Page 34

“Well, I can’t leave the mansion... but, as you are a guest and not a guard like you love to pretend, you should be allowed in the entertainment areas,” I mused, my finger tapping at my lips. “I have never used the indoor pool they have here but I sure had to clean it. Do you think we could go there?”

“I didn’t exactly bring swimming trunks on this business trip,” Matthias arched his brow at me. “But I can always swim naked.”

“No,” I said immediately.

“Going prudish on me now, Victoria?” He grinned. “Have you never bathed together with a naked man?”

“That’s irrelevant,” I scoffed. “What’s important is that I’m not going to let other people see you naked. In fact, maybe the swimming idea is a miss... your naked torso and those trunk-like legs would mean people inevitably trying to spy on us to catch a glimpse.”

“You’re jealous,” Matthias said with glee. “Of some imaginary peeping toms?”

“People here love to stick their noses in other people’s business. The gossip is a currency.” One that I had made frequent use of myself, I didn’t add.

“Alright, I can see how that would be a problem with a big, public pool... isn’t there somewhere more private? Like a jacuzzi or something?”

“Only in the best guest rooms... don’t you have one?” I narrowed my eyes at the man.

“Ha! No, that would be too simple. But now that I think about it, Tristan mentioned his rooms were better than mine...”

“Oh, I didn’t check out the bathroom while I was there... hmm, let me think... Yes, that room should have a jacuzzi! Can we ask Tristan to let us use it?” I beamed, excited at the possibility of a long, luxurious soak. There were a lot of things I missed from my privileged upbringing but creature comforts like a bathtub were the largest part of it.

“No way,” Matthias huffed. “I want to have you only to myself for a while longer, and we can’t just ask for the key and kick him out of his room... but he is away for the moment, so what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Let’s break into his room.”

“You hooligan!” I slapped his arm playfully. “You are a bad influence on me because I think between my knowledge of the manor and your lockpicking skills we can make it work.”

The plan was created and put in motion. Soon, we found ourselves inside Tristan’s apartment, giggling against each other as we stumbled inside. Only when my eyes spotted the documents on the table did I think about what a breach of privacy this was.

I winced and clutched at Matthias’ hand.

“Tristan won’t be mad, will he?” I asked in a thin voice.

“Exasperated maybe, but no, not mad, don’t worry, beautiful,” Matthias pushed my hair aside to uncover my lowered face, the gesture painfully gentle. “He will be pleased to, ah, provide foryou even in this manner. I always thought he picked me and Theo up not because he was lonely — the man likes his silence and solitude after all — but because he felt the need to be helpful, to share his wealth and knowledge. And material possessions.”

“So, he will gladly share his fancy jacuzzi?” My mouth quirked up at the explanation. Each tidbit I learned about the group of vampires was another piece of the bigger puzzle I wanted to see completed one day.

“You betcha!”

Matthias sent me into the impressive bathroom with the mission to fill the jacuzzi up and find ‘the sprinkles on top’ to add to the water; by which he meant bath bombs, oils, scents, and such. I managed to locate a citrusy bath product and poured it into the water while Matthias emerged victorious from raiding the fridge for snacks.

“Champagne, miss?” he said in a stuffy voice as he offered me a flute full of white bubbling liquid.

“I’m not on the clock for once so hell yeah!” I unceremoniously shucked my clothes off and stepped into the jacuzzi, seating myself with a blissful sigh before I extended my hand for the champagne.

Matthias gave it to me and joined me a while later in the nude, a plate of cookies balanced on his palm.

We started at opposite sides, only our legs tangling together from time to time, as we enjoyed the hot water and the bubble jets of the jacuzzi, but, eventually, Matthias tempted me to his side with the cookies. A truly underhanded move.

“I’m keeping all the champagne to myself,” I teased, after noticing there was only one flute of the sparkling drink.

“That’s alright, I will satisfy myself with just a taste.”

He grabbed my hair and possessed my lips in a thorough kiss, making me nearly drop the glass. As we separated I noticed Matthias had less of a problem staying hard than before. It wastempting to offer to do something about it, now that he had taken his friends’ advice and got a regular supply of blood from elsewhere, but two things were stopping me. One, it would be hard not to offer my blood again, whether it was needed or not, and I probably shouldn’t share it so often. And two, my face flamed at the possibility of Tristan returning and catching us in the middle of the act, so I steered us away from sexy thoughts and firmly back to relaxing in a non-horny way.

Good thing I did because half an hour later we heard a jingle of keys in the door.

Our wide eyes met each other and I sprang out of the bath. Shit, I left my clothes on the floor and they were all damp now! I snatched a big, white, fluffy towel and wrapped it around myself.

Matthias barely used his towel to dry himself before he stuffed his probably still-wet body in his clothes. He threw a look at me clutching the towel around myself and gave me a quick kiss before he opened the door to the bathroom wide, not one to avoid confrontation.