Virgins and Vampires: Blood Falls (The Blood Falls Book 3)

“That’s enough.” Kris pushed away from the fireplace where he’d been silently stewing while Rhysa and I were interrogated about everything we did.

At least it felt like an interrogation. It was supposed to be more of a briefing, but the Heads of House were concerned by, well, everything. I didn’t blame them. But the less they understood, the more agitated they became and the more questions they asked. I had a feeling a new dynamic was being forged as we sat there. One where Heads of House were one kind of power and samhain like Rhysa and me were another. We literally saw the Plane and reality differently, but somehow had to work together.

“Rain is exhausted and you’re getting nowhere.” He leered at the group while placing a protective hand on my shoulder.

“I have a few more questions,” Alec from the House of Argo said.

“And you’ll have every opportunity to ask them tomorrow.” His hand slid to the back of my neck and gave a light squeeze.

I almost moaned it felt so good. I had no idea I was so tense or that my muscles hurt so much.

Alec glared. “You have no authority here.”

“Would you really like to challenge me?” Kris asked. “Because I don’t think your argument holds as much sway as you think it does.”

The group fell silent.

Dray held his hand out to Rhysa. “My brother is right. It’s been a long, exhausting day and we all need a good night of sleep if we intend to make any headway. This meeting is over.” Rhysa rose up beside him and wobbled. His hand went around her waist and he growled.

Kris’s jaw ticked as he watched them walk away. “We should have put a stop to this an hour ago.”

“They’re scared of what they don’t understand.” I took his hand and slowly stood up. “And now that there’s been two betrayals at two different Houses, it probably has them all looking over their shoulders, wondering if there’s a knife in their backs.”

“You’re probably right.” He rested his large hand on the small of my back. “But that doesn’t excuse their behavior.” His other hand came to my neck, pulling me in for a kiss that I felt down to my toes. When he squeezed the tense muscles again, I let the moan escape. “You need a hot shower or bath to work these knots out.”

I sagged against him. “Yes, please.”

“Your rooms?”

I wanted to go to our future house but with no working plumbing, a shower was out of the question. “I suppose.”

He kissed my forehead. “Soon enough. Come on. Before someone else catches us.”

In what was probably only minutes but felt like hours, Kris had my bathroom warm and steamy. It was what was called a wet bathroom. All of it was designed to get wet and steamy. The shower flowed to the bath without any separation, with a marble ledge between the bathtub and the shower wall designed for sitting and steaming. It was specially designed for me to relax in my favorite “rainy” environment for which I was nicknamed.

I had no idea how much I’d appreciate it sexually.

Kris put me straight into the bath.

“It feels so fucking good!” I groaned as my arms and legs relaxed. I had a deep, narrow tub designed for soaking, so I was able to let those newly relaxed limbs float.

“Normally I’d be jealous of you saying that.” He moved around the room gathering towels and bottles. Something wonderful smelling filled the air. “A little lavender mix I found in the cabinet,” he explained with a hum.

There was a hiss and flicker as he lit my row of candles. Once they were glowing nice and bright, Kris killed the lights. Last, but certainly not least, he set the stereo system to my soothing playlist.

I thought I was loosening up pretty well until Kris climbed onto the steaming ledge behind me. His feet slid in beside me and then his fingers dug into my neck muscles.

Pain shot down my arms and spine and I yelped.

“Shhhh. It’ll get better. Just relax.”

Not so easy when it felt like hot pokers were being shoved into muscles, but eventually the pain subsided and the tension began to dissolve. “Oh yeah. Right there. Damn.”

Kris chuckled. “All the right words at the wrong time.”

“Oh no. It’s the right time. I’ll say them again later, too.”

“I know you will. I’ll make sure of it.”

The muscles in my belly tightened in the good way. “We should talk about it.”

“Not yet. I’ll never get your knots out if we start talking about it now.”

He was probably right. But I couldn’t help myself. “He’d have done the same thing to me. You saw all those boxes. This wasn’t a single bathtub experiment.” It was easy to picture it. Instead of my lovely bathtub filled with lavender scented water, I was in a container like my aunt, surrounded by tubes and gel.

“I would never let that happen to you.”

I knew that. Now. But what if Rhine had acted earlier? When I was younger.

“He couldn’t get to you,” Kris said. He must have heard my thoughts. “Not even with your aunt’s help. You’ve always been watched over and protected. They mistakenly thought you were vulnerable now.”

I nuzzled the inside of his knee. “Thanks to you.”

His thumbs traced down both sides of my neck, then into the knots in my shoulders. “If anyone ever has designs on trying again, they’ll meet the same fate.”

I groaned as he worked the knots, sitting forward to give him better access. I brought up my knees and hugged them against my breasts. “That was a very permanent death.”

“No head and no heart. Can’t heal that. Your father and I weren’t taking chances with your life.”

I groaned some more as he chased the tension down my back.

“And just so you know,” he murmured, “our bond is strong. It won’t matter where you are, if someone tries to hurt you, I’ll know and I’ll be at your side in a moment.”

I turned, reaching up as he leaned down. My fingers wrapped around his neck just as our lips met. “This feels terribly one sided.”

“It’s not.” He gazed down at me before turning me around and going back to work. “I protect you while you work. That work physically takes it out of you. Our bond makes it so I’m almost never tired anymore. Therefore I use that energy to help you recover. It’s not one side or another. It’s a relationship that feeds us differently at different times. Drink some water.” He pointed at the glass he left on the edge of the tub.

I didn’t even realize how thirsty I was until the water hit my tongue. Suddenly I couldn’t get enough.

“I’ve been doing some research—and not about ancient metalworking.”

“Oh?” I set the empty glass aside.

“On my empathic side. Seems there are some fun advantages to my Gatlin heritage I didn’t know about. Especially with a Shield bond.”

“More than our electric lovemaking? Or being in each other’s thoughts?” That was all pretty advantageous if you asked me.

“This is more for the enjoyment of enjoyment.”

“You have my attention.”

“After you’ve recovered.”

Tease. “So you brought it up to not tell me about it?”

His fingers slid through my hair, massaging my scalp. “It’s a warning. I don’t want it to catch you by surprise. Surprises can be fun, but they can also kill a good mood.”

He had a point. Not a very good one… “Fine. I’m prepared to be surprised.”

“Come on. Let’s get clean.” We moved to the shower, which was really more of a small room. The steam filled the air, trickling out into the rest of the bathroom until everything was so steamy it surrounded us like a cloud. “I’m going to have to quiz whoever built this room so I can replicate it at our house.”

I slid my hands over his shoulders, looping them around his neck, pressing my naked body to his. “There are steam machines built into the walls. Radiant heating in the floor. And when I want to sit under the shower and drown out the world I can switch it to recycle the water.” I pointed to the control panel on the wall. “I usually wash my hair and body. Once it’s all washed away I switch it to recycle and just sit in here.”

He shook his head. “Is there a more perfect nickname for you?”

“Nope. It’s like I was born with it.”

“If we ever go on a honeymoon I’m taking you to a rainforest near a waterfall.”

“Sounds like heaven to me!” I didn’t want to dwell on all the reasons we might never go on a planned fun trip.

Kris sensed that and stopped talking. Instead he picked up my soap and got to work cleaning and touching every inch of my body. Then I sat on the floor while he sat on the bench behind me and proceeded to give me the best scalp massage of my life. On top of that, my hair was clean when he was done.

“Hit that button, princess.” He dropped the soap back in its cradle, rinsing the last bit of lather away from his body.

I switched the shower over to recycle and turned on the rainfall showerhead above. The rectangular device covered the center of the shower. Usually I sat on the floor and let it wash over me, but sometimes I brought a chair in. Every once in a while I lay on the bench reading a book. The book would be a damp mess in the end, but it was worth it. The whole point was to drown out the world and relax.

“You really want something like this in our house?”

Kris made a face. “Who wouldn’t? Seriously. Who would turn down a room like this? It’s amazing. I’m glad it’s therapeutic for you, but this is a selfish desire on my part. I want to sit in here after a long day bent over an engine.”

“You don’t mind having company while you relax?”

He lifted me straight up. I wrapped my legs around his hips. “What’s more relaxing than sex?”

“I don’t know…that bath you just gave me was pretty damn relaxing.”

This drew a growl from my lover. “No baths in our house then.”

“I’m teasing.”

“I know.” He nipped my throat. “So am I. I would never torture myself like that. We’ll need a bigger tub though.”

“I’m not complaining.”

“Maybe two.”

“Definitely not complaining.”

“How do you feel about hot tubs?” He sat on the bench, back to the wall.

“Ambivalent if we have fancy baths.”

“What if this hot tub had an excellent view of snowcapped mountains?”

“I wouldn’t complain.”

Another growl. “I enjoy planning our future home with you.”

“I enjoy it as well. I love thinking about living my life with you. However, you’ve left me with quite a dilemma.”

His eyebrows rose. “Oh really?”

“Yes. You see you promised me a surprise, and seeing as I’m clean and rested, I’m getting quite anxious.”

“And what’s the dilemma?” His beautiful eyes danced.

“How do I convince you to give it to me already?”

“Well, I’m sure a demonstration orgasm could serve as proof of readiness.”

I wiggled in his lap. “Well then. I guess I better get started.”