Thanks to Laurelin for sticking with this. I am a pia.
Chapter 4
Josef reached to touch Beth's silky hair, but, under his fingers, he found nothing more than cool sheet and empty pillow. Opening his eyes, he was grossly disappointed to find himself alone in Beth's very feminine bedroom. He told himself it did not matter; he was surely used to waking up alone, but decided immediately that he would remain motionless in this exact spot until she returned. What if she was gone, off to work, living her life as if he did not…
"Here's the breakfast I promised you," Beth said cheerfully as she breezed through the door with a fully laden tray. "You're only getting it in bed this one time, though. Since you probably don't remember, this is your job." She continued, in her deepest voice, "Man bring woman breakfast in bed." Had she not been holding the tray, she would have pounded her chest like Tarzan. "But," she added lightly, "Considering this is your first day of being human after four hundred years, I'm making an exception." She winked as she placed the tray beside him before settling under the covers. "You have to share, I only have one tray."
Josef beamed at her. Another first, breakfast in bed. No breakfast in bed in the sixteenth century, hell, often no bed at all. And the ridiculous, half-sitting position that he'd slept in back then had only furthered his desire to leap from the wooden structure and rush to the soft heather by the peat fire to enjoy his porridge. He recognized bacon, eggs, toast and jam, orange juice, coffee… But he'd tasted so few of them; he couldn't decide which to try first. He was glad when Beth solved the problem, biting into a slice of bacon and holding the remainder up to his lips with a smile.
"Bacon is wonderful," he said, popping the rest of the piece into his mouth hungrily. Reaching for more, he stuffed an entire piece in his mouth. He was hungry, really hungry and bacon was delicious.
"Try the eggs." Beth forked a bite of her breakfast specialty, cheesy-eggs, toward his mouth.
Josef's eyes closed as he savored the rich, creamy scramble. "Oh, my."
Beth tried to suppress a giggle, he was so new, and the expression on his face, here, where he felt safe, was so open and vulnerable, so unlike the Josef she'd always known, her heart filled with tenderness and she wanted to feed him, wipe his face, protect him. She offered some juice, which he tasted with equal gusto, but his expression changed in an instant to something decidedly less pleased and he pushed the glass aside. "Orange juice not to your liking, Josef?" The laugh burst free from her lips.
He looked at the glass as if it had betrayed him. "No. It's cold, and what are those things floating in it?"
Adorable as he was in his vulnerability, Beth was unwilling to waste the day discussing breakfast foods. "Eat what you like Josef, and ignore the rest. But I want to get you out into the day."
"We could shop, walk around Rodeo Drive. You need sheets."
At least, that was her interpretation of what he had said. Given that he was munching toast, liberally spread with strawberry jam, and grinning widely at the taste. "What's wrong with my sheets?" Okay, she was aware that they weren't Porthault or Frette, but they were perfectly good sheets.
Damn it, he'd done it again, hurting her with his thoughtless comments. He wiped a stray crumb from his lips and leaned to kiss her. "I'm sorry, baby. Your sheets are fine, I just… Alright, I'll admit it. I'm picturing you stretched out naked on cream-colored thousand-count linen, touching yourself, and me with the terrible decision of where to begin. You know I always want you to have the best. I need sheets, too, and a real bed. We should find one we both like. I'm hoping you'll want to spend quite a bit of time in it with me."
She liked the sound of that, spending lots of time in bed, but she had the distinct impression that once he got used to moving about as he chose, she'd be spending her time being dragged from place to place, until he became either too tired or too uncomfortable with the attention he would receive. "I'll race you to the shower."
It wasn't as if he never shopped, he enjoyed it, loved spending his money with abandon on whatever, or whomever, he chose. But frankly, it had been forever since he'd seen the inside of a Los Angeles store in the daytime, and he was more than a little surprised with the reactions of others. Strangers knew his face; some introduced themselves, others pointed and stared. The shop owners shooed them away or straight out the door, but Beth was more than uncomfortable. Josef was simply surprised at just how many people shopped during the day, and how many seemed to recognize him, given the number of cell phones pointed in his direction . Nevertheless, it was the perfect; it clarified in his mind exactly who he was in this world of humans. Josef Kostan. And he acted accordingly, digging out his cell phone, arranging for the mattress shop to close for an hour, a private shopper at the linen store and a private showing at the Armani boutique.
"That wasn't exactly what I had in mind," Beth said as Robert ushered them into the car. "I'm sorry. It's hard for me to remember that you're capital Josef capital Kostan to the rest of the world."
"And that, my dear," he answered, encircling her with his arm, "Is one of the infinite numbers of reasons why I love you. That little show was my fault. Just because I necessarily insulate myself, doesn't mean I'm unaware of the power of the media. I should have known better. Next time we want to shop, we'll go somewhere that does not include the cult of personality. Maybe Iowa."
"I hear Des Moines rocks," Beth laughed. Rubbing his arm, she said, "It's over and, as I recall, you have quite a wonderful pool in your very own back yard, where we can rest and swim and just be outside, alone." The rubbing became a caress, and she hoped he'd agree. "And I'll make sure you're liberally covered with sunscreen," she added dreamily. They could sun, rest, go out for dinner, and be alone all night long.
Josef smiled lecherously. Pressing the intercom button, he announced, "Robert, we need sunscreen."
"Logan. Logan? LOGAN!" Mick screamed over the blaring music. He hated raising his voice; he hadn't liked it as a human and he liked it a lot less with his hypersensitive hearing. He had Britt waiting not very patiently in the car, and he was hoping to get this over with as soon as he could.
"What? Mick, a little patience, please, I'm almost done."
Mick turned off the TV. "You're done." He stared down the angry look Logan gave him, knowing Logan to be nearly a complete coward and certainly a social misfit. "How would you like to work for Josef Kostan?"
Logan's eyes lit up as if he'd been offered his own character in the next edition of Halo. "Doing what, exactly?" He added, clearly trying to hide the fact the he'd scrub Josef's floors if that were the job.
"What you do. He's got a big project and Ryder is in Hungary working on it and he wants a redundancy, so, I suggested you." Okay, so he hadn't, but Logan didn't need to know that and Mick liked it the idea of Logan owing him. "And you get a very brilliant assistant to work with."
"C'mon, Mick, you know I work alone," he whined.
"Logan. Josef's offering you twenty five thousand a week." Mick shook his head as Logan fell into his chair, mouth agape. "I think you can make an exception just this once." Hell, once Logan saw Britt, he'd probably do the job for free. "But there's one catch."
Great, Logan thought. He's probably going to kill me when the job's done.
Mick wanted to let him squirm another second, but the pounding at the door made it pointless. Logan glanced at the screen, and then stared as the pounding continued. "Let her in Logan. That's your co-worker. And incidentally, your lunch."
Logan's fingers had never hit his keyboard quite as fast as they hit that buzzer, admitting the lean, black-clad hurricane Britt.
"Mick, for God's sake, it's like two hundred degrees in that car and you said…" She turned her attention to Logan's computers and quieted immediately. Slithering over to Logan, her face inches from his, she asked, "So, big boy, did you do all this?"
Mick suppressed a laugh as he noticed Logan's vain attempt to form words, he had the lip movement down pretty well, but no sound accompanied his efforts. "Logan, can I tell Josef you'll do it?"
Logan nodded like Beavis listening to AC/DC, unable still to form words.
"He'll be in touch. Oh, and Logan?" Not again. Mick shook his head. "Logan!"
"I'm right here, Mick, you don't have to scream."
"Yeah, now you are. If you hurt her, Josef will kill you slowly and painfully. She's one of his… special friends. Got it?" Apparently he did, because they were side-by-side at the panorama of LCD displays and totally ignoring him before he'd finished his sentence. Good. One less thing for Josef to worry about.
Mick was glad to be on his way home. He was tired, there were a couple of cases he had to work on, and he knew he wouldn't be seeing much of Beth at the office for the next few days. He smiled at that, wondering if Josef was having the time of his life or if he were still afraid of everything.
The answer came as soon as he reached his desk and woke his napping computer. He looked at it wistfully, wishing he were not so jealous of the machine that got far more sleep than he did. He still had yet to remove the Buzzwire window, and there, on its now tabloid screen, was Josef, hurriedly following Beth into his limo. Josef caught shopping by some voracious paparazzo on Rodeo Drive. Shopping? He would have to have a serious talk with his friend. He could be doing far more fun things with his human time than buying shirts.
"No, really, I can tell, you missed a spot." Josef hoped he sounded convincing. He wanted Beth to keep running her sunscreen-slicked hands over his back, down his legs, until sunset. He knew he should have worn that Speedo he'd received as a gift on his last "birthday".
"Sorry, but I'm turning pink. Here," she said, placing the tube in his upturned palm, "My turn to luxuriate."
He could live with that. He rolled over, sat up as Beth lay down but not before she caught sight of the tent straining the front of his loose-fitting black swim trunks.
She smiled an appreciative glance in his direction before lying on her stomach on the soft cotton chaise. "I knew it wasn't a fear of UVB rays that made you tell me I 'missed a spot' a hundred times."
"Busted," he admitted as he rubbed the lotion between his palms, warming it to body temperature. Body temperature, there was phrase he hadn't associated with himself for centuries. An unfamiliar feeling of normalcy crept uncomfortably over him, but it was easy enough to shake that off, given the task that awaited him.
He started at her feet, meandering his way up her firm calves with gentle caresses, lingering at the backs of her knees until she started to squirm, bringing a knowing smile to his face. She liked it when he kissed that soft, smooth skin, ran his teeth lightly there.
"Josef…"
"Oh, sorry, I was thinking about something else." He was glad she could see neither the grin or his face nor the surge of his erection.
"I know what you were thinking about, buster, but meanwhile, blisters are starting to form on my shoulders," she teased.
He sighed heavily, wishing that when he returned to normal, he could take that ability with him. There were so very many places in his daily routine where he could say so much with a heavy sigh, and not have to depend that someone was looking at him when he was bleeding distain in their direction. Or to express his disappointment or reinforce his apology without the practiced puppy eyes he was sometimes forced to use with women whom he'd managed to offend, but were still useful to him.
"Josef…"
"Oh, sorry, I really was thinking about something else that time."
"You really don't have the slightest clue when you're offensive, do you?" This time, she turned to look at him, a thin smile upon her lips.
"No, really, I usually know exactly when I'm offensive. It's usually intentional. But somehow, with you…" He thought hard, and the answer came to him instantaneously. "I always tell the truth. Apparently, you are sodium pentothal for me." He leaned down to kiss her leg, heard her say, "Josef, don't!" But his human reflexes, and sensibilities, did not stop him before he had a mouthful of foul-tasting lotion. "You know," he said, wiping at his tongue with the closest towel, then throwing that aside when the napped cotton robbed him of saliva, but left behind the unpleasant taste of sunscreen.
"Water, Josef, swish some water around your mouth and spit it out. Who knew vampires were so helpless?" She asked as she handed him her bottle, and he dutifully followed her instructions. "Give me the sunscreen, I'll do it myself."
He finally swallowed some water, draining the bottle. "I'll get more," he said sheepishly as she stared at him. Obviously, as a human, he could do nothing right.
"Josef," Beth said as she took his hand, drawing him down beside her. "You're so serious. It's only water. Why don't we sit under the umbrella for awhile?" She took his hand and moved to the double chaise that was shaded most effectively from the sun. As she sat, she removed the top of her suit and reclined, arms above her head. "I'm sure one of your ladies has a suitable lotion for this application."
He watched her for but a moment, then sped off into the house as fast as his human legs could carry him, finding yet another thing to dislike about being human. As a vampire, he would have been back with the edible massage oil before she'd drawn her next breath. He would make the best of this, and enjoy the extraordinary perks, Beth and coffee, but one he enjoyed whether he was undead or alive, and the other… just wasn't good enough to make him want to be human.
She was still lying in that same enticing position when he returned. If he were a writer, he was willing to bet he could compose quite a sonnet, its sole subject the smooth, delicious under curve of her breasts. She smiled, and stretched her arms further above her head. He dropped beside her on the chaise, one index finger trailing gently where her breast met her ribs. He felt her little shiver of response, and it amplified his own. She opened heavy-lidded eyes as her lips parted slightly. "Hey babe," he whispered, his lips inches from hers. "Are you sure you want to get into this here?" His staff and some of the girls were just inside, and he had a sinking suspicion that she hadn't given them one moment's thought, which was good, he preferred that she lose her senses when they were together, but she'd think better of it if someone interrupted them.
Running her hands across his shoulders, she leaned the few inches that separated them to gently touch her lips to his, then drew his hands up to cover her breasts.
A loud clearing of a throat not within their intimate circle startled Josef, nearly tearing him away from Beth, but finally, he thought first, and kept his hands modestly covering her. "I'm sorry to interrupt you, sir, but your bed has arrived and they want to know where to put it."
"It's okay, thank you, we'll be up in a moment," Josef replied kindly. Normally, the man would have been dead either where he stood, or shortly thereafter. The Cleaners were on his speed dial. He was quite proud of his restraint, even though he probably could only have inflicted substantial pain on the much smaller man. Turning, he scurried back to the house.
"Good job, Josef," Beth said as she reached for her top. "You protected me and didn't beat the hell out of him. You're a quick study." She hugged him, and added, "I love you."
He smiled, wondering why he always felt far wealthier when he heard those words. He took her hand, "Sooner we get there, the faster we can christen it."
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