Under a Vampire Moon(9)

"You guessed right," Christian said dryly.

The other man nodded and glanced around at the others. "That leaves three rooms and four of us."

Gia chuckled at their expressions and headed for the door. "Well, there's one other room with a double bed.

The other two have twins, so I'll take the double bed and leave the other two to you guys to fight over."

"I'll share with someone," Santo offered.

Zanipolo grimaced. "No offense, cousin, but you snore like a foghorn. There's no way I'm sharing with you."

"I guess that means Zani and I are sharing and you get your own room, Santo," Raffaele announced, heading out with Zanipolo on his heels.

Santo stared after them with surprise. "I don't snore, do I?" He frowned. "Can immortals snore?"

"You don't snore," Christian assured him.

"Right." Santo frowned. "So why-"

"You shout and thrash and scream," he said quietly.

Santo stiffened, his expression freezing. Then he nodded, ran one hand across his bald head and left the room.

Christian watched Santo leave, then slapped the bag of blood to his teeth and pushed his door closed. He was exhausted and couldn't even be bothered to go get his suitcase.

Moving to the bed, Christian quickly brushed aside the robe and flowers and lay down. He stared at the ceiling as he waited for the bag to empty, and pondered whether his life was about to change or not. He suspected Gia was right and Marguerite had found a possible lifemate for him. He suspected it was the entertainment coordinator she kept mentioning.

"Genie," he murmured, pulling the empty bag from his teeth, and then his eyes closed and he fell asleep.

Chapter Two

"Caro?"

"Here!" Carolyn set her brush down on the bathroom counter and walked to the door to her bedroom, pausing when she saw Bethany standing in the hall door in her pink silk robe, her dark hair up in a ponytail. "You aren't ready."

"No." Bethany grimaced. "Would you mind if I didn't go?"

Carolyn frowned and started across the bedroom. "I thought you were feeling better?"

"I was when I woke up from my nap this afternoon, but now not so much," she said with a grimace. "I'm thinking it might be better to stay here and just rest tonight.

Hopefully, if I do, I'll be good for tomorrow so we can enjoy the rest of the trip... and since Genie will be there tonight to keep you company, I thought it would just be best to rest tonight." She hesitated and then added, "Well, unless you mind. I mean I know I dragged you here, so if you want me to-"

"No, no," Carolyn said quickly, though she really would rather Bethany came, but if she wasn't feeling well... she managed a smile and shrugged. "Like you say, Genie will be there. Besides, I want you feeling better for the rest of the trip too."

Bethany smiled. "I promise I'll make it up to you. Tomorrow we'll do something fun, maybe a tour or something, then come back here, party our faces off, pick up a couple of men and rock their world."

"Considering that every single male here appears to be on his honeymoon, I don't think that's likely," Carolyn said with amusement, moving to the closet to scoop up her shoes. Carrying them to the bed, she sat to put them on, thinking she was actually glad that this was the case.

She sincerely doubted she could "rock" anyone's world, and she also didn't really want to "party" her "face off."

Last night had been more than enough partying for her.

Carolyn grimaced at the memory. Thanks to those tequila shots Bethany had talked her into, she'd spent the evening trying desperately not to slur her words, first in the lounge and then in the restaurant where Marguerite and Julius had insisted she and Genie join them. Truthfully, they seemed like a nice young couple, but just the fact that they were on their honeymoon had left Carolyn somewhat at a loss and avoiding personal questions. The last thing newlyweds needed to hear was about her divorce.

Mostly, Carolyn sat and listened as Genie and Marguerite chattered away about the band that was coming and various events on the island, while trying to ignore the strangely intense way Julius kept looking at her. There had been nothing sexual in the way the man had eyed her, more like he'd been sizing her up for something. It had been a bit weird and made her uncomfortable. Carolyn had been glad when the meal ended and she'd been able to use the excuse of checking on Bethany to escape.

Of course, after returning to the villa and finding the other woman sound asleep, Carolyn had crawled into her own bed and soon drifted off as well. It had been an early evening, but then she'd had a long day what with the flight and what not. Traveling always wiped Carolyn out.