Gabriel's Mate by Folsom, Tina (read this if .txt) 📕

How could he not want this when she clearly felt his raging erection press against her stomach? “Now, please.”

Gabriel cupped her face with his palm. “You need to rest a little. I want you, baby, don’t ever doubt that. And soon, I’ll make you mine.”

His kiss prevented her next question.

Seventeen

Maya took a deep breath before she stepped into the kitchen. She felt invigorated by her shower and by having slept in Gabriel’s arms. He had given her more pleasure by touching and kissing her than she had ever felt during regular sex. When she was with him, things felt right again in her life. Almost as if everything was normal again, no, not normal – better.

For the first time since the transformation, she had a true awareness of her new body. She could feel how her senses were attuned to her surroundings, how her body processed stimuli differently. It was a strange experience, almost as if this wasn’t her body, but somebody else’s. Somebody else’s, because for the first time in her life, she’d felt true sexual satisfaction in this body. Or maybe it wasn’t that she had a vampire body now, maybe it was all because of what Gabriel had done: he’d showered her with tenderness and passion without taking any pleasure for himself.

Maya knew Gabriel was in the kitchen even before she entered it.

He’d slipped out of bed an hour before sunset, reassuring her that he would want nothing more than spend the entire night in bed with her.

But he had work to do.

Gabriel greeted her with the smile of a satisfied man plastered on his face and drew her into his arms.

“Did you sleep well?” he asked against her lips.

“Only up until you left bed.”

His lips curled upwards before he brushed them against her mouth.

Then he straightened himself, and his face turned serious again. “I had to get in contact with my people. I spoke to Ricky, but he hasn’t been able to get in touch with your friends yet. I guess they are harder to pin down than we thought.”

“I could page them if you want.”

Gabriel shook his head. “And tell them what? Ricky said that a neighbor saw Paulette leave with an overnight bag.”

“Oh, I forgot. She has that one-day seminar in Seattle once a month and likes to go there the night before so she won’t be too tired.”

“Good. Then she’ll be back tomorrow. I’ll tell Ricky. As for Barbara, he’s trying to catch her at the hospital.” He looked at his watch. “I have to meet with Zane now. Do you want to feed before I leave?”

The thought of sinking her fangs into his neck made Maya feel flushed again. If she fed from him now, there was no way he would leave this house within the next hour or two, because for certain she would drag him back to bed.

“No, I’m fine right now.”

He gave her a look she thought might be disappointment. “If you say so.”

She stretched her arms out and put her fingers to his lips. “You know what will happen if I feed from you right now, don’t you? So why don’t you go and meet with Zane. In the meantime, I’ll work up an appetite.” She licked her lips. “I’m sure I’ll be ravenous when you get back.”

The wicked glint in his eyes made her heart beat twice as fast as before.

“Good. I look forward to dinner.”

She followed him out into the hallway, where Gabriel called out, “Thomas, where are you?”

A moment later Thomas emerged from Samson’s study. “What do you need?”

“Take care of Maya. I have to go see Zane.” Before he turned, he added, “Any news on the phone records?”

Thomas shook his head. “AT&T’s servers are still down. I’m having Eddie monitor them. He’s supposed to call me as soon as they are up again.”

Gabriel nodded. “Thanks.”

After a quick kiss on her lips, he was gone. Maya turned around to look at Thomas. “What phone records?”

“Yours – we’ve figured that maybe the rogue called you at some point, especially if you were dating him.”

Maya cringed at the thought. She could have never been intimate with somebody so evil, could she? Would she have recognized what he was like early enough – before she’d jumped into bed with him? Why could she not remember anything about him? For a moment she closed her eyes and concentrated, but no flash of memory came.

“You okay?” Thomas’ voice sounded concerned. “It was touch and go for a while there. Are you well?”

She was acutely aware that Thomas knew full well what she Gabriel had been doing during the last few hours, and she felt surprisingly tongue-tied about it. When she lowered her lids to avoid his gaze and only mumbled a quick “yes”, he clicked his tongue.

“There’s nothing wrong with what you guys did. Gabriel is a good man.”

“I barely know him, but for some reason, I do know him. Does that make sense?”

“As I said, it’s all good.”

Maya lifted her head and smiled at him. She liked Thomas and knew she could have an easy friendship with him. “Thanks. About those phone records: I get itemized bills from my cell phone provider. Would that help?”

Thomas nodded eagerly. “Sure would. I can’t hack into AT&T right now, so if we can access the records any other way, it would speed up the search.”

“I only have the last three months online. This month’s isn’t available yet.”

“Better than nothing.”

After spending half an hour looking through the cell phone bills, Maya had to admit defeat. “I know all those people: friends, patients, colleagues. There’s not a single unfamiliar name amongst them. Sorry.”

Thomas shrugged his shoulders. “It was worth a try.”

“Maybe he called me on the landline – unfortunately I don’t get itemized bills for that.”

“Don’t worry. As soon as the servers of the telephone company are back up, I’ll access the records and have you look through them. In the meantime, there’s not much