His eyes seared me and seemed to see into my soul. And I could see into his. He was telling the truth, his truth. And I couldn’t imagine how on earth I’d deserved such devotion. It stole my breath and stopped my heart. I knew I wasn’t worthy. That I was going to hurt him, had hurt him too many times.
“Jeremiah!” Tears filled my eyes and I leaned my head against his chest. I could hear the slow pump of his heart. This was probably the longest speech I’d ever gotten from him. And the most romantic. He was pulling out all the stops. Because he wanted a commitment from me. And I was about to ruin everything. I couldn’t do it. No way was I telling him about MacDonald tonight. Valdez would just have to deal with the delay.
I felt Jerry’s hand on my back, gently touching me. He was giving me time to think. Another unprecedented act. The man had obviously been talking to someone on how to proceed with our relationship. Flo? Richard? The former priest had managed to get my friend to the altar and she’d sworn never to marry. Richard must have some tricks up his sleeve.
Forget tricks. I had no doubt everything Jerry said came from his heart. My own was full. I was about to tell him how much this meant to me when there was a noise from the door into the restaurant.
“What the hell?” Jerry jerked away from me and ran toward the sound. He pulled open the door. Valdez was there, snarling as he faced off with two paparazzi, armed with cameras.
“Where is she? We heard Glory St. Clair was meeting another man here tonight. You the guy?”
I did the only thing I could do. I jumped off the roof. Good thing I was still feeling the effects of Trina’s juice, because I managed to shift into bat form in midair. Nice. I swooped over the roof and landed in the shadows to watch Jerry handle the two men. He had them by the shirts and not too gently. In plain language he let them know he was waiting for someone and he didn’t know who in the hell this St. Clair woman was, but she wasn’t his woman.
Valdez made himself useful by tearing a hole in the seat of one of the men’s pants. That seemed to cool off the Glory hunt even though they were sure that was Glory’s dog trying to eat them alive. Both the guys, after a quick look to make sure there was no woman in sight, decided to head out. Jerry’s shoe up their backsides sped them along.
“Glory?” Jerry turned around and spotted me as I left the shadows to soar above his head. “Well, would you look at you? Shifting like an old pro. That runner’s donation must have really pumped you up.”
“Sure did, boss. She tell you—” Valdez yelped when I landed on his head and dug in my claws. “Okay, I get the message. I’m outta here again. Back to my guard post. You know where to find me.”
I released him and settled on the concrete next to the table, concentrated for a moment and was my old Glory self again. Jerry was right. Trina’s donation had given me new confidence and the shifting had been easier than I could have imagined. The magic was wearing off, though, and I could feel the coming dawn in my bones. I wondered if I had time to run down and weigh again. Silly, but I was terrified that I felt the weight creeping back on.
I ran a hand through my hair, then surreptitiously stuck a finger in the waistband of my jeans. Yay! They still felt just the teeniest bit loose. But Jerry stood beside me again. I still wore his ring, but couldn’t take it with me back to Ray’s suite. The “engagement with Ray” charade had to go on until after the Grammy awards show. That was the deal I’d made with Ray. And it would give me some time to think. As Jerry had said, I’d avoided the commitment to him for all these years. And now I was lying to him by omission.
Well, I would tell him about MacDonald. But not now. Not when my heart was full and I wanted to hold him close and tell him how much his words earlier had meant to me.
“Hey, big guy. You really took care of those photographers.” I looked up at him.
“I hate those creeps. They hound you. Then they use pictures that I swear they’ve altered on a computer. And the things they say . . .” Jerry pulled me into his arms. “I should have killed both of them.”
“I’m not sure I would have stopped you. According to the tabloids I’m fat, a nobody and not good enough for Ray.”
“Lying bastards.” He pushed his hand into my hair and held my head until my lips were mere inches from his own. “But the worst for me is when they say you are carrying his child.” He growled, his fangs glinting in the moonlight. “I would have given anything to have a child from you, Gloriana.”
“Ah, Jerry.” Stupid tears again. I never had a child, and after I was turned, never could have one. Jerry’s only child had been sired by a true bitch. He loves his daughter, but he couldn’t have said anything that would have meant more to me. I closed the distance between our mouths and kissed him, tasting him and letting his fangs scrape across my tongue. It didn’t hurt, just added a sweet taste of what was to come.
Our mating was slow at first as Jerry pulled me down to a stack of cushions he’d obviously pulled from inside the restaurant. I sighed as he settled beside me and lifted my sweater, then pulled it up and off of me. The night air was cool but not cold and the stars were bright in the sky above us. I reached for his sweater and slid it off of him, eager to see that chest I loved so much. He was perfect in his imperfections. Maybe that was what he thought about me. At least that was what I hoped as he opened the clasp of my bra and tossed it aside, then went to work on my jeans.
We tasted and touched each other until we were naked and he was inside me. Then he stopped and gazed into my eyes again.
“I meant what I said, Gloriana. The time for these games is over. You must decide, lass, once and for all.”
I reached up with a shaking hand to trace the contours of his face. Yes, our bodies were connected, but no more than our souls were. I could deny it a thousand times. And try to bury my feelings with a thousand other men. Yet I always came back to this one.
“Love me, Jeremiah. Take me and let me take you. I promise, I will—” I pulled his mouth to mine, suddenly terrified of saying the words that would bind me to him. Why? Mortals did it all the time. And thought nothing of casting off their bonds in divorce court. Immortals took their matings more seriously. I knew that. If Jerry and I made this commitment, I had a feeling he really would expect it to be the forever thing. I ran my hands down his back and opened my body to him, feeling the hard length of him surging inside me. I guess there was something wrong with me that forever scared me so much. That if I gave myself to Jerry in that way, I’d lose part of myself.
He lifted his head and frowned before he rolled so that I was on top of him. “I can feel your fears. Come, now, am I such an ogre that I would keep you from what you love? Steal your freedom?” He lifted me off of him until we lay side by side with the stars above us. “I guess Florence is right. We should talk more. I don’t tell you enough of what I’m thinking. And you don’t tell me why you run from me every dozen years or so.”
I turned on my side and put my hand on his chest. “It’s the truth, Jerry. I never expected you to be a chatterbox. But I know how you are. Possessive and deeply loyal. That scares me. What if my character isn’t made of such, oh, such fine qualities? I’m afraid I’ll disappoint you.”
“Hush, lass.” Jerry pulled me on top of him again. “You’ve never disappointed me. And you make me sound hard and unyielding. I hope . . .” He closed his eyes and frowned. “No, I must be honest. I am possessive. What’s mine, I hold. Always have. It’s what the Campbells do. I learned it at my father’s knee. And fought in many a battle to prove no one can take what belongs to the Clan without regretting it.” He ran his hand down my back to the curve of my backside.
“Battles. Yes, you still bear the scars, from those you fought before you were turned.” I kissed a particularly jagged one on his left shoulder.
“That one a cowardly MacDonald gave me. It was an ambush. They’d stolen cattle from us.” Jerry smiled. “They came to regret it.”
I quickly blocked my thoughts. “Surely all those old feuds are ancient history now. Times have changed.”
“Some things never do. My father called me just last week. The MacDonald has been trying to claim some land of ours. Using an ancient tax roll. Thieving bastard’s still at it. Too bad they were made vampire centuries ago. I’d like to see that clan die out.” Jerry shook his head. “But I’ll not let you shift the topic, lass. We were talking of our relationship.” He grinned. “God help me, I can’t believe I said that.”
“Neither can I.” I laughed and rubbed against him. Lying naked on top of him, I had no doubt that he could be easily distracted. “Can we save that for another night? I love you, Jeremiah. I love what you said to me tonight. That you care so deeply. Let me celebrate that. This moment. We’ll look to the future later. I promise.” I reached between us and touched him where he pressed hard against my thigh.
“I’ll hold you to that.” But his growl of hunger and his hand stroking my breast proved that my distraction had worked.
I moved down his body, kissing and tasting until he jerked me up to push into me again. So deep, he touched me just where I needed to feel him. The rhythm was right, the pace perfect. I couldn’t give Trina’s blood credit for my soaring orgasm. That was all Jerry’s doing as he stroked me and brought me to fulfillment, just as I pushed him there. Time and time again I rose to meet him, finding the pinnacle of pleasure almost unbearable until I cried out to the night that I loved him.
He murmured the Gaelic words I’d learned meant the same, the words from his heart in the language of his birth. He swore he’d never said them to another woman the way he’d said them to me. And in that moment, lying sated under the stars, held close in his strong arms, I believed him. And believed I could never be so content with another man.
If only we could have stayed there, with Valdez keeping the world out. If only . . .