Page 46 of Sexual Appetites of Vampires

She fought back her tears as she showered and fought thinking of him at all, though the thought that he had yet to wake her when she had only an hour before her car service arrived annoyed her. Had he let her sleep hoping she would wake and have to hurry off?

Well, if it was what he wanted, he was about to get it. She didn’t bother to dry her hair. She slipped into her gray leggings and black knit top, got her boots on over a clean pair of polka dot socks that she didn’t think she’d be ever able to look at again without thinking of Michael, and then packed.

Normally, she folded and packed her things neatly, not this time. She wanted to be done and finished with time to spare, so she could get outside, away from this house, away from Michael, before she wept uncontrollably. She wrote a quick thank you note and stuffed it in her pocket.

She wrapped her plaid scarf around her neck and hurried into her jacket. With one last quick glance in the bathroom and around the bedroom to make certain she had everything. She went to the door and took a deep breath.

Please don’t let him be out there. Please.

She sighed with relief to find the hallway empty. With rapid steps she was down it and the stairs in a flash, carrying her suitcase so that the wheels wouldn’t make noise. When she reached the bottom, she scanned the area. It was as empty as the hallway. She hurried to the front door. It was close, yet seemed miles away as if she would never reach it.

Her heart beat madly in her chest, her stomach fluttered nervously and tears threatened her eyes. And just as her hand was about to grab the doorknob, she remembered the thank you note. She turned, wanting to be done with it, out of the house and far away.

Michael stood on the bottom step, looking god-awful handsome in dark gray trousers and a white button shirt, opened at the throat. His sexy scent wafted through the air over to her, and she almost gasped as it filled her nostrils.

“You were going to leave without?—”

She waved the slip of paper in the air. “A note?—”

“Nothing more?” he said and stepped off the stairs, approaching her.

Her back was to the door, she had no place to go.

“No kiss good-bye?” he asked a few feet from her.

Don’t let him kiss me. Don’t let him kiss me. Oh, God, I want him to kiss me.

She grabbed hold as best she could of her raging emotions and held her hand up, unexpected words slipping from her lips. “You didn’t wake me.”

“I didn’t want to bother you. After all, we did have a busy night last night.” He ran his finger gently over her lips. “Would you really leave without?—”

She thought for sure her heart would pound right out of her chest. How was she ever going to say?—

I love you.

No. No. That wasn’t what she was going to say.

No, it’s what I’m saying.

Her eyes rounded, her brow knitted, and she stared at him unsure.

“Now, you will let me finish.”

It was a command, not a question, though it didn’t matter, she was too stunned that she had heard him so clearly in her head to reply.

“Would you really have left without telling me you love me, after all the times I’ve asked you to let me love you?”

“Make love to me.”

He smiled. “I intend to do that for the rest of our lives.”

Her legs went weak, and she reached out to grab hold of his arm. “I thought all the times you said that that you meant make love to me.”

He took her suitcase from her hand and set it aside, then he unbuttoned her red jacket and slipped it off her, dropping it atop her suitcase, her scarf followed. His arm went around her waist, and he tugged her close.

“You should have listened closer to your thoughts. I was there often, letting you know how I felt.”

“That wasn’t just me when I thought of loving you?”

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