"Oh, God," Sheridan hissed as she felt the waves of pleasure roll through her as Marco teased her neck with his lips .

" Kiss me already ," she gasped as he placed her on his bed "I can’t take anymore."

" As you wish ," he rasped in her ear .

Sheridan sighed as they kissed and pleasure rippled through her. She had never felt this much electricity with someone before, and she didn’t want to let go. Sheridan didn’t know if moments or hours passed before they finally pulled away from each other.

Marco gave a satisfied sigh while they both melted down onto the bed, side by side on their backs.

Sheridan watched the ceiling fan overhead spin lazily. "Does Hunter ever take on clients? Or does he have someone regular?" she asked.

"I’ve never seen him with anyone, come to think of it." Marco paused then turned to look at her, suspicion in his gaze. "Why, are you interested in him?"

Sheridan grimaced. "Not even close. He’s just so mysterious. I mean, why does everyone seem almost scared of him? What’s his story?"

Marco rolled to his side and propped his head on his hand. "I’ve never heard anything about his life before he opened the hotel. I know he’s really old, and obviously very powerful. He’s a scary guy—not someone you’d ever want to cross."

Sheridan raised an eyebrow as she turned her head to look at him. "Well, neither am I."

**

An hour later Sheridan had showered, dressed, and discovered Kenzy wasn’t in her room. She tried to stay calm as she told herself Kenzy wouldn’t have gone outside the hotel after everything that had happened the night before.

It wasn’t until she reached the bottom floor and made her way to the staff area that she heard laughter behind the door to the kitchen. Entering the room carefully, she peeked around the edge of the swinging door and there stood Kenzy at the kitchen island, a bevy of vampires around her.

"Well, that must have been some 'smoothing over'," Kenzy said loudly, drawing everyone’s attention to Sheridan. "It took…" Kenzy looked at her watch, "all night…" She grinned and all the vampires laughed.

Sheridan rolled her eyes and walked into the kitchen.

"Oh girl," Ty said, pinching her waist. "You are glowing! Whatever you were doing obviously agreed with you." His sing-songy voice made it impossible for Sheridan to be mad, so she laughed, looking at Kenzy.

"You’ve made some friends, I see."

"Yes!" Kenzy bubbled. "This place is ah-mazing! Ty did my hair." She twirled to show the pink braids woven throughout her hair, and Ty pinched Sheridan again, winking.

"And Soraya is cooking me Thai for lunch." Kenzy beamed at a beautiful vampire with dreadlocks and a gold nose-ring as the woman stirred items in a wok.

"That does smell delicious," Sheridan said, moving toward the stove.

"Well, lucky for you I’m making plenty," said Soraya.

"Oh, that’s ok, I don’t want to intrude on your meal," Sheridan said.

"Girl, you’ll make her day. She almost never gets to cook," Ty admonished. "Vampires," he whispered, "we don’t eat much, you know."

**

"You know, you never used to be so grim," Aubrey said to Hunter as she sat on a corner of his desk.

"And you never used to be so picky," he answered, sifting through his emails. "If you won’t let humans stake you , that must exclude at least a quarter of our clients."

Aubrey rolled her pale blue eyes. "When was the last time you let a human stake you?"

"That would be never, but we have more important issues to deal with." He finally turned his stony gaze on her. "I’m waiting to hear from the Council about how they want me to handle Colette."

"Bitch," Aubrey muttered.

"I think she has the chest. We know the Barlows had it and she went through their property like a hurricane."

"If they have that chest, we’re all in serious trouble, Hunter."

He rubbed a hand over his face, tension hardening his chiseled features. "Yes. Which is why we need to get that chest back. Whatever it takes."

Aubrey stood and began pacing the office. "I saw the photos of the Barlows. Colette’s men were thorough. That’s why I think it’s odd that these two girls survived. Don’t you?"

Hunter leaned back in his chair, his dark eyes flashing. "I’m concerned about the teenager but Sheridan can be trusted."

Aubrey leaned back, looking at Hunter with concern. "You’re being a fool about both of them,” she said quietly. “They could both be plants that Colette’s placed, traps to get to you."

Hunter stood and looked down at Aubrey, his gaze like ice. "You’ve read the file on Sheridan, you know her history. Doesn’t it trigger anything for you?"

Aubrey crossed her arms, expression defiant. "You’re being ridiculous. She’s just an ordinary woman."

"I don’t think so," he answered. "I think she might be the one."

As if on cue, a knock sounded at the door. "Come in," Hunter said, and in walked Sheridan.

**

Sheridan watched as Aubrey sashayed out the door. When she turned to Hunter, he wasn’t even looking at the sexy blonde. But she still felt a stab of something like envy in her stomach, which she chalked up to her spicy lunch.

"The front desk said you wanted to see me?"

Hunter gestured to a chair and Sheridan sat down while he leaned back against the heavy wood desk. "I want to talk more about the Barlows and what you did for them."

Sheridan felt a prickle of foreboding. "Okay…what exactly do you want to know?"

"What kind of work you did for them, how long you’d known them, what kind of business they were involved in."

"I was their personal assistant, I knew them for several years, and they owned all sorts of businesses. Why are you asking me all this?" She narrowed her eyes.

"I have a right to know who’s living in my hotel, don’t you think?"

She snorted. "You’re the one who brought me here. You already know all of this, you knew who I was before I ever set foot in the place, knew who the Barlows were. Now all the sudden you’re worried about my past?"

Hunter’s lip curled. "Don’t forget who’s in charge here."

Sheridan stood, her skin hot with anger. "No one is in charge of me," she snapped. "And as long as we’re discussing everyone’s past, why don’t you finally tell me a little about yours? Why were those other vampires so scared of you? Where did you get all those scars on your back?" She stepped closer to him and brought a hand to his neck, where one pale, jagged scar ran down below the collar of his shirt.

Hunter froze, his expression bleak. "We’re done here," he growled, standing unnaturally still.

"Not by a long shot," Sheridan murmured, leaning still closer. Tension filled the air, and she felt Hunter’s breath on her face, hot and harsh. His gaze dropped to her lips and a deep, aching rasp came from his chest. His head dipped closer and closer, as Sheridan’s eyes drifted shut and she waited to feel his lips on hers.