“Do you now?”
I nodded. This was our day. Ever since Gregor Novak returned, he’d been keeping Derek busy with building up The Shade’s army. Being the commander-in-chief of the island’s military force, he had his work cut out. Much to his father’s disdain, he still managed to find time for me.
I pouted at him. “You promised. For the next twenty-four hours, you’re supposed to be all mine, Prince Derek.”
He frowned. He hated it whenever I called him that. “Fine, but you’re not to call me that again. Ever.”
I grinned. “I’ll try.”
He rolled his eyes in response. I watched him as he got up from the bed, admiring his chiseled form, covered only by his boxers. He grabbed his guitar and sat over the edge of the bed with his back turned to me. I listened to him expertly pluck a tune on the instrument. He must’ve felt my gaze on him, because he looked back at me. “Well? Is this what you had planned? Staring at me all day long?”
“Ha!” I threw a pillow at him. He didn’t bother to dodge it. “You wish I were that into you.”
“Oh please…you know you are.”
To that, I couldn’t think of a worthy comeback, so I just gave him a light shove on the shoulder and walked toward the bathroom to get myself ready for the day ahead. But I stopped just before the door of the bathroom and lowered the spaghetti straps of my night gown down my shoulders and let the silk gown fall to the ground. I knew I’d caught his attention the moment the melody he was strumming went grotesquely out of tune.
“Too bad you already took a shower,” I commented before shutting the door behind me.
A few minutes later, we were both in the tub, my back leaned against his chest.
“Today’s going to be a good day,” he said as he ran both hands from my shoulders down to my elbows.
I had to smile. “You have no idea.”
CHAPTER 2: DEREK
To say that I was curious over what my lovely vixen had up her sleeve was the king of understatements. The knowing smile on her face and the way she looked at me as if she knew something I didn’t was driving me crazy, but not any more than the way she was behaving as we moved around my bedroom dressing ourselves for the day ahead.
I was watching her as she picked out an outfit to wear and I began thumbing through her clothes. I saw a white dress hanging on the rack and recalled the last time I saw her wearing it. “I love the way you look in this dress.”
Sofia winked at me, took the dress from the rack and put it on. She then went and stood in front of the mirror. She lifted her locks high over her head and twisted clumps of them around as if wondering whether to tie her hair up.
“I think you’ll look lovely just wearing your hair down,” I commented.
Thus, stabbing at my curiosity even further, her long auburn locks stayed down, cascading over her waist—just the way I preferred it.
From the very first night I met her, Sofia had a mind of her own and rarely hesitated to speak out whenever she felt the need to. The fact that she never did bend to my will because of fear over the fact that I was a vampire or that I was prince of the kingdom we were residing in was one of the things that drew me to her. Thus, to have her giving in to my slightest suggestions—willingly and without question—was something that I found delightful, intriguing and slightly suspicious.
Still, my wariness over whatever she had in store was easily overpowered by the temptation to test just how far she was willing to go with catering to my “innocent suggestions”.
I approached her from behind as she continued to check her appearance on the mirror. I held her waist and pulled her back against me.
“You look incredible,” I assured her.
A soft blush highlighted the freckles on her cheeks. She laid both her hands over mine. “I’m glad you think so.”
Testing her playfully, I said, “I’d love a kiss.”
No hesitation. No objections. She spun around, snuck her arms beneath my own and around my waist, tilted her head up, stood on her tiptoes and kissed me—first, on the jawline, then the corner of my lips, then full on the mouth.
When our lips parted, I couldn’t keep myself from asking, “What’s going on?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, if I said that I’d love a drink of your blood, would you cut yourself and hand me a vial of it?”
A knowing smile formed on her lips as she batted her eyelashes at me. “No, of course not. Why go through all that trouble when I could just offer you my neck?”
“You are driving me crazy.”
She grinned. “Good, and for the record, I’m severely overdressed for this occasion.”
“What occasion?”
“You’ll see.” She held my hand and began tugging for me to follow her.
“Not even a clue as to what you’re up to?”
“Can’t you just trust me, Prince Charming?”
“I told you not to call me that.”
“No… you told me not to call you Prince Derek.” Laughter was in her voice. “Will you just come with me?”
“As if I had any other choice…”
Excitement sparked in her green eyes. Her zest for life was one of the many things I loved about Sofia Claremont. She lit up the darkness surrounding The Shade, and for a kingdom that had no mornings, only eternal night, her light was life.
We exited my penthouse. I sighed as I looked out at three others like mine; interconnected by glass-covered walkways and hanging bridges, and built on top of the towering redwood trees. One penthouse each for the Novak family, although only two were occupied by our clan. After Vivienne was caught by the hunters, her best friend, Liana and her husband, Cameron, moved into her penthouse.