Page 52 of Seduction in Blood
When he'd glanced down, he almost dropped the glass. Cressa was stretched out on the lawn in front of the grotto. Her short, sable tresses spread out to form a crown. Her arms were flung wide, pressing her pert breasts upward, her nipples pressed against the fabric.
His cock stirred and grew hard. Images from the dreams rushed past like an old black-and-white movie reel. But this film was full of color and sensory images. He smelled the roses, her spicy citrus scent mixed with the heat of her skin, the texture of her neck beneath his fangs. The evenings had been warm in the dreams, and there was always the lightest sheen on her skin from running. He remembered the glass in his fist seconds before he crushed it.
She had to know this garden was the one in her dreams. Would she ask him about it or continue to ignore the possibilities? And if she feigned ignorance, how would he bridge the gap? He hadn't meant to discuss the dreams with her until after the mission. Damn, but she knew how to stir trouble. He only had one response. She would have to make the next move.
ChapterTwenty-Five
I stretchedlike a cat waking from a long nap, the sheets warm with their clean linen scent. I couldn't remember when I'd had such a restful sleep. The only thing marring the memory of yesterday's visit to Oasis was the lack of a garden dream. My discovery that the garden of my dreams was real should have frightened me. It had certainly shocked me. Yet, it only confirmed my suspicions that Devon was to blame. He had somehow mesmerized me, though I couldn't remember when. But I wouldn't remember the act, right? I hadn't suspected anything when Margo had mesmerized me. I didn't know if I could approach Devon about this—something so intimate.
I'd experienced detailed dreams before, but never with tactile imagery. The crux of the issue was why he had done it. And why drive me across town and into the country just to have sex? For what purpose? I couldn't wrap my head around it. Maybe it was a waking dream. Or maybe he didn't know he was doing it. Then there was the question of how I had woken in my own bed straight from the dream. They were so real I could feel the touch of his skin, the hard muscles of his arms, and the strength of his legs as he parted mine.
Stop it.
I was going to give myself an orgasm just thinking about it. A cold shower was what I needed. Instead, I pulled on a one-piece swimsuit, threw on a light robe, and jogged downstairs. The atrium's glass walls and ceiling made the room bright, even on gray days. The room carried the lightest scent of chlorine mixed with heavy foliage and blossoms from the dozens of scattered potted plants and small trees.
I tossed the robe on a chair before turning to the pool, only then seeing Simone floating on the far side. When I'd first met her, it was obvious the woman didn't like me. I could blame the cool reception on the fact she was a vamp, but the looks she gave me said it all. At dinner, which seemed more like a small banquet with the number of vamps in Devon's family, he confided that Simone had a bad history with humans. It had only been in the last few decades she'd become more comfortable around them, but she still only felt safe with a few hand-selected employees.
Not requiring any more explanation than that, I went out of my way to avoid her. More for her sake than mine. I reached for my robe, intending to tiptoe back out and take that cold shower.
"Don't leave on my account." Simone didn't bother lifting her head, but her cool, rich voice had no problem reaching me.
"Are you sure? You look like you're having some nice alone time." I shuffled my feet. "And I didn't know you were here. At the mansion, I mean."
After a minute ticked by, Simone swam toward me. She stopped when she could stand, and the waterline framed her glorious breasts, nicely covered in a one-piece. This was probably her cooldown after swimming laps.
"Devon didn't tell you."
I stepped to the edge and dipped a toe in the water before committing to the wide steps leading into the pool. The cool water lapped around my legs, giving me goosebumps as my body acclimated to the temperature change. I waded in until the water reached my stomach then leaned back against the edge of the pool, letting my arms flow back and forth, creating small ripples.
"He didn't mention it on the drive back, but I have to admit, I drank a bit too much at dinner. I think I giggled most of the way home."
Simone grimaced. "That must have been painful for him."
I gave her a grin. "Probably. He did say goodnight rather quickly once we got back."
Simone's lips twitched. "I arrived about an hour after you." She moved around the pool, short strides that didn't take her far as she walked a semi-circle around me. Her suit, the color of burnt sunrise, showed off her muscular physique overlaid on a lean body. "I understand Devon has a mission planned. He asked me to be your bodyguard."
I wasn't sure what to say, but I was certain, based on the humor in her gaze, that my mouth must be hanging open. My temper flared, and I gritted out, "I don't need a babysitter."
She let her smile blind me with its radiance. Damn, if she couldn't stop anyone in their tracks. "Not a babysitter, a bodyguard. No one will know my role, and I won't be hounding your every step. But you can be assured I won't be far away." She studied me. "I would be upset, too, if Devon gave me a bodyguard. But I'm vampire, and you are only a human. He's simply being careful to ensure the success of your mission." She paused before giving me a side glance. "I also hear you tend to go rogue."
It shouldn't have surprised me that Devon would tell her about my sticky fingers at the tea party. "I'm a thief. It's what I do."
I paced through the water, the density slowing my roll. But rather than circle the same way as the shark-like Simone, I walked to the other edge and silently dropped down until my head was under water. When I rose again, I flipped my head back before running my hands over my head to push back my short crop of hair. Then I walked back to Simone.
"All right. I see his point. I just wish he would have told me."
"It must have been the giggling." She said it was such a flat tone and straight face I had a hard time deciding whether that had been a joke.
Did this vamp have a dry sense of humor? Best not to go there. While I did everything I could to avoid her at Oasis, I couldn't help but watch her through dinner. She took command, even with Devon in the room.
"Why don't you have your own House?" I wasn't sure how that popped out and was a bit horrified at my rudeness.
The look she gave me could melt ice, or the sidewalk, or maybe boil the water in the pool until my skin melted off. All she did was lean her back against the pool as I had done earlier, her arms resting on the lip.
I decided to follow suit, albeit a few arm lengths away. Not that she couldn't reach me and strangle me to death in the few seconds it took to register I was in mortal danger.
Several minutes went by. She laid her head back to stare at the glass ceiling, the sun just broaching this side of the house. "Devon will give me my own House someday. That's all I've wanted for the last hundred years. And within another twenty or thirty, that goal will be achieved."
