chapter Fifteen
DO NOT DISTURB
SHE shouldn’t have said what she had, Katie thought as she followed Cort down the first side street and away from Bourbon.
She was willing to bet her admissions about how she’d felt about those pictures had freaked him out. As soon as she’d said it, she’d wanted to take the words back. Especially admitting she was disappointed and excited. He had to have realized what that meant. And even though she was embarrassed at admitting those feelings, the feelings were still there.
Even thinking about those pictures, she was excited by them. By being in his arms. By having kissed him. And she was bitterly disappointed she didn’t remember it. And of course she felt embarrassed and ashamed that she’d been that drunk or whatever had happened to them, period. But at least she wasn’t alone in her overindulgence.
Of course, that wasn’t making her feel any better.
Especially the way Cort was striding down the street like he couldn’t wait to get away from her.
She doubled her steps to catch up with him. He glanced at her and slowed his pace.
“I’m—I’m sorry,” she said, “if I said anything back there to make you . . . I—I guess I should have kept my feelings to myself.”
Cort’s gaze stayed focused ahead of him. “You can’t help the way you feel.”
Katie nodded, even though she knew Cort wouldn’t see it, but she couldn’t speak. She didn’t expect him to return her attraction. After all, he’d never shown any sign of interest before, but she also didn’t expect this reaction. He seemed almost—angry.
Talk about rejection. Her desire for him pissed him off. Wow. That was pretty harsh.
Neither spoke even as they stepped into Cort’s silent apartment. Cort immediately went to the bathroom, not even putting down the cookie jar or the bird.
He returned seconds later. “The priest is gone.”
“Oh.” Katie wasn’t sure what else to say. She knew Cort was disappointed. He wanted answers. But more important, he wanted to find out about the annulment. “You didn’t really expect him to still be there, did you?”
He gave her a long look, and for a second, she wondered if he knew more than he was telling her. But then he just crossed over to the kitchen counter and put down the cookie jar with more force than necessary. The bird cawed loudly at the sound.
“Get the fuck off me,” Cort yelled, shaking his arm. The bird cawed again, but flew away to perch on top of the refrigerator.
For some reason that was the last straw for Katie.
“You don’t have to take out your frustrations on the stupid bird,” she shouted. “I know you are angry with me. I know you are upset that I’m a vampire, because you feel responsible for me and you don’t want to. And I certainly know you are even more upset that we’re married. But most of all, I know you just want to be rid of me.”
Cort turned away from the counter, his usually sleepy eyes wide.
“Well, don’t you worry about it,” Katie continued, “I’m sure I can go to the courthouse or something and file the annulment. As far as being a vampire, there seems to be plenty of them in this city to get tips from, I won’t bother you. And right now, I’ll help you out with your last problem, too. I’m leaving, and you can forget any of this ever happened.”
She turned to leave, but before she could even take a step, Cort had grabbed her wrist.
“Is that what you think?” he said.
“Well, duh,” she responded, her unusual anger apparently making her childish, too. But she didn’t care. She was hurt and upset and scared.
And very, very mad at herself, because even in this state she was still altogether too aware of Cort’s hand on her skin.
“Katie, I’m not angry with you. Hell, none of this is your fault. I feel guilty that in one night, I turned your whole world upside down. But I don’t blame any of that on you.”
Katie stared up into his beautiful dark brown eyes, lost in his sorrowful expression.
“And I don’t blame you,” she said.
“I will admit I was hurt that you’re ashamed and disappointed to be married to me.”
Katie started to speak, but Cort raised a hand to stop her.
“I realize you can hardly be thrilled about finding yourself married to someone who is little more than a casual friend, but I will admit, hearing you use those words,” he shrugged, “they hurt. No one wants a person to be ashamed and embarrassed and disappointed about their marriage. Even an accidental one.”
Katie found herself smiling slightly at that description, even as she tried to absorb what he was saying.
He was hurt. She’d been hurt.
“I didn’t mean those words that way.”
He frowned. “How did you mean them?”
Katie wanted to groan. She supposed it was her surprise at his candidness that made her answer without measuring her words.
But he had been candid. Maybe it was time she was, too. Hadn’t she always said she wanted to be wilder, more rebellious?
Just tell him what you meant.
“I—I said I was embarrassed and ashamed, because I couldn’t remember anything about those pictures. That’s not me.”
Cort nodded. “I get that. It’s not me either. But why were you disappointed? Because the pictures didn’t give us more answers?”
Katie could have just said yes, that was why. But she wasn’t going to. Maybe it was time to admit her feelings for Cort. It had been three years of hiding her feelings. She was at the start of a new existence. Maybe it was time to tell him. He might reject her, he probably would, but given everything else that had happened, this seemed like as good a time as any.
“I was disappointed because I didn’t remember anything in those pictures.”
Cort didn’t speak for a moment, then he said, “You mean the partying?”
She shook her head. “No, I was disappointed—I am disappointed, because I can’t remember being held in your arms or kissing you.”
Cort was quiet again, and regret and panic spread through her chest, tight and painful. She shouldn’t have said anything. She wasn’t ready for rejection after all.
But just when she would have told him to forget what she said, he tugged the wrist he still held.
“Well that’s one thing we can fix right now.”
He pulled her against him, and his lips found hers as if they had a dozen times before.
And maybe they had, although that thought was quickly lost as she became overwhelmed by the masculine feel of him now, in this very moment. This was real. This was what she’d imagined for so long and now that he was touching her, kissing her, it was so much better than the pictures or even her imagination.
His lips explored hers, strong and soft at the same time. His hands moved up her arms, sending delicious chills throughout her body.
She whimpered, overcome, weak with her desire. Her fingers dug into the muscles of his shoulders, feeling his strength.
She moaned again as he deepened the kiss, his tongue finding hers. She could taste the lime from his drink, the tang of the fruit and him making her shiver. He was utterly delicious. They stood, bodies pressed together, lips moving hungrily over each other’s.
God, he was so much more amazing than she could have ever dreamed up in her overactive imagination.
“My darling I, can’t get enough of your love, babe.”
Okay, that wasn’t a part of her imagination. She’d never heard Barry White, ever, while kissing a man.
Had Cort heard that, too?
He lifted his head and shot a puzzled look around the room.
“Did you hear that?”
She nodded.
“Can’t get enough of your love, babe.”
They both looked up at the parrot, who was still perched on top of the fridge. It bobbed its head as soon as it saw them looking at it.
“I’ve thought about this so many times. Although we were never being serenaded by a klepto bird with a drinking problem, I must say.”
Katie looked up at him, stunned. He’d thought about this before.
“You don’t have to look so surprised,” he said, giving her a crooked smile. “I don’t think many men would think of seducing you with a bird present.”
“You thought of seducing me?”
His gaze held hers, dark and burning with his own desire. “Many, many times.”
His words thrilled her, as did the smooth, sexy cadence of his voice. She also noticed his words held more of an accent now. He had a slight, barely noticeable accent normally, but now it was thicker, becoming more pronounced with his desire.
That thrilled her, too. Longing swirled through her body even stronger. Everything about this man was so sexy.
Sinfully sexy. And she felt wicked in his arms.
And she liked it. It made her feel more daring, more brazen, and sexier herself.
“I have, too,” she told him. “I thought of this from the very first time I met you.”
She hesitated, her good-girl side resurfacing despite her goal to keep it under wraps, at least for tonight. But would he see that as rather stalker-ish. Or pathetic?
Instead he kissed her again, and all her concerns fled. Soon she was swept up again in her desire, her hands moving more frantically over his shoulders and arms and back.
“You’re the first, you’re the last, you’re my everything.”
Again Katie wasn’t sure if she was really hearing those words outside of her head. If not, she couldn’t deny that she could feel that way about Cort. He could easily be her everything.
She moaned as he lifted his head, not ready for his lips to leave hers again. He smiled sympathetically at her forlorn expression as he laced his fingers through hers and led her down the hallway.
Her lust-hazed brain realized he was taking her to his bedroom.
“I’m not making love to you for the first time in my kitchen,” Cort said with a lopsided smile. “I’m certainly not opposed to making love on the kitchen table. In fact, I’d love that. Just not for the first time. And not with that damned bird singing Barry White throughout the whole thing.”
She nodded, feeling tingly and dazed. She did agree the cawed Barry White was a little distracting. And she didn’t want anything diverting her attention from his man.
Her mind, fuzzy with desire and excitement and nervousness, still managed to lock onto something else. He said “first time.” She wasn’t sure if that implied there’d be more than one time, but then she decided not to analyze that now. Right now, she was going to thoroughly enjoy that she was getting a first time.
Then another thought occurred to her. “Maybe this isn’t our first time.”
He paused inside the doorway. He turned and looked at her, those sleepy eyes fringed by dark lashes that any woman would kill for. He released her hand and touched her cheek, brushing a lock of hair away from her cheek.
“I don’t know what we did last night. But I know I’m treating this like it’s the first time.”
She nodded. He was right.
He kissed her again, this time the kiss as sweet as it was sensual.
Vaguely Katie heard a noise behind her, but she didn’t connect what it was until another Barry White lyric filled the hallway behind them.
They parted again to find the parrot perched on the hall light that swung lopsidedly under its weight.
“Come on.” Cort ushered her into his room and quickly shut the door before the bird could follow them.
“I’m starting to feel like I’m in an Alfred Hitchcock film,” Cort muttered, and she had to laugh.
“Let’s be happy there’s only one bird.”
“True.”
They stood there smiling at each other for a moment, but quickly the atmosphere changed, sparking again with their awareness of each other.
Cort walked back over to her, again touching her cheek. “You are so beautiful.”
Katie had never considered herself beautiful. She was the average girl next door with her plain old blue eyes, hair that lingered somewhere between blonde and light brown and the smattering of freckles over the nose. She had an average figure, her breasts not too big, her hips maybe a little too wide, her weight average. But the way Cort looked at her now, she felt absolutely beautiful.
“You are beautiful, too,” she said, reaching out to touch his cheek. She loved the chiseled strength of his jawline, the slight rasp of stubble under her fingertips.
He smiled at her words, then captured her hand and pressed a kiss into her palm.
Katie could feel that kiss throughout her whole body. Every nerve ending tingled and sang at the sensation.
“I’m so aroused,” she whispered, stunned a simple, sweet kiss like that could stimulate her so much.
“That’s part of your change, too. We feel everything more, because of our state.”
She believed him, but she also knew it was him. Period. Maybe the vampirism heightened her senses, but she knew she’d have reacted to him just as readily as a mortal.
“Come here,” he said, pulling her over to his bed. He eased her down onto the tangle of bedding. Had they created this knot of sheets and blankets? Maybe.
But they definitely were going to do so now. Cort followed her down onto the bed, his mouth finding hers again. They kissed, their hands exploring again, this time slipping under their clothing, hands running over bare flesh.
She gasped at the rasp of his fingers over the lace of her bra, over the sensitive hardness of her nipple. But he didn’t rush, his hand sliding back down her belly, to the top of her jeans, then back up her belly.
She didn’t feel as capable of being patient. Her own hands stroked the smooth skin of his back, over his sinewy sides to his stomach and up his muscular chest. The skin there was smooth, too, except for the tiny poke of his nipples.
As hard as hers, she thought with satisfaction, as she swirled a thumb around one of them.
He released a shuddering breath, revealing he liked her touch.
She liked it, too, but she was greedy for more of him. All of him.
Her hand slipped down his chest to discover a light dusting of hair that swirled around his navel and then narrowed downward into his jeans.
She followed the trail, her fingers moving to work at his belt. But his hand came down to cover hers.
“Not yet.”
She looked at him quizzically. He was going to make her wait? She’d waited three years already.
But then his hands moved to the button of her jeans. He deftly popped the metal fastener open then slowly slid down the zipper.
Katie gasped before he even touched her. Just the knowledge that he would had her painfully aroused. She ached between her legs, a feeling painful and wonderful all at once.
Then he actually lifted her, his arm sliding underneath her and raising her off the bed. With his free hand, he worked her jeans down over the curves of her hips. Definitely a vampire trick.
He settled her back amidst the bedding, bare from the waist down. She was glad she’d gone for a waxing just the day before—especially if that trait about being a vampire was like it was in Anne Rice’s version. She could just picture a scene like the one where Claudia hacked off all her thick, curly locks only to have them reappear exactly the same. Claudia had been utterly freaked out by that. Imagine if the thick, curly hair was on another part of your body.
That would be highly embarrassing as well as a nuisance.
Okay, she must be slightly delirious about what was happening, if she could think of something like that at a moment like this, she thought, gazing up at Cort, who studied her with a hot, intense gaze under hooded eyes.
Her body reacted to the look, burning for him.
He reached for her hands, pulling her into a sitting position. Then as slowly and sensually as he’d removed her pants, he peeled off her T-shirt. He tossed the garment to the floor. Then her pink lace bra joined the rest of her clothes.
Her first inclination was to cover herself, but she fought the feeling. She’d waited so long for this. She wanted it so badly, she wasn’t going to shy away from Cort in any way.
And again, when she looked at his expression, all she saw was desire that seemed to match her own.
“God, I want to touch you everywhere,” he murmured. He grazed his fingertips lightly over her breast. Her nipple tightened to the touch.
She groaned, the slight, fleeting caress enough to make her nearly explode. Dear God, what would it be like to have him fondle her more or press his lips to her or, she shivered with need, to have him deep inside her.
Then he leaned forward and caught her painfully sensitive nipple between his lips, and she couldn’t stop herself. She cried out as the most intense orgasm of her life shook her whole body.