Chapter Twenty-Six Amelia

TWENTY-SIX

A note, hastily scrawled in black ink at the bottom of a yellow lined sheet of paper

Thoughts to be transferred to bullet journal later (Will have to make this v. quick—am at A’s apartment but she’s still asleep and don’t want to miss being there to curl around her body while she sleeps Reggie seemed entirely disinterested in loosening his tight embrace.

I noticed that my blinds were not covering my window at all. I grimaced. “Shit. I must’ve forgotten to close the blinds before we…um.”

Reggie pulled me closer, encouraging me to continue using his chest as a vampiric pillow. “Before we what?”

I could feel him smiling against the top of my head. I started blushing, which was ridiculous, given what we had done to each other in this bed last night, and the fact that we were stark naked in here and snuggling.

“You know what.”

“I do,” he agreed. “But I would very much like to hear your version of events.”

His tone was light and playful, but with an undercurrent of heat that was unmistakable. The massive erection poking me in the ass was unmistakable, too.

I grinned, letting my hand slide down his torso until it rested lightly on his cock. It twitched satisfyingly against my fingertips.

“You are insatiable, aren’t you?” I teased.

“Absolutely.” He covered my hand with his own, encouraging me to speed up my movements. “Now, tell me all about how I gave you the best orgasms of your life last night, and about how good it felt to suck my cock.”

I laughed, and pulled my hand away, swatting him playfully on the chest. “Later,” I said. Truthfully, I would have loved nothing more than to spend the rest of the morning with Reggie. But I had too much to do to linger in bed. “I have important work to do.”

“ I’m important work,” Reggie pouted. He tried to pull me against him again, but I was faster, and slid out of bed before he could catch me.

“You are,” I agreed, laughing. “And I’ll do you after I do my other work. I promise.” I pretended to ignore his lascivious wink and pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. “But I have a meeting with this nightmare of a client this morning and I can’t be late for it. Also, Frederick gave me a few potential leads that might help us track down The Collective before they can find you. I want to look into them right away in case they can help.”

Reggie’s demeanor grew serious at once. “A lead?” He sat up in bed, the blankets pooling around his waist. I let my eyes linger on the contours of his gorgeous body for longer than I probably should have. Did all vampires come with great abs? Or was Reggie a special case? “What is it?”

I grabbed my brush off my dresser and began running it through my tangled hair. “Two potential leads, actually. Though they may both be red herrings.”

“I’m all ears.”

I smiled at him. “Okay. So, first, Frederick’s heard The Collective mentioned in connection with a rash of blood bank break-ins that coincide with stadium concerts around the country. Second, he told me The Collective runs some sort of nonprofit organization. I obviously have no experience handling vampires—”

“Oh, I beg to differ,” Reggie cut in, waggling his eyebrows. “You handle me just fine.”

“Um. Thank you,” I said, face heating at the innuendo. “What I was about to say, though, was that while I’m new to vampires, I’m great at researching nonprofits. I may be able to triangulate where The Collective is right now based on where the most recent blood-bank-break-in-slash-stadium-concert happened. Failing that, if The Collective’s nonprofit is recognized by the federal government, I might be able to find some picky state, local, or federal tax regulation that could trip them up with the IRS.”

His eyes went wide. “I didn’t understand a word of that. But please, keep going.”

I paused, unsure how much detail I could give Reggie without boring him. When he only looked at me with rapt attention, I continued. “If The Collective has 501(c)(3) status, I’ll need access to my firm’s GuideStar account, but if The Collective’s been sloppy about their reporting requirements…”

“What could happen to them?” he prompted.

“Best-case scenario? They could lose their tax-exempt status,” I said. “But they could also end up owing a boatload of back taxes, depending on circumstances. If the IRS thinks their failure to comply is intentional, there could be criminal charges and jail time.”

Reggie let out a low whistle. “Vampires would agree to just about anything if the alternative was facing time in a human prison. They couldn’t survive the food human prisoners get. It would only be a matter of time before they attacked someone out of desperation and all hell broke loose.”

I didn’t doubt that was true. “I don’t want to get your hopes up,” I cautioned. “But let me see what I can find.”

When he got out of bed and strode towards me, his expression was so reverent it took my breath away. People’s eyes usually glazed over when I talked taxes. But even though I could tell Reggie wasn’t following most of what I was saying, the bright gleam in his eye said he was anything but bored.

Was it possible that I’d finally found someone who thought what I did was interesting?

Having my plus-one to Gretchen’s wedding be a vampire seemed like a small price to pay for that.

Reggie stood behind me, then wrapped me in his arms and held me close. He was still naked, and the chill from his bare body made me shiver a little. I didn’t care. It felt wonderful, being held by him,

“You are the hardest working, most incredible and brilliant person,” he murmured against the top of my head. His voice was raw, the emotion in it unmistakable. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you. I’m not sure that I do deserve you. But I’m grateful, all the same.”

I swallowed thickly. “You should hold your gratitude until I’ve actually done something.”

I could feel him shaking his head. “You already have. But is there anything I can do to help? I feel like I shouldn’t just wait around while you save my ass like this.”

I leaned back against him. “You’re still taking me to a family wedding in a month. That’s payment enough.”

He chuckled. “That’s true, I am.” He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “Though that’s no burden. I’m looking forward to it.”

I craned my neck and looked up at him. “You are?”

He gave me a sly grin. “I am. Though that’s mostly because I’m looking forward to finally discussing history with your dad.” He paused, then added, “I want to make sure I get a chance to talk with him, in case the wedding means the end of our arrangement.”

His voice had gone quiet even as his hold on me tightened, his unspoken question hanging heavy in the space between us.

Was having Reggie spend actual quality time with my dad something I could handle? More to the point: Was dating a vampire for real something I wanted?

Maybe it would be okay, for once in my life, to simply take something one step at a time. I didn’t know what a future with Reggie might look like, given that I would age and die the same as any other human and he would not. And I certainly wasn’t ready to do what Cassie was about to do with Frederick. It was hard to imagine I ever would be.

But maybe that was all right, too. Because what I did know was that the idea of never seeing Reggie again after Gretchen’s wedding made me very sad. Beyond sad. When I imagined saying goodbye to him next month…

No.

If I knew anything at all, I knew I didn’t want that .

Maybe that was all I needed to know for now.

I turned back to Reggie again and squeezed his hand. “Even if you and Dad don’t manage to talk history at the wedding, you’ll have plenty of time for it, after.”

The smile he gave me in return lit up the room.