The Reluctant Vampire - Lynsay Sands [97]
Harper tossed his own coat over the radiator next to hers and chuckled as she stepped out of Teddy’s overlarge boots without undoing them. He then caught her hand and headed for the curving staircase. “I’m sure Stephanie would appreciate it too. The poor kid has no hips yet and has had to hold her pants up since she put them on.”
“I’ll pack her things too,” Drina murmured, as he led her upstairs. When he reached the landing and turned left rather than right toward the bedroom she shared with Stephanie, she asked, “Where are we going?”
“We’ll start with my clothes and then stop for clothes for you and Stephanie on the way back down,” he announced.
“Or I could gather Stephanie’s and mine while you get yours. It would be faster,” she said with amusement, but Harper shook his head at once.
“I’m not letting you out of my sight until this business is finished and I don’t have to worry about your getting hurt in sudden attacks.”
“But Stephanie isn’t with us,” Drina pointed out gently, as he turned left at the end of the landing to head for the stairwell leading to the third floor.
“No, but you are,” he said at once.
“Yes, but Leonius isn’t interested in me,” she pointed out, and Harper came to a halt and turned to peer at her solemnly.
“Drina, you’re an incredibly vibrant, sexy, and beautiful woman. If he’s been watching us, he’s seen you, and if he’s seen you, he might be tempted to take you as well as Stephanie. Hell, he might even decide not to bother with her and just take you. You’d be incredible breeding stock.”
Drina blinked. That had all been really sweet right up until the bit about her being incredible breeding stock, she decided. That last part just hadn’t sounded as flattering as she suspected he’d meant it to be. Or maybe other women would find it flattering, and she was an oddball for taking umbrage at being talked about like a broodmare.
She opened her mouth to point out that it was unlikely anyone even knew they were in the house, so they should be safe, but paused as she noted that Harper’s gaze had slid past her to the door to Elvi’s room and that a haunted look had entered his eyes.
Frowning, she glanced toward the door and stilled when she noted the dark stain on the hall wall beside it where the paint had been charred . . . as if something on fire had leaned or slumped there. Her gaze then dropped to the floor and she saw large charred spaces—two of them, one larger, one smaller. That must have been where Anders and Edward had encountered Harper and Stephanie and doused the flames consuming them, she realized, and released a slow breath.
Turning back, Drina stepped forward and kissed Harper. He remained still under the caress, but she kept at it, nibbling at his closed lips, and then trailing her mouth to his ear, then his neck, her mind working frantically. She liked this house, she liked the town too, and she liked Teddy. She also liked the other life-mate couples she’d met here, but she especially liked Stephanie. Drina wanted to be able to visit the girl here on occasion, but would never inflict that on Harper if coming here would stir bad memories for him. She needed to try to replace his bad memories of the fire with new, more pleasant memories, and this was the only thing she could come up with. Drina wasn’t sure if it would work, but she was going to give it her damnedest, she decided, nipping and kissing his neck as she began to tug his T-shirt upward so she could play her hands over the skin of his stomach and chest.
“Drina?” he said uncertainly as if coming out of a fog.
She lifted her head and kissed him then, relieved when Harper slowly began to kiss her back. Even so, Drina wasn’t sure she’d fully reclaimed him from his ghosts until she slid her hand down to find him through his jogging pants and felt a shaft of pleasure stir between her own legs.
“Let’s go to my room,” he muttered, breaking their kiss and reaching for her hand.
“Next time,” Drina promised, evading his fingers and dropping to her knees, her eyes never leaving his face.