The Primus Daughter

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

She let herself soak in the bath a little while. The cold water was doing magic to her sore muscles, she could already feel them healing up, perks of being a vampire. By the time she woke up, she was certain there would be no sore left. The holes on her neck were definitely mostly closed by now, she stretched her hand to touch them as she thought of it, and true to her thoughts, they were barely holes, more like slight bumps at the healing process.

Vance had left her as soon as she had closed her eyes and she could still hear him taking a shower. It would be nice to join, she thought but even as the idea crossed her mind she immediately knew it was a bad one and did everything to wipe it off her mind. Unfortunately, that thought was immediately replaced by the thought of his body under the water and how it was likely glistening.

She rolled her eyes and finally forced herself out of the bath because she knew if he stepped out of the shower before she stood up, she would not want to leave, it was easier to resist him when he was not there. She got out one leg at a time, landing on the bath mat as water dripped down her body. She closed her eyes tightly as the world spun a little. The vertigo effect only lasted for about two seconds but it was enough for her to fear falling.

She opened her eyes and stretched her hand to the nearest towel which she quickly wrapped around herself, for some reason the cold was getting to her more than usual. She began the walk to the living room and wiped herself as she walked. She did not bother stopping when she got to his bedroom, rather she kept walking until she got out of it.

She got to the kitchen walking as fast as she could, her body had already adjusted to the temperature and she was not as cold as she was when she first stepped out of the water. The kitchen was still in the same state they had left in. She ignored the mess and went straight for the reason why she was here, which was her clothes.

Her shorts and panties were the easiest to find, they were underneath the table. How they got there, she had no idea and she was not about to try to solve that mystery. Her shirt was the next ordeal and that took a while, she was half worried Vance would be out before she found it.

She finally found it underneath one of the chairs that were farther away from the table. She quickly put the shirt on, having already worn the shorts and panties.

No sooner did the shirt cover her belly that Vance burst into the kitchen. The relief on his face at the sight of her quickly changed to horror and then disappointment. “I thought you left and by the looks of things…” he paused as he gave her a once-over, taking his time as he stared. “You might as well have.”

She swallowed, realizing that she did not prepare a confrontational speech beforehand. She could only stare at him pretending she could not see the sadness in his eyes. She gripped the towel as she needed something to ease the tension she could presently feel under her skin.

It did not help that she was about to have this conversation with him literally butt naked with just a flimsy towel around his waist. It did not help that he was dripping water and his hair was wet. It was taking a lot for her not to help him dry it.

“Except I am reading too much into this and you are not about to walk out that door,” he murmured, holding her gaze as she spoke.

The spell broke and her thought and speech process was working again. She smiled and handed him the towel by placing it on the lower part of his chest. “You are right, I have a lot to do today.” She lied through her teeth. She did not know what the time was but she was certain it was way past twelve.

She had absolutely nothing to do except Mr. Bennett decided to set the meeting for today and she knew that was highly impossible as he would have informed her the night before. The nearest day he was likely to set the meeting was tomorrow and he would be sure to inform her as soon as he could and that meant he would probably call her as early as seven this morning.

“Is that so?” he asked and paused, indeed he was waiting for her to respond.

“Yeah,” she grudgingly replied. She wondered why she even bothered to lie, she did not need a reason to go, and a part of her suspected he knew she was lying.

Her hands were still on his abs, where she had tried to give him back his towel and almost a minute later he still had not accepted it. She felt weird just hanging her hand in the air as she waited for him to accept the towel so she could remove her hand and the towel would not fall on the ground.

She frowned and began to remove her hand from the top of his abs even though she wouldn’t mind keeping her hand on his chest but he gripped her still, stopping her movement by placing his palm over hers. She looked up at his face to find him staring at her with a raised brow.

“What?” She asked and frowned.

“I am pretty sure I did not say anything or…” he paused and arched his head a little to the side. “You heard something I obviously did not.” His expression did not change as he spoke and Selene did not need a soothsayer to tell her he was not pleased at all.

“Well,” she started to say and jerked off her hand and this time he let her go, only holding onto the towel. He gripped it a little too hard in her opinion. “I am off since I am hearing things.”

“I did not say that,” he muttered softly.

“But you insinuated it,” she was making a big deal about this but she did not like the guilt she was feeling and needed something to take her mind off it and unfortunately this molehill was the only thing she got and here she was trying to make a mountain out of it.

“What about that champagne?” he suddenly asked.

"What?” Selene asked, obviously thrown aback by the question.

“Champagne, remember? We ended up not having any of it, more like I prevented you because you had not eaten and then we got distracted,” he smirked as he said the last word and Selene noticed it was a little hard to look him in the face.

She began to walk past him and from the corner of her eyes she could see his face fall. “Maybe some other time, I have to go.”

He immediately grabbed her nearest wrist stopping her in her tracks. She turned to look at him just as he did the same and she immediately braced herself for whatever was to come which she suspected was likely to be reasons why she should not leave.

He swallowed before speaking but before the words left his mouth, he took her wrist towards his lips and kissed the back of her hand. He sighed and said, “Let me see you to your car,” and without a moment’s pause he pulled her out of the kitchen as he man his way to the main entrance.

The lack of a battle left Selene feeling deflated and all she could do was nod her head to his words and let him pull her all the way out of his house. The walk to her car was filled with silence and she was grateful for that as she doubted she had anything to say to him.

They finally got to the car and he opened the door for her, “Thank you,” she murmured in reply as she made to enter the car.

Just as she was about to put a foot in, he grabbed her and she turned to look at him a little startled but before she could protest or yell at him he buried her into his arms, hugging her as tightly as he could without squeezing the life out of her. He released her and then placed a loud kiss on her lips before taking a step back.

Selene was stunned but she recovered quickly and snapping out of it, she immediately got behind the wheel of the car, started the engine, and immediately drove off before her brain began to think of why staying was a more reasonable idea than leaving. She tried not to look back as she left but that was even harder than leaving.