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“Always.” I wrapped my fingers around her nape and reeled her in for a kiss. She smelled like the meadow, fresh and sunny. The white daisy petals glowed like pieces of moonlight against her dark hair.
Now I tore my eyes from hers.
“The bracelet can’t be removed,” I said in a voice as cool as her own, and opened the sliding door. “The beach is this way.”
* * *
We were on the lower level. The staircase to the beach was accessed through a door at the other end of the building. We headed down the hall, a dhampir enforcer trailing us. We passed the gym, empty now, with the vampires asleep in their underground lair and the two dhampirs on site handling security.
A set of wall-mounted shelves held suntan lotion, caps, towels and beach blankets. I offered Mila a cap, but she refused it, so I set it on my own head before grabbing a blanket and a couple of towels.
The door to the outside was solid steel reinforced with silver strips to repel vampires. I touched a palm to the sensor and the door unlocked with a soft snick.
The dhampir enforcer made to follow us, but I halted him with a look. “Wait up here.”
I wanted to be alone with Mila, and no one was going to reach the beach without his knowledge. And if they came by boat, I had a secret passage carved into the cliff that no one but my brothers knew about.
“You’re the boss,” he said with a shrug, and took a stance on the concrete landing just outside the steel door.
The beach was sixty feet below in a cove hemmed in on three sides by jagged rock outcroppings. I led the way down the steep metal staircase. During high tide, the beach was reduced to a strip of sand and pebbles, but right now it was a large expanse, broken only by a heap of boulders to our right.
As we stepped onto the sand, Mila turned to me, eyes wide. “You reallydohave your own private beach. No one else comes here?”
“Nope. It’s just us.”
“That’s insane!” She dropped her flipflops next to the stairs and ran straight into the ocean. A wave slapped against her legs, nearly knocking her over. She simply laughed and opened her arms, the bracelet gleaming on her wrist.
“It’s cold!” She spun to face me, the water up to her thighs.
I smiled, more relieved than I cared to admit to have my wildflower Mila back. I toed-off my sneakers and joined her. “Careful. There are some strong undercurrents along this part of the coast.”
“Lougenia told me.” Her reply ended in a yelp as another wave crashed into her, splashing her to the chest. She giggled, arms spread wide like she was embracing the whole world—ocean, sky, sun.
Maybe even me.
My heart constricted. I gripped her hand as the ocean sucked at our feet. The next wave was the largest yet. It slammed into us, nearly knocking her over, and soaking us both to the skin.
I snagged Mila by the waist and moved her a few yards closer to shore.
She chuckled and swiped a hank of wet hair from her face. “Why didn’t you warn me? I would’ve worn a bathing suit.”
“Maybe I wanted to get you out of your clothes.”
She stilled. We stared at each other. My blood surged, slow and hard, in my veins.
Then she grinned. “I always did like how you think.”
She jogged back to the beach blanket. I remained where I was, the ocean churning around my calves, while she unbuttoned her shirt and dropped it on the blanket. Next she peeled off the shorts, leaving her in a blue exercise bra and matching boyshorts.
My fangs pricked my gums. Yeah, she was thinner, but the woman still had some sweet curves.
She ran past me into the surf, executing a clean dive into the next wave. So much for my warning about the currents.
I didn’t love the sun, but I could tolerate even bright sunlight for an hour or two. Leaving on my sunglasses and cap, I pulled off my T-shirt and joined her.
She splashed me in the face and dove under. I was after her in a flash, capturing her by the ankle and pulling her to me for a hard, salt-flavored kiss.
We played in the waves until I turned to look at a boat motoring by a little too close. Behind me, Mila fell silent. I glanced over my shoulder to see her staring at the snarling wolf tattoo on my right shoulder blade.
