Angel at Dawn by Emma Holly

from under his slackened muscles to stand and glare down at him from beside the couch. “I think you’re out of your head, Mr. Durand. You probably shouldn’t drink before you have guests.”
    “Christian,” he retorted as he sat up. “And I promise you, I’m not drunk!”
    Sadly, he was impaired in another way. The heat in his eyes warned him they were close to glowing, and that his glamour wasn’t up to concealing it.
    He pushed to his feet and turned away from her, muttering imprecations under his breath. Vampire emissions tended to evaporate quickly, but his had been so copious the front of his Levi’s were dark with it. He looked like the youth she thought him, overexcited by a grope session in a car. Though he couldn’t hear Grace’s thoughts, he sensed her indecision. Should she stay? Should she go? Was this crazy person worth humoring to accomplish her boss’s goal?
    When she laid her hand lightly on his back, he knew which side she’d come down on.
    “Christian,” she said. “I hope what happened between us doesn’t change your mind about starring in our film.”
    “You really are a professional.”
    The air shifted as she stiffened. “I refuse to take that as an insult.”
    He wasn’t sure he’d meant it as one. He’d been known to be pragmatic. “I gave my word,” he said gruffly. “It’s not my way to be forsworn.”
    Her brow was furrowed when he turned to her. She didn’t realize it was her honor he’d impugned.
    “That’s good to know,” she said unsurely. “Someone from Miss Wei’s staff will be in touch about the contracts. You should hire an agent if you want to be sure they’re fair.”
    He could only sigh when she shut the front door behind her. The fire crackled in the silence, tiny creaks issuing from the couch as its springs recovered from their combined weight. Gloom settled over him. Vampire or not, Christian suspected he’d bitten off more than he could chew with this job.
     
     
    G race’s hands were shaking too badly to slide the key into the ignition. She’d parked by the barn where she’d first met Christian, and now she was glad for it. She didn’t want him seeing her like this from his front windows.
    “Shoot,” she said as the key dropped from her trembling fingers and hit the floor. She picked it up and then sat blankly.
    She wished she were certain her tremors were caused by fear, but everything Christian did had been exciting, from that first soft kiss to the final grind of his hips when he had his orgasm. Though she wasn’t an authority, she sensed he was very practiced. She’d loved the sure way he touched her, the building intensity of pleasures. Her embarrassment hadn’t mattered, or her inexperience.
    She’d wanted him, as she never had any man before.
    With the sense that she was in trouble, she dropped her brow to the steering wheel. Even his aggression had excited her. She knew if he’d pushed just a bit more insistently, she’d have let him make love to her.
    “Stupid,” she muttered, feeling her traitorous body twitch hard at that idea.
    She wanted him inside her, that thick, warm length he’d rubbed so urgently against her. It seemed to her that she knew exactly how he would feel. How far he’d reach. How hard he’d thrust. The way his beautiful face would twist and darken as his arousal rose. His grunts had sounded so familiar, as if she’d heard them countless times in her dreams. She just knew the skin of his penis would be silky.
    “Jeepers,” Grace swore to herself. The nerves between her legs were actually on the verge of spasming again.
    Rather than let them, she shoved the key where it belonged and started up the Fury. She was leaving, no arguments. Christian was too young and pretty to have outgrown acting like a Lothario. He’d break her heart without even trying. However stupid Grace might be, she wasn’t stupid enough for that. She was going important places. No Tom, Dick, or Christian could stand in the way of