A Vial of Life (A Shade of Vampire #21)(35)

“Certainly, we could do that,” Caleb replied thoughtfully, his right hand moving slightly higher and resting over my ribcage, while his left continued to stroke my navel. “Or,” he continued slowly. “We could perhaps… read a book together. Or play a card game. I noticed you have a few in the black bag.”

“Hmm. I think playing a game is a good idea. But I don’t think my card games are very good.”

“Scrabble?” Caleb suggested innocently. “I spied that in the blue bag.”

I twisted over onto my stomach so that I could face him.

“We could play truth or dare,” I whispered, brushing my lips against his jawline. I drew away just before he could catch me and pull me in for a kiss. I eyed him teasingly as I pulled myself up higher over him. My legs on either side of his hips, I knelt on the mattress and rested my hands on his broad shoulders.

“Of course,” Caleb replied, maintaining his innocent face, even as his hands roamed my haunches. “Ladies first, then. Truth or dare?”

“Dare,” I replied.

“Very well,” he said. “I dare you to… dance with me.”

“Oh, come on,” I said, trailing my hands down to his chest and flattening my palms against his bare skin. “That’s not a good dare. I would dance with you anytime.”

“All right,” he said, his brows furrowing as though he were in deep concentration. “I dare you to…”

He was taking too long, and I was already growing impatient with this game. The way his hands roamed my body wasn’t helping. I suspected that was his intention.

“All right, slow poke,” I said, shifting on my knees against the mattress. “I will ask the question first. Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” he said.

My eyes narrowed on him. I’d been hoping that he would choose dare. Now I was stuck playing a longer game.

“Okay. What was your first impression of me that night we met at the beach party in Hawaii?”

A smile crept over his lips, memory clouding his eyes. “You were drunk,” he recalled, his smile broadening. “I could tell that you weren’t used to drinking. When you came stumbling toward me over the sand and asked me to dance… half of me just wanted to tell you to go home.” He broke out in a chuckle.

“That would have been mean!”

“You looked so out of place in that party. Barefoot, clumsy, disheveled hair glued against your sweaty face—”

“Excuse me!” I prodded his chest in mock admonition. “I didn’t ask you to start insulting me.”

“And yet,” he continued, “I couldn’t have found you more beautiful. Your innocence and unworldliness called to me, although I knew that I needed to stay away.” His voice trailed off and his eyes took on a dreamy quality as he gazed at me.

I could have sworn that I felt a touch of warmth rising in my cheeks, but being a vampire, I must have been imagining it. I swallowed. “Okay. Now I’m going to ask you ‘truth or dare’ again, and you’re going to choose dare, all right?”

He broke out in another laugh. “I don’t think that’s how this game is played, Rose.”

“Well, Mr. Achilles, this is my slumber party, and this is how I want to play it… Truth or dare?”

His face became solemn. “Your ladyship requires that I answer dare.”

Finally. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could take his hands caressing my thighs.

I leaned in closer to his ear and whispered, “Make love to me.”

I was glad that he didn’t bother with any more banter. His hands slipped beneath my nightgown and parted it, baring me to him, while I stripped him of his robe.

I soon forgot that we were even still in my old bedroom. We could have been anywhere, back in our new treehouse, in the cabin of a boat—heck, even on the edge of a cliff. Caleb had such a way of consuming me that my brain seemed incapable of being aware of anything but the burning desire I held for him.

“Look how you’re corrupting me, Rose,” he breathed against my hair, as his tense body pressed against mine. “I thought we were here for a slumber party.”

* * *

I wasn’t sure how many hours passed before we finally rolled over onto our sides and drifted off to sleep.

But when I woke up, during what must have been the early hours of the morning, I knew immediately that something wasn’t right.

The atmosphere felt thick and heavy, and as my eyes shot open, I realized that wisps of smoke were spilling into the room from beneath the crack in the doorway.

I clutched Caleb and shook him awake.

“We need to get out of here!” I urged.

His confusion turned to shock as he caught sight of the smoke filling the room. Leaping out of bed, he grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the door. He gripped the handle, pulling it ajar. Black smoke billowed inside. He closed the door immediately, even as I descended into a coughing fit. He placed his hand around the back of my neck and pushed me down toward the floor, where he crouched with me. Then he opened the door again. This time, through squinting eyes, I was able to see that the entire corridor was choked with smoke. And some feet away, coming from the direction of the living room, was the crackling of flames.

Oh, God. Where are my parents?

“Stay close to the floor,” Caleb said. His grip around the back of my neck tightened and he pushed me closer against the floorboards. He crawled toward the bed and snatched up our nightclothes from the mattress. He draped my nightgown around me, slipping my arms through the sleeves, while he put on his own robe and fastened the pull string tightly around his waist.