Maggie Shayne - Edge of Twilight

“Spoiled, evil little …”

“Watch it, Edge, or you’ll wake to find yourself dumped on the roadside in a nice sunny spot around noon.”

He was still muttering under his breath when she walked to the driver’s door and got behind the wheel.

As soon as the sun was fully up, Amber found a place to pull off and took a much needed nap. She supposed her exhaustion was more emotional than physical. The shock of learning about Will’s condition, the grief. And then to literally run into the man she’d been dreaming about for a year … She was overwhelmed. She told herself she only needed a nap; an hour would be plenty.

The dream came again.

She lay in a bed, and Edge came slowly toward her. He held a box in his hands, and his eyes were locked with hers. Her stomach was roiling in the dream, her heart bursting with a mingling of emotions too powerful to bear. Passionate feelings that all revolved around the man—and whatever was in the box he held. She couldn’t look away from his face, or from the tear that welled in his eye and spilled over to roll slowly down his beautiful cheek. He knelt, lowering the box so that she could look inside.

Don’t look! her mind screamed. It’s death he brings you! It’s death!

Amber woke suddenly, sitting up so fast she banged her elbow on the car door. Slowly she shook herself free of the paralyzing fear the dream had left in its wake. God, what did it mean? Was she making a huge mistake by having anything to do with him?

Sighing, wondering if she would have the willpower to send him packing even if she decided it was the best thing to do, she looked at her watch, then blinked and looked again. It was after 11:00 a.m. She’d slept for more than five hours.

Hell.

She started the car and pulled it into motion again. After two hours, she stopped for a veggie sub and a bathroom break, freshening up in the rest room and wishing for a shower. Then she drove straight through. Still, the sun was sinking behind her when she finally pulled onto the winding country road that led from Salem to Salem Harbor and followed its meandering path to the house on Harbor Rock. Sarafina and Will had bought the place five years ago, and Amber had been there several times but still hadn’t managed to memorize the driving directions. She supposed that meant a photographic memory was not among her special abilities. Cross one more off the list of things to wonder about, she thought.

The house was modern, a giant log structure at the tip of a peninsula surrounded by boulders and sea foam. Its windows were large and looked out on the sea. No one would ever suspect a vampire lived there with her mortal lover. Her all too mortal lover.

Amber pulled the car to a stop, shut off the engine and sat there for a long moment, staring at the rich wood tones of the house, trying to get a handle on her emotions. Her mother was right; she shouldn’t show up grieving. Will was alive. Surrounding him in tears wasn’t going to help him, and it would do nothing for Sarafina, either. She closed her eyes, called up the toughest part of herself, focused on control.

A loud thump from the back of the car jolted her right out of her meditation. “It’s night again, and yet I find myself still locked in a suffocating trunk.”

She lowered her head, shook it slowly.

“Alby, are you out there?” Thump, thump.

Pursing her lips, she reached out and hit the trunk release. It flew open, and she felt the car move as Edge climbed out. Amber opened her door and got out, turned and found herself face-to-face with him, nose to chin.

“That wasn’t very nice, you know.”

She smiled. “I was trying to make a point.”

“I got the point,” he said.

“Did you?”

He nodded. “Yeah. You’re one of those girls who’s into making men beg.”

Her jaw dropped. “You’re deluded.”

“I’m deluded? Come on, Alby, you’re as into me as I am into you. Admit it.”

She pursed her lips and searched for patience. “You’re attractive enough, I suppose. That’s not what I would call being ‘into’ you, though. I don’t even know you.”

He leaned closer, his eyes fixed on her lips. “You’re saying this magnetism between us is purely physical, then?”

She blinked. “You’re putting words into my mouth.”

He looked at her mouth. “I’d like to—”

“Don’t even.”

He smiled at her, that dimple digging into his cheek and making her go soft and tingly all over. “All right, I’m coming on like a rutting buck, I suppose. I’m not used to dealing with sheltered virgins, is the thing.”

“I never said I was—”

He held up a hand to stop her speaking, then glanced at the house. “So this is where your friends live?”

She nodded.

“I should take off.” He turned to walk away.

“I’m sure they wouldn’t mind … my bringing a guest.”

He went still, his back to her. “Don’t worry, Alby. I’m not walking away for good. I’ll come around again, once I get settled in.”

“You’re so full of yourself, you know that?”

“Yeah. You play your cards right, you might get to be full of me, too.” She aimed a foot at his backside, but he felt it coming and dodged it, then turned to face her. “Violent little thing, aren’t you?”

“You seem to bring it out in me.”

He let his heated gaze move down her body. “You knocked me into that trunk like a vampire. Just how strong are you?”

“Stronger than you think.”

“Stronger than me?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Why?”

“Just wondering if you’re going to kick my ass for kissing you.”

“But you didn’t—”

She gasped as he snapped an arm around her waist, tugged her hard against him and, cradling the back of her head with his other hand, captured her mouth with his. He kissed her with his mouth open, moving it over her lips and drawing on them. And just when she let her body relax against his, let her jaw relax so her mouth fell open, just as she wished he would use his tongue and keep on kissing her for a long, long time, he released her and lifted his head away. He sent her a wink, then turned and walked back along the driveway toward the road.

He didn’t look back. She stood there watching him out of sight, the sea wind blowing cool and damp over her heated skin.

“What,” Rhiannon asked, “was that?”

Sighing, turning to face her unofficial aunt, Amber said, “That was Edge.” She slid a look at Rhiannon.

She stood there, her long, jet-black hair dancing in the sea wind, arms crossed over her chest, stern faced. “What kind of a name is ‘Edge'?”

“A fitting one, I think. Where’s Pandora? I don’t see her.”

Her attempt at changing the subject was a lame one, and she knew it. Her aunt’s pet panther was nowhere in sight, and would have been had she been with Rhiannon.

“She’s getting old. Long trips do her very little good these days. She stayed behind at Wind Ridge, with Eric, Tam and Roland. And she thanks you for naming your little shop in her honor. Now, if we could get back to the subject at hand?”

“Will?”

“Edge,” she said flatly. “Just what is going on between you and this character, Amber Lily?”

“It’s too soon to tell, Rhiannon. But he’d better not turn up dead before I have a chance to decide.”

Rhiannon smiled then, picking up on Amber’s teasing tone. “Then you’d better decide soon. Having kissed my niece right under my nose, he might not have much time.” She opened her arms, and Amber went to her, hugged her gently. “How are you, darling? I’ve missed you. It’s been months.”

“I thought I was fine, until I heard the news about Will.”