Page 38 of Stitched Up in You
I glance up at the huge glass balcony doors, wishing someone hadn’t had the foresight to make them big enough for Frank’s hulking frame. It would be fun to watch him jump to the ground and use his super strength again. He’s never confessed to being anything other than human, so seeing him shove off the balcony like that is interesting to say the least.
“And just where do you think you’re going?” he snaps.
Ignoring him, I stalk inside, throwing the door shut behind me and smirking a bit when I hear him catch it before it slaps him in the face.
“SorryLurch, I don’t function properly without at least half a gallon of caffeine in the morning, so if you want your belongings back, I’d learn some patience,” I say.
A smile pulls at my lips as I take in how beautiful the bedroom is, the soft white and cream colors of the main suite make the room feel like a fairytale wonderland. The big bed in the middle of the room is like a cloud. “I swear this room is so pretty.”
“At this rate it will be years before you work off your debt to me,” he states, as if its already fact.
My stomach does a little somersault at the thoughts of being stuck up his ass foryears. If the man really is a vampire, just how many years is he talking?
My brow lifts as I turn to look up at him.
His stare tells me all I need to know. Frank is dead serious and truly assumes I’ll be here decades to pay back his time. Hah!
“I doubt you could put up with me if I truly didn’t want to be here. In fact, I’ve no intentions of being here longer than it takes to get your things back Mr. Stein. You’re the onewho kidnapped me, remember? And because of that, I’m just adapting. I found your shipments and I think a little vacation is a little overdo, don’t you? Especially since I’ve got such anupstandingemployer, who is absolutely thrilled to get his things back,” I snap.
While I give him a moment to ponder that little tidbit of info, I head to the door. I wasn’t kidding about the caffeine, the telltale signs of a headache starting just at my temple tells me I’ve not yet met my quota.
A deep growl of frustration sounds behind me, and I pick up my pace down the sage-painted hallway, half worried the man will try to stop me from making it to the kitchen. But if he tries to keep me from my coffee, so help me, I won’t be held accountable for my actions.
“If I were your employer, Miss Crenshaw, I would have fired you the moment you ignored my edict,” he blusters from not far behind me according to the sound of his voice.
I glance back at him and have instant regret when my gaze lands squarely on his chest.
His overly large and muscular chest I want to lick just once in my life.
Ever since I was a little girl and watched Buffy for the first time, I’ve wanted to kiss a vampire, just like she did.
If this guy even is a vampire…What’s a girl got to do to get a supernatural dude to show off his powers?
I’d be willing to get a papercut, I think absently when the long elegant wooden staircase railing comes into view. It’s curved and looks like an exact match to one I used to slide down every day in the all-girls boarding school my grandmother stupidly tried to make me attend one year.
A grin pulls at my lips as an idea comes to mind, pure joy swirling in my veins at how confused he looks when I turn around and shove my empty cup into his mammoth-sized hands.“Hold this for me,” I tell him, not waiting for him to say no. Like a child giddy with excitement, I rush toward the grand staircase, gripping the cool wood and quickly pulling myself up to straddle the thick balustrade like I used to as a kid.
“Don’t you dare,” he yells out behind me.
“Bye bye now,” I announce, cackling with glee at the frustrated look on his face.Let’s see what you can do, Mr. Vampire.
About halfway down, I start gaining momentum around the curve and belatedly remember how the last time I went flying down a staircase, it took three girls to catch me.
It isn’t lost on me that I’m quite a few pounds heavier than I was then, and all of the sudden, it seems rather foolish to risk my life to prove Frank Stein is a vampire.
“Oh shit!” I cry out, when instead of gripping the railing to slow my descent, my hands slip on the railing, unable to find purchase on the hard wood as the smell of beeswax fills my nostrils.Oh my god, this is how I die, flashes through my brain as I careen toward another green wall.
A huge crack sounds, thundering in my eardrums over the sound of my erratic heartbeat. Hard arms catch me just before I splatter, knocking the wind from my body.
I recover quickly, looping my hands around one of his arms. “I am never doing that again,” I chuckle, but the sound dies on a rough gasp when I get a glimpse of Frank’s face, the blood draining from mine.
What the fuck?
He could be made of stone with as immobile as he is, as I have seen him many times, but never like this.
Orange streaks, not unlike bolts of lightning, swirl thick and wild from his open eyes, so dense I can’t see the gray irises I’ve come to expect from him. The air crackles with energy, making the hair on my body stand on end, and I notice a tinglingsensation on my skin everywhere his body touches mine, getting hotter to the touch by the second.
An inhuman sound escapes him, something between a growl and a heavy sigh, and I swear my entire being leaves this plane as a sharp clap of thunder that seemingly comes out of nowhere radiates through me and shakes me to my core.
