At the top of the stairs when Breed opened the door for us, Lucien slipped him a bill. I tried to see what it was but didn’t succeed.
Wats was standing sentry by the car right where we left it.
“Everything’s fine, Master, no one even looked at it,” he panted, bowing and holding the keys out to Lucien who held his hand up and Wats dropped the keys in.
Lucien held the door for me and Wats scampered out of the way for him to do so.
After Lucien closed my door, I spied the one hundred dollar bill Lucien slid into Wats’s waiting hand. I also saw the shiver of excitement that shook Wats’s body and I had the feeling it had nothing to do with the fact that Lucien just made him the highest paid car watcher in history but because Lucien had almost, but not quite, touched him.
We were well away, Lucien’s hand back on my thigh after he’d pulled the material away, but this time no stroking, just proprietary resting.
After a while, I couldn’t help myself, I requested, “May I ask a question?”
“Of course,” Lucien replied instantly.
I pulled in a breath and before I could lose my courage, I asked, “You said to Cecile you’d take it away from her. What would you take away?”
Again he answered without hesitation. “Her house, her car, her money, everything I give her to keep her. Everything I’ll keep giving her until she dies. If she falls, which, you should know Leah, any concubine does if they attend A Feast after they’re released, I’m within my rights to cease her keeping.”
“You’d do that?” I whispered.
“In a second,” he answered. “My concubines, current or past, don’t participate in Feasts.”
I was confused. “But you took me to A Feast.”
His hand squeezed my thigh. “To see, to watch, to experience, to be with me amongst my own, not to participate.”
My head turned to look at him. “You were never going to feed?”
He glanced at me briefly then back to the road before he stated implacably, “Never.”
This caused me to feel an extreme sense of relief.
Then I felt an extreme sense of fear that I felt so relieved.
Then I felt the extreme desire to cover his hand with mine.
Then I mentally kicked myself.
Shortly after, the sleek, high-performance sports car eating the miles serenely beneath me, I fell asleep.
Chapter Nine
The Lesson
I woke for the first time since I’d been in my new bedroom knowing exactly where I was.
But something wasn’t right.
I opened my eyes and saw the big, wide bed empty in front of me.
Lucien wasn’t there.
Elation and disappointment crashed against each other and they caused a very strange sensation that I didn’t like one bit.
Then my mind traveled back to the night before.
I thought about The Feast and all I’d seen.
Then I thought about Lucien’s behavior and the conflicting emotions it made me feel. Most specifically that I liked being out with him. It wasn’t what I’d call a fun date but it was interesting and being on his arm was weirdly thrilling. He acted a complete gentleman (well, mostly) and I hadn’t had that in a long time (as in, never). Not to mention his possessive-protective streak, which made me feel safe and if that wasn’t enough to screw with my head, nothing was.
Lastly, I thought about falling asleep in the car after Lucien assured me he was the kind of vamp who didn’t…
I went solid and then whipped up the bedclothes and stared at my semi-naked body before pulling the covers back down.
I was wearing nothing but a pair of black, lace panties. I fell asleep in the car and that damn vampire carried me upstairs, took off my clothes and put me to bed.
In all that he’d done, and there was a lot that he’d done, taking off my clothes while I was asleep seemed like the worst (well, at that moment it did).
Only I was allowed to show my body to who I wanted to show it to when I was in the mood to show it.
Okay, so it could be argued that he’d had his tongue in my mouth (more than once), and his hand in my pants (again more than once), and he’d sucked my blood (also more than once), and he controlled my mind (way too many times, which meant twice, which was two times too many).
But this was taking it too far.
While my head was preparing to explode, the bedroom door opened and Lucien strode in.
When I saw him, I was so shocked, my fury vanished and I came up on a forearm to get a better look.
He was wearing faded, well-worn jeans and a tight-fitting, long-sleeved white t-shirt.
I’d never seen him in anything but a suit (and his pajamas, of course). And, I’d never seen him in anything but dark colors.
I didn’t think he was the type of guy to wear something as everyday normal as jeans and a tee.