“Seaweed,” she said between chuckles.
Aiden’s hand remained enclosed on her hair;his eyes burned in the night. A flash of trepidation shot throughher when red shimmered through his gaze. He’d never touched her inanger, but she’d seen what he could do to others, and there wassomething wild about him right now.
When she took a step back, his grip on herhair eased. “Aiden?”
Aiden fought to keep himself from pullingher against him once more. He needed to run his hands over her bareflesh and taste her again, but he’d seen the apprehension in hereyes before she stepped further away from him, and he’d heard thetremor in her voice. His hand tightened on her hair before hereleased her.
Maggie backed away from him before turningand making her way to the shore. Eager to get away, she washeedless of the water splashing around her legs. “I’m cold,” shetossed over her shoulder as an excuse to put some distance betweenthem.
When she glanced back, Aiden remained in thewater with his head turned toward her. The ravenous gleam in hiseyes sent her primitive instincts into flight mode. She’d neverseen a look like that on anyone before. Then, his expressioncleared, and he smiled at her.
“It is cold,” he said as he walked from thesea to join her.
CHAPTER 27
Maggie tossed and turned in bed as shereplayed everything that had passed between her and Aiden tonight.Her body ached for him, but her mind retained enough sanity to knowhaving sex with a vampire might be the biggest mistake she’d evermade, and she’d made some whoppers in her life.
Like stealing that car at fifteen. She stillswore the tree jumped into the middle of the road that day. Thepolice hadn’t caught her after the accident, but she could havebeen killed, and she could have killed A.J. who was riding shotgunwhen the tree pulled up its roots, strolled on into the middle ofthe road, and committed suicide. Miraculously, she and A.J. hadbeen uninjured enough to run from the scene, but the car wastotaled.
Then there’d been the time she’d gottenherself expelled from school after setting the trash can on fire.She’d done it so she could be sent back to the group home whereA.J. was staying, but it had been the first school where some ofthe teachers had taken an interest in her. She’d enjoyed attendingthere, she’d started to like learning, and she’d purposely blownit.
She didn’t regret her choices, she wouldn’tbe where she was if she hadn’t made them, but she could come toregret sleeping with Aiden. She suspected he might break her heartif she got too close to him and it all blew up in her face.
And she couldn’t see it doing anything otherthan blowing up. He was a vampire, and she was… Well, she didn’tknow what she was anymore.
My mother was telling the truth.
That realization bolted her out of bed attwo in the morning. She paced restlessly over to the heavy drapescovering the window and pulled one back. Across the roadway, thecrescent moon created a small path across the waves.
My father is a vicious rapist. And avampire.
Shivering, she dropped the curtain back inplace. Stalking over to Blue, she watched as he happily flittedaround his bowl, completely unaware of the turbulent state of hermind. When she put her finger on the outside of the bowl, he wentto it and nudged it with his nose. She ran her finger over theplastic side, and Blue followed her motion as if he were receivinga pet. She’d discovered a couple of years ago it was something Blueliked to do. It always made her smile.
Done with his petting, Blue swam away with aflick of his tail. Maggie’s heart sank as she lifted her head totake in the room. She’d never felt so alone in her life. Could shereturn to her old life with everything she’d seen and now knewabout this world? About herself? What would her mother say when shegot up the courage to see her again? And what of Aiden?
Screwing a vampire was a Bad idea with acapital B, but she’d never felt as alive as she did when she was inhis arms. He may be a bloodsucker, but she also liked him. He madeher smile, made her laugh, and he’d saved her ass a few times lastnight. But then, she’d also been put in danger because of him.
No, not because of him. He’d been attacked,and she’d done her job.
But even if everything that happened lastnight wasn’t his fault, she sensed there was a lot more to him, hislife, and his relationship with Carha than he was telling her. Shebelieved him when he said he didn’t use prostitutes or do drugs,but whatever thatmorewas, she didn’t want to be part ofit. And she definitely didn’t want to be anywhere near Carhaagain.
Aiden may be drop-dead gorgeous, but hislife was perilous. Her life had been too uncertain for too manyyears to risk losing the stability she’d worked relentlessly toachieve by getting more entangled with him. She would never havemillions of dollars, but she had what she’d always dreamed of: aplace to call home, a career she enjoyed, and control ofherlife.
And she could lose it all if she couldn’treturn to her job soon. She hadn’t been this scared since she’dbeen a sickly child who had no idea what was wrong with her orwhere she would be sleeping the next night.
Maggie ran her finger over the rim of thebowl as she thought about the blood that made her healthier as achild, her mother’s ramblings, and the reports she’d read. How hadshe not put what she was together sooner?
Because who in their right mind would thinkthey could be the offspring of a vampire or that vampires werereal?
Maggie prowled to the window before going tothe bathroom then crawling back in bed. She turned on the TV andflipped idly through the channels. What she needed was a run, buteven before her knowledge of vampires, she wouldn’t have beenfoolish enough to go for a run by herself at two in themorning.
There was a gym in this hotel; she’d seensigns for it when they checked in. She hated running on treadmills,but she figured it was the treadmill or she knock on Aiden’s doorand jump him when he opened it. One of those two things would getthis restless energy out of her. Running may not be the more funoption, but it was the far saner one.
Tossing the covers aside again, she turnedoff the TV, changed, threw her sneakers on, grabbed a towel, andchecked the peephole before cracking the door open. It didn’tmatter if she stayed here or in the gym, one of those Savages couldget her in either place. Aiden had explained no invite wasnecessary to enter a hotel room because it wasn’t someone’s home.The only thing safer about her room than the gym was having Aidennext door. In her current mood, that seemed more hazardous toher.
Leaving her room, she crept past the closeddoors to the stairwell. The hush of the hotel at this hour was morethan a little unnerving, and she kept expecting a Savage, or even apoltergeist, to attack her. Refusing to live in fear, she continueddown the red-carpeted hall.
When she arrived at the door to the concretestairs, she hurried down. Her sneakers squeaked on the steps,making her location obvious to any would-be attacker, but nothingleapt out to suck her blood or slime her before she reached thelobby.
