Dark Obsession (Vampire Royals of New York #3) - Sarah Piper Page 0,92

a shower.

He wanted a nap.

He wanted to make love to his woman—in the shower and after a nap.

Charlotte nodded. “Sasha asked to ride back to Ravenswood with Aiden.”

Gabriel let out a low chuckle. “I’ll bet she did.”

“Hey!” She laughed and smacked his shoulder. “That’s my sister you’re talking about, dickhead.”

“And my brother,” he added.

Dorian arched an eyebrow. “You do realize she’s talking about Aiden, right?”

Gabriel shrugged. “I think he’s earned it, don’t you?”

“Nearly two hundred and fifty years ago, yes.”

“Better late than never.”

“Indeed.” Dorian rose from the barstool and pulled his woman in for another kiss, breathing in her sweet scent, deeply buried beneath the blood and grime.

The shower would be long and epic.

His cock was already hard just thinking about it.

“You two are bloody disgusting,” Gabriel grumbled, grabbing the last of the scotch and stalking off to find somewhere else to brood.

Charlotte finally pulled back, her eyes shining with emotion as she took Dorian’s face between her hands.

Her touch, as always, steadied him.

“We did it,” she whispered. “We got her back.”

“We got you both back.”

She stretched up for one more kiss, then whispered, “Take me home, vampire king.”

Home.

Passing from her lips, the word was a balm on his broken heart, and he scooped her into his arms and carried her out of those bloodied ruins, out onto St. Mark’s Place and into the bright hope of a brand new day.

Chapter Thirty-Four

One Month Later

As the daughter of a professional art thief, Charley had experienced her share of endings. Broken promises. Shattered families. Deaths.

Every last one of her old endings had been abrupt and devastating, leaving her to pick up the pieces and move on as best she could.

But now, as she bubble-wrapped the last coffee mug from her kitchen cabinets and set it into the box with the others, Charley was experiencing a new kind of ending. One that set the butterflies inside her to flight, whispering in her ear about new beginnings. Possibilities. Promises.

Everything was changing so fast.

Thanks to a hacker friend of Gabriel’s—another of his shady, mysterious contacts—they were able to transfer Charley’s father’s legal assets back into her name where they belonged. Once that was settled, she sold the penthouse in record time.

As beautiful as it was, she didn’t want to stay there. The penthouse was part of another life—an old life Charley had long ago outgrown. The embers had already been smoldering within her when she first met Dorian, and in the time they’d been together, they’d exploded into a full-on inferno.

Now, she was more than ready to emerge from those ashes.

To start again, her way.

Sasha had moved in with Darcy last weekend—a cute little two-bedroom apartment in Park Slope, Brooklyn, near some of their other friends from school. The girls had grown close, and after everything Sasha had experienced—everything she’d seen—she was ready to spread her wings a bit.

Next week, Charley would be moving out too—off to a third-floor walkup she’d found in Astoria, Queens, not far from the train. On a good commuting day, she’d be able to dash into one of the neighborhood’s famed Greek bakeries en route, pick up a pastry and some coffee to go, and make it to Manhattan in less than half an hour.

Her new boss was pretty flexible with her schedule, but Charley didn’t want to take advantage. She was beyond grateful that he’d even considered her proposal and given her a real job, despite her lack of legitimate experience. But since the acquisition of Armitage Holdings, FierceConnect was growing like crazy, and Dorian needed all the help he could get. As of last week, Charley was officially a marketing assistant for a brand new division geared toward attracting and supporting women gamers, developers, and content creators. She also got to consult on the artwork with some of Dorian’s developers, which she loved.

Mostly, Charley was tasked with getting coffees, scheduling meetings, making copies and travel arrangements—nothing too complicated. But she couldn’t have been happier. It was her first real, paying, on-the-books gig, and she showed up every day with an easy smile, eager to learn more.

Of course Dorian had tried to give her a higher position, but Charley wanted to start small, to work her way up through the ranks without any special favors from the boss.

It was her first job, after all, and she still had a lot to learn. But she had so much fun being there, having lunch with her new friends, sneaking away for an occasional “appointment” in the boss’s office. She even welcomed