Much to Nicole’s surprise, she was the first to wake up again. This time, strong winter sunlight was glaring in through the sliding glass doors and onto them. Nicole automatically got up to close the blinds and then turned to peer at the now shadowed bed.
She eyed Jake curiously, as she realized that the light earlier and this time hadn’t seemed to disturb him . . . and he’d gone shopping with her in daylight. Obviously, that was another difference between vampires and immortals; sunlight didn’t bother immortals.
Nicole crossed the two feet to the bed, intending to climb back in, but she wasn’t really tired now. She was thirsty though . . . and her throat was a bit sore. It wasn’t the only place she was sore. It seemed that all this caressing and ha**ng s*x after a year of abstinence was causing some tenderness. Interesting, she thought and then walked around the bed and through the en suite to the walk in closet. Her gaze slid to the shower as she passed through the en suite and Nicole briefly considered taking a shower, but suspected if Jake woke up to find her na**d in the shower, she wouldn’t be leaving the room for another little while.
The idea held more than a little appeal, but Nicole was tender enough that she feared another round with Jake right now would just make it worse. Besides, she was thirsty . . . and hungry now too.
In the closet, Nicole pulled out a pair of plaid pajama bottoms and a bra and T-shirt to don, deliberately avoiding underwear this time to give her lower half a break. She dressed in the walk-in closet, her gaze slipping over the seventeen-foot-long and seven-foot-wide room. Built-in drawers were at either side of the far end of the room and a washer and dryer sat against the wall behind her on the other side of the door from the bathroom. But the rest of the room was lined with both upper and lower hanging rods, each side partitioned into two parts along each wall . . . except directly beside her, where there was only an upper rod to allow for robes and dresses to hang.
Nicole grimaced as she peered at the mostly empty rods. It had been stuffed to brimming when Rodolfo had been there. The man was a clothes horse, with so many shirts and pants he’d had a whole selection that still had the tags on. He’d taken up all of one side and almost half of the other with his clothes when they’d lived together, but now her own clothes barely filled half of one side . . . and that was with the clothes spread out to prevent wrinkling. That had never bothered her before, but now Nicole was thinking maybe she should buy herself some nice outfits to wear out on dates and such and perhaps some nice nightgowns and sexy underwear and—
Nicole stilled. What the heck was she thinking? She’d just got out of a relationship. She was not ready to get into another one. And she’d promised herself another six months before she’d even consider dating, but here she was, a couple of rounds of bouncy bed with Jake and she was ready to go out and buy clothes? Including sexy underwear? God, she was such an idiot. And a ho’ too, Nicole told herself viciously. She’d slept with her cook/housekeeper after barely knowing him a couple days. What was the matter with her?
Nicole knew that was harsh. She knew too that lots of women saw nothing wrong with sleeping with someone they’d just met in a bar and didn’t know from Adam. And she’d agree . . . for others. But Nicole knew herself well enough to know that she couldn’t just have sex. She would get emotionally involved, and the last thing she needed right now was to get emotionally involved with anyone.
Angry at herself and grumpy now, Nicole finished dressing and slipped out of the closet. She practically tiptoed through the bedroom in an effort not to wake Jake. She wasn’t ready to see him just now. She needed some time to sort herself out and decide how to handle this situation with him.
That might include firing him as her cook/housekeeper, Nicole admitted to herself unhappily. But she knew it was the smartest thing to do . . . because she very much feared that as long as he was around, she wouldn’t be able to resist playing more bouncy bed with the man. The sex had been that good. Hell, if she weren’t sore, Nicole would probably be crawling on the man right now.
“Jake isn’t here to be a cook/housekeeper.”
Nicole nearly leapt out of her skin at that deep rumble as she entered the kitchen. Whirling, she stared at Dante Notte. The man stood two steps behind her, apparently having followed her from . . . well, somewhere. The living room, probably, she thought, but hadn’t noticed him.
“You were busy thinking about bouncy bed with Jake and how to avoid it,” he offered helpfully.
“To avoid getting involved with him,” Tomasso added, stepping into view behind his twin.
Nicole flushed and turned sharply away to walk to the refrigerator. “Please stop reading me.”
“It’s hard not to. New life mates are often rather loud with their thoughts,” Dante explained.
“And in other ways,” Tomasso muttered, and Nicole felt her blush deepen as she recalled screaming her head off with pleasure, not once, but three times now. She supposed that explained why her throat was sore.
“My apologies,” she said stiffly as she opened the refrigerator door in search of something to drink. A bare second later though, she frowned and glanced to the men. “What do you mean, Jake isn’t here to be my cook/housekeeper? That’s his job.”
“That’s what you think,” Tomasso said with amusement.
“What do you mean, that’s what I think?” Nicole asked, scowling.
“Well, you think he’s here to be your cook/housekeeper, while he thinks he’s here to be your bodyguard,” Dante said with amusement.
Nicole’s eyes narrowed. “And which is true? Why did Marguerite bring him here?”
“Because you’re his life mate,” Tomasso said as if that should be obvious.
“You’re telling me that Marguerite thought I would be a life mate to Jake and—” Nicole began.
“She knew you would be a life mate to Stephano,” Tomasso corrected.
“Marguerite has a certain gift about such things,” Dante informed her quietly. “She has put together several life mates over the last few years.”
“Well, I’m pretty sure she has it wrong this time. I—” Nicole began but Dante interrupted.
“Please try to remember that we can read your mind and know when you’re lying . . . even to yourself,” he said solemnly.
Nicole slammed the refrigerator door closed with more violence than was necessary and walked over to sit at the table. Propping her elbows on the table, she dropped her face into her hands and scrubbed her eyes almost painfully with the heels of her hands. She did it hard enough that she almost saw stars.
“You know Marguerite is not wrong,” Dante said quietly, settling at the table on one side of her as Tomasso claimed the chair on the other side. “Jake told you that he cannot read or control you and that the lack of those abilities is a sign of a life mate. But that aside, you enjoyed the life-mate shared pleasure, and even if you didn’t know that was another symptom, you knew it was special enough to mean something.”