Page 21 of Love Bites (Timber Creek #2)
CHAPTER 21
MAX
Summer’s phone pinged nonstop with incoming messages as I stared down at my phone, rereading the single text I’d sent this afternoon.
Max
I have some news, when you have time to talk.
We’d woken up in the late afternoon, starving after our post-sex nap, and I’d texted my father once we’d found a café and ordered sustenance. That was 20 minutes ago.
Summer’s shin rubbed against my pant leg, her incessant need to touch me far less annoying today. Switching my phone to my left hand, I dropped my right to her thigh, sliding it under the hem of her skirt just a little. Her breath sucked in, eyes finding mine for a split second before her phone dinged again.
Trailing my thumb across her smooth skin, I scrolled back up through my father’s and my brief and utilitarian text exchange over the last several weeks, looking for the last time I’d even heard from him. We’d talked after Boston, and then… nothing.
Clenching my jaw, I bit back my annoyance at his absence, not the first time he’d gone radio silent on me over the years. We weren’t as close as the Larkins, but when I was working a job, we checked in every few days. And he usually responded quickly when I reached out.
I wasn’t sure how he’d react to Summer’s and my spontaneous nuptials, but I also needed him to send over the file on the Parisian news reports about the drained bodies he’d mentioned. Paris wasn’t where I’d planned to start this European hunt, but while we were here, we could kill two birds with one stone.
With Summer still busy texting and giggling in turn, I scrolled through the rest of my messages, debating if I had anyone else to tell about our “marriage”.
Cooper Larkin
If you hurt her, you’ll never see another day of peace.
I hid my snort at the mean cat’s text, then gave a resigned huff when I realized it was a group chat that also included West and Terran.
Max
Is this the start of our brotherly bonding? Should we all FaceTime?
Cooper Larkin
Not kidding.
Max
I know, you’re threatening me. It’s how cats show their love, right? Next you’ll start leaving dead animals on my doormat. Adorable.
Terran Larkin
Can we maim him just a little, West?
Max
Listen. I know what you guys think of me, but I promise —
My thumbs stilled as I realized what I was about to type, but fuck, I meant it. So I continued.
— I promise, it’s not like that. I would never do anything to hurt her.
Cooper Larkin
I’ll hold you to that.
I set my phone down, glancing over at Summer as she did the same. She let out a little squeak of excitement, kicking her feet under the table and I fought to smother my amusement at how adorable she was.
Adorable was dangerous. A gateway feeling. I squashed the thought right down.
“We’re in Paris! France!”
“Mmhmm.”
“Hurry, we have so much to see!”
I squeezed her thigh. “The first rule in Paris: no rushing. Only enjoying. Relax. We have as much time as we want.”
That wasn’t exactly true — we needed to find the next vampire den to make contact soon, but there was no harm in a slow day.
Reluctantly, she sat back in her chair and sipped her coffee, giving me a moment to compose my thoughts. First step, get my fucking hands off her.
The loss of contact hummed in my veins when I leaned away, like a dull ache in my chest. How Summer had such an effect on me so quickly, I had no idea, but I ignored the pull to touch her once more.
She gently set the cup down, then took another bite of her croissant, letting out a low moan that reminded me entirely too much of last night.
“This is so freaking good,” she mumbled behind her hand, still chewing. A flake drifted down from her lips, falling to the tops of her breasts, exposed by yet another sundress. She wore a red cardigan over a striped dress we’d bought after leaving the apartment, the cut low enough to expose the barest hint of cleavage.
It was classy and cute, not necessarily sexy, but my mind could not separate everything that had happened earlier today from the image of her right now.
I wanted to peel that cardigan off her, remove the thin straps of her dress with my teeth and sink my fangs into her neck again, until I drew out more of those sweet moans.
Fuck adorable. This want, this need I was starting to feel for her wasn’t just dangerous. It was deadly.
Dropping my gaze to the table, I pricked my own lip with my fangs, the tang of blood not nearly enough to sate me. The thought of her excitedly telling all her friends and family about our fake marriage and fake honeymoon turned my stomach.
For one, when the Larkin males learned the truth about our arrangement and the danger of our mission, I had no doubt they’d come for me.
And two — she truly did seem happy about it, if the grin on her face was anything to go by. That made me feel like the worst asshole in the world.
No matter how much I wanted her, she wasn’t mine. She was a temptation I couldn’t give in to, a treasure meant for someone other than me. Someone better.
I just wasn’t sure I had it in me to let her go.
I shouldn’t have been surprised that somewhere between waking up and finishing our coffees, Summer had pulled together a Must-See list of Parisian tourist destinations.
“So, what do you say? Musée D’Orsay first, or do we head to Versailles?” Summer mused, mostly to herself, as she scanned a tourist map of the city she’d picked up on the way over to the café. “That’s a little far outside the city though, but you could get us there fast enough. Oh! Notre Dame!”
I shrugged, having seen it all before. “Whichever. We should hit all the main sites.”
Summer’s eyes brightened, then narrowed in suspicion. “What is this? You’re pro-tourism now?”
“The main hotspots are prime vampire hunting grounds, so yes. Let’s hit them all.”
“What do you mean?”
I waved a hand to encompass the city, resisting the temptation to check my phone for a text that still hadn’t come through. “Paris was another one of the cities with drained bodies. Vampires love to prey on tourists, the least likely to have someone notice them missing. We should investigate while we’re here.”
“Oh.” Summer pulled back slightly, her lips tipping down in a small frown for a moment before she plastered a smile on again. “Right, okay. Good idea. To Notre Dame!”
We spent the next few days in a whirlwind of tourism and the best sex of my life. Mornings were spent lazily in bed until Summer was vibrating with excitement for whatever destination she’d picked for us to see. Days were filled with enough tourist stops to put Rick Steves to shame. Nights, vampire hunting, wine tasting, and Summer seeing how far she could push me before I vanished us back to the apartment to devour each other’s bodies.
I wasn’t complaining.
By day five, there was no part of her I hadn’t tasted. Her moans haunted me, her touch set my skin on fire, even the barest hint of gold in her eyes had me nearly feral. I’d never been this gone to lust before, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. And the best part was she met my intensity every single time. I had enough material to fund my spank bank for life.
The only thing we hadn’t done was kiss.
Refraining from tasting her lips was supposed to allow me some distance from our relationship, keeping things purely physical. I needed that boundary, no matter how much I hated the rule I’d set for myself. It was too intimate, and I was already falling into what could only be described as an obsession with all things Summer Larkin. My lack of control was frustrating, and so was our fruitless search. We hadn’t found anything, not so much as a hint of vampire scent in the air. Half the time, I forgot the whole point of sightseeing was to find vampires, I was so distracted by Summer’s enthusiasm for all the history around us. Turned out I was the world’s most reluctant tour guide, but I did happen to know the answer to most of her questions.
Once or twice, I thought I felt a prickling at the back of my neck, an uneasiness I couldn’t quite pinpoint. But each time, when I looked around, I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, and Summer didn’t mention any odd scents.
Probably just paranoia from decades in my line of work.