The house was silent when Cale returned almost two hours later. He'd been as quick as he could be, grabbing a bag of blood from the cooler as soon as he stepped into his hotel room, and then actually feeding on it as he jumped in the shower. It had been the fastest shower in history, he was sure. The bag at his teeth hadn't even been empty by the time he got out, but he'd dried himself one-handed, and then begun to dress in fresh clothes as it finished.
After that Cale had only taken the time to throw more clean clothes into a bag to take back with him before rushing down to his car. Both the stop at the hotel and then hitting the Tim Hortons drive-thru on the way back had probably taken him less than twenty minutes. However, Alex's house was a good forty-minute drive from his hotel, which was where most of the time had gone.
Now he closed the front door, engaged the lock, and carried the food and coffee into the kitchen before removing his outerwear. He quickly put them away in the hall closet, and then moved quietly upstairs. Cale heard her slow, deep breathing before reaching her door, but eased it open anyway to be sure. He smiled widely when he spotted her curled up on her side with her back to him, sleeping peacefully away.
Cale eased the door closed, turned on his heel and rushed back downstairs. She was sleeping! The thought raced madly through his head. They could share another dream! The thought had him already half-erect before he'd even reached the living room and the waiting couch. Diving onto it, he settled himself on his back and closed his eyes, eager for sleep to claim him and the dream to start as it had earlier.
"Hello?"
Cale's eyes popped open and he sat up to peer toward the empty doorway with a frown. This wasn't a dream. He'd barely closed his eyes before Alex had called his name. He must have woken her closing the door. Sighing, he called, "Yeah?"
"I thought I heard you come in," she called from the top of the stairs. "I'm just going to grab a shower. I'll be right down."
Cale's shoulders slumped. It seemed there would be no more shared dreams for now. Damn! He'd been looking forward to it. Sighing, he stood up and moved back out to the kitchen. The food and coffee still waited on the table. Cale collected plates and silverware for two. He had poured their coffees into cups and unwrappedand set the food on the plates by the time Alex entered the kitchen. Her hair was damp but brushed, she was dressed in jeans and a blue sweater, and she smelled of oranges and spice as she joined him at the table.
"Wow, it's still warm," she said with pleasure, pressing a finger to the top of her sandwich.
"Oui. I got it at the coffee shop just around the corner." Cale settled in a seat across from her. "And you were fast in the shower."
Nodding, she sat down. Both of them were unusually quiet while they ate. Cale didn't need to think hard to figure out why. Every time he glanced at her, their shared dream rose in his mind, stealing any ability to speak. Judging by the way Alex flushed every time she glanced his way, Cale suspected she was suffering from the same problem. It was almost a relief when they had both finished.
They worked together in that same silence as they cleaned their cups and plates, and then Alex glanced at him, flushed, glanced away, and murmured, "I'm thinking I might head over to the restaurant and check that light over the back door, change the bulb. If I don't, I'll forget and end up having to leave in the dark again."
"The doctor said you were supposed to take it easy today," Cale said quietly.
"I know, but I have to cook tonight and-"
"No you don't," Cale interrupted. "My cousin arranged for Emile to fly in and take your place tonight."
Alex looked at him fully for the first time since coming downstairs. She definitely wasn't thinking about their dream this time. Her eyes were wide anduncertain. "Excuse me? Your cousin arranged for who to take my place?"
"Emile," Cale said, smiling wryly at her stunned expression. Apparently she recognized the name where he hadn't. "I gather from a purely business perspective it's a very good move. Not only is he supposed to be a good chef, but they're expecting the press to be all over your restaurant once they hear ... and if I know my family, there have already been several calls made to the different newsrooms in the city. This should be very good press for the restaurant, as well as the opening next week."
"Damn," Alex breathed, leaning weakly against the counter. "And here I was afraid the attack was a sign that my streak of bad luck hadn't ended like I'd started to think."
Cale smiled incredulously. "You're now thinking your getting attacked is good luck? "
She peered at him as if that were a stupid question. "If it makes Emile cook in my kitchen and garners a lot of press, you're damned right it's good luck. Heck, the kind of press this will bring in is worth broken bones and stitches, maybe even a short coma. A little bump on the head is nothing."
Cale chuckled with disbelief.
"Oh geez," Alex said suddenly straightening. "I need to clean the restaurant."
"I thought you cleaned it every night after closing." Cale followed when she headed out of the kitchen.
"I do, but this is Emile," she said over her shoulder,speaking the name as if it were synonymous with King or God. "It has to be spotless."
"Would it pass a health inspection?" Cale asked, already knowing the answer. He had noticed the night he'd worked at the restaurant and then again the few times he'd stopped in at closing time, that Alex was very conscientious about that aspect of her business and had trained her people to be as well.
"Of course. I keep a clean kitchen," she said almost indignantly, stopping at the closet and dragging the door open.
"Then it's good enough for Emile," he said reasonably.
"That's different. I want to make sure there isn't even a speck of dust to be found. He's-"
"Alex," Cale said quietly, taking her coat from her when she dragged it off a hanger.
Scowling she turned on him. "Cale, give me that. I have to get to the restaurant and start cleaning. I want to scrub it from top to bottom, use bleach and a toothbrush in every crack and cranny." She frowned and added, "Maybe I should buy a new apron just for him."
She had been grabbing at the coat as she spoke, but Cale just kept shifting it out of her reach. Now he caught her arm, forcing her to a halt. "Scrubbing the kitchen today is not relaxing. In fact, it's more 'not relaxing' than if you were to cook tonight."
"Yes, but this is Emile," she emphasized with frustration. "I need to make sure everything is perfect."
Cale stared at her silently, and then sighed and lowered her coat. "Very well, if you insist that Emile's presence means cleaning all day, then I shall call my cousin and tell him to contact Emile and cancel his replacing you."
Alex had snatched her coat from him the moment he lowered it and immediately started to shrug into it, but froze now to turn shocked eyes to him. "What?"
"Well," he said reasonably, "the man is only coming up here to help out because you've been injured and are supposed to take it easy. How do you think he would feel if he went to all that trouble, and then arrived to find that the woman who was supposed to take it easy had worked herself like a dog today cleaning for his arrival ... Cleaning a kitchen which, by the way, was perfectly spotless when I saw it last night," he added grimly.
"He doesn't have to know," Alex protested.
"He would feel like he'd been taken advantage of, used for his reputation," Cale continued firmly, and then added, "And even if he didn't find out, I would know and not feel right. If you insist on this, I would rather cancel his replacing you, and let you cook, which is surely less strenuous than scrubbing a floor on your hands and knees. The doctor said you were to take it easy."
"But ..." She stared at him with frustration, but apparently unable to find a valid argument, sagged with defeat. Alex sighed, and her voice was resentful as she muttered, "I guess you're right. He'd probably be pissed to find out I'd been cleaning when I was supposed to be too sick to cook."
"You are too sick to cook," Cale said firmly. When she made a face at the claim, he added gently, "Alex, I know you feel fine right now, but your brain suffered a trauma last night. According to the doctor, it took a hard knock and was tossed around inside your skull when you fell. There could be bruising, or damage that isn't showing so far. Please do as he said and just take it easy? Just for one day?"
"Fine," she muttered, shrugging out of her coat and tossing it on the closet floor before slamming the door shut and marching off to the kitchen.
Cale stared after her with amazement, wondering if there really was some damage done. She was acting like a spoiled child who hadn't gotten her way. Fascinated by a side of her he'd never seen before, Cale followed her into the kitchen to find her leaning against the sink, staring out the window above it. When she sensed his arrival, she sighed and turned around muttering, "Sorry."
"I understand," Cale said quietly.
"So"-she forced a bright smile-"I guess I'll just putter around here today and rest. You can leave if you want, though I appreciate your staying last night. It was very sweet of you."
Cale narrowed his eyes, suspicion rising in him. His voice was easygoing when he said, "I'll leave if you like. I need to take your keys over to Lucian anyway."
"My keys?" she asked warily, her smile fading.
"He's going to take Emile to the restaurant. Probably a little earlier than is really necessary, but the man should have the chance to familiarize himself with thesetup," Cale lied. No one had mentioned plans on who should let the chef into La Bonne Vie, and he'd decided that morning that he'd do it himself. But he wanted Alex to know that she wasn't going to be rid of him and sneak off to the restaurant as he suspected she was planning. "And of course, I need to take your car keys as well to arrange to have it brought here to you. We were in my car last night, and you'll be without a vehicle until I can have it moved here, but since you plan to stay in anyway ..."
"Crap," Alex muttered, her smile definitely gone now. It seemed obvious she had been planning to sneak off to the restaurant.
"Or ..." he began, but paused to consider the plan that had just occurred to him. Cale was now worried Alex was annoyed enough with him that she might send him home out of irritation. But if he could tempt her with an antiquing trip ... If he left, she would be here without a car, so might be tempted, and he could see to it that she took it easy.
"Or what?" Alex asked scowling.
"Or you and I could do some antiquing today," he suggested, and then cautioned, "We'd have to take it easy. No gallivanting about."
"Gallivanting?" she asked dryly.
"Frequent breaks for coffee or food, and not on your feet for too long," he said firmly.
Alex stared at him for a very long time, but then sighed and pushed away from the counter again. Her tone was sulky when she said, "I guess that's better than being stuck here all day."
"You really are a bad patient, aren't you?" Cale said with amusement as he followed her out of the kitchen.
"Who said I was a bad patient?" Alex asked, glaring over her shoulder.
"Sam."
"Like she's any better," Alex snorted as she opened the closet door and bent to retrieve her discarded coat. She then tugged his coat off its hanger and turned to hand it to him.
"Thank you," Cale murmured.
Alex nodded and shrugged into her coat, before adding, "Besides, I'm not a bad patient."
"No?" Cale asked dryly, pulling on his scarf, hat, and gloves.
"No," she assured him, and then added with a touch of chagrin, "I just like to get my own way."
Cale laughed outright at that admission. He wasn't surprised. She owned her own home, ran her own business, and pretty much was used to getting her own way in matters. But then so was he, and Cale suspected that if he ever did succeed at wooing her into agreeing to be his life mate, there would be some fireworks for the first year or so as they struggled to learn to live as a couple. But the makeup sex would definitely be hot.
"Warm enough?" Alex asked with amusement as she took in the way he'd bundled up. The hat was pulled low on his forehead, and he'd wrapped the scarf around his neck and face so that the only portion of skin the sun would reach was the bit around his eyes.
"I'm European," he said through the scarf. "Not used to this cold."
"Hmm." Alex turned to open the front door. "This from the same man who didn't even pull his coat on before running out to his car this morning."
Cale didn't comment but followed her out of the house, locked the door, and pocketed her keys. He planned to hold on to them until at least tonight. There was no way she was going to ditch him and take off to the restaurant to clean. Crazy woman, he thought with a sigh. She obviously didn't know how fragile she was as a mortal. He would have to look after her until she agreed to the turn, Cale decided, and hoped it didn't take too long to get her to that point now that they'd shared a dream. He didn't know how Mortimer had managed Sam's not turning all these months. The guy must have worried himself sick.
Cale had felt like he'd swallowed his own heart last night when he'd gotten to the restaurant and seen Bev helping a bleeding Alex to her feet. He hadn't been able to get to her fast enough. He needed to up his game on the wooing front and get her to agree to be turned, and that was that.
"This should add some color to the office," Alex said with a pleased smile as she peered down at the framed eight-inch-by-eight-inch print on her lap. It was called Food Prep, and showed a chef in a bright Italian-style kitchen slicing a parsnip. Despite the fact that she'd found it today in an antiques store, Alex was pretty sure it wasn't an antique. At least she recalled seeing this print and three others being sold in a set in one of therestaurant catalogues she had. It looked much better live than it had in the tiny picture in the catalogue, and she thought she might order the other three prints that went with it when the restaurant was making a profit.
"It's charming." Cale glanced briefly toward the print, and then quickly returned his eyes to the road as he suggested, "Would you like to stop at the restaurant and hang it before we head over to the old La Bonne Vie for dinner? We're a bit early anyway."
"Yes, please," Alex said happily. They had headed north of the city to hit antiques stores in the small towns there and would drive right past the turnoff leading to the part of the city where the new restaurant resided. In fact, they were already approaching that off-ramp, Alex noted as Cale put on the blinker to take it. She watched him make the maneuver, and then asked curiously, "How does this car handle?"
When Cale glanced at her in question, she explained, "My car's kind of on its last legs and I'll need to replace it in the next six months to a year ... if I can afford it," she added wryly, and then continued, "I was considering a Pontiac Solstice, but this seems to ride nice."
"It handles well," he assured her, and offered, "You can try it for yourself when we leave the restaurant if you like."
"Ooooh, that rare and exotic animal, a man willing to let a woman drive his car," she teased. Her mood had improved a great deal while they were antiquing. Alex still wished he'd let her give her restaurant kitchen a once-over, but understood why he hadn't. She'd alsohad fun this afternoon, enjoying wandering through the various antiques stores with him and looking at this and that.
"This is just a rental," he reminded her, and then added, "Though I'd be happy to let you drive my own vehicle. Of course, you have to come to France to do it."
"Like that will happen," she said with a laugh.
"I am sincerely hoping it will," he said solemnly.
Alex glanced at him sharply, her eyes following the outline of his profile. It was the first time anything had been said to suggest he hoped to continue their friendship beyond the two months he was to be here. If it was a friendship. She wasn't sure how to classify their relationship. He worked for her at the moment, had stated a desire to get to know her better, but hadn't tried to kiss her or anything. Well, except in that wild dream she'd had last night, but that was her mind torturing her with what she couldn't have. She couldn't lay that at his door.
Not that she wanted him to kiss her, Alex told herself firmly as she realized the direction of her own thoughts. She hadn't even allowed their conversations to dip into the personal area since the night they'd painted the dining room together. She didn't want to get involved, Alex reminded herself firmly, and turned her face forward as Cale turned into the parking lot behind the new restaurant. Her eyebrows rose when she spotted the SUV parked where she normally parked her own car. "Is that Justin Bricker?"
"Hmm." Cale nodded, his expression serious now.
"I wonder what he's doing here."
"So do I," Cale said dryly as he parked the car.
The moment the vehicle had stopped, Bricker moved to the passenger door and opened it for Alex. Grinning brightly, he greeted, "Hello, beautiful. I see you managed not to kill Cale during your enforced relaxation."
Alex smiled wryly as he took the print from her with one hand and reached out his other for her to hold as she got out of the car. "It was a close one when he wouldn't let me go clean the restaurant, but I managed to control myself."
Bricker chuckled at the claim as he closed the door for her. His gaze then shifted to the print he held. "For the new restaurant?"
"The office," she answered, peering at it again herself.
"Nice," Bricker decided. "I like the colors, and it suits a restaurant perfectly."
"That's what I thought too," she said with a laugh, taking the print back.
"So to what do we owe this visit?" Cale asked, coming around the car to join them.
"I came in search of keys to the restaurant for Lucian. He and Lucern are taking Emile over early so he can familiarize himself."
"Oh, right, I forgot about the keys." Cale began to search his pockets.
"I'm surprised you didn't call," Alex said to Bricker.
Bricker shrugged. "I was in the neighborhood so just swung by. When I realized you weren't here, I was going to call his cell number to see where the two of you were, but then you pulled in and saved me the trouble."
"Here." Cale handed the keys to Bricker. "We're coming by for supper once it's open."
"I'll let your hostess, Sue, know so she saves you a table," Bricker promised.
"If it's too busy, just tell her we'll eat in my office," Alex said, not wanting to put pressure on the woman. They were almost always booked to capacity, but if word of Emile's cooking there tonight had gotten out, she was sure it would be a madhouse, with tables originally ordered for two suddenly sporting four or more as people called friends and invited them along. A certain amount of that happened each night anyway, and they generally tried to accommodate such things, but she suspected tonight would be worse than usual.
"Will do," Bricker assured her.
"Alex, why don't you go inside and decide where you want your print? I'll hang it after I have a word with Bricker," Cale said quietly.
Alex raised her eyebrows curiously, wondering what he wanted to talk about that he couldn't say in front of her, but nodded and turned to make her way to the back door.
"Did you pay Peter a visit last night?" Cale asked the moment Alex disappeared inside the restaurant.
The younger immortal nodded with a grimace. "Yeah. He's an unpleasant little jerk, but he wasn't the attacker. He was pissed at Alex for not hiring him back, though."
"He was pissed?" Cale asked, one eyebrow lifting.
"I removed those feelings for him," Bricker said dryly. "He was really bitter, and he's the vengeful sort.
I figured it was better than leaving it and his causing problems later."
Cale nodded. "Good thinking. Thanks."
"So?" Bricker raised an eyebrow of his own now. "Did you have sweet dreams last night?"
Cale scowled. "That's none of your business."
Bricker chuckled, not at all offended by his short tone. Turning away, he headed for the SUV, saying, "That would be a yes then. I'll let Sam know. She's really fretting over the two of you."
Had he thought he was starting to like this guy? Cale asked himself with irritation as he watched the younger immortal get into the SUV and start it up. If so, he was definitely revising that opinion. Shaking his head as Bricker gave him a cheery little wave as he pulled out, Cale turned and headed inside.
The sound of pounding reached him the moment he entered the back door and Cale knew at once that rather than wait for him, Alex had gone ahead with hanging the print herself. The woman was entirely too independent. She seemed determined to prove she didn't need him for anything except the job he'd agreed to do. At least that was how it seemed to him. She was always trying to pay for their meals, always shunning help for the smallest task. She just didn't seem to know how to accept help. It made him feel kind of useless at times.
Sighing, Cale let the door close behind him and headed for the office, his eyes widening with horror when he saw what she'd gotten up to. Rather than drag out the ladder they'd used while painting, she'd pulled the desk chair over, and was now standing with onefoot on the seat, and one on the arm of the chair as she pounded the nail of a picture hook into the wall. Alex seemed completely oblivious to the way the chair teetered with each blow, not to mention the fact that the damned thing was on wheels and could roll out from under her at any moment.
Cale hurried across the room as-finished with her pounding-she dropped the hammer on the chair seat and picked up the print to hang it. She'd just released the print when he reached the chair, and said sharply, "Jesus, Alex. You'll break your-"
Breaking off with a curse, Cale reached out to catch her as she gave a start, slipped, and then lost her balance as the chair shifted under her. He caught her close to his chest, closed his eyes briefly with relief that he'd been there to do so, and then snapped them open when she said with irritation, "For heaven's sake, Cale. I nearly broke my neck. You shouldn't startle people like that."
Cale stared down at her scowling face with disbelief. "You-I-"
Alex raised her eyebrows when Cale gave up trying to say whatever it was he was trying to get out and simply stared at her with frustration. She had no idea what had upset him so much. He was the one who had nearly scared her silly. And he was still holding her pressed tightly to his chest too, which was kind of discomfiting for her. She had the most ridiculous urge to slip her arms around his shoulders and press even closer, but managed to resist. Instead, she forced herself to stare back into his face and wait for him to set her down.
Okay, it wasn't really his face her gaze was focused on. For some reason she had zeroed in on his lips and couldn't seem to drag her attention away from them as her mind replayed scenes from her dream the night before. Images of those lips moving across her skin and closing over her nipple ran through her head, and she was just thinking that it seemed terribly hot in her office all of a sudden, when she realized that those sweet lips she was staring at were drawing closer.
He was going to kiss her, some part of her mind yelled in warning, and Alex knew she should turn her head away, or kick her legs to be set down, but found she was unwilling to. She wanted him to kiss her, wanted to know if it would be as wonderful as it had been in her dream.
Surely nothing could be that good, Alex thought faintly, and then his mouth drifted softly over hers, brushing across them as lightly as a butterfly's wings, once, then twice before settling so that his tongue could slide out to urge her lips apart. Alex wasn't aware of giving her brain the order to do it, but her mouth parted willingly enough, allowing his tongue in, and she had to revise her belief that no real kiss could compare with those from her dream. This was definitely as good or better, she decided, as his tongue swept in to tangle with hers.
Cale tasted of lemon meringue pie and coffee, the snack they'd had during the last break he'd insisted on while they'd been antiquing. But it was combined with another taste entirely his own, and Alex found herself moaning and shifting slightly in his arms so that herhands could creep up around his neck. Cale immediately deepened the kiss, his mouth becoming more demanding, and she found she was actually clutching at him and turning her upper body so that she could press closer.
She wasn't aware of his moving until he set her down. Alex was vaguely aware of the desk top suddenly beneath her bottom, but that was all the attention she could manage to spare. Her focus was on the hands now sliding over her body, and then playing over her breasts through her sweater.
Alex groaned and arched into the touch, then gasped when he broke their kiss to trail his lips to her ear. She immediately turned her head into that caress with a gasp, her body shuddering as he nipped at the lobe. She opened her eyes with confusion when he pulled back, and then she glanced down to see that he was working on removing her sweater and had already pushed it up her chest to reveal her bra. Alex instinctively raised her arms to help him, emitting a little sigh when he tugged it up over her head and off, then shuddering when his hands immediately moved to cover the silk triangles over her breasts. He began to kiss her again then, his tongue thrusting into her mouth as he kneaded her through her bra. She felt cool air touch the nipples he'd caressed to points, and she glanced down when he broke the kiss again to see that Cale had tugged the cups under her breasts, leaving them exposed. Not for long. She'd barely realized what he'd done when one hand covered an exposed breast while his mouth bent to the other.
Alex gasped and planted her hands on the desk top, leaning on them to arch her back. Cale immediately caught her by the hips and pulled her closer to the edge of the desk until her legs were framing his hips, the center of her pressing against his groin. She groaned as he repeatedly rubbed against her while continuing to suckle and nip at first one breast, and then the other. Alex had never experienced anything like the passion it sent reverberating through her. It came in waves that rolled through her body one after the other, the first seeming to join with the second, and then the third, building up to an unbearable level.
She wrapped her legs around his, pressing him tight against her in an effort to stop his thrusts. Alex then shifted her weight to one hand and tangled the other in his hair, dragging his head away from her breast and up for a kiss. She had never experienced the depth of sensation he was causing, and it terrified her, but her action didn't help much. In fact, it just made it worse; now he was seducing her with his mouth while one hand took up the torture at her breasts, and the other slid between them to caress her through her jeans.
"Oh God," Alex moaned, tearing her mouth from his and turning her head away. She needed some cessation, some air. She was sure she was going to faint from the pleasure building within her. But Cale simply trailed his mouth across her face to her ear and set up a whole new clamoring as he nibbled industriously there.
When his hands left off caressing her, Alex felt a moment's relief that turned to confusion when he caught her by the hips and lifted her off the desk to stand onher own legs. For a moment she feared he intended to stop, and it left her torn. While these sensations were overwhelming her, she was loath to see them end ... but stopping was not on his agenda. By the time she realized his hands had shifted to work on the button and zipper of her jeans, they were both already undone, and his hand was slipping inside.
Alex clutched at his shoulders and went up on her tiptoes with a gasp as he now began to caress her through her panties without the heavy cloth of the jeans in the way.
"Cale," she gasped, hearing the desperation in her own voice, and then twisted her head to catch his mouth again, sucking at his tongue when it slid past her lips. Becoming aware that he was tugging at her jeans with his free hand, she reached blindly to help, pushing them off her hips and shimmying slightly to urge them down her legs, then groaning as that shifted her more fully into his caresses.
Her head was spinning now, and Alex was beginning to fear there had been some damage from her head injury after all. No man had ever affected her like this. It couldn't just be because of passion, she thought dazedly, clutching at the front of his shirt as he tore her panties from her. In the next moment, his fingers slid across her moist flesh, and Alex decided she didn't care. The fear was fading under a burning need he was bringing to raging life inside her, and she reached blindly for the front of his jeans to undo his button and zipper, but found the job already done and his erection half-exposed as he shoved his own jeans down his hips.
She barely got to remove him fully from the cloth and clasp him in hand before Cale gave up on the jeans and lifted her onto the desk. Alex gasped at the contact as her hot flesh met the cold wood, and then she was crying out into his mouth as he caught her under the thighs and drove into her, still fully dressed.
Cale paused then, his body filling hers. Alex wasn't sure why until he broke their kiss to peer down at her. Recognizing the uncertainty and question in his eyes, she reached up to press a kiss to his lips, then clasped his behind and dug her nails in, urging him to move.
They both groaned as he slowly withdrew partway, then groaned in unison again as he slid back in, and then his mouth covered hers again and his hips started into the rhythm of an age-old dance ... It was a very short dance. Already on the edge of orgasm when he entered her, Alex lasted perhaps four more thrusts before her world exploded. She was vaguely aware of his accompanying shout and then darkness swept into her brain eliminating everything else.