15. Teresa

Teresa

I was startled out of sleep by a high-pitched scream. I bolted out of bed, wearing only panties and a tee shirt, grabbed my gun from underneath my pillow, and raced into Flora’s room.

She was in bed, thrashing around and making little whimpering noises. I blew out a breath as I realized no one was hurting her, she was just having a nightmare.

“No,” she cried. “Please, no!”

I walked closer.

“Flora. Flora, wake up.”

When she continued to sleep, I grabbed her shoulder, shaking her gently. She screeched, then stiffened before coming awake.

“What? What happened?” she said, peering at me. The room was lit by the light of the moon shining through the window and the light from the hallway, so I knew she could tell it was me.

“You were having a nightmare,” I told her.

“Oh.”

She pushed up to lean against the upholstered headboard and reached for the water bottle at the bedside table, taking a long gulp. She was shaking, I realized.

“Thanks for waking me up,” she said.

Her voice sounded so tiny. So sad. Almost defeated. My vampire was pushing me to take care of her and make her feel better. My human side was in full agreement.

“Do you want me to stay with you for a while?” I asked.

“Please.”

I sat on the side of the bed, intending to watch her until she fell back asleep, but instead she slid over, patting the bed next to her and giving me a seeking look. I got into the bed next to her and Flora grabbed the blanket, pulling it over the both of us. I lay on my back, staring at the ceiling, practically shaking with the effort of not touching her.

Flora had other ideas though. She scooted closer until the sides of our bodies were touching, her bare leg sliding against mine. Unable to resist her silent plea, I stretched out my arm. My mate immediately snuggled in, resting her head on my shoulder. It was an intimate pose, one that I wouldn’t mind repeating every night for the rest of my life.

I was getting in deeper with her, whether I wanted to or not. Then again, maybe it was true that there was no supernatural that could resist the mate bond. I’d seen it happen over and over again with my friends from work.

The funny thing was that out of all my female friends, I was the one who’d always wanted to find my fated mate. I’d watched as one person after the other paired up, secretly sad that it was them and not me. And now that I’d found my fated mate, what did I do? Look for reasons why it couldn’t work.

As Flora slipped back into sleep I resolved to stop being an idiot. Fate had seen fit to bring me this woman. It wasn’t a mistake. I just needed to figure out why.

I’d always been a light sleeper, even before I went into the military, but I slept better with Flora than I expected. I came awake much more slowly than I usually did, feeling her small hand rubbing small circles on my belly. My bare belly. Apparently my shirt had slid up while we slept.

I glanced down, seeing that my mate’s eyes were closed like she wasn’t totally awake yet. On impulse I grabbed the hand on my stomach, bringing it up to my mouth and pressing a kiss against her knuckles.

Flora stiffened before realizing where she was. She looked up at me with sleepy eyes.

“Good morning.” Her voice was rough with sleep. “Sorry I’m all over you like some kind of a creeper.”

I noticed that she made no effort to move away.

“I don’t mind,” I said. “To be honest, I kind of like waking up with you.”

I hadn’t meant to say that, but now that I had, I could feel the truth of those words.

Flora gave me a small smile, then she was in motion, sliding up and leaning over to give me a kiss. I stayed still, content to let her lead. Her soft lips pressed against mine for a few seconds, her hand coming up to cup the side of my face. She nipped at my lower lip and I opened, letting her tongue swoop in to tangle with mine.

Just like when we kissed in her office, everything in my body was immediately on alert. I could feel my nipples harden, and heat rushed to my core as my inner demon cried out, begging me to flip her over and sink our fangs into her neck to make her ours forever. But it was too soon. My mate was a human, and while she knew a little bit about the supernatural world, humans needed more time to adjust to being mates than we did.

Not to mention the fact that even though I’d decided to stop fighting against having Flora as my mate, we would still have a lot of complications to work out, like who was trying to kill her and why.

When Flora pulled away to catch her breath, I gave her a small smile.

“We should probably get ready for work, yeah?”

Her eyes clouded over for a moment before she caught herself.

“Yeah, I have an early meeting.”

“I’ll clean up and go make us some coffee then,” I promised, hopping out of bed. I pulled my shirt down to cover my underwear and hightailed it out of the room, wondering how I was going to protect Flora when I couldn’t even protect my own heart.

Flora came down about forty-five minutes later, looking like Corporate Barbie, although for some reason I didn’t find that annoying anymore. I found it adorable. After watching her in action at work yesterday, I had a feeling that the fancy clothes and perfect hair and make-up were her uniform, a kind of an armor for her more than anything.

“I brought you another blazer,” she said, handing me one that was gray with little flecks of white in the fabric. It was nothing I would ever buy for myself, but it looked fine with my all black ensemble. Maybe Flora wasn’t the only one who like to wear a uniform to work.

“I made you breakfast, have something to eat,” I said, pointing at the table where I’d left her a bowl of yogurt and fruit and a cup of coffee.

“I don’t --.”

I held up a hand. “Quit arguing and eat.”

She made an annoyed huffing noise but sat down and ate her breakfast while I sipped a cup of warm blood. When I placed the cup on the table, Flora’s eyes widened.

“Oh. I, uh, forgot about the blood.”

I studied her. “Does it bother you? It’s basically like medicine for us. We get sick if we don’t take blood.”

Flora shook her head. “No, it’s just… well, it’s not something I’m used to. But then again, some people probably think it’s weird that I drink coffee.”

She held up her cup to emphasize her point.

“Don’t worry, I like coffee better,” I confided. “Blood is medicine, but coffee is life.”

She gave me a radiant smile, then glanced at her phone.

“The driver is here.”

“Okay, let’s go watch you take over the beauty world.”

I stacked our dishes in the sink for the housekeeper, then grabbed my laptop bag and followed her to the door. I held her back so I could walk out first, watching for danger, then walking around the car so I could subtly scan the vehicle for explosive. The driver stared at me like I was nuts, but I couldn’t care less. Once I’d circled the town car and determined it was safe, I opened the door for Flora and slid in behind her.

Today when we arrived Amy wasn’t at the front desk. We soon learned why. As Flora entered her office we could hear an irritated male voice.

“Where is she?” the man boomed in a voice filled with irritation. “She’s usually here by eight-thirty.”

“I’m sure Miss Meyer will be here soon, Mr. Richardson.”

Next to me, Flora stiffened her spine, her expression turning cold as she walked into her office.

“David. Did we have an appointment that I forgot about?”

Ah so this was David Richardson, the chief financial officer at Meyer Beauty and the man who thought he should be the CEO instead of Flora. He was an older guy, probably mid to late fifties, with gray and black hair and an unfortunate comb-over trying to hide his impending baldness. He was a few inches over six feet tall and wearing a designer suit that did little to hold his rounded gut. He looked soft. He looked like a prick.

Hearing Flora’s voice, he turned on his heel, his expression full of derision before he caught himself and neutralized his face.

“Flora. Did you know about the lawsuit?”