A Trail of Echoes (A Shade of Vampire #18)(38)

Caleb stepped inside the bathroom. He wore a loose shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and the buttons undone over his chest—his usual attire when we were lounging around on the boat, when he wasn’t shirtless, of course.

“I just had another fantasy,” I said, eyeing him in the mirror.

A smile curved his lips. He approached behind me, my back against his chest, and placed a hand either side of me on the counter, pressing me up against it.

His mouth hovered next to my ear.

“So did I,” he whispered, his lips grazing my earlobe. “But I suspect that it was quite different from yours…”

I giggled. I could tell that there was a part of Caleb that definitely preferred me as a vampire. Despite his love of my warmth, he could finally relax around me for the first time. I could appreciate only now that I was a bloodsucker myself how much effort he had put into controlling himself around me all the time. I doubted I would’ve had as much self-control if he were a human.

He caught my hand, and the two of us left the bathroom and went up onto the deck. It was early morning, and the sun was just about to peek out above the horizon.

“I think we can return today,” he said.

I shot him a look. “Are you serious? I’m still daydreaming about ripping through jugulars.”

“As a vampire, those thoughts never go away,” he replied. “They will always be there, especially around humans. I suspect even your mother has thoughts like that from time to time. The only thing you can do is learn to control the urge. Your most dangerous stage has passed. Now’s the time to start practicing. Staying on this boat any longer won’t make a difference.”

I took in a deep breath. “Okay… If you say so. But I’m counting on you to snap my neck if it looks like I’m going to pounce on someone.”

He rolled his eyes. “I don’t need to snap your neck to get you under control.”

I cocked my head to one side. “Oh, really?”

He raised a brow. “Yes. Really.”

“Why don’t you try me?”

He chuckled, then cast his eyes around the deck. “Okay, vampire,” he said, setting his eyes on a mast near the bow of the boat. “Pretend that mast is a human. Rush to attack it. I’ll give you a head start.”

“I don’t need a head start.”

“Okay…”

I narrowed my eyes on Caleb, then fixed my gaze on the mast and lurched forward. I had come within two feet of it when Caleb wrapped his arms around my waist, dragging me backward. I tried to tear myself away from his grasp, but no matter how much I struggled, I couldn’t. He twisted me to face him, a hint of amusement in his eyes as he wrestled me to the ground. Pinning me against the deck with my arms above my head, he dipped his head down to kiss my lips.

“Do you surrender?” he whispered.

“Never!” I breathed, still struggling even as I returned his kiss.

Before I realized what he was doing, his right hand had crept beneath my arm and he began to tickle me mercilessly, his other hand still holding my wrists over my head.

“No!” I gasped, laughing hysterically. “Cheater!”

He stopped tickling beneath my arms, and instead moved down to my next most ticklish spot, my inner thighs.

After five more minutes of torture, I gave in. He released me, and I stood, my knees feeling wobbly from the trauma he’d just put me through.

“You played dirty,” I said, glaring at Caleb as I backed toward the edge of the boat.

“Nobody likes a sore loser, Rose,” he said, following me.

As I reached the edge of the ship, I grabbed his hands and pulled him flush against me. I claimed his lips and kissed him passionately, letting my fangs graze gently against his lower lip. He groaned softly. He always seemed to like it when I did that.

I had him too wrapped up in me for him to notice what I was preparing to do. Kissing him harder, I switched position so that he was the one with his back against the edge of the boat. With one swift motion, I pushed him backward into the ocean.

There was a splash. I looked over the edge to see him surfacing a few moments later, his dark hair sopping wet and slicked back away from his face.

He didn’t know how sexy he looked when he was wet.

His eyes glinted dangerously.

“Oh, baby. You have no idea what trouble you’ve just gotten yourself into.”

Leaping from the water, he grabbed me and pulled me back down into the ocean with him. The cool waves engulfed me as Caleb pulled me down deeper and then emerged with me above the surface.

His arms enveloped me as I ran my hands through his hair. His mouth pressed against mine, his tongue pushing between my lips.

I began unbuttoning his shirt. “I’m ready for your trouble, Achilles.”

* * *

As the first rays of the sun hit the ocean, Caleb and I climbed back aboard the boat, our clothes flung over our shoulders. We hurried inside before the sun could reach us. I had not yet experienced the pain that the sun caused vampires, and I was in no hurry to.

We took a long shower together and enjoyed washing each other’s hair before getting dressed. I looked at him across the bathroom floor as I combed my hair.

“Well. I guess our honeymoon is over now.”

I expected him to say something cheesy to make me giggle, like every day was a honeymoon when he was with me. Instead he just smiled, confident in the fact that I knew that he was thinking something along those lines.