Prologue
“It’s just a dream; it’s just a dream,” Erica continued to chant to herself, although that did nothing to calm her racing heart. She found herself caught up in the same nightmare that had plagued her for the last several weeks. The dream always started well-enough, the beginning to the happiest day of her life. But then hell quickly followed.
Her groom, Kevin, stood waiting for her at the front of the tent. Beside him, Mr. Atkins, and Kevin’s good friend, Davidrick, stood in silent support. Kevin’s father, Charles, would also be standing beside him once he had completed the honor of escorting the bride down the aisle. Kevin’s best friend and coworker, Marshall, stood at the very front of the tent. It had been transformed into a sanctuary, ready to perform the ceremony that would bind Erica to Kevin forever. On the other side were Kevin’s three sisters; Jennifer, Kate, and Elizabeth.
Today was Erica’s wedding day, the happiest day of her life. Two huge tents stood in front of her, set up on the lawn of her soon-to-be husband’s family home. One tent was for the ceremony, the other for the reception. As Erica waited for the ceremony to begin, she took a moment to glance down at herself, smiling as her hand smoothed down the front of her wedding dress. She felt like Cinderella. She and Jennifer had spent many hours finding the one perfect gown, and they succeeded abundantly. Erica had picked out lavender bridesmaid dresses for Kate and Elizabeth and had decided on a dark purple in the same design for Jennifer. It went well with her blonde hair. Even though she had selected a sexy, strapless, tight-fitting bodice for the bridesmaid’s gowns, with silk ribbons lacing up the back of the dresses, she had chosen a much more conservative style for herself. A slight breeze blew through the opening, and she savored it. She was thankful the wedding was being held in the evening; otherwise, the long sleeves of her gown would have made her uncomfortably warm. She peered down at her hands. Her gown's sleeves ended in a V design coming down each hand with a small ring made of delicate lace at the end to go around the third finger of each hand. The silk dress had an overlay of thin lace drifting delicately across the floor behind her. Erica had never worn anything near as beautiful or as expensive. She glanced up towards the front of the tent and caught Kevin staring unabashedly. His eyes told her he was ready to ditch the ceremony and haul her back upstairs to their bedroom. The love shining in his eyes made her gasp.
Charles cleared his throat as he adjusted his necktie. The frown on his face told Erica he was not comfortable in his formal clothes. When Charles caught Erica eyeing him, he gave her a quick smile of reassurance. “Are you ready, my dear?”
Although Erica’s stomach was full of butterflies, she had no reservations about her upcoming nuptials. Even though Kevin and his family were vampires, Erica was marrying the man of her dreams. Considering her abusive ex-husband had also been a vampire, one would have thought Erica would have turned tail and ran as fast as she could. But Kevin and his family had shown her that not all vampires were evil, soulless creatures. No one would ever surmise they were speaking to a vampire if they were to talk to anyone in the O’Rourke family. They were that good and blended in with society perfectly. Because of this, a mixture of humans and vampires sat ahead of her, waiting to witness the upcoming event.
She quickly glanced over the crowd of people before her as the traditional Wedding March started and realized she knew very few people in attendance. Her new family was very wealthy and had many ties to the community, both human and vampire. Erica had left the invitations to Rosetta, knowing her soon-to-be social mother-in-law knew far more people who would no doubt get their feelings hurt if they weren’t invited to Kevin O’Rourke’s wedding.
Charles gave her arm a reassuring squeeze as he escorted her down the aisle. Erica shot him a slight smile as her eyes landed on her soon-to-be husband. He looked stunningly handsome in his black tuxedo, standing tall and proud with Marshall by his side. He smiled at her, and the love shining in his eyes had her knees wobbling.
She gave a nervous glance over to the side as they continued approaching the waiting groom. Suddenly, her most perfect day turned into an instant hell. Erica glanced into a face she recognized immediately and felt her heart slam into her chest. No, that couldn’t be him! What in the world was he doing at her wedding? She hadn’t even given any thought to this man for almost five years now!
But her eyes were not playing tricks on her. In the third row from the front, the second seat in from the aisle was her ex-husband’s brother, Gary. As she glanced into his eyes, there was no joy. There was no smile on his face. If she had to name an emotion to fit what she saw, it would be hatred. Gary’s brother, Shawn, was dead, and judging by the look on his face, Erica was sure Gary blamed her.
But it was Kevin and his vampire police force, the VCTF, that had brought Shawn down, along with the vampire judicial committee, who had found him guilty of enough crimes to be punished by death. Did Gary know all the details of what had happened to Shawn? And if he knew, how much was he looking to pin on her? She missed the remaining trip up the aisle as she realized Charles was placing her hand in Kevin’s. She looked up into Kevin’s perplexed eyes and noted Charles continued standing next to her, effectively blocking her view of the audience behind him.
“Baby, what is wrong?” Kevin whispered as he gently reached out to run a finger down her worried cheek. Leave it to Kevin to instantly know when something was off.
“Shawn’s brother is here, third row, second seat.” Erica quickly whispered, hoping to keep their conversation private amid a room half full of vampires.
Charles glanced back slightly and then gave her a reassuring smile. “No worries, all is well.” He stated quietly and then turned to take his place behind his son.
Erica gave her soon-to-be father-in-law a skeptical look. No worries, all is well? Who was he trying to kid? Marshall cleared his throat discreetly to bring her attention back to him and her groom. Erica glanced over to her husband’s second in command and a good friend. He lifted an eyebrow as if questioning her if she was ready for him to perform the ceremony. She took a deep breath and smiled. Whatever Gary was up to, she would figure it out after the ceremony. As for now, she had the man of her dreams, waiting patiently to make her his wife. She needed to concentrate and let everything else go until later.
Before she knew it, Marshall was announcing them ‘husband and wife,’ and Kevin swooped down to give her a heart-stopping kiss. When he broke off a moment later, he whispered, “I love you, Mrs. O’Rourke,” and the love shining through his eyes made her tremble slightly.
He grabbed her hand, and they took off down the aisle. Marshall quickly announced that the couple would be greeting everyone in the reception tent. As soon as Kevin had Erica clear of the ceremony tent, he stopped and wrapped his arms around her waist. He was just getting ready to kiss her again when they heard Charles fast approaching. “Erica, I think there has been a misunderstanding. That man you were referring to is your biological father.”
And just like that, Erica suddenly felt her world turn upside down. She heard herself whisper, “Oh my God, no, it can’t be!” Her mind started spinning, unable to process everything it was trying to sort out into reasonable and explainable compartments. She leaned into Kevin’s body for support. No, there was no way this was happening on her wedding day! She glanced over Charles’ shoulder to see the man in question quickly heading their way. She wanted to throw up.
Her mind flooded from a scene in the past. There she was, standing as the bride, only with a different groom. Shawn had introduced her to this man right after the ceremony as his brother, Gary. She well remembered the man’s wicked grin as he looked down at her and sneered, “I look forward to getting to know you well.” The way he said it had sent a warning shiver up her spine; she just didn’t understand why at the time.
When they had reached their room that night, Gary was already waiting for them. Erica thought this to be a little odd but said nothing. She was young and naïve then and didn’t want to upset her new husband. As she overheard the very heated conversation between the two men, though, it soon became apparent that unbeknownst to her, they had worked out a deal and planned on sharing her. Only now, Shawn had suddenly decided to become possessive and was backing out of the agreement. Erica had escaped into the bathroom during the heated exchange, and she cracked open the door just in time to watch Shawn kick his brother out, stating he was keeping Erica for himself. Confused and scared, she wondered just what she had gotten herself into. Unfortunately, that night was only the beginning of her nightmare marriage to Shawn.
Was this monster her biological father? Her stomach rolled, and if she had put anything in it at all, she would have lost it. Kevin brought her body up against his, keeping his arms wrapped around her tight. “Erica, love, take deep breaths. There you go. Just keep breathing slow and deep,” he instructed quietly.
Erica could only shake her head. She was physically incapable of speaking at the moment. As shame and guilt swept over her, Erica could not bring herself to look up at her new husband. In trying to overcome her past, she assumed everything was behind her when her ex-husband died, and she had seen no reason to share any of this information with Kevin.
“Wait a minute,” Kevin exclaimed a bit loudly, his voice booming out into the silence. The pieces of the puzzle had just come together for him. “Are you telling me that Shawn’s brother and Erica’s biological father are the same?”
“Indeed, I am,” Gary answered him as he approached. His eyes squinted together as he studied Erica for a moment. “Oh, don’t worry, stupid girl, Shawn was not my biological brother. We became blood brothers after we both turned.”
“Erica, I researched this man’s past. He is the one who attacked your mother, but I found no evidence of him having any biological siblings. Our kind will often form strong bonds with others and consider them siblings, even going as far as sharing blood to strengthen the bond. However, he is of no blood relation to Shawn.” Charles quickly assured her. It was apparent he had been just as surprised as everyone else to realize Erica already knew Gary, and it hadn’t taken much of a guess to figure out there was much more to this story than he knew.
Erica gulped in a lung full of air and then turned to face the man who seemed determined to ruin her wedding day. “Why are you here? What do you want?” She demanded, clinging tightly to her husband for support.
Gary glared over to her and then flashed an evil grin. “You haven’t figured that out yet? Your new father-in-law was kind enough to give me amnesty for the unfortunate incident with your mother. I can only assume you were too stupid to tell him or your new husband anything else.”
“What possible reason would I have?” Erica quipped back at him. He was all part of her horrible past. A past she had been desperately trying to forget about and move on. Why did it seem her past kept rearing its ugly head and haunting her? “Besides,” she continued, “I just realized less than thirty minutes ago who you are, so what exactly was I supposed to tell them?” she countered.
Gary sneered over to her. “You are the reason Shawn is dead, you stupid cow! I don’t care if I did donate my DNA to help conceive you in my previous life; you are now nothing more than a disposable human!” He was hissing through his teeth, causing Erica to shrink back from his words.
A glance assured her that most of the wedding guests had made their way inside the reception tent, with precious few people left outside to witness the altercation. Of the few remaining outside, Erica quickly recognized the VCTF members and her husband’s family, forming a wide circle around the scene. Erica felt assured that one word out of Kevin’s mouth and his entire VCTF team would descend upon Gary immediately. It was then Erica noticed her elderly friend, Mr. Atkins, quickly heading their way.
As Mr. Atkins joined the small group, Gary continued to spew vehemence words. “You allowed your little society to bring death to Shawn, and I will avenge his death! It is my duty as his blood brother!” He took a quick step towards her, putting himself directly in front of her. A long bony finger pointed at her chest. “A war is coming! Trust me, you little bitch, your society’s days are numbered.” Gary turned his body slightly, his attention now including everyone around him. “You all think that you are better than the rest of us, and therefore have some authority to deliver law. Ha! Nobody tells our kind what we can or cannot do!”
Everything suddenly made sense. All of the pieces of the puzzle that had been in Erica’s head for weeks finally came together. Bad dreams had plagued her for over two weeks in which she kept hearing someone state, “A war is coming!” Unfortunately, she could never see a face and had been unable or maybe unwilling to recognize the voice. Now everything made sense.
Mr. Atkins seemed to be the first one to recover from the shocking speech. “Look, son,” Mr. Atkins addressed, and Erica quickly noted that although his voice sounded the same as always, one look at Mr. Atkins's eyes told a completely different story. She also realized that Mr. Atkins was carrying a walking cane in his right hand, something she had failed to notice before now. Now, that same walking cane was quickly brought up and rammed effectively into Gary’s nose. “I do believe Mr. O’Rourke,” Mr. Atkins paused for a short nod to Charles, “has something he wishes to convey.” The words were still echoing softly in the air when Mr. Atkins’ cane, which Erica suddenly realized had a very sharp point on end, was stabbed into Gary’s foot, effectively holding him in place.
Charles turned so that he was standing directly in front of Gary. “You have caused enough trouble for one day. Now, if you are looking for a fight, these men,” he paused and nodded to several of the VCTF group, “will be more than happy to oblige you, but you will not ruin the remainder of my family’s special day. You have exactly one minute to get off of my property before I turn them loose on you.”
Erica stole a glance up to Kevin as she felt his arms tighten around her waist. She was starting to have difficulty breathing due to his tight embrace. His eyes were going from steel grey to white and then back to steel again as he struggled to regain control of his temper. She felt sure he had no idea how tight his hold on her was.
Kevin’s voice suddenly filled the eerie silence surrounding the group. “Leave while you can, and don’t ever let me catch you speaking ill to my wife or threaten her in any way again unless you plan on being truly dead!” Kevin tightened his hold even more, and Erica knew she would be sporting bruises by tomorrow from this incident. She would be lucky if she didn’t end up with a cracked rib or two!
“And son, if I were you, I would listen to the groom; because his wife means the world to me, and I would love to have a reason to kill you for ruining her wedding day.” Mr. Atkins chimed in with a grin on his face as if he would enjoy the chance to take care of this offensive individual once and for all. He pulled his cane out of Gary’s foot for him to leave.
Gary sneered at all those around him, but he wasn’t a complete idiot. It was clear even to him he was outnumbered. He turned to walk away, limping slightly over his injured foot. Gary never turned his back on the group. Waiting until he was at the end of the property, Gary exclaimed in a loud voice, “Congratulations to the bride and groom! Enjoy your honeymoon while you can!” Sneering viciously, he then turned and ran.
Chapter One
Erica awoke from her dream gasping for air. “Baby, are you okay?” Kevin inquired as he gently stroked her cheek. He was lying next to her, on his side, one hand propping up his head. His other hand was lightly rubbing her in an attempt to calm her down. She rolled to her side to face him, curling her body up tightly against his. She always felt safe and protected in his arms.
Kevin stroked her hair soothingly. “You had the nightmare again.” It wasn’t a question. Kevin knew the same dream haunted his wife almost nightly ever since their wedding. If he could get his hands on the man responsible, he would gladly behead him.
Erica concentrated on her breathing. She was exhausted; she couldn’t seem to get enough sleep these days. Of course, having her sleep disrupted was certainly not helping. She listened to her husband whisper words of comfort in her ear. Slowly, she drifted back off to sleep. Unfortunately, her dream picked up almost immediately where it had left off.
Gary disappeared into the shadows, and Erica immediately felt the tight rubber bands holding her together start to snap. She started shaking violently and knew a full-scale panic attack was heading her way. She could not get enough air through her lungs, giving her the feeling of suffocating, and her husband’s death grip around her ribs was not helping matters. Her pain was steadily increasing due to the steel bands of Kevin’s hands wrapped around her ribs. Knowing he didn’t realize what he was doing, she glanced up to his face as she felt her eyes fill with tears. With Kevin’s attention distracted, Jennifer came to her rescue once she noticed her sister-in-law in distress.
“Kevin, let go of her, now!” Jennifer hissed, her attention to Erica’s troubled features. “You are hurting her; release now!” She snapped, realizing that her brother didn’t understand what he was doing.
Kevin glanced down to Erica, blinked, and seemed to come out of a daze. He glanced down to where he had a death hold on his new wife, suddenly realizing how tight he was holding her.
As soon as the steel bands released her, Erica tried to gulp in the much-needed fresh air. Unfortunately, it was much too late. She whispered a quick, tortured, “Oh, God help…” before losing consciousness and collapsed in his arms.
Kevin watched Erica as she slept restlessly. When were these dreams going to stop plaguing her? He still kicked himself every time he thought about the bruises he had left on her creamy skin on their wedding day. He prided himself on his self-control; hell, he was the leader of the VCTF. But the confrontation with Erica’s ex-husband’s blood mate (and much to the surprise of all, her biological father) had forced the beast to break free within him, causing him to bring pain to his new bride without realizing what he was doing.
He gently ran his thumb over the dark circles under her eyes. Erica hadn’t slept solidly since the incident. She was tired and worn out when they arrived at the beach house for their honeymoon, but Kevin had blamed it on her working nonstop on wedding details. That had been almost three weeks ago. They had been back from the honeymoon for over a week now, and still, she remained as tired and worn out as ever. He had even come home from work a few times to catch her napping. It seemed no matter how much sleep she got, it was never enough.
***
The next morning Kevin strolled into the bedroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. It was obvious he had just finished taking a shower. Erica was sitting on the side of the bed and took a moment to enjoy the view. Her husband certainly had a great body. He had muscles in all the right places and not an ounce of fat on his body anywhere. Kevin was yummy on a stick. She watched a droplet of water fall from his hair down his gorgeous chest, yum-yum.
He glanced over her way and walked over to where she sat. “Good morning, beautiful.” His voice was deep, sexy, and smooth as silk. He immediately bent down to kiss her. As soon as his mouth touched hers, she wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing them even closer. He lowered her to the bed, following her down until he had her under him.
“How are you feeling this morning?” He asked with concern. Even with a full night’s sleep, he could still see the dark circles under her eyes.
“Good,” Erica quickly replied with a smile. There was little sense in complaining; it seemed she was tired all the time lately.
The corners of Kevin’s mouth turned down into a frown. “You look exhausted, baby.”
Erica ran her fingers through his hair before answering. Yes, she was tired, but what good would it do to complain? Besides, she had her gorgeous mate hovering above her. At that moment, she forgot about her exhaustion. She knew Kevin had to go to work soon; she just wanted to take advantage of the few free moments they had together. “I’m okay, Kevin.” She gave him what she hoped was a convincing smile.
Erica kissed Kevin’s jaw, working her way around to his mouth. She ran her hand down his chest and then proceeded down his washboard abs. God, did the man have a body or what?
Her husband’s quick hiss of breath brought her eyes back up to his. “You are going to make me late for work again. Marshall is going to think my alarm clock broke if you keep this up.” But even his complaint of being late wasn’t stopping him from running his hands over her body as he continued sipping from her lips.
They continued kissing and petting one another until finally, Kevin broke the kiss, breathing heavy, as he sat up on the side of the bed. He glanced back down at his beautiful wife. It still shocked him sometimes that she was indeed his. She was a lovely soul, inside and out. He loved her so much sometimes it hurt. Finally, knowing he had to move and get to work, he sighed heavily, wanting nothing more than to spend the day in his wife’s arms.
“Why don’t you curl up and go back to sleep?” He murmured, leaning over to place a kiss on her forehead.
“I can’t,” she sighed as she sat up. “I have plans today.” He cocked his eyebrow up at her. It was his duty to protect his new wife. That included protecting her from herself when she thought she could conquer the world.
“Oh, what are your plans?” He pursued. If Erica thought she was going out somewhere when she was exhausted, she had another thing coming. Whatever her big plans were, he was about to abort them quickly.
“I am spending the morning in my new office,” she replied with a grin. Kevin had surprised her when they arrived home from their honeymoon. While she had been busy with the wedding preparations, Kevin had been busy making sure they had a home after their honeymoon. Kevin had bought the house next door to his parents, where they had been previously staying and had made arrangements for significant upgrades and renovations to be done while they had been away. She came back from their honeymoon to a beautiful new home, complete with a hanging swing on the front porch. The house also included her own office in which she could use to help Kevin’s father, Charles, do the research and planning for Kevin’s team, the VCTF.
Charles had taken a liking to Erica almost immediately when she joined the family months ago. He had quickly utilized her help in his office, which had always reminded Erica of something you would have expected out of a Batman movie. She had even considered the idea of hanging a sign on the door that read, “The Bat Cave.” Charles loved new tech toys, as was evident everywhere in the office. Erica quickly realized she enjoyed working with him and helping the team, and she often spent her free time working beside Charles in the office when Kevin was on duty.
She took a moment to remember Kevin initially telling her about his team. Charles had started the VCTF many years ago, running it himself for a long time. Kevin had explained that most people thought VCTF stood for Victims Crime Task Force. It truly stood for Vampire Crime Task Force. Kevin’s team was responsible for making sure his kind kept a low profile, never doing anything to bring suspicion to humans. Because most vampires understood the need to keep a low profile, the team had plenty of time on their hands to do other jobs as well. They often took high-risk secret jobs, including a few the United States government didn’t want to get their hands dirty over. Because all team members were vampires and had special abilities humans didn’t, the team had a high success rate on these secret missions.
Erica glanced up at her husband, knowing he was waiting for her to finish telling him her plans. “I’m excited to try out all the new equipment your father bought me. I don’t want him to think he wasted money or that I don’t appreciate all the new toys he bought.”
Kevin smiled down at his beautiful wife. “Darling, I am sure dad understands that you are not back up to a hundred percent yet. Please don’t push yourself too hard.” Then, glancing down at his watch, he issued a short curse. “Sorry, I am running late. I’ll see you later.” He quickly kissed his wife and headed for the door. Turning his head, he stated, “Call me at the office if you need me.”
He made a quick mental note to call his mother, Rosetta, once he arrived at the office. Maybe she could shed some light as to what was ailing his wife. If nothing else, perhaps she could talk her into going to the doctor for a checkup. Every time he had brought up the suggestion, his stubborn wife had flat-out refused.
Erica quickly showered and dressed, then made her way downstairs to her office. Opening the door, she smiled as she thought about the first time she had seen the room.
They had just arrived home from their honeymoon, and Kevin surprised her by pulling up to the new house. They sat in the car for a moment as Kevin explained that he had bought the house and had it renovated as a surprise for her. Erica was excited and quickly jumped out of the car and headed straight for the front porch swing, sitting down and rocking gently. Kevin joined her, noticing the look of total bliss on her face. They sat in silence for long moments, content to relax and listen to the birds singing in the nearby tree.
Finally, Kevin glanced over to her. “You do realize I bought the entire house, not just the front porch, correct?” He loved to tease her.
Erica laughed and allowed him to escort her inside. After giving her a tour of most of the downstairs, they reached a door under the stairs. He stopped at the closed doorway, reaching for her hand. “Close your eyes, baby; I have a surprise for you.”
When Erica opened her eyes, her new family was there to greet her. Seated comfortably around the large room were Kevin’s parents, Charles, Rosetta, and three sisters, Jennifer, Kate, and Elizabeth.
Erica immediately noticed the similarities this room held to Charles’ own office next door. Some of the same equipment she used over at his house was now sitting in front of her. The one notable difference between the two offices was this office boasted a comfortable-looking sectional couch, which her new family was currently using as they waited for the newlyweds to arrive.
Everyone started talking all at once, and the room's noise level soon became overly loud. Erica glanced over to her husband and giggled. She had never had the opportunity to have a large family herself. She had been abandoned as a baby and raised in foster care. Now, she found herself surrounded by all the family she could handle. She caught someone asking her how she liked her new home.
“I am a little overwhelmed at this point, but the house is beautiful. I just never imagined Kevin would do something like this,” she replied, as she threw her husband a smile.
Erica glanced over to her father-in-law, Charles. “I don’t understand why would you move all of your equipment over here?”
“No worries, Erica, I still have my equipment in my office. But I believe it is high time to have a backup office set up. Now, if for any reason any of my equipment goes down, I can always transfer over here temporarily.” He had a satisfied grin on his face, making it evident that he was delighted with the office setup results.
“I wanted you to have your own equipment; that way, when you do need to fill in, or even assist, you can do it from the comfort of your own home.” Erica heard Charles continue in his explanation. She had to admit; it did make good sense to have a backup office setup. Looking around at all the new computer equipment made her inner geek want to jump up and down for joy. Never would she have thought she would be the owner of such a beautiful office.
Rosetta interrupted him, giving him an annoyed look. “Charles, they just returned home from their honeymoon. The least you could do is let Erica unpack before you start talking to her about work!”
Charles glanced over to Rosetta and frowned sheepishly. “You are right, my dear, how inconsiderate of me.” Returning his attention to Erica, he stated, "Please forgive me, Erica. I am getting a little ahead of myself. This office setup turned out better than I had even hoped for, and I’m just excited to show you everything. We will get together when you are ready, and I’ll go over all the equipment with you.”
Erica gave her father-in-law a complacent smile. When it came to computer technology, it was his passion. “My schedule is open, so you’re welcome to come over anytime.”
Kevin took that moment to lean down to Erica’s ear. “You look a bit tired, love; let me show you upstairs so you can rest.” He kissed her soundly, right there with his entire family watching. When the kiss didn’t seem to be ending anytime soon, the family took that as their cue to leave, and when Kevin released Erica to take a deep breath, they found themselves standing in an empty office. With a wicked grin, Kevin chuckled, “Well, that’s one way of getting rid of them!”
“Kevin, that was mean!” Erica replied a bit breathlessly as she playfully smacked his arm. He snatched up for another breathless kiss before she could protest any further.
Grabbing her hand, Kevin led Erica up the stairs. Erica still had a somewhat overwhelmed look on her face as she attempted to take in the size of her new home. Kevin started showing her the bedrooms, leaving the master bedroom for last. He paused as he placed his hand on the closed door leading to their bedroom. “I had my old bedroom furniture moved over for the time being. I wanted you to be able to choose the furniture you want in our bedroom. We can go shopping whenever you want.”
Kevin opened the door to the master bedroom, and Erica slowly walked through the doorway, taking in her surroundings. She immediately recognized Kevin’s furniture and belongings and spotted her dresser as well. Whoever had set up the room had placed Kevin’s flat-screen television on the wall above the gas log fireplace. As she started discovering all of the features of the room, she grinned. It seemed her husband had thought of everything, including his and her closets. When she arrived at the bathroom, her smile turned full-blown as she spotted the Jacuzzi tub and a large vanity area outside the bathroom set up just for her.
“Well, does it meet your approval, Mrs. O’Rourke?” Kevin came up behind her and softly nibbled on her ear.
“Can I live in the Jacuzzi tub?” She replied playfully.
“It’s yours, love. You can spend as much time in it as you want.” As Kevin slowly turned her around, he lightly caressed the dark circles under her eyes. “I am a little surprised Charles didn’t give me a hard time about how tired you look.”
“Rosetta would have surely threatened to box his ears in.” Erica chuckled.
“You are right; she probably would have. You know, you could check the tub out right now if you desire.” Kevin invited in a low, seductive tone. “I could even help you get out of your clothes and help you wash unless you would rather enjoy your new tub by yourself.”
Erica smiled at him and then glanced down at the new tub. “I’m not even sure how to work all of the controls. You better stay close by in case I need help.”
Kevin dropped to sit on the tub side, bringing Erica down to sit in his lap while he started messing with the control knobs. Once the tub was filling with water, he grabbed a bottle of lavender oil and added a dollop. Then he turned his attention to his wife. It only took a few seconds to rid her of her clothing. He helped her step into the tub, joining her only a few seconds later.
As he brought her body up against his, he murmured, “I decided to join you so you won’t fall asleep in the tub and drown. Besides,” he added, “I can reach you much better this way to wash your beautiful body.” He ran his hand down alongside her body for emphasis, taking notice of the shiver of excitement that went coursing through her body.
He reached over to the control dials to start the Jacuzzi, swallowing Erica’s little gasp of delight with a kiss when the water started swirling and bubbling. Knowing she was tired, he leaned back into his seat, bringing her with him. He let his head fall back to the side of the tub, closing his eyes, as Erica ran her hand lightly around his chest.
“How in the world did you manage all of this without my knowing?” She softly whispered in amazement.
Kevin opened his eyes slightly to peer down at her, a slight grin on his face. “That was easy. While you had your hands full planning the wedding, I decided to make sure we had a home to come back to. Before we left on our honeymoon, I met with the contractors to explain what I wanted to be done. This place needed numerous updates and changes when I bought it, but I negotiated a good price for it, and it is built solid. With all the changes and additions, I am a little surprised the contractors were able to get everything finished in time.”
“I do believe I have managed to marry a very clever, if a bit sneaky of a man!” Erica laughed as she kissed him. “Thank you, Kevin. The house is beautiful and huge, but what exactly did you have in mind for us, buying such a large house?”
The chuckle that escaped him bubbled up from deep within his chest. “Honey, you haven’t even seen the third floor yet!”
“Third floor, you mean there is more?” Erica gasped in shock, whipping her head off his chest and sitting up so suddenly she fell off Kevin’s lap.
Kevin caught his falling wife and readjusted her back on his lap before answering. “The attic was huge, basically covering the entire area of the second floor, so I had it sectioned off and turned the larger section into two nice size suites.”
He let out a soft sigh as he acknowledged to himself his wife’s movements had awakened his lower anatomy. Looking at the dark circles under her eyes, he knew he wouldn’t be acting on his desires right now. Erica needed to relax and rest. He turned her so she was partially on her side but could lay her cheek against his chest. Kevin hoped she would rest for a while, maybe even take a small nap. He loved nothing more than to hold her while she slept. He leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on the top of her head.
“Do you have some long-lost relatives that you haven’t told me about, and do they plan to move in with us?” Erica murmured around a yawn, still trying to figure out what they were going to do with such a large house. It was just the two of them. Would they use a three-story home? The second floor had four bedrooms plus a huge master suite. Two of the extra bedrooms even had their own attached bathroom. She shook her head in wonder; never before had she ever dreamed of owning such a large, beautiful house. Erica wondered if she had what it took to keep such a place clean and kept up.
Kevin could feel the uncertainty bubbling up inside of her. “You never know what the future holds, dear. My primary objective was to keep us close enough to the family so you and dad can continue working together, and I’m sure we’ll be hosting a family get-together somewhere in the future. Don’t worry about the extra space; it will be here if we ever need it. If not, leave the rooms closed up.” He stated logically, hoping it would reassure her.
Kevin noticed her shoulders were still tense and knew he needed to provide a distraction. He sighed, “Darling, it was never my intention to have you stress out over the size of this place.” Pausing there momentarily and reaching over to move her hair out of his way, he nipped her collarbone and then followed with his warm tongue. “Stop worrying over the future. Whatever is in the cards, we will deal with it together when the time comes.” He continued raining kisses along her neck, noticing the knots in her shoulders slowly starting to ease. “That’s it, baby, forget about everything for the moment and rest. I’ll take care of you.”
“Oh, Kevin,” she breathed, her voice all but purring. “You are so good to me. I don’t know what I’ve ever done to deserve you.”
Kevin reached up and thumped his bride lightly between the eyes. “Now, don’t go talking nonsense again. I married a beautiful, intelligent, clever woman who has brought warmth to my soul.” Kevin chuckled as he watched his bride frown and lightly rub her head where he had thumped her. Everything he had just said was true. Erica was a beautiful, bright, cheerful, smart, clever woman. But unfortunately, due to the abuse her ex-husband had dished out to her, Kevin still had a few hurdles to cross regarding her self-esteem.
***
As Erica stood in her office, reminiscing over their first day in the new house, her stomach growled loudly, breaking her out of her thoughts. She turned and headed to the kitchen, intent on fixing something quick to eat, and then head back to her new office. Today was her first opportunity to play with all of the latest computer equipment, and she found herself quite anxious.
She entered the kitchen and went straight to the cabinet that held their glassware. Wanting some juice, she reached up for a glass when dizziness suddenly overtook her. Her stomach did a couple of flips, and she started seeing black spots in front of her face. She grabbed hold of the counter in front of her as she felt her knees give out, trying to break her fall. As she went down, her head hit the edge of the counter, and blackness filled her vision until she knew no more.