bed. She was as beautiful now as she’d been standing in the church parking lot. Fairskinned and blonde with warm amber eyes that could change to cold in seconds flat.
And, damn it, he loved her. Always had. The first time they’d touched, he’d known the
truth. Looking into her eyes at the party a few months ago had confirmed it. He hadn’t
even needed any other clues. Jane was his.
Talk about irony.
It didn’t help that seeing her on the hotel bed made his cock ache. He pressed a
hand to his zipper, trying—and failing—to control the reaction. He wanted her with a
ferocity that threatened to tear him apart. He knew the drill. He’d seen it happen before
when other vampires had lost their life mates. If she pushed him away now, he would
spend the rest of his life pining for her, trying to win her back again. Begging even, and
groveling really wasn’t his thing.
Life really sucked sometimes.
As if on cue, Jane’s lids fluttered open and she groaned.
Ethan leaned against the wall near the foot of the bed. “How are you feeling?”
“Groggy. Achy. Pissed off . How do you expect me to feel? You knocked me out,
Ethan.”
19
Elisa Adams
He had to smile. Still the same old Jane, fight-or-flight instincts firmly intact. Good
thing he’d tied her hands in front of her after he’d brought her upstairs. Otherwise
she’d surely find some way to exact her revenge, vampire laws or not. “I apologized.”
“And that’s supposed to mean something?”
It should mean everything. Why was she fighting her feelings so hard?
Because she was a human. Humans and vampires thought differently. Though he
hadn’t been a vampire long—only four years—he understood the differences. Humans
spent too much time letting fear and anger rule their lives. “I’m not a terrible person,
Janey.”
“An honest person wouldn’t have tricked me into thinking he was something that
he was not . ”
He let out a harsh breath. Did she think she was the only conflicted party in the
relationship? “Why don’t you be honest with yourself for a minute? How is it possible
that you, a trained vampire slayer, didn’t know what I’d become?”
That shut her up. She struggled to push herself into a sitting position, finally
leaning against the headboard with her knees bent in front of her and her bound arms
resting on them. Sparks flared from her narrowed eyes and her cheeks had flushed a
deep red. She didn’t say anything though.
“No answer?”
When she still remained silent, a knowing smile spread over Ethan’s lips. Yeah,
she’d known what he was. Maybe not consciously, but the truth was buried somewhere
deep down inside her. She’d chosen to ignore the signs. He couldn’t be faulted for her
fooling herself into thinking he was human.
“Cameron too?” she asked, her words letting him know she’d been suspicious, even
if she’d chosen to ignore it.
20
So I Married a Vampire
“Yes. Cameron is a vampire. We were turned by the same female, just a few weeks
apart. That’s why I left, you know. Because I didn’t think you’d want me this way. But
then we met up again and I couldn’t stay away.”
“You only married me because you wanted to be safe.” She reached her hands up
and awkwardly brushed her bangs out of her eyes. “If you’re linked to a slayer, none of
the other slayers can kill you without severe consequences.”
He had to admit that fact was a perk but it wasn’t the reason he married her. He’d
fallen for Jane all over again. Hard and fast. Never in his life had it happened that way
before—only with her. Twice. He had no reason to fear the slayers—at least not the ones
working for reputable agencies. He wasn’t a dangerous criminal.
“That isn’t true. I have other reasons.”
Her eyes narrowed even further, becoming slits in the dim light. “And what are
those?”
“The biggest one is that I love you. We fit together, Jane. In so many ways.”
She mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like “fuck you” but Ethan
chose to ignore it.
* * * * *
Jane glanced over to the window, staring out into the complete darkness of the
night through the parted curtains. Dim light from the bedside lamps lit the room. An ice
bucket with a bottle of champagne sat on a table near the bed and next to it rested a
couple of glasses. Flowers matching the ones from her wedding bouquet sat on each
bedside table. Ethan had brought her to their honeymoon suite in the same hotel where
they’d had their reception. The suite where they’d planned to spend their wedding