Under a Vampire Moon (Argeneau #16)

Under a Vampire Moon (Argeneau #16) Page 9

"So Bethany booked you for the shopping tour and the day sail to Soufriere," Christian murmured, looking over the pamphlets.

"I'm pretty sure she mentioned those two. She might have booked others, but if so, I don't recall her telling me."

Christian nodded. "Well, it looks like we're out of luck this afternoon. Most of the tours start in the morning."

"Probably because it's cooler then." She leaned closer to read the description of the Jeep jungle tour. That sounded interesting, they stopped at a banana plantation and there were some falls and stuff on that tour too. The zip-line adventure looked interesting as well, zipping along through the trees 150 feet above the ground to see the forest from such an unusual angle. They would have a bird's eye view, even of the birds. At least that's what the pamphlet claimed.

"Hmm." Christian frowned, and pointed out, "That leaves only the shopping shuttles this afternoon though."

Carolyn chuckled at his expression. "You look so thrilled."

"Yeah." He smiled crookedly. "Not keen on the shopping thing."

"Well, we don't have to do anything this afternoon," she pointed out with amusement. "I have to take some ginger ale and crackers up to Beth and check on her. Then we could lounge around on the beach for a bit. I mean, it's already after one and our food hasn't even come yet. By the time I get back from checking on Beth it will probably be two or three, we could lie around and read or talk, then get ready for dinner and..." She shrugged. "The rest of the night is pretty much spoken for."

"Yeah." He raised his eyebrows. "Would you mind?"

"No. Bethany and I planned to just chill for the first day or two anyway," she assured him and it was true, they'd planned to just relax and recuperate from the cares of the world. She supposed if Beth had to get sick, she'd picked the best time to do it. Surely she would be recovered by the time their tours came up.

"Okay, but I really think we should do the zip-line adventure or the Jeep tour tomorrow," he suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," she agreed, pleased that his interests seemed to coincide with her own. She then sat back as the waitress arrived with their food. Carolyn sighed with pleasure as the burger was set before her. She knew she shouldn't have it, she'd been trying to watch her weight since leaving Robert, but she was on vacation, what better time to have one? And Christian had ordered the same thing.

"Mmm, this is good," he announced around a mouthful of burger.

Carolyn shook her head with amusement. "Don't tell me they don't have burgers in Italy?"

"I'm sure they do, but I've never had one," he said, picking up a fry and popping it in his mouth.

"Never?" she asked with surprise and then smiled. "I suppose you eat a lot of pasta over there. It seems to be what Italy is known for."

Christian grunted, but his mouth was full of burger and she turned her attention to her own food. It was several moments before either of them spoke again and then it was Christian who said, "So what does a business lawyer do exactly?"

Carolyn smiled wryly and picked up a fry, as she admitted, "I don't really use my degree at all anymore."

When his eyebrows rose, she shrugged.

"Life kind of took a turn in an unexpected direction several years ago."

"Oh?" Christian asked curiously.

She nodded, and contemplated her plate, but then decided there was no reason not to tell him. It wasn't likely to affect their budding friendship and that was all it was ever likely to be. "You remember I said my mom was my only family?"

He nodded.

"Well, it turned out that wasn't exactly true. It seems we had loads of family. She just didn't dare go near any of them for fear my father would find her."

Christian paused in his chewing, his eyes narrowing.

"Spousal abuse?"

She wasn't terribly surprised he'd guessed. What other reason would make a woman flee her husband and family and raise a child on her own in abject poverty?

"Yeah. I guess he was free with his fists. She told me she nearly lost me when he threw her down a flight of stairs while she was pregnant." She grimaced. "She put up with it so long as he only hit her, but when I was four he started in on me."

"Is that from him?" Christian asked.

Carolyn paused in confusion, but then realized she was rubbing the small tear-shaped scar by her right eye. Retrieving her hand, she reached for her burger, but then paused. "Yes. I guess I had my elbows on the table."

Christian's expression darkened. "And for that he scarred you for life?"

Carolyn shrugged. "I gather he had a temper. Besides, it was kind of an accident I guess. I mean, he apparently hit me and sent me flying into a glass or pitcher or something on the table. It was the glass that cut me, not him, but the fact that he'd hit me that hard was enough for her.

She was afraid it wouldn't be the last time, so she took me and ran. She changed our name to her maiden name of Johnson, and worked a series of horrible low-paying jobs under the table to avoid leaving a paper trail he could follow to find us."

"And did he look?" Christian asked.

Carolyn nodded. "He apparently hired several private detective agencies and kept them working for ten years before giving up."

"He never thought to look under her maiden name?"

Christian asked.

Carolyn grinned. "Johnson is almost as common as Smith. He could have looked till the cows came home and he wouldn't have found us. Besides, she was working under the table," she reminded him.

"Right." Christian nodded. "And you found this out, how?"

"Some of it I found out when Mom was sick, just before she died. The rest I found out from him when they found me," she admitted quietly. "Before Mom got sick, I thought my father had died just before I was born."

"When he found you?" he asked. "You didn't go looking for him?"

"Heck no," Carolyn said with amusement. "I mean, he was just a name, and from what my mother described, hardly someone I wanted to know."

"So what made him start looking for you again?"

"Cancer," she answered at once. "He'd never remarried, didn't have any other kids, got cancer and decided it was time to try to find us again. Only this time he figured I'd be working so he had them search for me." She popped a fry into her mouth, chewed and swallowed and then continued, "It took a while, but he was lucky to find me at all. I almost changed my name legally to Carolyn at one point."

"Carolyn's not your real name?" he asked with surprise.

"Yes, well, it's my middle name."

"And your first name?" he asked.

Carolyn grinned. "Guess."

He blinked at the suggestion. "How could I even begin to-"

"It's Christiana," she interrupted with amusement.

Christian blinked and then raised his eyebrows.

"You're kidding?"

Carolyn laughed at his expression. "My birth name was Christiana Carolyn Carver. My parents were into alliteration, I guess."

Christian flopped back in his seat and she chuckled softly, but continued, "Anyway, I went through life as Carolyn Johnson, my middle name and my mother's maiden name. I don't know how she managed that. I thought they needed birth certificates or some form of ID to register a kid in school, but if so, she must have bought some fake IDs." Carolyn pondered that briefly, trying to imagine her hardworking and upright mother dealing with black market types to buy fake IDs. It was very hard to imagine.

Still, she must have, she supposed.

"While she apparently didn't mind fake stuff for my schooling, she used my real name and birth certificate to get me a social insurance number when I was a teenager.

But she insisted I expend my energy on schoolwork and would never let me get a part-time job to help out, so I never actually used it until I graduated from university and started to work." Carolyn laughed. "It was really rather weird to have to learn to sign everything Carver.

And anytime someone called me Chris or Christiana, I had no idea who they were talking to. I still went by Carolyn."

"And that's how he found you? Through your social insurance number?" Christian asked.

"Eventually," she agreed. "But Rob-"

She paused, her mouth tightening, and then simply said, "It took a while.

By the time his private detective tracked me down my father was in the final stages of cancer and on his last legs."

Christian was silent for a moment, his eyes solemn and she knew he wanted to ask her what she'd started to say about Robert. She wasn't ready to answer that and was tensing up at the thought of his even bringing it up, but he merely asked, "What was your father like?"

Carolyn's tension eased and her lips twisted. "Repentant.

But then isn't everyone when they know they're about to meet their maker?"

Christian's eyebrows flew up at the words and she smiled wryly.

"Why so surprised that I would say that?"

"I guess you just don't seem the type to be so cynical," he admitted quietly.

Carolyn glanced down. He was right. She'd always been a little Pollyanna according to Beth and Brent, but she'd learned a lot the last couple of years. Still, Christian hadn't known her long, so it was surprising he had figured that out about her already.

"Anyway," she said. "He was full of apology and regret both for what he'd done to drive mother away, and for the hard life she'd had because of it. He wanted to make up for it by leaving me his business and fortune."

When Christian's eyebrows rose, she smiled bitterly.

"It seems my mother gave up a lot to keep me safe.

Daddy was wealthy as hell, with a couple of companies and loads of land. It's why she'd feared he would hunt for us; he had the funds to do it," she said dryly.

"And he left everything to you?"

Carolyn nodded. "The companies were based in Quebec. I sold a couple and moved the head office for the one I kept to Toronto and took over running it on his death."

"What business did you keep?" he asked curiously.

"An advertising agency," she admitted with a self-deprecating laugh. "I don't know why I chose to keep that one. I don't know a damned thing about advertising, or I didn't. But I just left the creative stuff to the staff at first and concentrated on the business end of things and now I know a heck of a lot more than I did."

"So you don't even use your law degree?"

"Well, I do, I suppose. When it comes to contracts I'm a whiz. It's handy there," Carolyn admitted, and then glanced down to her plate to see that she'd finished her meal. When she saw that Christian had finished his as well, she sighed and peered at her watch. "I suppose I should get the ginger ale and crackers and head back to the villa."

Christian nodded and ushered her out of the restaurant.

The one they'd chosen was on the little strip across from the main building and Carolyn glanced curiously in the windows of the few small shops along the boardwalk as they went. When she saw the selection of T-shirts in one window, she paused.

"Did you want to go in?" Christian asked.

She glanced at his dark T-shirt and jeans and nodded.

It was a tiny shop, full of baubles and clothes, and Carolyn wove her way through the place until she reached the clothing section where a selection of shorts and shirts waited. Her gaze slid over a group of Hawaiian-type prints, but didn't pause. She just didn't see Christian wearing them. Smiling at the thought, she continued on to the T-shirts and picked up a white one with the resort logo on the bottom-right hem.

"What do you think?" Carolyn asked, turning to hold it up to Christian.

He shook his head. "I don't need anything."

"Uh-huh," she said with disbelief. "So you have something in your suitcase that isn't black?"

"What's wrong with black?" he asked with a frown.

"Nothing. And you look good in it," she assured him.

"But it's too hot here for it. You need shorts too."

"I don't do shorts," Christian assured her grimly, his nose rising and Carolyn laughed.

Leaning up to whisper in his ear, she teased, "You're pretty lame about fashion for a gay guy."

"I'm glad to hear it," he said dryly, his hand rising to graze her back before she lowered to her feet.

Shaking her head, she turned to pick up a pair of canvas shorts to look them over and Christian immediately winced. "Caro, I won't wear them."

"Why not? You have good legs. You should show them off."

"Jesus, Carolyn. I'm not Beth. Men don't have good legs," he said with disgust.

"I meant nice guy legs," she said quickly. "All muscular and sexy."

Christian blinked, his annoyance giving way to a grin, and he asked with interest, "So you think my legs are sexy?"

Carolyn flushed. "I'm sure you know they are. Just see if they have a changing room and try these on. It makes me hot just to look at you all in black."

His eyebrows rose, his grin widening. "So, you're saying I make you hot?"

"I didn't mean-," she began with alarm, aware that she was flushing. But catching the twinkle in his eyes, she shook her head and said with exasperation, "Who knew you could be such a smart-ass?"

"I'll get the shirt," he conceded, chuckling, and took it from her, then led the way to the till. She supposed that was better than nothing.

They stopped in at the little grocer's for the ginger ale and crackers and then headed up the hill on foot, chatting as they went.

"How long do you need before heading back to the beach?" Christian asked as they neared the villa she shared with Beth.

Carolyn hesitated. If she just dumped the stuff and left, she'd only need a minute. However, she kind of felt she should stay and visit with Bethany, at least for a little bit.

"Give me an hour?"

He nodded easily. "It will give me time to shower, change, and feed."

"Your Italian is showing, it's eat, not feed," she said with amusement. When Christian stiffened with what she thought must be embarrassment, she regretted teasing him. He was really very good with English. "Besides, you just ate. How can you be hungry again already?"

Christian relaxed and shrugged. "I just am."

"Hmm, you must still be growing then," she decided.

"Cara, I am well past the growing stage," he said firmly.

Carolyn ignored the Italian endearment. They seemed to use it freely enough. She also ignored his words and simply turned up the walk to her villa saying, "I'll meet you down there in an hour then."

The villa was cool and silent when she entered. Carolyn carried the bag into the kitchen and stored the ginger ale in the refrigerator, then set the crackers on the counter and went in search of Bethany. She found her sound asleep in her room, and gently eased the door closed. After a hesitation, she then headed back to the kitchen to write a note stating that she'd been and gone and to call if she needed anything else or just wanted company. Carolyn then slipped out of the villa again and headed down the road. She'd almost reached the turnaround when the sound of pounding feet made her glance over her shoulder. Spotting Christian jogging toward her, she paused and smiled.

"You're early," he said as he stopped beside her.

"She was asleep," Carolyn said with a shrug. "Besides, so are you."

"I saw you head out and thought I'd catch up," he admitted.

"What about showering and eating?" she asked with surprise, wondering that he'd caught up so quickly... and wasn't the least bit out of breath.

"I grabbed a bite," Christian said easily. "And I decided why shower when I can just take a dip in the sea again."

Carolyn stared at him and then glanced back up the road to the villas, hers and then his on the next level up.

It was hard for her to believe he'd even gotten back to his villa that quickly, let alone eaten something and come down again.

"We need to stop in the grocer's on the way back to the beach," Christian announced suddenly.

"I knew it," Carolyn said, starting to walk again. "You didn't even make it back to the villa and want to get munchies."

"Yes, I did, I-," he began, and then shifted gears and said, "Maybe, but they had a rack of novels in there. I thought I'd see if there was anything to read."

Chuckling at catching him out, she nodded. "Sounds good. I wouldn't mind something to replace the book I'm reading anyway. It's just too slow for my mood. I'll read it another time."

They chatted about books they'd enjoyed as they walked, and Carolyn found herself really wishing Christian was older and straight. He was interested in the same outings she was, the same food, and now she learned he had the same damned taste as she did when it came to reading. It made her think maybe mother nature had messed up and she was supposed to be a gay male. She considered that briefly, but shook her head. She just couldn't imagine finding it amusing to sign her name in the snow with urine. What was with that anyway?

"That was band boy, wasn't it?"

Carolyn froze and turned guiltily from the door to find Beth standing in the kitchen doorway, expression grim and arms crossed like a disapproving mother. Forcing a smile, she asked, "Did you find the crackers and ginger ale?"

"Yes, thank you," Bethany said. "And don't change the subject. I saw him. That was band boy who walked you to the door."

Carolyn rolled her eyes, wondering why she felt like a teenage girl caught messing around with the local bad boy. "His name is Christian.

And he's very nice."

"He's using you, Caro," Bethany said with exasperation.

"Actually, today I was using him," Carolyn said dryly, moving past her to get to the fridge and grab a bottle of water. "He kept me company."

"While you played his beard," Beth said grimly.

"I wasn't playing beard. No one was around. We just hung out and had lunch together," she said firmly, opening the bottle and quickly downing half of it. While they'd avoided the sun all afternoon, the heat was enough to dehydrate anyone. She needed water.

Beth moved to retrieve the ginger ale from the fridge, and then collected a glass before asking, "Are you seeing him again?"

"We're meeting in an hour to have dinner before his show," she admitted and then added reluctantly, "And then we're all going dancing after."

"All being his family too?" Beth asked grimly, pushing her glass against the ice dispenser bar. When Carolyn nodded, she asked, "So tonight you'll be his beard again?"

Carolyn sighed. "What is your problem here? I don't mind, why should you?"

"Because I watched this for years with Brent. You avoided entanglements with straight men by hanging with him all the time. Now you're doing it all over again," she said impatiently, opening the ginger ale and pouring some into her glass. "How the hell am I supposed to get you laid if you have band b-Christian," she corrected herself dryly when Carolyn scowled. "How am I going to get you laid if you have Christian hanging around, scaring off all the prospects?"

Carolyn sighed and walked over to give her a hug. "I know you're worried, but I'm really not ready for a relationship anyway."

"Well, when are you going to be ready, Caro?" Bethany asked quietly. "You're forty-two years old and have been separated for two years. You're not getting any younger and it just gets harder the older you get." Beth shook her head and picked up her glass to take a sip, then set it back with a sigh. "Well, go get ready. You don't want to be late for your date."

Carolyn winced, but simply turned and headed to her room.

"So? How did it go?"

Christian turned from closing the door, a smile pulling at his lips. "Good. We talked a lot and joked and"-he shrugged- "she's starting to relax around me."

Gia had been peering hard at his forehead as he spoke and continued to for a moment afterward. He knew she was searching his memories as he talked... which was damned annoying really. But he knew new lifemates were easily read and simply waited for her assessment.

He felt oddly relieved when she nodded.

"It's the lack of sexual pressure," Gia said with a slow smile. "It's working. So long as you aren't putting on the Latin lover moves with her she relaxes. She's still attracted, I can see that from your memories, but she can put it aside and just enjoy your company." She grinned, and hopped across the foyer to give him a quick, hard hug. "This is going to work, Christian!"

"Yeah, I think it might," he agreed with a grin. Throwing his arm affectionately around her shoulders, he urged her toward the kitchen. He needed blood. They'd sat in the shade most of the afternoon, but between runs to the drinks shack and walks up and down the hill, he was low and needed a refill.

"But we should probably lay off the Latin lover business for a while to allow her to stay relaxed," Gia murmured as she watched him retrieve a bag of blood.

Christian frowned. He didn't really want to lay off the "Latin lover business," as Gia had called it. The afternoon had been both enjoyable and hell for him. He'd enjoyed talking to Carolyn and how she was opening up to him, but he'd also had to constantly fight the urge to touch her hand or arm, and kiss her as they'd chatted. He wanted her, and remaining so well behaved and cool around her was hard as hell. The only way he'd managed it all afternoon was by promising himself that tonight he could at least hold her hand, put his arm around her and hold her close on the dance floor, their bodies sliding together to Caribbean music.

"Gia's right."

Christian lowered the bag he'd just raised and glanced to the door to see Marguerite entering with Julius on her heels. "How long have you been here?"

"About fifteen minutes. We were in the living room when you entered," she answered, pausing at his side to kiss his cheek.

Christian frowned as he hugged her, wondering how he'd missed noting them in the living room. The foyer opened up on it.

"And I think Gia's right about keeping the pressure off for a bit," Marguerite said as Christian popped the bag of blood to his mouth. "It shouldn't be hard though. We're dining in the fancy restaurant tonight. No one would expect you to drape yourself over her chair there. And then you'll be onstage during your show." She paused and frowned. "I'll make sure Genie is there, then I'll have her sit on one side of Caro during the show and I'll take the chair on her other so you can't sit beside her during your break."

Christian scowled as he saw his opportunities for touching and kissing narrowing.

"What about the dancing?" Gia asked. "We're supposed to go to the club for dancing afterward."

Christian began to smile around the bag in his mouth.

He could put up with behaving himself for the first part of the night if he could look forward to holding her in his arms on the dance floor. He'd run his hands down her back, molding her body to his, and bend his head to inhale her sweet scent as he nuzzled her ear and-"

Down, boy," Julius said, snapping Christian out of his imaginings. "If Gia and your mother think you shouldn't dance with her, you shouldn't. We'll go to a nightclub that plays mostly fast music."

"Even those play the occasional slow song," Gia pointed out with a frown, inadvertently raising Christian's hopes again.

"Then the boys will dance with Carolyn so Christian can't," Julius said firmly.

Christian dragged the now empty bag of blood irritably from his teeth. "Don't you think she'll be suspicious if that happens? Besides, we aren't at work now. You can't force the boys to dance with her."

"I'll do it," Zanipolo announced, making his presence known, and Christian turned to scowl at the man. Men, he corrected himself as his gaze slid over his three cousins.

They had apparently entered the kitchen while he was distracted and were now lounging around the dining room table, all three of them nodding, apparently happy to dance with his woman.

"And she won't be suspicious if you complain and your cousins make it appear that they are deliberately torturing you," Julius said with a shrug.

Christian cursed and turned back to the fridge for a second bag of blood.

"It's for the best, dear." Marguerite stepped to his side to rub one hand up and down his back as he slapped the second bag to his teeth. "And you can still have a good-night kiss. That will be expected. Your father will make sure of that again, won't you dear?" she asked, glancing toward her husband.

"Of course. I'm happy to help him get his woman," Julius said generously, and Christian's eyes narrowed.

The man was just enjoying this way too much. He supposed he deserved it though. He'd given him rather a hard time about his romancing skills when it came to Marguerite.

Sighing, he shook his head, his mind turning to the promised good-night kiss to come. At least they were allowing him that. It wasn't much compared to what he wanted, but it was something, he supposed.

"It won't be long, Christian.

A little patience now will make all the difference," Marguerite assured him solemnly.

Tearing the empty bag from his mouth, he muttered, "Right," and turned to retrieve another.

"If you keep looking at her like that, she's not going to continue to believe you're gay."

Christian scowled at Santo's words, but didn't tear his eyes from Carolyn. He just couldn't seem to. The way she moved to the music was beautiful to behold, there was no inhibition in her now. The usually tightly constrained, boxed-up woman was all fire and passion when she danced... just as she'd been in his arms in their dream.

She'd come alive then, as if waking from a dream rather than drifting in one, and that afternoon when they'd been alone and he'd been struggling so hard to behave, she'd revealed a wicked sense of humor that had drawn several startled laughs from him.

Christian was coming to see that the true Carolyn hid from the world behind the calm conservative exterior she presented. Whether held there by fears or simple self-consciousness he didn't know, but she was a sleeping beauty waiting to be awakened and he was dying to wake her.

His eyes narrowed as a mortal male insinuated his way into the foursome of women, sliding in to dance between Genie and Carolyn. He saw her step falter, and uncertainty flash across her face as she was forced from whatever world she'd slipped away to as she'd danced. The mortal saw it too, and like a predator smelling a weak member of the herd, began to try to isolate her, turning his back to Genie, Gia and Marguerite, focusing on Carolyn as he began to move forward, forcing her back and farther from them.

Christian could have controlled the mortal and sent him on his way, but in truth, he was so sexually frustrated at the moment that a more physical response appealed to him, and between one breath and the next he was on the dance floor. He'd used a speed his kind usually avoided to prevent drawing attention, so was surprised when he arrived only to find his father and cousins all there as well, moving to surround him, a wall of hard flesh.

"Back to your seat," his father said firmly.

Christian scowled, his gaze sliding past him to see that either his mother or Gia had taken control of the mortal and was already sending him away. Carolyn was moving back to return to the square they'd made on the dance floor since arriving at the club half an hour ago. She had also lost that uncertainty again, her body moving to the beat without the self-consciousness the mortal's interest had caused.

"Now," Julius said grimly.

Knowing his cousins would just drag him there if he didn't go willingly, Christian turned and moved back to the table. Dropping back into his seat, he ignored the other men then, his gaze locking on Carolyn again and staying there as he imagined she was dancing for him. He would ask her to dance for him once they were mates, he decided... naked. He wanted to see her naked, her hips grinding, and her breasts-"

You're wound pretty tight," Julius said grimly as he settled back into his own seat and let his eyes slide back to the women.

Christian grunted. "Are you surprised?"

"No, I would be too," he admitted. "But you have to tone down the intensity before she comes back to the table. You'll terrify her like this. She's not ready for it."

When Christian merely scowled harder, he sighed and added, "Son, Caro has never experienced any kind of passion before you. The level the nanos induce will-"

"None at all?" Christian interrupted with amazement, finally managing to tear his gaze from Carolyn. He knew she hadn't had sex for seven years, but had thought surely there must have been some passion at the beginning of the marriage.

Julius hesitated, and then said, "Her mind is an open book, and her relationship with her husband-"

"Ex-husband," Christian snapped. "She's mine."

"Soon to be ex-husband," Julius said quietly. "And she isn't going to be yours if you don't listen to me on this."

He ground his teeth together, but nodded grimly. "Go ahead."

"Her marriage is on her mind a lot because of you," he said solemnly. "She is comparing him to you in every way, and he's coming up very short," he added when Christian started to get riled again.

He relaxed a bit at that news, and held his tongue for his father to continue.

"Her husband was after her money. He served her up sweet words and milquetoast kisses and romanced her into a quick marriage. He even kept it up for a while afterward, but eventually it was too much effort and he began to neglect her, and then to insult and abuse her."

"But you said she hadn't experienced any passion," Christian reminded him.

"She didn't," he said dryly. "In her mind, his kisses were pleasant when he was first making the effort, and sex wasn't horrible."

Christian winced. Sex wasn't horrible? It wasn't much of an endorsement of Robert's bedroom skills, he thought and then began to grin. Carolyn was in for a gigantic surprise.

There was so much he could give to her: family, passion... lots of passion. Hell, they'd be lucky if they didn't go into comas after their first time rather than just pass out if she had that little experience with passion.

"Yes, well, you're not going to get to show her anything if you don't dial it down now," his father said dryly, obviously reading his thoughts. "And you'd best try to control yourself when you kiss her at the door too."

Christian cursed, and shifted impatiently in his seat.

"I suppose you want me not to sleep when she might be sleeping and avoid shared dreams in future too?"

"No," Julius said at once and when Christian glanced at him in surprise, he shrugged. "That is tempting her without the added fear and worry about what she thinks is your age difference. She's not totally comfortable with the dream the two of you shared this afternoon. She suffered some guilt over it, but she doesn't know you shared it. She also enjoyed it enough to overlook her guilt and tell herself it wasn't her fault for having it. Besides, the passion in the dreams is muted. Perhaps half the passion we can experience for real. It's like an appetizer, while the real deal is the appetizer, a four-course meal, and dessert all in one."

Christian's eyebrows rose. If that was muted and just the appetizer-"

Hell," he muttered under his breath, and almost didn't believe his father. But then he recalled the kiss they'd shared on her doorstep and changed his mind. That simple kiss had carried as much punch as the entire dream and had left him just as hard and aching. And that had only been a kiss without the caressing and...

"Hell," he muttered again, his eyes widening.

Julius nodded solemnly. "If you ever want to enjoy the full meal deal I suggest you get yourself under control...

and now," he added with a grim expression. "A slow song is on. The women are returning to the table."

Christian turned sharply to see that this was the case and was immediately seized by panic. His intensity wasn't dialed down at all. If anything, everything he'd learned had just ratcheted it up several notches.

"Hell," he muttered for a third time, and this time there was an edge of panic to the word.

"Men's room," Julius ordered, catching his arm and pulling him to his feet. "Zanipolo dance with Carolyn," he ordered loud enough for the women to hear as he dragged Christian off to find the bathrooms.