Kiss of the Vampire(70)

“Swear.” She wasn’t sure she could take it if he walked away from her again.

He leaned forward and cupped her face with both hands. “I swear it. I’ll do everything I can to help you.”

“All I need is for you to love me, Tobias.” She stroked her fingers down his jaw and then rested her hand on his chest. “Just love me.”

“I will. I do.” His lips touched hers softly. Once. Twice. He wrapped his arms around her and lay back against the pillows, holding her against his chest. “Nix…” He drew a breath and held it, then blew it out in a long sigh.

“What, Tobias?” She glanced up at him. “What is it?”

“There’s something I should tell you.” His head moved against the pillow. He stroked his fingers through her hair, setting up a pleasurable tingle in her scalp from the impromptu massage. “Whatever happens—with this case, with our jobs—remember that I love you. That I always have your best interests in mind. But I have a job to do, too.”

“O…kay.” She frowned a little, wondering where he was going with this and unable to shake the feeling that this wasn’t what he’d been planning to say.

“It’s just…” His fingers raked through her hair again.

Nix couldn’t hold back a little moan at the sensation.

His responding chuckle was filled-with-humor sexy and he dug his fingers in a little harder. “I’ll probably be leaving town once this case is solved. Knox will take over again as the vampire liaison in your quadrant, and I’ll pick up where I left off with finding Natchook.”

She settled more comfortably in the crook of his arm. “Right. And I told you I’d help you.”

“It would mean giving up your job, your home.”

Nix propped herself up on her elbow. “My home is wherever you are.”

His eyes darkened. Pheromones started rolling off of him as the emotions she saw in his eyes manifested themselves. Hope, love, guilt, and satisfaction roiled together to undulate over her skin, seep into her soul. “You’d give up your career?”

He was so sweet. So clueless. “My job is catching bad guys. I won’t be giving anything up. I’ll be focused on one particular bad guy and I won’t be doing it in Scottsdale.” She drew in a breath. “I want to be in your life, Tobias.”

He stared at her, so much emotion roiling in his eyes it almost brought her to tears. “You’re not just in my life, honey. You are my life.” He drew her down for a long, lingering kiss.

Drawing back slightly, she asked, “So, tell me, if we won’t be catching the bad guy here, where will we be?”

His big hand curved over her hip. “My last lead took me to Fairbanks. That’s where I was when Amarinda called.”

“Alaska?” She snuggled close again. “From desert to snow and back to desert. That was quite a trip for you.”

“Alaska was like a barren wasteland because you weren’t there.” His voice turned gruff. “The last five years have been the worst of my life.” His hand tightened on her hip. “I missed you, honey.”

She pressed a kiss to his shoulder. “I missed you, too. A couple of days ago if someone had told me you’d come back into town and I’d be happy you were here I would’ve told ’em they were crazy. Or tried to rip their lungs out.” She snickered. “But they would have been right.” She paused and traced a random pattern on his chest with her index finger. “When you’re young and in love, everything seems perfect.” She rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. “Now I know I don’t need perfect. I just need you.”

Her eyes grew heavy. She was going to fall asleep in the arms of the man she loved, the man who loved her. It was a new beginning for both of them.





Chapter Thirteen





Early the next morning Nix slipped out of bed and went quietly into the living room to gather her clothes. Her muscles protested some of the movement, reminding her that it had been five years since she’d exercised in quite the way she had last night. She smiled and winced as she bent to pick up one of her socks. God, what a night. She and Tobias had never made love in such a deeply intimate way before. Their couplings had always been born out of desperate lust, even with all the love they’d felt.

Maybe it was her newfound maturity, maybe it was Tobias’s care in not drawing out the demon. Whatever it was, it had worked. She had felt the tug of her inner demon briefly and not strongly enough that she couldn’t fight it back. Thinking of all the time they’d wasted, she pressed her lips together. Had it really been a waste of time? Maybe they were rushing into things too fast now. No, she had to believe that things happened for a reason. Tobias had been meant to go away, to leave her to fend for herself. She really thought that was what had made her finally grow up. There was nothing like a broken heart to mature you.