“My apologies, chére. I admit to a certain distraction this evening. I’m puzzled by Anthony’s hostility. I never met him before yesterday, so I don’t know where it comes from. And I can’t help wondering what he hopes to gain from it.”
Natalie’s expression lost its anger, becoming thoughtful as she considered what he’d said. “I don’t know that much about vampires,” she said. “I mean, yeah, I’ve been working for Anthony for almost two years now, but I haven’t had that much interaction with anyone outside his office. Except for Jaclyn, but she’s different.”
Christian tilted his head curiously. “Different?”
“More . . . human.”
His smile broadened into a grin. “Jaclyn is both powerful and well-connected. She’s probably more deadly than most of the vampires on the estate, not to mention the vampires on her own staff, and their job is to protect her. You’re making assumptions because she’s female. That’s sexist.”
“Oh, that’s rich coming from you.”
“For the record, I find most women generally more interesting than men. I was distracted earlier, but it had nothing to do with your lack of a penis. I’m actually delighted you don’t have one.”
“How do you know?” she demanded, then immediately blushed so fiercely that he could feel the heat from her skin. “Okay, forget I said that. You bring out the worst in me.”
Christian inched closer until his lips were against her ear. “I like it when you lose control, when the schoolmarm glasses come off, and the real you comes out to play.”
“That’s not the real me,” she muttered. “The real me is the one who sits in front of a computer all day, wearing those glasses, and following boring numbers from place to place.”
Christian didn’t believe that. The tidy accountant was the woman she’d been raised to be—a proper, Southern woman. But the real Natalie was the one whose heart had been in her eyes when he’d touched her earlier, who’d been frantic to warn him about Anthony, even though they’d barely exchanged ten words before that. The Natalie who held a black belt in judo. And, yes, he had been listening when she’d talked about the dojo earlier. It had simply taken his brain a minute to catch up with everything he’d heard.
“The real you is many things, Natalie, but none of them is boring.”
“I don’t know what—” she started to whisper, then turned to look out the window as they pulled into the driveway of a large ranch-style house. “Is this where you live?”
The garage door opened, and Marc drove inside, hitting the visor button to close the door behind them.
“For the time being,” Christian told her. “Once I’m Lord of the South, we’ll need something bigger.” He opened the door and slid out of the car, holding a hand out for her to exit on his side. He saw the indecision in her eyes, the urge to open her own door, to put distance between them. He didn’t say anything to persuade her either way. But he knew a fierce satisfaction when her slender fingers gripped his, and she emerged from the car to stand so close that their bodies were nearly touching.
She seemed startled by that closeness, as if she’d expected him to step back. Her gaze snapped up to meet his eyes, then traveled down to linger at his mouth, her tongue coming out to lick her lips. His cock grew heavy, and he nearly groaned out loud. Could she be that innocent? Did she truly not know the effect she had on him?
“Coffee?” he managed to ask. It was either that, or grab her and disappear into his basement bedroom for several hours of ravaging.
“You really do have coffee here?” she asked.
Marc laughed at her question, as he unlocked the door between the garage and the kitchen, drawing Natalie’s surprised attention.
“Don’t mind Marc,” Christian told her. “And, yes, we really do have coffee.”
“I didn’t . . . that is, I’ve never seen a vampire eat or drink anything before.”
“Except blood,” Christian corrected.
“Not even that,” Natalie admitted. “I mean, obviously I know that’s what you all do. But I’ve never seen it.”
Christian guided her through the open doorway with a hand pressed against her lower back. “Never?”
“I told you, I worked in Anthony’s office, but that’s it. I have my own place. I come to work, I’m in the office all night, and I go home.”
“No going to blood bars, no clubs?” Christian found that hard to believe. The humans in Mathilde’s court, and the few other courts he’d visited, all embraced the vampire life style, seeking out vampires as lovers, which meant offering themselves as blood donors.
“None. Anthony quietly discouraged it, but that’s not why I didn’t do it. I was just never interested.”
“But you knew Anthony from New Orleans, yes? He called you cousin.”
“I don’t know why he did that. He’s never called me that before last night.”
Christian knew why, and it had nothing to do with any cousin-like feelings on Anthony’s part.