Page 18 of Blood of the Damned: Thorn (Vaughn Winery #1)

Thorn

“You can’t be serious?” Calvert plonked himself down unceremoniously in front of Thorn, who blinked twice at his disgruntled brother.

“Serious? Always,” he stated, arching his brows. “But what about this time?” Thorn asked, though he suspected he knew with the number of complaints he’d had over the last two days about cancelled plans.

“Putting our tight schedule of deliveries on the back burner to use those same delivery trucks to bring all the things that Ledger wants for the wedding.”

Calvert threw up his hands, continuing with his rant, but Thorn heard none of it when he was continuously buoyed by the happiness coming from Ledger.

“Are you listening to me?” Calvert gave him a hard stare and Thorn had to resist squirming at being so obviously caught out.

“You aren’t happy. That’s what I’m getting.

I explained that this is all temporary until the wedding is arranged.

It’s less than two weeks away. It needs to be perfect.

” He added enough force to the latter because he could see and sense that Calvert was gearing up for another rant.

His brother had been like this since discovering Ledger was pregnant.

After his confession to being jealous, Thorn had worked to downplay his emotions that carried through their vampiric connection.

Sometimes it was harder to remember, when Ledger was so exuberant over the wedding plans as they came together.

“I want to say I get it, and a part of me does, but why the damn rush? You’re mated fully . A wedding is a traditional archaic institution—”

“That may be so, but I want Ledger to wear my ring. For everyone to see he’s mine.” It was how Ledger felt too, so Thorn didn’t care whether it was an archaic institution!

“The big ass bite mark is a clue, brother!”

“That few will ever see, and that’s not the point. I want to have everything with him. This included. He will have my name, as will the babies.” It was important to him for reasons he hadn’t tried to rationalize.

Calvert searched his expression and his softened at whatever he could see. “That’s a lovely sentiment,” he finally murmured.

“Yes, well, let's keep that between us.” He ran a hand over his jaw. “Can you not work with me on this, just for a couple more weeks?”

He rose as he nodded and pointed at Thorn. “Just don’t go springing a honeymoon on us during our busiest period. Got it?”

“Got it.” He kept quiet that he’d no intention of going anywhere until after the babies were born. There were too many unknown variables for Thorn to take the risk. He’d used the workload as an excuse for not having a honeymoon and Ledger hadn’t batted an eyelash at that.

“Good, now can you send me the revised schedule so I can work through what additional men we’ll need to work through the backlog?”

“Will do. I could reach out to Ethan at Darling Ranch to see if they’ve got any casual workers looking for some additional hours?”

“Do that. You never know, we could poach some of his staff.” Calvert wore a big ass grin for the first time in days.

“Don’t let Silas hear you say that!” The owner of the ranch would not be impressed when Thorn and he had talked about how hard it was to retain good employees.

Thorn had heard on the town gossip vine just how many of the ranch hands had taken a fancy to Ethan, the ranch manager.

The man had a ‘love em and leave em’ reputation, which meant some of their hands didn’t stay long.

“Haven’t you heard Silas’s parents have opted to retire and now Silas is the head of Starling Enterprises and Ethan is shouldering the burden of the ranch?”

Thorn sat back staring agog at Calvert. “I never thought Lane and Derick would retire! Holy shit. They can’t be that old?”

Calvert shrugged, his powerful shoulders straining the seams of his suit for a moment.

“No one is as old as us, so who can tell? Anyway, send me the information I need. In fact, do it now before you get wrapped up in wedding stuff and I’m forced to come back and kick your ass.

” He was all teeth as he made the threat.

“Behave, you aren’t Dacian.”

“I could be,” he said evilly, laughing as he left.

“Let’s hope not, one asshole is enough to deal with,” he called out after him.

That’s two, actually. You’re an asshole too.

Please, I’m nowhere near as bad as Dacian.

You keep believin’ that.

The laughter filling his head got louder, and Thorn scowled, sending the revised plan to Calvert. He was right, the wedding plans had him forgetting about everything else that needed doing.

Ledger, it turned out, was much better at juggling everything. They’d employed him because of his reputation for understanding wines, and because Thorn had an intrinsic sense that Ledger belonged at the Vaughn Winery. His organization skills rivaled Calvert’s, and that was saying something.

“Are you ready for me?” Asher stood in the open doorway. The wolf moved so quietly he often could catch Thorn unaware, like now, when he wasn’t tuning into his surroundings.

“I am,” he beckoned the wolf in, grinning. “I hope Ledger isn’t driving you nuts over the wine choices.”

They had hundreds of bottles of different wines in the cellars, some bottled on the estate, others bought in over the years.

Some were older than most of the staff that worked for them combined.

They bought these wines because the brothers had always had a love for wine.

Their tastes were so different, and those differences had been the basis of the idea for making wine.

Yet even before they’d started the venture to create blood substitutes, they’d bought wines to add blood to.

It had worked with some and failed with others, so their collection had grown.

Ledger, when he’d discovered the separate cellar the week before, had lost his mind, gushing like a broken tap.

He'd spent considerable time there with Asher, discussing the merits of the wines he’d never had the opportunity before now to try.

He was careful because of his pregnancy, despite Thorn explaining that the wine would have no effect on the girls.

It was cute the way his nose wrinkled at Thorn when he’d gotten conflicted by what he wanted to do—protect his babies—versus tasting some extremely rare wines.

Limiting himself to a few sips was his compromise, and Thorn’s affections, if possible, deepened with just how much Ledger wanted to do the right thing for their babies.

“His enthusiasm is contagious.”

“Like a nasty rash?” Thorn said, tongue in cheek.

Asher chuckled, a rosy glow making him rub self-consciously at his cheeks. “He loves wine as much as I love working with the vines.”

“That he does,” Thorn agreed, relaxing in his seat, templing his fingers under his chin. “So what choices has he picked to serve with the appetizers?”

By the end of the day, Thorn realized he’d not achieved anything other than wedding preparations. It was a short-term thing, he told himself, to ease a little of the guilt at the added pressure it would put on everyone else.

He dragged off his tie as he walked up the stairs in the main house, listening out for any signs his brothers were at home. His thoughts went to his mate and how he’d like to spend the rest of his evening—naked.

In their suite of rooms, the silence had him frowning as he entered the living room. He roamed through the rooms, leaving his tie draped on a chair and his suit jacket on the bed, before strolling into the bathroom. The frown deepened.

He took a detour to the room that would be the girl's nursery.

The cribs sat in the middle of the room on plastic sheeting and there was a tin of varnish with paint brushes next to it.

He grinned at the gleaming wood on the one closest to him.

He resisted running his fingers over the wood with how fresh the varnish smelt.

The need to find Ledger had him spin around and retrace his steps, opening his senses as he went, searching for where Ledger was.

It didn’t take long to find him and Thorn’s lips curled into a warm smile at the sleeping man curled up in a swing seat that Ledger had found just three days before, while searching through the basement.

He had one hand tucked under his cheek and the other lay protectively over his stomach.

It was a habit he’d developed as the girls grew inside him.

Thorn felt Ledger’s exhaustion. Had he been doing too much?

He sighed at the obvious answer. Since Calvert had mentioned how much stuff they had down in the basement in passing, Ledger had been interested enough to drag Thorn down there with him. They had spent hours and hours, when not working, opening boxes, revealing Thorn’s and his brothers' past.

Whilst down there, they’d found Dacian and Calvert’s hand crafted cradles.

These were now up in their suite. Ledger was eager to have a connection to family traditions, and it hurt Thorn’s heart at the reasons for it.

There had been no mention of Ledger’s family regarding the wedding.

Ledger had invited friends, but overall, the numbers were small because Thorn had been mindful of questions some would ask at the lack of family on Ledger’s side.

Upsetting his mate was the last thing he wanted.

Thorn’s sister was traveling, so he had declared she should continue on with her plans. They would have a party to celebrate the birth of the girls on her return, which had placated her.

Ledger had clearly been too eager to wait for him to clean up the cribs, as he’d promised. His mate was pushing too hard and not considering he was carrying twins.

Thorn let out a heartfelt sigh as he walked closer to stroke the hair off Ledger’s forehead.

He didn’t stir and Thorn eyed the big cushions that ledger had added to the seat.

It had been love at first sight of the old-fashioned swing, which Ledger had gotten Thorn to carry out into the family walled garden where they planned to be married.

Clearly the thing wasn’t as comfortable as Ledger had hoped, despite Thorn’s warning that the thing had never been truly comfortable to sit on. It seemed the added cushions made all the difference with how soundly Ledger was sleeping.

Thorn resisted touching again and stood watching over Ledger for many minutes as the sun lowered in the sky and cast shadows over the wildflowers in the garden. The sweet perfume didn’t overpower the scent of his mate, which tickled and teased his nose.

It had changed, become spicier, and it caused a fever in Thorn’s blood that persisted even in his absence.

Yet he pushed his twitching fingers into his slacks, not wanting to wake his mate and act on the arousal he felt strengthened the longer he stared at the sleeping man.

The picture Ledger made while sleeping was exquisite.

Thorn believed he could not conjure a picture that was more idyllic than that of the one he was looking at.

He wasn’t sure how long he remained there before Ledger stirred. The fan of his eyelashes fluttered over his cheekbones before his eyes opened. A lazy smile spread over his lips as he blinked sleepily at Thorn.

“I was dreaming of you,” he murmured, “and here you are.”

Moving before he could fully register his intention, Thorn was on his knees, kissing Ledger, the desire and confession undoing him.

A lingering sweetness as Ledger’s lips parted and their tongues stroked against each other suggested he’d had ice cream before he’d fallen asleep.

His hands crept around Thorn’s neck and he moaned as he deepened the kiss.

The urgency grew so fast, Ledger’s chest heaved when Thorn eased away, knowing if he carried on, he’d cause a show for anyone who looked out a window at the back of the house.

“Want you,” Ledger whined, tugging him closer impatiently.

“Let’s go inside, Sweetling.” Thorn aimed for firmness. What came out was more begging as he tore his mouth from a pouting Ledger. If at all possible, his heart twisted in his chest at denying his dhampir. “Then you can have me any way you want.”

The pout disappeared as Ledger nudged him back and wiggled past him. “I want you, naked and fully vampire.”

Thorn squeezed his thighs together as he stood, attempting to conceal his rapidly hardening cock. He pushed at the arousal tenting his slacks, trying to make it possible to walk after the pert behind disappearing into the house.

Naked. I want you naked, now! Bossy Ledger didn’t help his problem.

Thorn pulled his zipper down and tugged out his cock so he could race after Ledger.

In a blur, he flew past Dacian, who called out, “my eyes, my poor eyes,” as Ledger giggled at the top of the stairs.

With a show of strength that got Ledger cooing in delight, Thorn picked him up as he flew past and was inside their suite, the door closed, a second later.

“You think it’s funny to taunt the beast?” Thorn growled playfully at Ledger’s increased giggles.

Arms clinging to his neck, he gave Thorn a smacking lipped kiss. “I do when it’s my beast, now where’s my winged lover?”