, my gaze landing on the black waterfall of feathers edging gracefully over the bed. “Your wings are so beautiful,” I said, enthralled by the sight of them. “Can I touch them?”
His eyes flared red and he gave a jerky nod.
My hand stretched out, gingerly touching the feathers. The interior feathers were extremely soft and downy, the ones on the edges harder and longer. My fingers trailed over the smooth, shining fall with wonder. “They’re incredible.”
He remained silent, and I looked over at him. His eyes were bloodred, watching my every move with unnerving intensity. His fangs grazed his lower lip, and his hands were curled into fists that shook ever so slightly.
“Don’t,” he said softly.
I pulled my hands away from his wings. “Does it hurt when I touch them?”
Zane’s voice was a low growl. “If you touch them again, I’m going to throw you back on this bed, throw your legs over my shoulders, and fuck you. And not gently, like I want to. Because I won’t be able to control myself.”
The images flashed through my mind with breathtaking intensity. “Oh,” I said, feeling a twinge of disappointment that he was so controlled. I clasped my hands on my lap. “You … you wanted them back?” I wasn’t sure how to phrase my question. “The wings?”
“I fell for the love of a woman, just like every other Serim,” he said, his hot eyes intent on me. “I left Heaven behind for her, and when she was taken from me, I had nothing left but an eternity without her.” He looked away, and the room filled with silence. “When Nitocris offered, I took the chance, hoping for … well, never mind that. I was young and foolish, and I didn’t know everything that her bargain entailed.” He gave me the lopsided, self- incriminating grin that was becoming so familiar, and my heart flipped in my chest. “We all do things we regret at some point.”
I had to have him. Vampire or not, enemy or not, I was drawn to his tortured soul. I wanted to pull him to my breast and make him forget all about her. I wanted to kiss him so hard that he’d never remember her and think of me. I wanted to be the only woman he thought about.
“Zane,” I breathed, putting my hand on his knee and leaning into him. Mindful of his injured hand, I gently tilted him back on the bed, those marvelous wings tucked underneath him and almost out of sight. His few simple, sweet words had wormed into my heart, and I wondered if this was the real Zane, the one who hid behind the brash, laughing exterior.
