Nine
Viviana couldn’t believe she’d invited him for a walk. He didn’t even like her. But the thought of spending the rest of the day alone, when he was so obviously right here, didn’t feel quite right, either.
She waited at the sliding back door while he grabbed a pair of shoes. Her mother and father were ahead, coming back from their walk. They waved at Viviana as they approached.
“All’s well?” Viviana asked.
“Yes, all’s well. I wish you’d come out with me sometimes, Viviana,” Marlana said. “I want to tell you more about our territory and our pride. You could learn so much. If you don’t want to go with me, you should at least walk around on your own.”
Viviana wanted to tell her that’s what she did when she came out to run at night. She tired herself out, yes, but she also explored and learned the territory. She opened her mouth, but just then Hudson came into the room.
“Ready for that walk?” he asked.
Viviana smiled. “Yes. See, Mother, I’m going out on one of those walks.”
Marlana’s expression turned approving. “Very well, then. Don’t keep him too busy today, because he has to stay awake at night to guard you.”
Viviana nodded. She waited for her parents to pass, then stepped outside.
Hudson came to stand next to her. “Where do you like to go?”
“Just…wherever, I guess. I don’t follow a path or anything. I just amble around.” Well, usually she ran instead of walked. She had so much pent-up energy from staying in last night. And those dreams. Shyly, she cast a glance over at Hudson’s profile. He had a strong nose and chin. His cheeks were covered in a faint stubble, and it looked like it would feel scratchy-soft against her hands.
Focusing back on the ground in front of her, she started to walk. She said, “Thanks for not telling Marlana that I tried to sneak out last night.”
He shrugged and fell into step beside her. “Like I said, I’m here for you. She pays me, but in order for me to do my job, I need you to trust me.”
It made sense.
Hudson continued, “What I don’t get is why you’d try to sneak out at night, especially without me. You know it’s dangerous. We all heard about the rogue vamp. So, sneaking out? Leaving your bodyguard behind? I guess I thought you’re smarter than that.”
Well, he just had to open his mouth to destroy all the goodwill she’d started to feel toward him.
“It’s not like that at all,” Viviana said. “And maybe if you weren’t insulting my intelligence, I could explain.”
They were past the pond now, the air slightly humid, the trees ahead of them promising shade. Viviana stomped forward, and Hudson rushed to keep up.
“So, tell me,” he said.
Viviana sighed. “I can’t sleep sometimes, okay? Like, at all. And the only thing that helps is going out and running around. Part of that is my thoughts won’t quiet, because I know I’m going to have to take care of our pride someday, and I know I need to learn the territory. And I’m not an idiot. I wasn’t even going to go far last night. Just to the pond. Hell, I was thinking of running laps around the pond, sticking close to the house. I don’t want to put myself in danger. I just can’t settle, okay?”
Hudson nodded. “Okay. I don’t think you’re stupid. I just didn’t understand.”
She continued walking. A few seconds later, she heard him following her.
“What else?” he asked.
“What else what?”
“Something else is bothering you, I can tell.”
Could he tell she was attracted to him? She felt her cheeks heat up. He couldn’t know—she wouldn’t allow that. Too embarrassing. Having a lady hard-on for one’s bodyguard was such a cliché. She was Whitney Houston to his Kevin Costner, and it had been done a thousand times. She wouldn’t be like that. She had more self-control.
“Nope,” she said. “Nothing. We’re fine.”
He caught up with her and they walked in silence. Eventually he spoke again. “Your friend, Fraze, he said something about you yesterday.”
Viviana stopped walking and looked up at Hudson. “What did he say?”
“He said you never go anywhere. What does that mean?” His face was so earnest, his eyes wide with curiosity.
She wanted to spill all of her secrets. Confess everything to this man with the earnest eyes and the body of a protector. He’d keep the secrets—and her—safe. But this secret was too confusing, too difficult. “Oh. That.”
She started to walk but this time, he grabbed her arm. Not hard, but enough to tell her he really wanted to talk. He wasn’t going to let her walk away from this one.
“Please?” he asked.
Viviana sighed. “He’s, well, he’s talking about how I stay home. I don’t have many friends. Just Fraze, really, and we only started talking a few months ago, when Nina left. We don’t hang out much.”
“Why don’t you have friends?” Hudson asked.
She gave a dark chuckle. “Well, the ice princess of the Corona Pride doesn’t exactly warm up to people, you know what I mean? They don’t like me, and I don’t like them.”
“That can’t be true,” Hudson said. “Although, at the party, you were trying to sneak off…”
She tried to shrug as if it didn’t matter. She’d been pretending it didn’t matter since she was a kid. But Hudson touched her shoulder.
“Hey,” he said. “You don’t have to talk to me if you don’t want to, but I’m here. I’m willing to listen. Hell if I know why,” he said, giving a soft chuckle of his own, “but I am.”
She looked up at him. Those guileless light brown eyes, his strong jaw. The power of him standing right in front of her—it surprised her. How close they were. If she leaned forward and stood on her tiptoes, she’d be able to kiss him.
Instead, she stepped back. He was still waiting for her to answer his question.
She didn’t know how, not yet. So instead she turned and walked farther into the woods. By now they were well out of sight of the house. Completely alone.
Instead of pressuring her to answer his question, Hudson was quiet and watchful. His footsteps were as careful as hers on the forest floor. She’d expected a bumbling human, unable to keep quiet, but she should have known better.
They reached an area she especially liked, near the edge of the property. The stream was nearly dried up for the summer, just a trickle of water attracting birds and butterflies, tufts of yellow flowers growing at its edge. Nobody came this far out on the property unless they were doing a large pride run.
She cleared her throat. “It’s that Marlana has been grooming me to become the alpha for years. She never let me go out when I was younger. The other people close to my age—Mateo, Rafe, Laura, Nina, Fraze, Dristan—they always used to invite me places. To the movies, when we were teenagers, or out on group runs. But my mom always said no. Every single time. She never said it in such a way that it was, ‘no you can’t hang out with your friends,’ but it was clear, after quite a few attempts, that she’d never agree to it. It broke my heart every time, so I stopped asking her. Made excuses to my friends, which I’m sure they could figure out were lies. I mean, we can all tell. So then they stopped asking me to go out. And here I am. Alienated from everyone. Works out well for Marlana. She keeps me close, keeps me obedient. Works out well for me, because now I have the time to follow my own pursuits. Learn what it takes to be a good alpha. Learning how to train—”
She broke off. He didn’t need to know all her secrets.
Too late. “Train?” he asked. “Like with the Guardians?”
“No,” she said, slowly. Now that it was out there, she didn’t want to lie to him about it. “I train like them. I watch what they do, and then I mimic their movements in my room.”
“So you know how to fight, then,” he said.
“Yeah, I guess so. I don’t get to practice it much.”
“Just last night,” he said, smiling.
“Don’t laugh at me,” she said. “I’m still pissed about that. I should have been able to come out here.”
“You know the danger,” he responded, and once again his eyes were guarded. “There’s something out here that could very well hurt you. You can fight, that’s great. But can you fight a vampire?”
She gave him her best glare. “I don’t know. Can you?”
He threw his head back and laughed. Surprised by his response, Viviana felt her cheeks get hot again. His laugh was a beautiful thing. Low and melodic, and rough at the edges, just like she imagined he was.
“Good point, Viviana.”
She pouted at him. She didn’t want to be laughed at; she wanted to be respected and understood.
He looked at her seriously. “There’s more to you than I understood at first. Now I get why Fraze thinks so highly of you.”
Viviana didn’t know what to think of that. She wasn’t special. She was just…lonely. But the way his face had changed, with amusement, respect—something about it, coupled with the dream she’d had the night before, made something crazy happen in her body and suddenly it felt painful that she wasn’t touching him right now. So, she stepped forward and ran her hand over the scruffy part of his cheek, like she’d wanted to do a while ago. It felt exactly like she’d imagined it would—soft and spiky.
She wanted more contact. He wasn’t stepping away, but his eyes were open, lips slightly parted. Did he want her as much as she wanted him? Could he tell how much she wanted him? His body was stiff, like he was afraid to move.
And then, as if he’d come to a silent decision, he leaned into her touch. She looked down, feeling shy all of a sudden. Why had she touched his cheek? It had been crazy, she thought. A moment of insanity. She started to lower her hand, but then he grabbed her wrist and held her in place.
Her heart thudded in her chest. The spark of their bodies connecting was turning into a flame. More than a flame—a bonfire. He turned his head slightly, leaning into her palm, until his mouth was pressed up against it. He pursed his lips and planted a kiss there.
Viviana had never been turned on by such a simple touch before. True, her sexual experience was limited to Ben Channing—those fumbling, awkward, embarrassing moments when he’d finished and she just couldn’t get there. This was so completely different from that. Viviana couldn’t understand it. It felt like her dream, like she had always imagined it should feel. And all he was touching was her hand.
He slowly let go of her wrist. His eyes dared her to do something. She could step away, take the coward’s way out, and pretend that this moment wasn’t happening. Or she could step forward, into the warm circle of his arms, and take what she wanted.
She gazed at him. His unblinking eyes, curiously taking her in. His nonjudgmental face, completely different from the one he’d worn in her mother’s office or when he’d been arguing with her after the party. This wasn’t a man who despised her. This was a man who cared.
Maybe the first man to ever care.
With that thought buoying her courage, Viviana stepped forward and slid her arms around his neck, pulling his face down to hers for a kiss.
Immediately that bonfire she’d sensed turned into an inferno. So good, the way their mouths fit together. He parted his slightly and licked along her lips. She opened her mouth to allow him in, and then their tongues were rubbing together, stroking each other. It was the most passionate kiss she’d ever experienced, and she never wanted it to stop.
But then, of course, Hudson’s phone started buzzing in his pocket.
Just like that, it was over.