Chapter 15
Chapter
Fifteen
After driving to the hospital and entering her office on autopilot on Monday morning, Carina dropped into her chair with a sigh of disbelief. She definitely didn’t want to be here. Marcus had offered to take her to work, but she’d turned him down. Walking out the door had taken all her willpower.
She wanted to hang out with her Daddy. Sure, he had stuff to do too.
Marcus had told her she could leave her job at the hospital and stay with him, but how long would he want her with him?
She needed to pay for her car and apartment if Marcus changed his mind.
He’d hinted they’d be together long term but hadn’t shared any details.
Do vampires even get married? Carina laughed aloud when the question popped into her head.
Carina glanced around self-consciously. People turned to identify who was amused on Monday morning.
Well, the cubicle walls blocked most of her view.
Only the tops of heads rotated her way over the cubicle walls.
Carina hated being stuck in a box without privacy or sound blocking.
Thank goodness most people wore headphones to listen to their music.
Hers were noise-cancelling ones. Carina always had problems concentrating on complicated billing snafus when her neighbors spoke on their phones or, worse, leaned over the cubicle dividers to chat.
She’d talked to her boss a couple of times about working from home, but he was a “butts in seats” kind of leader.
Not that she ever saw him during the week.
His office was on a completely different floor.
The morning drifted by slowly. When her regular lunchtime finally showed on her laptop, Carina bolted out of her chair. She grabbed her lunch from her desk and headed for the employee break room.
Choosing an isolated table, Carina opened the paper sack to check out what Marcus had packed for her lunch. An image of Marcus bloomed in her mind, making her smile. Damn, he’s good-looking.
“I wish I could read your mind,” a familiar voice commented.
Carina raised her head to meet the young woman’s gaze. She didn’t share her thoughts. “Hi, Elizabeth. Did you have a good weekend?”
Thankfully, her friend let her off the hook and didn’t ask any prying questions. “I did. It was quiet. I should have gone to Nightfall with you, but I didn’t want to stand in line that long to get in. The crowd even drew the media’s attention. There were reports on the six and ten o’clock news.”
“There were a lot of people. I was glad I got in early. They reached capacity early and were only letting more in as a few left.”
“Did a lot of the crowd stay until closing time? Did you?”
“All night,” Karla said as she pulled out a chair and sat down. “You should have come, Elizabeth. I bet Carina went back on Saturday evening as well. Did she share that she found someone special?”
“What! You didn’t say anything. Tell me everything,” Elizabeth demanded.
Carina gave a brief overview of someone hassling her and getting thrown out. “They don’t allow anyone to mess with the attendees. You asked people to back off once, and if they didn’t, security booted them out.”
“Carina’s guy is the head of security. I think she got her own body search,” Karla said, teasing Carina.
“What? You go to Nightfall at the grand opening and meet some hottie?” Elizabeth said. Her voice rose in her excitement, drawing attention from nearby tables.
“Shhh!” Carina hushed Elizabeth before glaring at Karla. “You’ve got a big mouth, Karla.”
“I do. But I’m telling the truth. Confess. You had a great time, and you’re in love.”
Carina ducked her head and unpacked her lunch.
She stared at the array in front of her: a quartered sandwich with the yucky crusts cut off, some mandarin oranges, zucchini and carrot sticks with a small container of ranch dressing, and a chocolate chip cookie.
He’d created a healthy meal for her with her favorites. It was colorful and appealing.
“Wow! Who made that for you? Your lunch is usually a hunk of cheese and some pretzels.” Elizabeth dumped out her cute, reusable lunch bag and wrinkled her nose. “I’ve packed cold pizza and a bruised apple. Want to trade?”
“No way,” Carina answered and laughed. This felt like a school cafeteria conversation.
“Of course not,” Elizabeth said and peeled off a pepperoni to eat.
“I’ve got a peanut butter sandwich. I didn’t make it to the grocery store this weekend,” Karla shared. “Too bad I didn’t meet a hottie there. We had so much fun, Elizabeth. You’ll have to come with me next time.”
“Tell me about the interior. Is it incredible?” Elizabeth asked.
As Karla and Carina described the nightclub, Carina noticed several tables had started eavesdropping.
Before long, they were fielding questions from other people intrigued by Nightfall.
The allure of the stark building’s exterior made passersby wonder about what waited inside, and the exclusivity of getting inside had skyrocketed the nightclub’s appeal.
Everyone wanted a chance to see the interior.
Their meal break flew by. Kept busy answering questions, Carina hadn’t finished half of her lunch. She gathered the rest when she needed to head back to her cubicle and regretted not even having a chance to eat her cookie. Maybe she could munch on it in the middle of the afternoon as a pick-me-up.
A yawn threatened, and Carina squashed it quickly.
A nap would be awesome. Too bad she couldn’t be Little every day.
Pushing the thought of her Daddy tucking her under the covers in the beautiful crib out of her mind, Carina dived back into her tasks.
She could sense the presence of other employees coming to talk to her but focused on her work.
She’d found that people didn’t interrupt her if she wore her headphones and didn’t make eye contact.
A thump landed on her shoulder. She whirled defensively and yanked off her headset as she stared at Gloria. Carina tried not to hate anyone. Gloria was the person who tested Carina’s resolve most frequently.
“I heard you bragging in the lunchroom that you have an ‘in’ at Nightfall. I need to attend on Friday. Get me a pass or something so I can skip the line,” Gloria demanded.
If the request had come from literally anyone else, Carina would ask Marcus if there was some way to help her squeeze in. She wouldn’t bother him when Gloria demanded her help. “Sorry, Gloria. You’ll have to get in line early to make it in.”
“I’m not standing in a line for hours. You can’t get me in? Are you actually dating someone who works there, or did you invent a boyfriend? That would be so you.” Gloria rolled her eyes and shook her head in disgust.
“I didn’t….”
A deep voice interrupted her. “Hey, Carina. I’m sorry to interrupt.”
The two women turned to look at Marcus, who took up the entire path through that section of cubicles.
He appeared more massive than usual inside the close quarters.
“You left without your insulated drink this morning.” The large beverage container he held resembled a bathroom-sized Dixie cup in his hand.
“Thanks, Marcus,” Carina said, carefully avoiding calling him Daddy in front of Gloria.
“This is the guy you’re dating? You met him at Nightfall? I don’t believe for a minute that you’re a couple,” Gloria scoffed.
“Okay.” Marcus turned, cutting her out of their conversation with his sheer bulk. His answer and actions showed how much he cared about Gloria’s opinion. “Drink all of that, Carina. Will you be home about five thirty?”
“Yes,” Carina assured him. She held her breath as Marcus stepped forward to cup her jawline. He lowered his lips to hers in a soft, brief kiss. When he stepped back, she added, “I’ll see you in a few hours.”
Marcus nodded and held her gaze. Silent conversation flowed between them as he told her he missed her and wished they didn’t have an audience. Their connection was already closer than she’d ever experienced with a boyfriend. They simply fit together perfectly.
“This is cute and all, but still totally unbelievable. You’ll never be able to get me in,” Gloria said and flounced away.
“A friend of yours?”
“Not in the least,” Carina said.
Then I’m glad I already uploaded her picture and banned her from Nightfall.
Carina gaped at him. “You’re kidding.”
He winked and told her, “See you soon, Carina.”
When his wide shoulders disappeared from view, Carina sank down to her chair.
The image of Gloria standing in line for hours and then getting turned away caused her to laugh aloud for the second time that day.
With a smile, she took a drink of the delicious smoothie he’d brought her. Marcus made everything better.
I’m going to stop by my apartment and pick up some clothes. Carina texted Marcus when the workday ended and she sat in her car once again.
Come home first, Little girl.
The command in his voice reverberated in her brain. She bristled slightly at being told what to do. The memory of the last time she didn’t follow his directions crashed into her mind. Carina scanned the parking lot, frightened by the thought that someone could be waiting to attack her again.
Seeing no one, she relaxed against the seat. A knock on the glass made her scream. Carina spun sideways to look at the passenger window. An enormous figure stood there. She fumbled with the ignition as she focused on getting far away.
Sorry, Little girl. I didn’t mean to frighten you.
“Marcus! I’m going to kill you!” she ranted as she tried to slow her heart rate down.
Open the door, Carina.
Swearing curse words she didn’t even realize she knew, Carina hit every button on her door panel.
When she lowered the window, he reached in calmly to press the correct control.
Marcus settled into her passenger seat, setting her purse on his lap as he filled the space.
He raised the windows for her that let in the cool evening air as he took her hand to his lips to kiss it.
“My apologies, Carina. I didn’t mean to scare you,” he repeated. “I realized I could reach you before you drove home.”
She stared at him, wishing she had something to throw at him for being so calm. She snatched her hand from his. “Does anything scare you?”
“Losing you.”
“You didn’t even stop to think about that.” She stared at him in shock when he’d replied immediately. To make herself feel better, Carina grabbed her purse from his lap and whacked him across the chest. “You almost gave me a heart attack!”
His amused chuckles erased the last of her annoyance. She slapped a hand over her mouth, trying to hide her laughter. He plucked the purse from her hand and set it in the backseat before winking at her.
“You!” she managed to say.
“I missed you today.”
“It seemed endless,” she confessed. “And I even got to see you.”
“Perhaps you could find a job where you could work from home. Or from Nightfall.”
“Right. I doubt Nightfall needs someone who can unravel fouled-up medical billing,” Carina said with a sigh. She checked in the rearview mirror before driving toward her apartment.
“No, but Darius would like to speak to you about a position working with him on the Nightfall accounts.”
“Are you kidding?” Carina stared at him. A honk behind her made her concentrate on the flow of cars.
“Sorry!” Carina called and waved as she left the parking lot. She focused on the road, not wishing to piss anyone else off. When she had merged safely into traffic, she glanced sideways at Marcus, who sat quietly next to her.
“Were you joking?” she asked. “Darius has a job for me after meeting me casually? There’s no way he has a clue whether I’m even competent.”
“Actually, Bram created a thorough profile of your training and core abilities. We were impressed.”
Carina barely prevented the eye roll that threatened as she concentrated on rush-hour traffic. “Did he have pie charts and bar graphs?”
“No. But I can ask him if you believe that’s the best way to showcase your skills.”
That time she rolled her eyes. “It’s intrusive that your group is investigating me.”
“Carina, Bram knew everything about you the moment you appeared as my mate.”
“What does that mean? Appeared as your mate? What told them I was your mate?” she asked. The traffic lightened as she turned off to the side street that led to her apartment.
“Part of the ritual to enter Nightfall includes receiving the approval mark.”
“That glowing moon. You said it would only become visible in the presence of someone in your clan or around Nightfall.”
“That’s correct. As it is placed, a drop of each attendee’s blood registers in our system. Bram has engineered a program that alerts the clansmen. Vampires recognize their mates by scent and touch. This eliminates the need for a chance encounter.”
“That’s why you inhaled so strongly when we met. I was afraid you could smell how aroused I was.”
“That was icing on the cake,” he said with a wolfish grin that almost made her drive off the road. “Careful.”
“You could jump out of the car, lift it on your shoulders, and place it down somewhere safely before I could hit something,” she said.
“True, but you’d regret damaging the car, so let’s avoid that.”
“You could really do that?” she asked, turning into her apartment complex.
“If I needed to keep you safe. Yes. What do you think about emptying your things completely from your apartment?”
“Sounds like a lot of work for two people,” she answered.
As her building came into view, Carina spotted a truck and a dozen heavily muscled guys stood around the front entrance. She shook her head. They’d have her packed and loaded in an hour.
“I guess I’m moving in with you tonight.”
“I want you with me, Little girl.”
To her surprise, Carina wasn’t worried about her future with Marcus. The mate bond, as he’d explained it to her, was rock solid. Their attraction would never fade or disappear. She loved that she could rely on their bond forever.
She smiled at the handsome vampire and agreed. “Okay. Let me open the door, and you all can get to work.”