he’d always been a vampire. A foolish assumption. Even if she knew little about the creatures, it seemed apparent they could become vampire at any time if all it involved was a bite.
“I always worked well into the night, and one night as I was strolling the subway to catch the train to the airport for a last-minute trip to Vegas, a gang of hungry-looking street punks corralled me into a corner—and bit me.”
“Vampires,” she said on a gasp.
“Vampires.” He crossed his arms and turned to pace behind the couch, away from her. He put up a wall and Olivia was inclined to respect his need for distance. “I woke up in the E.R. My cot was shoved along a wall like I wasn’t high enough on the triage list to warrant immediate care. And I knew what had happened. Vampires had bitten me. How to explain that to the doctors without earning a one-way ticket to the loony bin? So I snuck out while I had the chance.
“I didn’t know where to go, what to do, who to tell. So I didn’t tell anyone. I quickly lost my job to a hotshot upstart who’d used my difficulty with concentrating and fighting against the blood hunger to prove to the boss I was an addict. A ridiculous accusation, but I could hardly defend myself with the truth. A week later the hunger pangs grew so strong, I…attacked a guy. Beat him up and bit him. I transformed to vampire that night, fangs and all.”
He stopped pacing before the window. She’d closed the curtains, expecting his visit, yet pale winter sun streamed around the edges, touching Daniel’s face as if hope attempted to permeate his darkness.
Olivia felt the vulnerability in his silence. To be attacked and forced to change into a creature who must live on human blood to survive? No one would ask for that. Only a strong man could survive.
She respected him for the trust he’d given her. It wasn’t an easy commodity to share.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t know.”
“Now you do. And now you know that it’s probably better if I walk out that door and not come back.”
When he stepped toward the door she made a move to block his path. “Daniel, you being a vampire has nothing to do with you never coming back. I’ll deliver the cookies later. They can wait.”
“I’m harshing your Christmas spirit,” he said. “Vampire Scrooge doesn’t play into your dreams of sugarplums and stockings hung by the chimney with care.”
She had to smile at his attempt at lightening the mood. “Come here.” She held out her arms. “You need a hug.”
He shook his head in disbelief. “It’s going to take more than a hug to get over what I’ve become.”
“I know that, but I want to help.”
“Don’t worry about me, Olivia. I’ll get this figured out.”
“I know you will. But I still want to hug you.”
Standing but an inch from his body, her eyes traced his, and he allowed the long stare, the intimate look into his soul. And what she found there was no monster, but a kind, smart and determined man who had been wronged.
“You know if I hug you,” he said, “I’ll want to touch your skin. And if I touch your skin, I’ll want to kiss it. And if I kiss it…you’ll never get your cookies delivered.”
“The cookies can wait.”
CHAPTER FOUR
DANIEL HAD NEVER honestly enjoyed a woman before. Hell, he took what he could during sex, and gave back, as well. He could bring a woman to orgasm more than a few times, and have her whispering devotion to his talents. But when he’d been a corporate drone, he’d always been on a schedule. Everything had a time limit, including sex. He hadn’t time following sex to linger in bed and cuddle, or even draw his fingers along a woman’s dewy flesh to watch the subtle rise and fall of her breath, the tug of her muscles, the sighs that set up tiny goose bumps here and there.
Lost in the discovery of Olivia’s flesh, he trailed a fingertip down her ribs and above her belly button. There, he made a circle and delighted to see her skin prickle at the light touch, and then smooth out as her breathing increased.
Why had it taken so long for him to simply relax and be in the moment?
Touching the tip of his tongue to her belly, he drew a slow curve, painting his wants and needs onto her, and