we can talk later.” He picked her up and ran so fast she thought she was going to throw up.
“Okay, motion sickness is not sexy, George.”
He laughed and slowed down a little as they reached the bottom staircase. Within seconds, they were at the door and he was kissing her again, making her head spin for a whole new reason.
“Baojia—”
He wouldn’t let her talk. He just kept at her mouth. Then her neck. She felt his fangs scrape against her skin as he laid her down on the bed and went to secure the door with a combination of way more numbers than just her birthday.
“Did you… did you just change the code?”
“Yes. We’ll have to think of a new password every dawn.” He moved back toward her, intent clear as he pulled off his shirt. “I will not take any chances with your security, but I do not want to keep you prisoner during the day.” He lay down next to her, shirt gone, playing with the edge of her T-shirt. “You’ve had quite enough of that, am I right?”
She pulled off her T-shirt. “But not enough of you. I should take a shower.”
The smile dropped from his face and he dove toward the newly revealed skin. Her green bra turned into a scrap of lace when his teeth encountered it. The now-familiar sensation of his amnis flowing over her skin caused her to moan.
“Later,” he whispered, his mouth already busy on her breast. “Much later.”
Much much later, after Natalie had discovered just how entertaining showers could be with someone who controlled water, they lay in bed. It was still an hour or so before dawn. His cool fingers ran over her still-flushed skin, and his other hand played with the red hair splayed over his chest.
“I am very…” He spoke softly.
“What?”
“Content. I am very content, Natalie.”
She smiled against his chest. “I’m glad. I’m sorry you fought with your sister.”
“She is not my sister anymore.”
Pulling back a little, she looked into his eyes. “Yes, she is. Feelings don’t just disappear because you fight.”
“She brought me to him. When I was human, it was Paula who found me and took me to Ernesto.”
“But you said you weren’t forced to become a vampire.”
“No.” He took a deep breath. “I was willing.”
“Why?”
Frowning, he rolled to the side and then turned her over so she could meet his eyes. “You have to understand what was expected of me. My family was in China. I was sent here to work. For them. So they could eventually pay passage and move, too. There was no future in China, my father said. He was, in his own way, very American.” Baojia smiled. “He thought our family could have a better life here. There were so many rumors of gold, but also regular jobs. On the railroads. On farms. Shops. Just jobs, which were scarce in my village. I was sent over and worked on the railroad at first. Then for a mining company. Every place I could. I sent a little bit home, but mostly I saved it. I slept in the cheapest lodging I could. I bought nothing for myself. I would have been able to do it. I e tst
“What happened?”
“In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. No Chinese immigrants were allowed. They said it would be for ten years. I had been here working, had saved up so much… But it didn’t matter. No matter what I did, they would not have been able to come. There were smugglers, but I could not afford to pay them. And there were no guarantees they wouldn’t take my money and leave my parents in their village anyway.”
“That’s horrible.”
Baojia shrugged. “It was reality. But I became very depressed. I considered going back to China, but my parents wrote me and told me that I should stay. They needed me to continue sending money for them, and there were no jobs in the village that paid what I was making. I was… angry. I felt very alone. And there were very few women here—no Chinese women, anyway—who would want to marry a laborer like me. So I had no hope of a family or children. I was an income to them. That was all.”
Her heart ached for him. He had wanted a normal life. Wanted a family and a future. But instead…
“They didn’t deserve you.”
“I’m sure they didn’t see it that way. They were doing what they needed to survive. I can’t blame them for that.”
She