Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 105815 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105815 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
The only problem was…he passed out.
Chapter 10
Leo St. George
The fae never attacked them on the way to the manor.
Of course, with Junjie passing out after becoming intoxicated on his blood, Chen felt free to make it very clear that Leo was unwanted.
Not that Leo felt insulted in the slightest.
He would have been more upset if Chen hadn’t gotten fussy about his shameless flirting with Junjie, not to mention kissing a man who didn’t have his full faculties about him.
So, he left the manor only to return day after day to see Junjie. His one problem was that his vampire was now avoiding him.
Junjie had stopped bringing Erik out into the garden to feed the fish and play among the trees, which seemed very wrong for Erik and the fish.
He stopped by in the afternoon to discover that Xiang and Kai had taken over the job. Erik’s schedule had shifted to include a midday wander through the backyard and fish feeding.
Yep, Junjie was avoiding him.
That would not last.
While Leo didn’t think he could sneak past a dragon, he believed Kai was a troublemaker and romantic at heart. Kai glanced in his direction when Leo crept through the flowers, but the sneaky dragon said nothing to give away his presence. He even helped to distract his mate with the child as Leo opened the rear door a crack and squeezed his slender body inside.
On silent cat paws, he padded through the house where all the good little vampires and one elf were sleeping. He hurried straight to Junjie’s room, where he was planning to curl up on the foot of Junjie’s bed and nap until the vampire woke for the evening.
But he was in luck. Junjie was awake, and by the sound of the running water, in the shower.
Leo slipped into the room and shifted into his human form so that he could close and lock the door behind him. It was so very tempting to appear naked on Junjie’s bed once again, but he was afraid that such a move would shut down any attempts to talk to Junjie before they’d begun.
Junjie exited his bathroom with a thick white towel wrapped around his waist. He’d dried the water from his pale skin, but drops fell from his hair to dot his chest and shoulders. The poor vampire gasped upon finding him in his private chambers and lurched back, only to have his foot catch on one of Erik’s toys. As he was falling, Leo lunged forward and caught him by the waist while Junjie grabbed his shoulders.
“What are you doing here?” Junjie demanded.
“Surprise!” Leo giggled.
“No surprise. You shouldn’t be here. Did Xiang and Kai let you in?”
“Not technically.” Leo grimaced, closing one eye. “Kai might have looked the other way as I sneaked past him and Xiang with Erik.” He opened his eye and let his gaze travel over all the handsome muscles in front of him. “You look to be in good health. Nothing wrong?”
Junjie cleared his throat and released Leo. He tried to take a step away to put some space between them, but Leo took an answering step forward, keeping them close and the empty air charged with something that tingled along his skin.
“No. I’m fine. Everything is fine.”
“Ah. So, you’re avoiding me?”
“What? No. Of course not. Why would I be avoiding you?”
It was becoming almost impossible to not laugh directly in Junjie’s face. The vampire was talking faster, and his pitch was inching higher with every word.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Leo drawled, taking a step closer to Junjie. The vampire backpedaled, bumping into a low, long dresser. “Maybe it’s because you held me in your arms, licked my neck, and drank my blood like it was the finest wine you’d ever tasted. And when you were drunk on my amazing blood, we kissed.”
“For that, I most sincerely apologize. I should never have taken such liberties.”
“You took nothing that wasn’t freely offered.” He took another step closer, his gaze locked on those perfect lips as they trembled inches from his own. “And I am still offering to kiss you senseless.”
Junjie slipped past him and darted across the room, holding up his hands to keep Leo at bay. “We shouldn’t have kissed. I regret that I pushed things so far while I was not in my right mind. It was wrong of me. Of us.”
Leo’s smile never wavered. It wasn’t the first time someone had said they’d regretted kissing him, and Bastet knew Junjie wouldn’t be the last. The only difference was that Leo very much wanted to convince the vampire that the kiss wasn’t an unfortunate decision and that they should do it far more frequently.
He slowly crossed the room toward Junjie and pointed a finger at his chest. “It looks like you’ve completely healed from your injury.”
Junjie glanced where he’d indicated. There was only flawless pale skin stretched across the hard muscles of his chest. He was exquisite, as if a marble statue had come alive and escaped the Louvre to wander through Connecticut on holiday.