Chapter 13
Autumn
Iam so surprised, I forget to scream. The man looks just as surprised to see me, which is absolutely rich given he is the one lurking on my balcony.
For some crazy reason, I’m not afraid. I almost want to invite him inside.
No. Don’t be an idiot, Autumn. That’s Dale’s voice in my head, but the advice can’t be wrong, here. With careful movements, I slam home the door’s lock.
The man on the other side of the glass doesn’t move. His eyes search mine for a long, torturous moment.
Then he puts one hand on the railing and vaults himself over the side.
Gasping in fear, I yank the door open again and rush to the railing. I look over. He’s landed on his feet, and he’s strolling away. It’s a two-story drop. He shouldn’t be able to just walk off like that.
That was the weirdest damn thing I’ve ever seen.
For some reason, I’m not scared. The guy felt like a guardian angel or something. Like he was looking out for me. And even though he walked away, I still feel protected. It’s like I knew him.
Weird. Super weird.
Yet not unwelcome.
I make sure both the balcony door is dead-bolted, and the door leading to the hallway as well. I turn off the TV. Fuck Dale. Fuck him and his stupid lies. Fuck him for trying to fuck up my life even now. He can’t reach me. He doesn’t know where I am.
I’m going to save up a little more money, maybe stay at Bartleby’s until my week runs out here in the hotel.
Then I’m out. Out of the hotel, out of Bartleby’s, and out of San Esteban.
I fall asleep on top of the bed covers, fully dressed and ready to leave at the slightest sign of trouble.
But my dreams? My dreams are the most troubling, and the most wonderful, of all. I’m with two men. They surround me. They lift me up—physically, and emotionally. I’m held and cherished.
They remove my clothes, run their hands over my naked body. They fill me with their cocks. “Little mouse, little love,” they murmur, their lips and tongues caressing me, kissing me. Their teeth scrape over my skin as well. Very sharp teeth. They bite…and I love it.
I wake with an orgasm before dawn. And I remember.
I remember everything.
Will
It’s almost four-thirty in the morning. The online auction I’ve been watching is due to end in four minutes, thirty-eight seconds. A dozen crates packed full of tomes—new and old—on the nautical history of Southeast Asia could be mine.
Eight days ago, I might have cared. I might’ve been more ruthless with my bidding. More strategic. Now I’m recklessly throwing money into the bowels of the internet. Because nothing fucking matters.
Xander has been scarce. He’s out in the city, doing gods know what. In his defense, I’ve been piss-poor company. In my defense, he forced us both to abandon the one woman we might have loved in a hundred years.
I want to fucking punch something.
A faint knocking comes from the wall. The wall? No. I tear my gaze away from the blinking countdown on my computer screen and listen.
The knock comes again.
It’s the back, basement door of The Corbin. Someone’s knocking? Nobody sees that entrance. And if they do, they ignore it. It’s nothing. We placed it and designed it to blend in, hid it behind bushes and down a set of stairs.
Could it possibly be…? Could she remember…?
No. My dead heart should not hope.
Whoever is knocking is lost. They’ll give up in a moment.
The pounding gets louder, though. More insistent.
I decide to wait it out.
I watch my computer screen until the auction deadline. I won with my insanely high bid. I’m paying well over the value of the collection. I don’t care.
The uninvited guest continues their abuse of my door.
Fuck.
I march out of my office and to the door down the hall. We don’t have a peephole of any kind. It has never been necessary. I yank open the door. My glare is at the ready.
My glare vanishes immediately. I’m looking at Autumn. Rain-drenched. Spitting mad.
This shouldn’t be possible. I open my mouth to say something. What, I don’t know.
She speaks first.
“I remember,” she says, shoving me.
I’m so surprised, I allow her to push me back inside. She follows. The door closes behind her. Drops of rainwater ping to the floor.
She shoves me again. Not hard, but angry. “I remember everything, you big freaking jerk. How could you make me forget?”
“Hey, hey now, love,” I say. My mind buzzes. So many possibilities. She is back. She is back. “What do you remember?”
Her hazel eyes are bright with fury. “Don’t call me love. I’m sorry for pushing you just now, but do not try to sound all understanding and sweet. You and Xander fucked me. I let you bite me.” She blinks rapidly. Trying to stop her tears. “Then you stole my fucking memories. You’re assholes.”
How does she remember? She never saw me. I made sure of it. It’s possible she saw me off to the side and didn’t register my presence in the moment.
Or maybe she saw Xander?
How she remembers isn’t as important as caring for her right now.
“Autumn,” I say, reaching for her.
She flinches.
“Autumn, I’m sorry.” I cup her face in my hands. Rainwater has dampened her skin, and she shivers from the chill. Her clothes are soaked.
“Don’t try to placate me,” she snarls.
“I’m trying to placate myself,” I say. “I’m trying to believe that you’re really, truly here.”
Surprise crosses her features. “What?”
“I’ve been in agony without you.”
No more words. I lean forward, my mouth crashes against hers. She presses herself to me. Wet and cold. I wrap her in my arms. Our tongues twine together. She runs the tip of her tongue over my teeth, searching for my fangs.
A little sound of pain. The faint taste of blood. She found the sharp edge of one. I surge forward, backing her against the wall. A few days ago, we were in this same position. Now, though, she’s cold and wet.
“Bath,” I say, pulling back from the kiss and picking her up.
“What?” Her nose scrunches in confusion.
“I’m giving you a bath.”
“I don’t need a bath.” She rocks her hips forward, rubbing against my cock.
Little temptress. I pull away, keeping hold of her hand to lead her toward my room. “You’re shivering, Autumn. It’s bath time. Now.”
“I’m not a little kid.” She sounds exactly like a sulky child. “You don’t get to boss me around.”
“Little love,” I say, kissing her cheek, “me bossing you around is exactly what you need.”
She stares up at me in surprise. I don’t know just how much of a little girl she is. I don’t know how far she wants to take the kink. But there’s quite a lot of the dynamic already. We can explore it together. Xander, too, when he pulls his head out of his ass.
I take her to my bedroom, where there’s an attached bathroom.
Autumn looks around my bedroom curiously.
We never made it past the office when she was here before.
There’s not much of note here. Large bed—big enough for Xander and Autumn along with me.
Dresser. End tables on either side of the bed with lamps on top of them.
“What do you think?” I ask, because she is obviously evaluating my room.
“It’s…warmer than I expected.”
“Warm? The colors?” There’s no particular decorative theme. The bedspread is dark blue, the rug on the floor is off-white.
“Maybe. The vibe of it just feels, I don’t know.” She shrugs. “It feels homey.”
She has some thoughts about vampires, is what I can pull from that. She probably thought I sleep in a coffin.
If I could bring Bram Stoker back to life, I’d do it so I could then have the pleasure of murdering him.
I grab a blanket from the foot of my bed and wrap it around Autumn. It won’t do her much good while her clothes are still wet, but it might keep her from shivering.
Once in the bathroom, I start the bathwater, make it nice and hot but not too hot.
Then I tug the blanket from her shoulders.
I start with her sweatshirt. It’s plastered to her skin, so I peel it off, revealing a thin t-shirt underneath.
No bra. Her nipples are hard through the fabric, but her skin is covered in gooseflesh.
I force myself to not take one of those tempting buds into my mouth.
Her pants are drier than the rest of her, but still damp. She holds onto my shoulders as I help her step out of them. My face is level with her panty-clad pussy. I inhale, taking in her scent. I want to bury myself there. Face, fingers, cock, doesn’t matter.
The tub has finished filling, so I turn off the tap and help Autumn step over the ledge.
“I’ve never bathed in an actual claw-foot tub,” she says, giving me a pleased grin. As she lowers herself into the water, she groans in what sounds like pleasure. “This is perfect.”
“Good.” I tilt her head back into the water, wetting her hair. A couple pumps of shampoo into my hand, then I lather up her head. Massage her scalp as I wash those beautiful brown tresses. Wet, they are uniform in color. Dry, I know there are different shades of brown and even some blond mixed in.
“Feels nice,” Autumn says, leaning into my touch. “But I’m still mad at you.”
I finish washing her hair, tilt her back again to rinse.
“You can be mad,” I say. “As long as you’re mad here. With me.”
“You say shit like that and it makes me less mad,” she says with a frown.
I get a washcloth from a drawer beneath the sink, lather it with my soap, and start washing her back. My little love. The tension in her shoulders has eased. Her shivers have stopped.
Living without her is impossible. I tried. I was miserable. I was losing my mind.
Do the honorable thing? Let her go? I can’t. I give up.
Her destruction will be mine as well.
“Hey, what are you thinking about?” She flicks some water at me.
That must have been an accident, so I continue washing down her arms. “Nothing important, not really.”
It’s a lie, but a necessary one.
More water hits my face.
“You did that on purpose,” I say, glancing at her.
A playful grin stretches that gorgeous mouth of hers. “Who, me?”
She splashes me again.
“That’s it.” I stand and strip.
Autumn, wide-eyed, stares at my body, her lips parting slightly. I like the effect I have on her.
“Sit forward, I’m climbing in,” I say.
She scoots forward a few inches. I ease into the warm water behind her, my legs on either side of hers, my arms wrapping around her. My cock is nestled against her back. I could lift her up, slide into her easily.
“Are you still angry with me, love?” I ask.
“That depends,” she says. “Are you going to make me forget everything again? Is this what you guys do, make women fall for you and then bam, everything is gone the next day?”
“Fall for us?” I ask.
She goes rigid in my arms. “I mean that figuratively.”
She fell for us. Fuck. We fell for her, too.
I splay my hands over her tummy. Inch them lower and lower until my fingertips are gracing the juncture of her thighs. “You splashed me a minute ago. Do you still want to play, little love?”
She sucks in a breath. Exhales. “Yes.”
“Good girl.” I stroke her folds. She’s slick inside, and I work a finger into her.
With a little whine, she squirms against me, bucks her hips.
“Need something?” I murmur against her ear.
“More,” she says. “Please.”
“What nice manners,” I say. “Yes, I’ll reward you for being so good.”
At my words, her pussy clenches hard. I can read her body easily. This makes everything so much better. I push a second finger into her. She moans. “Yes.”
I bring my other hand up to her chest. I love the position we’re in—I can watch everything I’m doing to her. She can watch, too. I tweak one nipple, then the other. She’s slippery, soft, inside and out. I lazily pinch her nipples while I finger her tight little cunt.
“So soft and tight for me, little girl,” I murmur.
“Mmm,” she says. “Just for you, Sir.”
“You’re greedy for me.”
“Yes,” she whispers.
“You know I’ll take care of you, right, love?”
“Yes, Sir—” She gasps and cries out.
I think her orgasm took her by surprise, and that pleases me. She shudders, riding my fingers throughout the aftershocks. I kiss her neck. “What a good, greedy little love you are, taking my fingers like that.”
“I’m still greedy,” she says, reaching behind her to cup the back of my neck. “I can feel you so big behind me. Can I…?”
“Oh, love,” I say, my voice a low rasp. “Yes.”
She turns around, straddles me. Her eyes meet mine. “No condoms. I thought about it the whole way here from my hotel. I trust what you and Xander told me about disease and pregnancy. Mad as I am, I trust you.”
She’s a gift. Everything about this girl is a gift.
“Then take what you want, love.”
She guides my cock to her entrance and slowly sinks down.