I Want You To Want Me. Kathy Love

      He didn’t move for a moment, even though he’d achieved the effect he wanted from her, as well as the out he needed. He certainly wouldn’t be getting any friendly visits from his downstairs neighbor.

      Yet he was oddly tempted to take her offering of first aid supplies, both of which she still held out to him. He wanted to soothe that injured look in her blue-gray, stormy eyes. Accepting her offering seemed like an appeasement.

      Instead, he just muttered, “I’ll be fine.”

      In fact, by tomorrow night the gash would be gone. Good thing she wouldn’t be around to ask him about that.

      He studied her for a moment longer. She stared at a point over his left shoulder, her lips and jaw still firmly set.

      Still suppressing the need to mollify her, he turned on his heels and headed to the door. As he closed it behind him, reentering the darkness he both needed and despised, he briefly allowed himself to wish for a different scenario for the night. One where he could stay there in Erika’s eclectically, colorfully decorated world—that suited her to a tee. Where he could touch her smooth, pale skin and lose himself in her warmth, in the color she would add to his gray, nighttime world.

      But he couldn’t. And if he was right about the reason why he was back here, he had to stay away from her. If there was any merit to his suspicions, no one was safe in his presence.

      Chapter 3

      “He is here.”

      Orabella met Maksim’s eyes in the reflection of her vanity mirror. She continued to brush her long hair, suppressing the giddiness that rose up in her chest.

      Maksim strolled into the room, his long limbs loose and graceful, his muscles rolling under the fine material of his tailored shirt. He was a stunningly handsome man with thick dark hair and mesmerizing pale green eyes. But Orabella wasn’t considering that at the moment, nor had that been her real interest in him anyway. Though it didn’t hurt.

      But what held her attention now was what he’d said. Those three words were far more thrilling to her than his pretty face and powerfully built body.

      “You’re sure?”

      Maksim came up to stand behind her, regarding her in the mirror, his unusual eyes glittering as he rested his hands on her shoulders. “Of course I’m sure, my pet.”

      He leaned down to press his lips to the side of her neck. She leaned into the kiss, but her mind was focused on his revelation. Vittorio was here. She’d found him finally.

      She hadn’t truly believed he would be here. It seemed too easy. Too simple. Especially since he’d disappeared so totally for almost four months. But she’d banked on the fact he wouldn’t be able to stay away from his brother for long. Vittorio had such an odd affinity for his half-brother. Personally, Orabella had little use for Renaldo. So like his damned father.

      But Vittorio. He was here. A swell of giddiness filled her bosom.

      She looked at herself in the mirror, watching Maksim as he pushed aside the collar of her robe. She always had deliciously beautiful men as her lovers, and Maksim was no different.

      But in truth, she preferred blond hair, in the same shade as her own. Long, thick—again like hers, cascading over his shoulders. And dark eyes, midnight eyes.

      She tilted her head to afford Maksim better access to her neck, but also to admire the way her long lashes, dark in comparison to her hair, made her eyes glitter nearly black.

      She bit her bottom lip as Maksim nipped her, watching how the soft pink flesh pillowed around her white teeth.

      Blond hair, dark eyes, full lips.

      Her Vittorio.

      “Why again must we watch this vampire?” Maksim murmured against her bared shoulder.

      Orabella sighed, hating to be interrupted from her images of her perfect love. A creature who was an offshoot of herself. Perfect. Lovely. And hers.

      “I’ve told you, darling,” she said, her voice sharper than she intended, “he is obsessed with me.”

      Maksim lifted his head to regard her in the mirror. “If he is so obsessed, then why are you the one searching for him?”

      She met his gaze, widening her eyes slightly, noting the pretty innocence it gave her features. “Haven’t you heard of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer?”

      Maksim straightened and strolled toward the bed, unbuttoning his shirt as he went. “In fact, I have,” his voice low and almost distant.

      Orabella wondered briefly about the flat tone, but then dismissed it. Her mind was too filled with Vittorio to concern herself with her lover’s petty moods.

      “Was he with anyone?” she couldn’t help asking. She needed to know—and the idea that he could prefer any other woman’s company to hers made her ill.

      “What does it matter?” Maksim collapsed on the bed, his shirt falling open to reveal his perfectly muscled chest and stomach.

      “I’d hate to think he could be stalking another,” she said, re-creating that wide-eyed, innocent look.

      Maksim stretched, then raised a sardonic brow. “Is that because you are afraid he might have lost interest in you? Or because you actually fear for some other woman’s safety?”

      Orabella didn’t have to feign her outrage—Maksim was far too smart. A flaw in a lover to be sure, but she still needed him. She couldn’t have him being too suspicious of her actions.

      She slammed down her brush and turned on her vanity stool. “You know I live in fear.”

      Maksim looked briefly as if he didn’t quite believe her, but then his eyes softened. After all, why wouldn’t he believe her? She did live with fear—she feared losing Vittorio. To lose him would be to lose half of herself.

      “Well, I know where he is, and you are safe. In fact, why don’t we leave now? Get as far from him as we can.”

      Again alarm pooled in her belly, cold and harsh. She shook her head. “No.”

      Maksim sat up from his lounging position, regarding her again with those strange, almost catlike eyes.

      “Why? Staying near a man you dread makes no sense.”

      Orabella hated having to explain her decisions. So very irritating. Again, if Maksim didn’t have the special abilities he did—both in and out of bed—she’d have long ago broken off their relationship. But she did need him.

      She turned down her lips and regarded him with an expression she knew would gain her anything she wanted. And she wanted to stay as close to Vittorio as she could. She rose, walking slowly toward the bed.

      “I feel better knowing where he is. And you will watch him for me, won’t you? Protect me?”

      Maksim’s eyes roamed down her body as she approached him. She untied the belt of her satin robe, letting it part to reveal glimpses of her ivory skin.

      Again, he raised a wry eyebrow, but she could see the hungry glitter in his eyes.

      “Of course, my Bella.”

      She smiled, letting the robe drop to the floor, her own body reacting to his heated look. She crawled onto the bed and up his hard body.

      After all, she did need the caress of a man’s touch, the feeling of his mouth on her flesh, the stretch of his cock filling her. She needed physical love. And she needed what Maksim’s loving could give her.

      But her true love, her pure love was saved for Vittorio.

      Her very heart.

      Her darling son.

      And he was so near.

      Erika stumbled around her kitchen,