At ten, the sound of her alarm dragged Lexi out of a deep sleep. She shut off the annoying sound then groaned when she saw the time. Since she hadn't fallen asleep until four in the morning thanks to having slept most of the previous afternoon away, the six hours of sleep she had gotten felt like nothing. More than anything, she wanted to roll over and catch up on the rest of the hours she had missed, but determined to get herself on UK time, she forced herself to get up instead.
Once she showered and dressed in the first pair of jeans and shirt she could find in her suitcase, Lexi went to the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. She needed lots and lots of coffee. As she stood at the counter waiting for the pot to brew, she made a mental list of all the groceries she still needed to buy—the first outing on her agenda. She had planned to do a bit of sightseeing as well, but with Raed expected to call at some point today, Lexi had second thoughts. There was no answering machine at the flat and she didn't want him to think she was rude by not being around to take his call.
She shook her head. Who was she kidding? She just didn't want to be gone when he called. If he called. What little sleep she had gotten had been filled with dreams of Raed. Hot, sex-filled dreams with him doing wicked things to her body that left her whimpering for more. The kiss they had shared in the hallway had awakened her passion. She now wanted Raed buried deep inside her. Her pussy hungered for the big cock she'd felt through his jeans. Pushing thoughts of a naked and aroused Raed away, Lexi decided she had tortured herself enough for one day.
After downing two cups of coffee, she headed out. This time her trip to the grocery store turned out to be uneventful. She even managed to stay on the left hand side of the road too. After she brought the groceries up to the flat and put them away, she decided to go down to the bookstore and introduce herself to her landlady, who had simply left the key under the mat in front of the door the previous day.
A bell chimed over the bookstore's entrance when she opened the door and stepped inside. Though the store wasn't very large, rows and rows of packed bookshelves lined the walls and stacks of books piled high on tables. Behind a counter at the back of the store sat a woman who appeared to be in her late fifties, presumably her landlady.
Lexi made her way toward her and smiled. "Are you Charlotte?" At the woman's nod, Lexi held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Lexi. I rented the flat upstairs."
Charlotte shook her hand. "Nice to finally meet you in person, Lexi; I hope you found the flat acceptable."
"It's perfect."
"I'm glad. If you have any problems, you can find me here in the bookstore during the day, except for Sundays. But you can always call me at home. You still have my number?"
She nodded. "Yes, I do. I'll be sure to get in contact with you if anything comes up." Lexi looked around the store. "At least I know where to come if I need to buy a book to read."
Charlotte smiled. "I'm sure you would be able to find something of interest. I try to stock a little bit of everything."
An oversized hardcover book sitting on a nearby table caught Lexi's eye.She picked it up and read the title that had been printed across the cover in bold letters.
"The History of East Anglia and the Sutton Hoo Ship-Burial." Lexi looked over at Charlotte. "Norwich is part of East Anglia, correct?"
"Yes. The counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, along with Cambridgeshire, are considered East Anglia."
Lexi nodded. "And the Sutton Hoo burial was found in Suffolk?"
"Correct again. Do you know much about the burial?"
"No, not really," Lexi said with a chuckle. "My dad is a bit of a history buff, especially when the subject is this area of England. I think this would be the perfect gift to take home for him."
Charlotte rang up Lexi's purchase. "I'm sure he'll enjoy the book. It has a lot of pictures of the burial goods found at Sutton Hoo. There's even some history about King Raedwald of the East Angles. They suspect he was buried inside the ship."
Lexi had to wonder if Raed's parents had named him after the king. Raedwald wasn't exactly a common name. After she paid for her purchase, she headed back up to the flat. She sat on the couch in the living room and carefully flipped through the pages.
As Charlotte had promised, there were quite a few pictures of the ship-burial artifacts.
The gift would keep her dad occupied for hours.
Putting the book down on the coffee table, Lexi found her thoughts drifting back to Raed. He seemed to be in them more often than not. For some reason she couldn't stop thinking about him. She actually missed him. Strange, considering she barely knew the man. And yet, the thought of not seeing him again . . . well, Lexi just didn't want to go there. Raed would really think her a nutcase if he knew how close to an obsession he had become.
Lexi caught herself as she stared at the phone. She gave herself a shake. Staring at the phone is not going to make Raed call any sooner, idiot. Just like a watched pot never boils, a watched phone never rings.
To distract herself, Lexi picked up the book again and started to read from the beginning. The genre wasn't exactly her favorite, but she soon found herself drawn into the history of East Anglia.
When the phone rang, Lexi just about jumped out of her skin. She quickly put the book down and reached for the handset sitting on an end table next to the couch. She suddenly felt nervous as she picked it up and said, "Hello?"
"Hello, Lexi. It's Raed."
She bit her lip and shivered deliciously at the sound of his deep voice. "Hi. I guess you were able to find my phone number all right."
Raed chuckled. "Not exactly. I ended up ringing the bookstore below the flat to see if they had the number. I figured whoever owned the place must also own the flat above it. Your landlady was nice enough to give it to me after I concocted a little white lie and explained we're related."
Lexi owed Charlotte big time for that. "Very resourceful of you."
"When I want something, I tend to do whatever it takes to get it," he said huskily.
She took her bottom lip between her teeth. No mistaking the sexual innuendo in those words. "Lucky me."
"Are you going to be home this afternoon? I know I left rather abruptly last night. I would like to make it up to you."
"I'm free. I don't have any plans. You're welcome to come over any time you want." All the ways Raed could make it up to her flashed through Lexi's head. Most of them required them both naked and preferably in her bed.
"Good. Then I'll see you in a few hours."
"I'll be here waiting." With bated breath, she added to herself.
Lexi hung up the phone and resisted the urge to jump up and down and yell,
'yes, yes, yes'. Obviously she hadn't scared Raed off last night; he seemed genuinely interested in seeing her again. Knowing she had a long wait ahead of her, she picked up the book and forced herself to read.
Raed tried not to bound up the stairs to Lexi's flat; he needed to get a hold of himself. It didn't matter that she had haunted his dreams when he had finally fallen asleep after a full night of hunting werewolves. It didn't matter that he could still taste her on his tongue, or that the memory of her scent left him hard and aching. If he didn't watch himself, he would be on Lexi as soon as she opened the door. The need to have her under him, to sink his cock between her legs as she moaned his name, rode him hard as he knocked on the flat's door. He took a deep breath when he heard Lexi moving around on the other side.
Lexi opened the door and stood back to allow him to step inside. He let his gaze run over her snug-fitting jeans and grey t-shirt, which barely covered her midriff. That tantalizing bit of skin made him want to reach out to see if it felt as silky soft as it looked. Instead, he walked past her and waited for her to close the door.