Refuge(120)

I focused on the blue sky outside the window. “What makes you think I can’t?”

“Because you like me . . . a lot.”

My face grew hot and I turned to glare at him, but whatever I was going to say was forgotten when I took in his tousled hair, warm eyes, and sensual smile. My stomach did a somersault, and my only thought was that I wanted to go back and wake up in his arms all over again.

His smile grew as if he knew exactly what I was thinking. “See, that didn’t take long.”

“Shut up,” I retorted, and he laughed again.

He put a hand through his dark hair, and my insides squeezed again. It was so unfair for him to look this good in the morning when I probably looked like crap, especially after last night. And I didn’t even want to think about what my breath must smell like. I could probably take down a vampire just by breathing on him.

“Are you okay?” he asked with more seriousness. “With us?” The uncertainty in his eyes made me want to hug him. God, one night on the couch with him and I was a sentimental mess.

I nodded. “Are you . . . okay with it?”

“Yes.” His smile was so tender, I suddenly felt shy.

I got to my feet. “Excuse me; I need to use your bathroom and about a bottle of mouthwash.”

He smirked. “Help yourself.”

Standing before the bathroom mirror, I grimaced at my tangled hair and puffy eyes. I splashed cold water on my face and did my best to comb through my hair with my fingers. Nikolas’s brush lay on a shelf, but it felt too intimate to use his personal things.

Yeah, because using him for a bed wasn’t personal at all.

I was gargling my second mouthful of mouthwash when I heard a knock on the outer door, followed by male voices. The last thing I wanted was for someone to know I had spent the night here with Nikolas. I quietly spat out the mouthwash and wiped my mouth with a towel, waiting for his visitor to leave.

I did not expect the knock on the bathroom door. “Sara, do you mind coming out here for a minute?” Nikolas called through the door.

Oh crap! Nikolas wouldn’t expose me to gossip so that meant there was only one person who could be out there with him. “Sure,” I said nervously and smoothed my hair again before I opened the door.

Tristan stood in the living room, looking equal parts worried and angry as he took in my disheveled appearance. At least my wrinkled clothes were evidence that I had slept in them. I glanced at Nikolas’s tousled hair and bare feet that suggested he had just woken up. Seeing us together, I could only imagine what Tristan thought.

“Nothing happened,” I blurted out. “I got drunk and Nikolas took care of me. That’s it.”

He nodded, but his expression did not change. “Nikolas already explained it to me, and I told him he should have brought you back to your own room or to my apartment down the hall.”

Nikolas smiled, completely unfazed by Tristan’s scolding. “And I told him that whatever transpires between the two of us is no one’s business but ours.”

“Sara is not yet eighteen, Nikolas, and her uncle trusts me to take care of her. That includes her virtue and – ”

“Oh my God, you did not just go there,” I croaked in mortification. Nikolas coughed, and I shot him a warning look. If I heard even one snicker out of him, the bond wasn’t the only thing he had to worry about me breaking.

Tristan raised his hands. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to embarrass you, but in your situation, you cannot take sex lightly. It would – ”

“Gah!” I made a beeline for the door. Both of them called to me, but it would take a legion of demons to keep me in that apartment. I slammed the door behind me and ran down the hallway. Who the hell gets a sex talk from their grandfather, and in front of the guy she spent the night with? Tristan and I were going to have a serious talk about boundaries. At least Nate never tried to step into that territory.

Thinking about Nate reminded me today was Thanksgiving and he wasn’t going to be here. I could smell the delicious aromas already coming from the kitchen, but it meant nothing knowing Nate could not enjoy them with me. How could I enjoy dinner knowing he was alone and sick?

“Sara, you missed the rest of the party and . . . Hey, where are your shoes?” Josh said when I passed him on the stairs.

I stared down at my stockinged feet and realized that my shoes were still in Nikolas’s living room, where I’d kicked them off last night. “Don’t ask,” I mumbled and hurried past him to hide the heat rising in my cheeks.





* * *


“Nate, it’s me again. Just calling to see how you’re feeling. I know you’re probably asleep right now, but give me a call when you get this. Okay?”