“Not with me? What do you mean?” I folded my arms as he walked away. “What wouldn’t you have done with me?”
Ignoring my question, he leaned against the table and reached his hand out.
I hesitantly took it.
“I’m sorry I scared you, my love. But have no doubt that my lips, my teeth, or my touch would not have done anything you didn’t want me to.” He held back a cheeky grin. “Except maybe tear your clothes off.”
I smiled, feeling my cheeks tingle.
He pulled me into his chest, and the cool of his skin through the thin fabric of his shirt surprised me. “From now on, my love, if I’m in that state, use your thoughts to reach me—it’s clearer.”
I nodded against him.
He let out a breath, pressing each digit of his fingertips firmly over my face and neck. “I’m so, so sorry I scared you.”
“I’m okay.” I rolled my face upward to look at him. “Well, now I know you wouldn’t have bitten me, I’m okay.”
He clicked his tongue. “Look what I’ve done to you.”
“It stings.”
“You’re bruising badly.”
“You were pretty rough.” I smiled, holding my hand to the mark.
“I won’t do that to you again. Ever.” He looked up from the bruising, the promise of his words filling out the green in his eyes again.
“What if I want you to?”
His jaw tightened, but his smile remained soft. “No. Not ever again.”
“But, I liked it.” I pulled my hand down from my neck and gasped, seeing a red smear.
“I know.” He caught my wrist, holding it away from him. “I was hoping you wouldn’t notice that.”
“What…I mean…how…did you cut me?”
“No. It’s just from the er…sucking.” One corner of his lip quirked upward. “I drew your skin a little too…eagerly.”
“Can’t you smell it—the blood?” I held my hand up to him.
“Yes.”
“Didn’t you taste it?”
He shook his head. “It broke through as I pulled away. I was trying to ignore it.”
“Does it make you want to bite me?”
“It makes me want to taste you—to see if you taste the way you smell.”
Holding my hand near my nose, I sniffed. “I can’t smell anything.”
“That’s because you’re not a vampire.”
“Here.” I held my hand up in front of his lips. “Taste it.”
“Ara, don’t!”
“David?” I frowned at the empty space in front of me, then spun around a few times until my eyes found him leaning against a stack of chairs across the room. “What’s wrong?”
He inched away from me as I approached. “I can’t do that. One taste could be enough to make me lose control.”
My nose crinkled and I looked down at the bloody smudge on my hand, then pressed my tongue to it. Erk! “Gross. How can you drink this stuff? I taste like a coin.”
David laughed softly. “You silly girl, of course you won’t like it.”
“Well, how do you know you would?”
With a deep, heavy sigh, he reached across and wiped his thumb over the bruise.
“David, what are you doing?”
“Tasting you.” His shoulders lifted once, dropping as he popped his thumb in his mouth and closed his eyes.
“David?” I said in a shaky voice, taking one step back.
His eyes flashed open; I jumped inside. “Just like I thought. Vanilla and honey. Kinda like a cupcake.”
“Are you…” I took another step away. “Are you okay?”
“Actually?” His lips turned down as thought washed across his face. “I’m fine. No sudden urge to kill you.”
“Really?”
“Strangely, the vampire is screaming for me to suck the life out of you—” He rolled his head to one side and studied me quizzically, “—But the human me wants to kiss you and tell you how much I love you.”
“Well, I always have liked the human you.” I wrapped myself in his arms.
“Then, the human me you shall have.”
“But, David?”
“Yes,” he said distractedly, kissing my hairline.
“You were scary as a vampire, but only because I didn’t know what you were capable of. But now I’ve seen it—” I smiled at the memory of him losing control, “—I liked it.”
“You’re not serious, are you?” He whipped me out from his body and held my shoulders. “Ara, are you joking? Please? Because, I can’t take that kind of a joke.”
I frowned, shaking my head. “Why would I joke about that?”
“Oh, God.” His hand fell to his knees.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ara. You don’t know what that means to me.”
“Is that…a good thing?”
“It’s amazing, that’s what it is. You—” he held my face and dropped a quick kiss on my lips, “—are amazing. Do you have any idea how precious you are to me? I never knew such a creature could exist, and now I’ve found you…” His voice slowed. “I have no idea how I’m going to let you go.”
“Same way you stopped yourself from biting me, I guess,” I said, pulling his hand away from my face.
He nodded once. “This is a first for me, you know. I’ve never had to do that before—to control myself. It took everything in me not to rip your throat open and drink your blood, and even more to stop enticing you with the spell of lust.”
“Is that what made me want to…you know, die?”
“Yes.” He laughed. “It’s how we kill. We seduce you into trusting us.”
“So…you seduce men too?”
“No. I’ve never seduced a man. And I’ve not killed any girls since we met.” He brushed his curled fingers over my cheek. “I use an attack kill, now. It’s more brutal, more painful for the human, but I can’t bear the thought of killing girls since I found you.”
“Why?”
“Because I see your face—think how I would feel if that was you.” He looked up as, above us, the loud thunder of footsteps sent vibrations through the walls. “We better get back out there—lunch will be over soon.”
“Okay.” I breathed out. “But, what will we tell everyone?” They all saw us walk in here. I didn’t even wanna imagine what they’d think.