“Maybe not.” Taylor looked thoughtful. “I’veheard rumors about Corbin.”
“Such as?” I raised an eyebrow and made a goon signal with one hand.
“Well, he’s not nearly the playboy he makeshimself out to be for one thing,” Taylor said. “He’s almost neverwith anyone—he mostly keeps to himself except to feed occasionally.And he never pays the Crimson Debt or lets anyone else pay it forhim.”
“Meaning he doesn’t feed on anyone duringsex or let them feed on him?” I said.
She nodded. “Honestly, I don’t think he hasthat much sex at all. Not even glam-sex.”
“Oh come on, Taylor—he’s a vampire,” Iobjected. “Sex and blood, that’s what they’re all about—that’s whatthey do.”
“Most of them maybe. But if what I’ve heardis right, Corbin mostly keeps to himself.”
“But why?” I asked, frowning. “I mean, it’snot for lack of willing partners, I’m sure.” He got under my skinlike a bad rash but there was no denying Corbin was gorgeous.
“I don’t know why, exactly.” Taylorshrugged. “They say he had someone once—a human—but he lost her.Now he mostly keeps to himself out of respect for her memory.”
I thought of what he’d told me, about havinga human female he loved enough to be gentle with once and how she’d“died anyway.”
“Why didn’t he just bond her to him?” Iasked. Vamps can bond any human they want, which greatly increasesthe human’s lifespan, sometimes even enough to match the vamp’s. Itmakes them a little more durable too, though under the law they’restill not supposed to have sex with the vamp that bonds them.
“I don’t know.” Taylor shook her head. “ButI do know you’re pretty much the only girl he’s shown aninterest in. I mean, he does a lot of casual flirting, youknow?”
“Yeah, I know.” I nodded. Nobody was betterat eye-fucking than Corbin.
“But none of it amounts to anything. I mean,I’ve never heard of him taking anyone into one of hisdaylight resting places the way he took you. Not vampire, nothuman—no one,” Taylor emphasized.
I shifted uncomfortably. “Yeah, well… Look,Taylor, I should really get going. I have to be back here tomorrownight to play the dutiful little consort during Celeste’strial.”
“Okay.” She sighed and smiled at me. “Thanksfor rescuing me, roomie.”
“You’re welcome, roomie.” My throat wassuddenly tight. “I just wish…I wish I could have done itsooner.”
Taylor shook her head. “Don’t beat yourselfup over that. If you hadn’t come…Never mind.” She gave me atrembling smile and swiped at the bloody tears that were gatheredin her eyes. “You’re the best friend a girl could have, Addison. Ilove you.”
“I love you too, hon.” I gathered her in myarms and didn’t protest a bit over her bone-crushing hug. I felther shoulders shaking with sobs and I stroked her hair helplessly,wishing there was something—anything—I could do to heal her.
But there was nothing I could do or say totake away the pain of what had been done to her, nothing to erasethe awful violation from her mind. All I could do was hold her andlet her cry and swear to myself if I ever got a chance, I would puta magazine full of hollow points into Roderick myself.
Chapter Nine
“Okay, I’m here. What’s the plan?” I triedto sound casual and unworried as I strolled into Corbin’s officebut the forbidding look in his silver-blue eyes took the wind outof my sails.
“You are late.” He glanced at the antiqueclock on the wall of his office. “Fifteen minutes late to beexact.” Today he was wearing a tailored charcoal suit with a crispwhite shirt that made him look like a high-powered executive. Helooked so good, sitting there behind his desk, that I felt grubbyin my rumpled navy blue jacket and slacks.
I shrugged. “Sorry. I had an execution thatran over.”
Corbin frowned. “You come from executing oneof my kind and act like it means nothing? Tell me, Addison, howwould you feel if I said something like that to you? ‘Sorry Icouldn’t be on time, I was draining some human dry and it tooklonger than I thought.’”
I shifted uncomfortably. “This is different.The vamp who died—he was a serial murderer/rapist. He S and F-edtwenty women to death before they caught him—not all of them human,I might add.”
Corbin raised an eyebrow at me. “S andF-ed?”
“It stands for sucked and fucked.” Icoughed. “I know it doesn’t sound nice but it’s a whole hell of alot nicer than describing what his victims looked like when he wasfinished with them.”
“Ah, yes…” Corbin sighed wearily. “Thelovely sights you get to see at your job.”
I shrugged again. “It’s part of mywork.”
He crossed his arms over his broad chest andfrowned. “A part which keeps you under the impression that allvampires are like the one you executed today.”
“Well, aren’t they?” I challenged him. “Atleast, inside, where it counts?”
Corbin looked at me steadily for a longmoment, his silver-blue eyes unreadable. I stared back, unwillingto back down. At last, long after the silence had gone pastuncomfortable and entered the realm of downright painful, hespoke.
“Please tell me you do not really believethat, Addison,” he said quietly. “If that is truly how you view mykind then I have no chance of winning your heart.”
His words stirred something inside me, aflutter in my stomach, a flush in my cheeks… I didn’t know what itwas exactly but for some reason I couldn’t look at him.
“Addison?” he said softly.
“Stop screwing around, Corbin,” I saidroughly. “This…this thing between us is a business deal andthat’s all. You know it and I know it. I’m just here to be your armcandy until that sick bastard Roderick is gone. After that, ourdeal is done.”
“Yes, so you keep reminding me.” He sighed.“Well, if you are going to be ‘arm candy’ as you put it, we need tosweeten your image some.”
“What?” I crossed my arms over my rumpledblouse. “You don’t like my work clothes?”
“I have never liked them,” Corbinsaid blandly. “Though I refrained from saying so to avoid morecitations. Beauty like yours shouldn’t be hidden by such baggy,shapeless garments.”
I glared at him. “May I remind you that Iwork as an Auditor, not a hostess slash call girl at yourclub?”
“I do not employ prostitutes as
