The Real Werewives of Vampire County - By Alexandra Ivy Page 0,53
in a minute.” My body was screaming with frustration.
He made it worse by pressing a kiss to my forehead, and then to the soft spot in front of my ear.
I sighed. “You like to torture me, don’t you?”
“More than you’ll ever know.” He settled in next to me. “Sleep.” He pressed against my back until he was spooning me in the most delicious way. It was warm, protective. It felt like the pack I’d never had.
“Lucien, I—”
“You need to rest, Heather.” He nuzzled his chin on my shoulder. “You did too much.”
“But—” He was so close.
“Shhh ...” His steadying weight blanketed me. “We’ll talk later.”
I snuggled into the pillow, almost content. It did feel good. “You’re bossy.”
“I know.”
He held me like that until we drifted off to sleep.
CHAPTER 6
A curtain creaked open and sunlight flooded my face. “Wake up. You going to sleep all day?”
I cracked an eye open. Sweet heaven above. An Alexander Skarsgard look-alike stood next to my bed, shirtless, wearing battered Levi’s and a smile.
He cocked a grin. “Don’t get too excited. It’s me.”
Vinny.
Of course. I’d recognize that New Jersey accent anywhere.
I squinched my eyes closed and burrowed into the pillow. My head pounded and my stomach churned. I’d hoped the hangover would be gone by now.
“Yo, sleeping beauty.” Even his voice made my head hurt.
“If you want to investigate Bliss’s house, you’d better hurry.”
Of course Lucien had updated Vinny. Worse, Vinny didn’t seem to be surprised to find me in his master’s bed. I was the worst werewolf ever. Sleeping with a bloodsucker.
Damned vampire.
I shoved a pillow over my face. Naturally, it smelled like him.
The pillow went sailing across the room.
Oh, who was I kidding? It wasn’t Vinny’s fault. Lucien had touched me and rubbed me and comforted me through my pain like no one else had, or probably ever would. I didn’t even know I needed that until I had it.
I’d better not get used to it.
I groaned and rolled over, certain traitorous parts still wishing they’d had their way with Lucien last night. Of course it would have been amazing. Damned vampire. I sure hoped he didn’t tell Vinny everything.
“Come on.” Vinny shook the bed. “Lucien said you might want to do some investigating that didn’t involve thwacking your brain against a mental wall, so to speak.” He yanked back the covers. “Up and at ’em.” My shirt thwomped me on the head. “The lady just left for her weekly massage and seaweed wrap.”
“Who?”
“Bliss,” he said, losing patience.
“Oh yeah.” I rolled over, tugging on my shirt. “And how do you know that?”
“I flirted,” he said, as if it were obvious. “She’s leaving the alarm off for me. It’s a one-time opportunity, babe.”
He tossed a key at my head.
“Cripes, Vinny,” I mumbled as I caught the key, almost jealous of the fact that he’d allowed himself to flirt without feeling guilty about it. “What are you supposed to be anyway?”
“I’m your gardener,” he said, relishing the role. “I mow things. I chop down trees. I flirt with the neighbors.”
“I don’t think you’re supposed to chop down trees.”
“Oops.”
“Okay, scram,” I said, forcing myself out of bed. I needed to get started.
Knowing these women, a beauty treatment would give me several hours alone in the house. I’d like to find a bankbook and check into her money situation, maybe uncover anything else that I could ask her about. I needed to keep my conversations with these women useful and targeted—or else my head was going to explode.
Besides that, we were on a deadline here. I had less than two days to figure out who’d killed Sunny or this would all be for nothing. My pack would be at war.
A shower and four Advil helped perk me up. Then I grabbed a cream and blue sundress with straw sandals that Tia had picked out. She’d labeled them with matching florescent yellow dots, which she’d found demeaning and I’d found extremely helpful. I tossed the dots into the trash and committed the outfit to memory.
I waved to Vinny on my way out the door and couldn’t help grinning when he accidentally sliced a chunk off the front rosebushes. I had to think that was for me. And I enjoyed it immensely. Maybe it wasn’t so bad being a girly girl—at least while I was undercover.
Of course, it would have been wiser to wear black while breaking into a house, but somehow, I fit in better in this neighborhood as I was. And it wasn’t like there’d be anyone home.