Dangerous Promise by Gwendolyn Cease Read online

  He put the girls in their booster seats and helped Kate into the front passenger seat. He nodded to the agents still on the scene and climbed into the driver seat. Without a word, Kate handed him the keys, which he used to start the car and pull away.

  They drove home in silence. Grimm didn’t like it. He was used to the girls talking constantly and the four of them laughing. Now, the only sounds that broke the silence were sniffles and watery hiccups. Kate sat in the passenger seat, staring out the window, her skin pale and drained of color. He reached over and took her hand, and she clenched her fingers around his. He brought her fingers to his lips and kissed the back of her hand. She looked over at him and there was such trust in her gaze, he knew he had to tell her tonight. He had to tell her what he was so he could keep them safe. He’d put it off too long. He just hoped like hell she wouldn’t toss him out because, no matter what, he wasn’t leaving. They meant too much for him to give them up.

  He pulled into the driveway and punched the garage door opener. Once they were inside, with the door closed, the girls unbuckled and climbed out. He grabbed their bags as Kate ushered them inside. The girls put their backpacks on the table as Kate reset the alarms.

  “Are we safe now?” Abby asked.

  Olivia nodded. “Grimm’s here. We’re safe.”

  He leaned down and hugged them both. “I’ll make sure you’re safe.”

  “But what happens when you leave?” Abby stared up at him.

  “I’m not leaving. I’ll be here all night.”

  “What about your job?” Kate finally spoke.

  “You and the girls are far more important. I’m not leaving you.”

  Kate nodded. “Let’s get you both cleaned up and into bed.”

  “But what about our homework?” Abby asked

  “Let’s not worry about it tonight,” Kate replied. “In fact, we might just all take a day off tomorrow so we can rest and relax. But let’s go get your faces washed and your teeth brushed. You can take baths in the morning.”

  Grimm shrugged out of his coat while Kate ushered the girls upstairs. While they were busy he called in to Joelle to tell her he was off rotation for that evening. She didn’t question him, only wished him a good night and told him to let her know if he needed anything.

  Chapter Eight

  Kate softly closed Abby’s bedroom door. God, she was tired. She still wasn’t quite sure how the evening had gone so wrong. Who was the man that had approached them? How had two tires gone flat? What would have happened if Mall Security hadn’t been there? Hell, the questions were endless. Nothing made sense—nothing had made sense since Janie’s death. Could this incident have anything to do with her sister’s murder? All this time and the police still didn’t have any leads. Kate made sure to check with them every couple of months, just to remind them Janie had family who cared.

  Grimm was waiting for her in the living room, and she had to admit, she was never so glad to have him in her home. The girls went to sleep knowing he was in the house. The girls would stay asleep knowing he wasn’t going anywhere. Kate walked into his arms and let him hold her. Closing her eyes, she leaned her head against his chest and listened to his heartbeat. The beat was fast, as if he had been exercising, but she knew he hadn’t been.

  She tilted her head back to look up at him and found him watching her. The two of them stood like that for a long moment until he leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and eased her tongue into his mouth. She wanted him. She needed him. Needed his strength, his passion. She needed to feel him surrounding her, taking her.

  She started pulling his shirt out of his pants to allow more access to his body. She wanted to run her hands and mouth over him. She wanted him to shudder and moan the way he made her.

  “Kate,” he said a bit breathlessly, “we need to talk first.”

  “No, we’ll talk after. I want you.” She began kissing down his neck, and he tilted his head to give her better access. Damn, he smelled so good and tasted even better.

  “I want you, too.” He ran his hands under her shirt. “Fuck, I want you so much. But we have to talk.”

  He firmly pulled away from her and sat her on the couch. He knelt between her legs and she quite liked the look of him there. He was just so big and wild and sexy. She wondered again how the hell they’d ended up together. That night in the club had happened so fast then he was gone. She hadn’t even been sure he was real until Tori had said something about him. Now, here he sat at her feet, telling her they needed to talk. She hated when people said stuff like that. It usually meant nothing but trouble and bad news.

  “I’m not married,” he said, almost anticipating what might come out of her mouth. “Nor am I engaged or have a girlfriend or anything else you might imagine.”

  “Okay,” she said with a nod. Those things had crossed her mind, briefly. “So then what?”

  He glanced away for a moment then sighed. “Do you know how I found you that night in the club?”

  “How…did you…I was just thinking about that.”

  He nodded. “I followed your scent. I caught it when I was passing by, and I had to come in. I had to find you. At first, I thought it was this other woman, but when I got close enough, I knew it wasn’t her. All I knew was I had to find you, and there you were.”

  She stared at him. Her scent? What? No one could do that. No human, anyway. People didn’t scent one another like that. Kate shook her head. “That doesn’t make sense.”

  “What? That I scented you or I love how you smell?”

  “Either, human beings don’t do stuff like that.”

  He nodded. “I know. I’m not a human being.”

  She blinked and rubbed her head. “Grimm, if you don’t want to see me anymore just tell me. But talking crazy? So what? I’ll throw you out?”

  “I’m fucking this up,” he spoke almost to himself. “I’m not crazy, and I certainly don’t want to lose you. But before we make love, I need you to know who and what I am. I’m not human. I’m a vampire. My name is Grimm, and I’m over two hundred years old. I work for an organization called the Paranormal Investigative Agency. We police parakind and our job is to make sure humans don’t find out about us.”

  Kate searched around, wondering where he’d hidden the cameras. There had to be cameras because obviously she was on one of those horrible reality shows. The ones where men pretended to be vampires to get a reaction out of the women they were dating. Yeah, that had to be it. If her life wasn’t shit enough, she had to get pulled into some kind of crazy. What else could it be? There were no such things as vampires and secret organizations.

  She met the eyes of the man she imagined she would make a life with, and her eyes filled with tears. Why? Why did nothing good ever happen to her?

  “Please don’t cry.” He leaned forward and pressed his face into her knees. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

  “What I’m thinking? You want to know what I’m thinking?” She shook her head. “I’m thinking that once again my life is fucked. I’m thinking that someone who I thought I could trust and depend on and care about is either crazy or is playing some kind of ugly trick on me.”

  “I can prove it to you. But I don’t want to scare you.”

  Kate wiped her eyes. “You know, I think we need to end this now. I have so many bigger things to worry about.”

  He caught her gaze and held it as he opened his mouth and fangs slowly descended from his upper set of teeth.

  Kate stared, unable to utter a sound. They couldn’t be real. Vampires didn’t exist. His teeth couldn’t be real. They couldn’t be real because vampires didn’t exist.

  He continued to watch her as his teeth slowly receded. They weren’t normal, though. Why hadn’t she noticed before? His canines were a bit longer and sharper than normal teeth. Had they always been that way? Why hadn’t she noticed?

  “I am a vampire,” he said again.

  Kate opened her mouth, but
sound refused to leave. What to say? What to ask? How was this possible?

  “Vampires have been around for as long as humans. Think of us as another species. We’ve lived side-by-side, but we hid. We had to. Vampires are born. We aren’t made or created like the stories say. We live and breathe, and we do die, but our lifespans are much longer than humans. I think it’s because we don’t have children as often as humans.”

  The man was babbling. In the time she’d known him, this was the most he had spoken at any one time. He was also sweating, she noticed. He was sweating and babbling. When she did this, it meant she was nervous. Did that mean he was? Why was he nervous? He was the vampire. Shouldn’t she be nervous as the human sitting with the vampire between her legs?

  “There are different kinds of vampires,” he was saying. “Regular vamps and Ancients, or throwbacks, but most people don’t call us that to our face. Regular vamps can actually go out in the daylight, not for real long periods, but they can do it. Ancients can’t go out in the light at all. It’s not like we burst into flames or anything, but it doesn’t feel good.” He ran his hand through his hair. “It feels like a really bad sunburn. But it goes away faster, I’d imagine.”

  “Grimm.”

  “Yeah?” He looked at her with his beautiful gray eyes.

  Fear, she could read fear on his face. Fear that she had put there.

  She leaned forward and cupped his face in her hands. He placed his hands over hers and closed his eyes as he turned his face into her palm. He pressed his lips against her flesh as she leaned into his strength. Insane? Was she insane? This man was a vampire and, yet, that didn’t change how she felt about him.

  “Kate, I will do whatever you want. Hell, I have no pride. I will beg, just please give us a chance. I know this isn’t what you expected. I’m not what you expected—”

  “You’re right, you are so much more than I expected. I don’t know if this makes me crazy or what, but of course I’ll give us a chance. Nothing you told me changes who you are, and I like who you are.”

  Grimm smiled. “Can I kiss you?”

  Kate leaned forward and captured his mouth with hers.

  Grimm leaned in to wrap her in his arms. He couldn’t believe he had told her the truth, and she’d accepted it. Not only accepted it but was going to give them a chance. He hadn’t lied to her. He would have begged her if that’s what it would have taken. She was his, and he planned on taking care of her and the girls.

  She put her arms and legs around him, pulling him taut to her body. He eased his hands under her shirt, not wanting to rush her. He wanted to make love to her, but if this wasn’t the time then he would certainly deal with it. Hell, he’d just told her he was a vampire. He was stunned she was still in the same room.

  She yanked her shirt over her head. Her bra was plain cotton, but it was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. She reached behind her and quickly released the catch, allowing it to slide down her arms. His hands shook as he cupped her lush breasts.

  “Take your shirt off,” she said in a breathless voice.

  Reluctantly, he took his hands from her body so he could rip off his shirt. He tossed it to the side and filled his hands once again with her perfect breasts. Damn, they were full and soft and all his. He tweaked the nipples with his fingers, and she squirmed.

  Smiling, he leaned over and captured a dusky nipple in his mouth. He sucked and licked at one while tugging the other with his fingers. When he didn’t think she could take it much longer, he switched sides. Hell, if she let him, he would kiss her fantastic breasts for hours. Days.

  She ran her fingers through his hair, panting while he teased each breast. Back and forth. Until both were swollen and wet from his handling. If he could, he would mark her. Sink his teeth into her flesh so anyone that caught a look at her would know she belonged to him and no one else.

  She pulled his head up and kissed him, nipping at his lips. His fangs instantly dropped, but that didn’t stop her. She pressed her lips tighter to his and ran her tongue delicately along one of his canines. He moaned and opened his mouth wider. One of his fangs nicked her tongue and he tasted Kate’s blood.

  He wrenched away, though he so wanted to grip her tight and drink. “Sorry,” he said, panting as if he’d run thirty miles.

  “What does it taste like?” she asked, rubbing her breasts against his naked chest.

  “Blood? I never think about it. I have to drink so I do it.”

  “Who do you drink from?”

  “We have donors,” he answered absently as he kissed and licked down her neck. Damn, she smelled so good.

  “Women?”

  He stopped and looked up at her. Was she jealous? He had to let her know there wasn’t any reason to be. She was the only one who mattered. “Kate, since the Hunters are all male, we have female donors. But it’s exactly what it sounds like. Donors. We drink from their wrists and it’s over. I hate to put it like this, but it’s like rolling up to Starbucks for a coffee.”

  “What if I didn’t want you to drink from them anymore?”

  They stared at one another for a long moment. "Sweetie, I have to have blood to survive. Unlike regular vampires, who drink either a bit of blood or a blood substitute, Ancients need real blood. That part of the story is real. But you’re who I’m with. You’re the only woman who means anything to me, the only woman who means everything to me.”

  “What if I want you to drink from me?” Kate asked, pulling her hair away from her neck.

  Grimm’s fangs slid down, and he let out a low growl. He couldn’t help himself. He closed his eyes, trying to get himself under control. Shit, was this a test? He hoped not since he so wanted to taste her.

  “Grimm?”

  “Damn, sweet, I want nothing more than to sink my fangs into you. But if you want me to stop just let me know.” He hoped like hell he could comply since the brief taste he had of her was perfection.

  “Will it hurt?”

  “No, I’ll make it feel so good.”

  She kissed him so trustingly his heart nearly broke. He wanted to make everything perfect for her, which was really a first for him. Sex was usually hot, fast and sweaty. His partner got off, and he did, too, but it was done. Not with Kate.

  “Don’t move,” he told her and went to the hall closet where he knew she kept blankets.

  “Crap, I’m a bad mother,” she whispered. “What about the girls? What if they come down looking for us?”

  He gathered a few and spread them on the living room floor.

  “You’re not a bad mother. Hell, you’re amazing. And there’s no way they can surprise us. I can hear them even now, and they’re both asleep. If they stir, I’ll know.”

  “Really?”

  “Really, love.” He knelt in the middle of the blankets and pulled her to her feet so he could slowly finish undressing her. As he exposed each new bit of skin, he kissed and licked and touched her. When she stood naked in front of him, he sat back and stared at her. She was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen.

  Grimm knelt in front of her and looked at her with such awe, Kate felt like a goddess—a goddess to a vampire. Was she insane to demand he feed from her? What had she been thinking? Well, she knew what, jealousy. She didn’t want him to get close to anyone else. He was hers. He kept saying that she and the girls were his, and she felt the same way about him. What the hell had she done to deserve an incredible man like him? Whatever it was, she was truly thankful, and so she’d put away her worries for tonight. Worries were for the daylight, not now and not here. He placed his hands on her hips and kissed her belly. Normally, she wouldn’t want a man to see her naked in the light, but with him, it was right.

  She slowly sank into his arms so they were kneeling across from one another. She ran her hands through his icy white hair, and he practically purred at her touch. He kissed her once then twice before he laid her on the blanket.

  “Take the rest of your clothes off,” she said as he stood before her. She
wanted him naked so she could touch him the way he’d been touching her.

  He smiled, showing a bit of his fangs as he quickly unbuttoned his pants and pulled them off. Damn, he was beautiful with washboard abs and heavily muscled thighs. He sported a sizeable erection that made Kate wonder if she could actually take him. It had been a very long time since she’d had sex and none of her past partners were all that large.

  He knelt at her feet and slowly prowled up her body. “Nice and slow, sweet. That’s how we’re going to take this.”

  She parted her legs to give him room as he settled above her and kissed her. Kate loved kissing him. She loved his taste and the feel of his tongue against hers. She found she even liked the slight prick of his fangs, which gave her a shiver.

  He pulled away and smiled at her. She smiled back, unable to stop herself. He made her happy. He nipped lightly at her lips before he tilted her head back so he could kiss her throat. The slight drag of his fangs made her moan, and he chuckled low. The man was enjoying teasing her.

  He eased down her body as he kissed and licked, stopping at her breasts to suckle and tease her nipples. She gripped his hair to anchor herself and to make sure he stayed where he was. She loved the feel of his tongue and teeth against her sensitive flesh. Gently, he shook her off so he could continue tasting and touching her. He settled between her thighs and pushed her legs farther apart. Kate squirmed in embarrassment. No one, other than her gynecologist, had seen that view, and it made her uncomfortable. Should she have shaved? Bathed?

  “Kate,” he said, his breath hot against her body, “beautiful Kate. I can’t wait to put my mouth on you. Are you ready?”

  Grimm parted the lips of her pussy and licked. Kate gasped and nearly came off the floor. He used his arms to pin her as he swirled his tongue around her clit before sucking it gently. She scrambled for a pillow from the couch so she could put it over her face to muffle the moans. Wouldn’t be good for one of the girls to come down and investigate. Not at all.