Howard finished his cup of tea. With extra honey, no doubt. "What do you say, Carlos? Are you up to a martial arts session? I want to see how well you can fight."
"You're on." Carlos and Howard headed down the basement stairs, while Toni started the long climb to the fifth floor.
She was breathing a bit heavily by the time she reached the fifth-floor office. The room was dark, the aluminum shutters closed. An empty blood bottle sat in the sink at the wet bar. Ian must have had a snack before going to bed.
She opened the double doors leading into the bedroom. Light spilled from the partially closed bathroom.
"You left the light on. Shame on you." She approached the left side of the bed.
Ian was lying there in his white T-shirt and plaid flannel pajama bottoms. He'd folded back the tan suede comforter to lie on the cool cotton sheets. His black hair was loose from its leather thong and made a dramatic contrast to the white pillowcase.
He was in the usual position he assumed for his death-sleep. Flat on his back, big feet pointed to the ceiling, hands clasped neatly over his flat stomach. He'd probably learned this position from centuries of sleeping in a coffin.
Toni did a double take to the area below his clasped hands. There was a definite bulge in his pajama bottoms. She leaned over for a closer look. Good grief, he'd fallen into his death-sleep with a hard-on. Was it possible for a stiff to be that stiff?
She straightened with a deep breath. "Naughty boy," she whispered and glanced at his handsome face. A shadow of dark whiskers lined his strong jaw. His black eyelashes were so thick. She would hate him if she didn't love him so much. She reached out to touch the cute dimple in his chin.
His eyes suddenly opened. She jumped. A hand locked around her wrist in a tight grip. She gasped.
"Surprise." He seized her by the arms and rolled her onto the bed.
Chapter Twenty-four
He'd certainly surprised her. She lay on the bed, her bonnie mouth dropped open. He rolled onto
his side to face her and propped himself up on an elbow.
"You--you're not dead," she whispered.
He smiled. "No' at the moment."
"How? You took that drug? The Stay-Awake drug?"
"Aye. I know where it's hidden."
She sat up. "But Ian, it makes you grow older." "One year for each day." He shrugged one shoulder. "So I'll look twenty-eight instead of twenty- seven."
Her mouth fell open again. "You were willing to age a year?"
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"To spend a day with you, aye."
"That's so sweet." She stretched out, facing him. "But are you sure you should be sweet? I mean, you're awake, and the bad guys are asleep."
His smile widened. She was as much a warrior as he was. "So ye want to slaughter them while they're unable to defend themselves?"
She winced. "I realize it's not a very honorable thing to do, but they would do it to you in a second."
"Aye, they would, so we'll have to make sure they never get that drug." He reached out to brush a tendril of damp hair off her cheek. "Actually, I would be tempted to kill them all and be done with this mess, but they have about twenty Russian mafia guys guarding them with high-powered assault rifles."
"Oh." She made a face. "That would be nasty."
"Aye, verra nasty. Ever since Roman visited them during the day, they've been extra vigilant." He trailed a finger along the line of her jaw. "And then there's the problem of me burning to a crisp if I go out in the sun."
"I guess we'll have to stay inside."
"Aye." He skimmed his finger over her ear.
"I guess we could think of something to pass the time." Her eyes twinkled as she glanced at his pajama bottoms. "It looks like you've been thinking ahead of me."
He smiled wryly. "A man should never be unprepared."
It was true that while he lay in bed, waiting for her to arrive, he'd grown aroused just thinking about making love to her. He knew his eyes were turning red now. A red tint shaded the room, making Toni's skin look pink and ripe with blood. It would be a challenge to keep control. He'd purposely filled up with synthetic blood to make it easier.
The way she'd looked at him when he'd unleashed all his Vamp power in Dr. Proctor's library-- that had stretched his control to the max. He'd heard her heart racing. He'd