Normally, Juliana ordered scotch, rarely more than one glass and sometimes a beer. But tonight she was ready to forget. Forget about the arrogant vampire that broke her heart and watched her when he thought she wasn’t looking. And forget about her friend playing host to a demon. The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to go after Nathaniel. The fact that she’d get herself killed if she went after him without being fully healed was the only thing that stopped her. Besides, she promised Jeremiah she wouldn’t go after him by herself and there was no one she was willing to put at that kind of risk. At least no one that was answering their cursed phone.
The waitress came back empty handed, her cheeks red. “I’m sorry, Jules. Mr. Kendrick says you’re going to have to come pick the order up yourself and sign for it if you want it on your tab.”
She was proud of herself for not snickering at the Mr. Kendrick bit. Please. “No worries, not your fault.” She patted Seamus’s leg. “Come on. You’re going to have to help. I can’t carry that on my own.” She’d left the sling at home, but her arm still wasn’t strong. It hadn’t been vanity that made her leave it behind, it was self-preservation. Wounded animals were easy prey.
Seamus lifted her off his lap and set her on the floor. They wove through the crowd to where the order waited at the end of the bar. She signed the slip next to it. Warm fingers wrapped around her wrist when she reached for the tray. She ran her gaze up the line of the long, lean arm and found herself looking into Thomas’s pale blue eyes. “Can I help you?”
“I want to talk to you,” he said.
Of course he did. She thought about refusing. Thought about telling him where he could shove his conversation, but it wouldn’t do any good. He always got what he wanted in the end. She turned to Seamus. “Take this back to the table. I’ll be along in a minute.”
“You sure?” he asked, eyeing Thomas. When she nodded, he bent and kissed her lightly on the cheek before grabbing the tray and heading back to the table. She swore she heard him whistling as he walked away. She shook her head and turned back to Thomas to find him scowling.
“What is that?” He flicked a hand toward Seamus’s retreating form.
“That is a Seamus. But I gathered you already met.”
“If you could call it that.” His eyes narrowed. “He’s very protective of you.”
“Friends are like that. Besides, I think he was just offended by your arrogance. That tends to happen around you.”
“I am not arrogant.”
“You are exquisitely arrogant. Every movement of your body, every thought that crosses your mind screams that you will be obeyed by everyone below you. And that list includes the entire population of the planet and probably some of the outlying ones as well.”
He leaned toward her, his gaze intense. “You are mistaken,
He meant the words. She could tell and it made her uncomfortable, put her in a place where she wasn’t sure of her position. She handed him the slip for their order, leaned on the counter behind the bar and crossed her arms over her chest. He looked down. A muscle in his jaw twitched. She followed his gaze and saw Nathaniel’s claw marks a fresh, vivid pink against her pale skin. He stepped back and opened the little door behind him.
With a sigh, she walked into the storeroom. He followed and shut the door, locking it behind him before slipping the key in his pocket.
“That won’t work if you’re trying to keep me from leaving.”
He blinked at her. “It’s to keep them out, not you in.”
“What do you want, Thomas? My date is waiting.”
“Don’t call him that,” he snapped. He started pacing the floor. “A Walker, Juliana? Are you insane? What possibly could possess you to become a Walker?”
He wanted to talk about her profession? Fine. She could do that. She shrugged. “I’m good at it. Really good.” She might not have sought out her job, but the words were true. For the first time in her life, she’d found something she excelled at. Something that was hers.
He gestured to her arm with an upturned hand. “I can see that.”
He was so quick to tear her down. To assume she couldn’t do her job, that she wasn’t any good at it. He didn’t know anything about her and he was basing her ability on the one injury he could see. “I’d like to see how you fare against a demon-ridden werewolf.”
He turned to face her in slow motion. “A what?”
She stalked across the floor and stopped mere inches from him. “This is what I do, Thomas. Like it or not I don’t need your approval and I sure don’t need your permission.” She paused for a moment to let that sink in. “And setting your cursed Council on my ass won’t do anything except piss me off.”
Thomas grabbed her arms and pulled her against his chest, his mouth crushed into hers. His lips devoured her, demanding a response. Her body ignited, her will melting in the heat. As much as she hated herself for doing it, she leaned against him, opened her mouth, swept her tongue into his. He moaned, a guttural, primal sound and she couldn’t remember when she’d last heard anything so sweet. The kiss gentled as their tongues twined around each other in an intimate dance. One they still remembered all the steps to.
His hands slid from her arms and down her back, leaving a burning trail in their wake. With one swift motion, he grabbed her ass in both hands and pulled her against him. She wrapped her arms around his neck. Recalling how well they fit together, she rocked her hips against him. The pressure of his heavy heat against her core drew a gasp from her. Her face flamed but she was far from embarrassed.
At her sound of pleasure, the kiss became urgent once more. His long fingers dug into her backside, pressing her even tighter against him. The seam of her jeans rubbed against her, the pleasant pain making her want him that much more.
He released her lips to lay a trail of feather-light kisses from her mouth to her neck and played with the pulse point there. Teeth scraped skin and her heart skipped. He chuckled. “I’ve missed you so much,
She started to tell him that she’d missed him too, to beg him never to leave her again. The thought reminded her why she was supposed to be resisting him. Why she didn’t want this no matter how much her body and her heart might argue with her. She twisted her head away, put her hands on his chest and pushed. He didn’t budge. “Let go.” She tried to sound firm, but didn’t know how convincing she could possibly be since she was still panting.
Her hands still lay flat against his chest, but she applied no pressure, waiting for him to do as she asked. After a moment, his hands fell away. She stepped back and turned from the confusion on his face. Her heart throbbed, begging her to return to her mate. Back to his arms where she belonged. Other parts of her were begging as well, but for reasons far less wholesome.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She shoved the churning emotions down, determined to ignore them. It wasn’t fair that she should feel guilty because of him. He was the one that left. “I can’t do this,” she said. “Not with you.”
“But you can with him?” Thomas hated the pain that threaded through his words. Never in his long life could he remember ever wishing he was anyone but himself. He’d wished it multiple times over the past few days. Every time she turned that smile on someone else, every time she laughed for them, every time he thought about her in someone else’s arms.
“Him?” she asked.
Were there so many she couldn’t narrow it down? “Yes, that giant whose lap you’ve been sitting on since you came in the door this evening.” And Michael. There was always the knowledge of Michael touching her, making her writhe with pleasure festering in the back of Thomas’s brain. He’d promised himself he wouldn’t hold it against them. That promise was becoming harder for him to keep the longer it took her to come back to him where she belonged.
She gripped the edge of a box, her back to him, her shoulders tight as she dropped her head. “You can’t just show up after seven years and step back into my life like you never left. It’s not fair.”
The fact she failed to answer the question didn’t escape his notice. “You have no idea how hard it was to walk away that day. To stay away.” Everything had been for her. So she could live the life she never could have
