Chapter 27: Business and Pleasure

SERAPHINA

Aleksandr was propped up on an elbow, his eyes glancing over my wardrobe. His gaze fixed on something as he played with a strand of my hair. He seemed content for the moment, not leaving my side as he normally did thereafter.

“Your skin will look nice with a tan when we head south.”

I wanted to ask him how in the world he thought he would enjoy the sun with us heading south. But before my mind began to remember who I was with and what conversation we were having, I realized this wasn’t Jack. This was Aleksandr asking me such things, his being a vampire complicating more than just a suntan with that comment.

“What do you mean when we head south?” My voice was weary, unsure.

“I returned from a trip with information on the orb. An orb that your husband is confirmed to have,” Aleksandr said pointedly. “The telltale sign being a stray black cat nosing around the powerful magic. One you clearly have been feeding.”

I thought back to the cat I had been feeding. The cat mentioned by another coven over the phone mysteriously. Then the very absurdity that the proof of Jack having an orb was banking on his murder and a cat.

Even if it was an odd coincidence of Aleksandr bringing it up, I tried to remember if the damn thing had even been around when Jack was alive. If it had, Jack likely would have tried to kick it off the property, annoyed that it would dig through the trash if it hadn’t done so already. Even though we literally had nothing to do with our own trash to begin with. There really wasn’t anything magical about it.

“As far as powerful magic goes, that’s been diminished. Whatever power Jack had died with him,” I said with a deep frown. “So I think a cat is hardly part of the issue here.”

“Isn’t his coven still active? They’re at your beck and call. Couldn’t one of them have stolen it?” Aleksandr asked.

“If they have, there’s no signs and they all have alibis,” I said, leaving out the part that all of them had been powerless enough to disband and embezzle. Aleksandr didn’t need to know my dirty laundry. Let alone how I planned to handle it. “Even if one of them had it, something would have been sniffed out by now.”

“Then my only best guess is to start going to any place you vacationed recently. Perhaps Jack’s demise wasn’t a coincidence because he didn’t have the orb on him.”

“Or I’m sitting here helping his killer find the orb.”

Aleksandr gave me a snide smile, but his hand was at my throat in an instant. Heat in his eyes as his other hand parted my lips. “Do you like the idea of fucking your husband’s killer? Or does your pretty little mouth just need more work?”

I let out a small noise. My body reacted to his touch and suggestion, considering the height of pleasure I knew it would lead us both to in the long run. This was no time to have another round of sex though. As much as my body was eager, it wasn’t exactly willing as it throbbed still in tender and sore areas.

“We hadn’t gone on vacation in months,” I gasped. Aleksandr’s tongue ran over his bottom lip as he looked down at me, as if already undressing me with his eyes, drinking me in. Slowly he released me, our dynamic changing back to a more level playing field.

“Why not?”

I resisted rolling my eyes, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear as I settled into my arm. “We had a fight, and his coven needed him here. We were supposed to head down to Florida again, but Jack is meticulous. If he had an object that powerful, he wouldn’t have left it behind. He’d keep it as close as possible.”

“I hate to admit how sensible that sounds. Are the dresses for your winter fundraiser?”

My head whipped over to the closet. I eyed the three dresses I had hanging. “Those are for Lilith, it’s tomorrow. Are you not coming?”

“I wasn’t invited. Unless you’d let me be your plus one?”

“Are you coming to invest?” I probed, teasing.

“Is the mutt?” Aleksandr fired back.

Heat rose in my cheeks, not so much at the fact that he was calling out that I had slept with Garrick, but at what I knew he might be implying.

“Garrick and his men were supposed to work security, but Damien outsourced for the occasion. He still plans on coming.”

“For what reason? He’s not contributing to donations, surely,” Aleksandr said. His tone spoke volumes, as if he viewed Garrick as a walking charity case.

“Does it really matter?” I asked, immediately feeling uncomfortable. We hadn’t had any sort of talk about a relationship. This was all just physical, and more than likely, Aleksandr was just using me.

Something that seemed way too obvious now that he was probing me about an orb I still didn’t think existed.

“The way you view and value yourself matters to me. I enjoy fucking you, but if there’s going to be more, then I sincerely hope he brings something to the table. Jack I could understand, but Garrick? He’s nothing but a mangy leech.”

“He’s nicer than you are. He actually takes me out to eat and has conversations with me that aren’t about Jack. A few days ago he took me to see an ice carving competition.” I could hear myself defending him, despite being pissed. Something about Garrick wasn’t physical like it was with Aleksandr. I liked spending time with him because he talked to me, at least when he wasn’t pissed off about Aleksandr.

Aleksandr’s eyebrow shot up immediately, surprised at my tone as he studied me. “So the mutt does have some sense. Are you saying he’s competition for me?”

“When did it become a competition?” I replied, blowing a stray hair out of my face, annoyed. “You and I haven’t exactly had any conversation about this being anything other than fucking. Not that I should probably be fucking you in the first place.”

Aleksandr went silent, as if mulling over my words in his mind as he decided how to respond. “I don’t think it’s really a competition for either of us if I’m being honest. Not while you’re still grieving.” Aleksandr’s eyes flicked to my fingers. My wedding band was still firm on my finger, one digit away from Jack’s band on the same hand.

Pain lanced through me at the truth.

He was right after all. I was still mourning Jack. It was just shy of the four-month marker and even with being shot at or having wild sex with Garrick or him, even going through all the business assets and trying to gain my foothold in the underworld and hating Jack every step of the way for it, I still mourned him.

Part of me had loved him, so living without him when he was all I knew was hard. It was like I had lost a very important part of myself, a part of myself I wasn’t ready to part with.

I held my hand to my chest, running my fingers over the rings. Aleksandr’s hand came to cover mine.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. Just know it’s not really a competition for anyone until then.”

“Is that why we’re just…fucking then?” I asked, trying to navigate what the hell we were then.

“Who said we’re just fucking? You just invited me to be your plus one.”

“Did I?” I asked blandly, recalling the conversation as me not ever asking.

“Indeed. So, I will be sure to be here, ten minutes to show time. Matching corsage and all. That is what the young men do to woo the lady, right? Then we head out on vacation. As planned.”

I sighed, rolled my eyes, and laid my head down on the bed.

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Perhaps, but you? You’re absolutely delicious,” Aleksandr purred, already caging me in with his arms, hovering above me with intent in his eyes.

His hot, throbbing cock pressed into my inner thigh as a testament to his words.

Ready to devour me once more.