her.
What the actual fuck was happening to him? Cherish her?
Ryan had been wrong. He really was running mad. If he started to see pigs fly or elephants dance, he’d skip whatever came next and just walk out into the dawn, saving hundreds if not thousands with his sacrifice. There could be nothing more deadly to walk the earth than an insane vampire as powerful as he.
And he was very much afraid that he’d go after the woman in his shower first, in a frenzy of territorial possession and lust, and fuck her until they were both dead of it.
She’d die so easily. Humans were far too fragile.
He’d kill himself from the guilt.
Yet more reasons why he should stay far, far away from her.
He was sunk so far in his black mood that he paid little attention to the sound of approaching feet, except to note that it was friend, not foe, until the tentative knock sounded at the door to the hallway.
He raised his head and tried to focus on anything but what was happening in that bathroom. “Come in, Mrs. Cassidy.”
“Sorry to bother you, sir, but does the doctor wish to have breakfast? I’ve cooked up a fair feast, you know. It’s still an hour till dawn, and I thought you’d all be hungry, after what you’ve had to do with Mr. Evans.” She entered just far enough to be inside the room, but no farther. He’d made it clear that his rooms were his private sanctuary, although she’d gently bullied him into allowing her to come in and dust and clean every so often.
“I don’t know—”
The other door, the one he’d been watching for nearly half an hour now, opened, and Bane shot up out of his chair.
“Breakfast, Miss? Doctor? The least we can do is feed you,” Mrs. C said, smiling.
Ryan bit her lip. “I don’t know—is it actual food?”
He took one look and wanted to bite that plump lip for her. Wanted it more than he’d wanted anything else in his life. He forced himself to grab the edge of the desk with both hands to help keep him from moving toward her and then had to relax his fingers when he heard wood splintering from the pressure of his grip.
“It’s actual food. We eat, Doctor,” he said, drinking his fill of the sight of her.
She’d put on one of his plain, white shirts and a pair of his black trousers, and both were vastly too large for her. But she’d rolled up sleeves and pant legs and belted the waist with one of his ties, which should have looked ridiculous but instead fired his territorial instincts again at seeing her in his clothes.
Smelling her wearing the scent of his soap.
He wanted to toss her into his bed and spend hours touching every inch of that freshly washed, rosy skin. Use that tie and others to bind her to his bed and drive her to delirious pleasure with his hands.
His mouth.
His cock.
The bed that no longer existed except as a pile of scrap.
Damn.
She tried on a smile and crossed the room to Mrs. Cassidy, carefully walking a wide path to avoid coming too close to Bane. He deserved it, but it still pierced him in a way he didn’t understand.
“I’m Ryan St. Cloud. I’m Hunter Evans’ doctor. I don’t really have time for breakfast, but thank you for offering. I need to see my patient and then go home. If you’ll pardon me, I’ll be on my way.”
“I’m Mrs. Cassidy. Nice to meet you.”
And then, before Bane even realized what was happening, Ryan slipped past Mrs. C and was gone.
“Damn that woman,” he groaned, starting after her. “She never does what I expect.”
Mrs. C moved aside to let him pass but didn’t bother to hide her smile. “And how boring would that be if she did? I think it’s about time you found a woman who challenges you.”
“It’s not—she’s not— She’s not a woman. She’s a doctor.” He didn’t bother to argue any further, because nothing in his brain made sense, and he could already hear Mrs. C laughing behind him.
Apparently, it was the day for people to laugh at him. Usually, when that had happened in the past, there’d been a lot of the screaming and running Meara so liked.
Ahead of him, Ryan turned to enter the ballroom, and the next sound he heard was her shouting his name. He raced into the room and yanked her into his arms, fangs fully descended, muscles tense.
“What?