Ch. 31
I had tons of homework since I was gone the better part of the week on a “medical leave,” while I healed. Most of it remained unfinished, staring up at me from where I spread it out around me on the couch. My mind was a mess and it made the day creep slowly by. My previous suspicions were confirmed when, with my shopping errand complete, James was no longer willing to concede daytime as safe. He had declared me housebound and was himself unwilling to leave me for any reason. As a result, he was spending a lot of time on the phone and confined to his upstairs office. He was checking with people from all over the midwest trying to find out anything he could on the incoming coven and how they fit with Bradley.
Eventually, I could stare at my books no more and tucked them all away in a pile next to the couch and followed the hum of James’ voice up to his office. His office was in the first upstairs bedroom on the right. The wooden furnishings were minimal and masculine, in keeping with the rest of the house. In my mind’s eye I could see him sitting at his desk staring at his laptop with his back to the bed and night table. The small bookshelf filled with travel books he occasionally referenced acted as a table at the foot of the bed. Since no one had been sleeping in there this afternoon, he had virtually locked himself in since breakfast.
Before I was halfway up the stairs I knew he was speaking to a human, most likely someone at the paper because I could hear parts of actual words. It was always lower and deeper, harder to distinguish when he spoke to other vampires or the cats. I would assume it’s because they’d grown accustomed to hiding their voices that they always talked to each other like that. Though I was sure he could hear my approach, I tried to sneak anyway. He seemed to be losing patience with whomever he was talking to; at least, it sounded that way from the one side of the conversation I could hear.
“It doesn’t matter to me what they think. Yes, I want to stay there. Because last time I went I was barely in my room, if you must know, and I doubt that will be the case this time. No, you’re right, I don’t have to share any more than that and I don’t intend to. I don’t care what he has budgeted, he isn’t the one paying for her.” He paused while the other party responded at length. Sighing, he reached the end of his tether. “I don’t care what they’re gossiping about in the office. The point is that I am required, by contract, to write an article and I will write one. The fact that I choose to bring a companion and,” his voice raised as he spoke over some objection from the other party, “and my companion is a woman whom I happen to be involved with is not the office staff’s concern.” My pulse went up when he flicked an eye my way. He had noticed me, of course, though I wasn’t sure if what he was saying now on the phone was for my benefit or the other party’s. “We have our travel plans made. Whether I pay or you do is not my concern.” Hanging up, James closed his eyes and rolled his chair back from his desk, waving me over to join him.
Settling onto his lap, I snuggled in as he brought his arms up to wrap around me. I put my head on his chest and listened to his silent heart. It wasn’t as creepy as I would have anticipated. His stillness was something that I found comforting now that I was used to it. Maybe it was because I had never lain with anyone before and had nothing to compare to. Either way, I didn’t find it odd that his heart didn’t beat or that his breathing was merely habit. That and the act of bringing air into his system allowed him to appear human to others and to smell scents around him.
Sitting here with him, it didn’t bother me anymore that Stephen was coming in a few hours for a meeting about something that I could only wonder at, or that we were going to the wedding for a cousin I could barely stand where James would meet my whole family tomorrow, or that in just a few days I would be neck deep in vampires who might not like me. Being with James made everything bearable because I was here with him. It struck me again as odd that we were so in love so quickly. That was on my mind a lot lately. And again, I tried to justify the strangeness of it on the “quality” of time and how many hours in each day we had spent together. With him not needing sleep and always being around, we pretty much talked around the clock. I never had slept well, so I was up in the night often enough to talk to him then, and of course during the daytime when we worked together and just went about the business of being.
“James, I should never have opened the door in just your shirt. I didn’t mean to cause you any trouble at work. Gossip is never fun.” I did feel bad, yet at the same time I was happy that they all knew now that he was mine. He wasn’t the only one who was possessive.
“Claire, I told you I don’t care that they know I have you in my life. Did I tell you Beth is a pot stirrer?”
I noticed he was trying to look more upset than he really was. One corner of his mouth twitched and I knew he was secretly amused.
“Sure, she likes to get everyone up in arms so she did a very thorough job of describing you and what you were wearing and how well you distracted me.”
I flushed. “How do you know, did she tell you?”
“No, my editor and I have worked together for a few years, and he wanted to know who the hot little number answering the door in my clothes might be.” His eyes twinkled merrily, he was definitely finding it entertaining to be causing a fuss at the office.
“Oh no!” I groaned. “You mean she told them I was virtually naked answering your door?”
“Oh yes, you would be happy though. I guess Beth was honest in her description of you. She explained how attractive you were and how I couldn’t keep my hands or eyes off of you. Apparently we barely managed to keep our hands off each other while she was here; we practically ran her off.”
Mortification turned to giggles. “I can only imagine how the girls in the office feel about that one. You being off the market has to be causing some tears over there.”
He shrugged offhandedly. “There can’t be that many. I was always polite when I declined any offers.”
“Offers? How frequently do you get propositioned at work?”
He pulled me in close, probably so that I couldn’t see him grinning in the wake of my jealousy. “They didn’t ask as often as you are imagining. And don’t worry, I have never been anything but a perfect gentleman with the staff.”
Keeping my eyes to where I was fingering his collar, I asked him under my breath the question I couldn’t manage to get out of my mind, even though I knew I should, “James, everyone keeps telling me how long it has been since you have had a,” what word to use here, “lover. How long has it been?”
He went still under me and I started to think he wouldn’t answer at all. “Claire, I told you that I do not take lovers lightly and you were the first in a long time. I am willing to talk to you about my past, but first you should ask yourself if you really want to know all of what a man has done in a century and a half or if that has any bearing on what you think of him.”
I didn’t answer him right away, stroking his collar smooth unnecessarily as I contemplated his counterargument. When I answered I managed to meet his eyes with some degree of certainty. “I want to know everything about what makes you you, but I guess I don’t know if I want to know that. Let’s hold off on the long list of lovers for now. Especially since I only have one on my list. It’s kind of humbling.”
He looked down at me, expression troubled. “Does it bother you that we are not equally experienced?”
Thinking about it for a moment, I was able to reply honestly, “No, I got lucky and found the right one on my first try.”
He squeezed me against him and kissed my head. It was hard to hear him as he mumbled into my hair, “My list is not so long as you might think, my love.” When I tried to look up to see his eyes, he held me tightly to him so that I could not.