Is that what this is? Am I so weak?
She sighed, filled with self-loathing. Then the day after tomorrow there would be a house full of vampires. And Kyla would be, what, paraded in front of them, Tristan’s new “pet”? The day after she’d have to meet Tristan’s boss. She felt her anxiety spike. A headache was coming on. She nuzzled into his back and tried to go to sleep. He was warm and smooth and smelled like banana bread warming over a wood fireplace. Just touching him settled her, for some reason.
He turned over and pulled her close and kissed her, “Hey.”
“Sorry I woke you,” she said.
“I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I had plans for you tonight.” He kissed her shoulder, “Are you okay?”
She nodded but then said, “Not really.”
“It’ll be okay.” He kissed her forehead.
She put her head on his chest, “I believe you.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m scared but I’m trying. Fake it ‘till I make it.”
“You are my #1 priority. Believe me when I say that. We got interrupted earlier when I started to tell you how I feel about you.”
She felt her face heat up at the memory of him saying he was in love with her.
“I know you can feel it when we touch, when our eyes lock. I’ve been feeling your resolve melt bit by bit. It’s been fascinating. I keep feeling more things from you. More than anxiety and fear.” He touched her hair and ran his thumb up and down her ear, “I feel your passion when you’re angry, when you’re aroused. I feel fight in you that excites me even when you’re defying me. I love what I feel when you’re concentrating on something, like when you’re reading or watching those dancing stiffs. I can’t get enough of that zone you go into when you’re running on the treadmill. It makes me want to run and get in that same frame of mind. Be right where you are, you know? I’m still learning your different emotions but I’m feeling so many of them.” He caressed her face and touched his lips to hers, “I feel you opening up to how you feel about me and I can feel your emotions growing stronger each day. I’m so glad you’re not still trying to push that away, princess. That’s a gift, you know? You’re giving me a beautiful gift by letting yourself feel this, letting this happen. I know you’re afraid. I’ll be strong for you, baby. Gimme that fear; let me crush it.”
She put her palm on his cheek. His eyes were luminescent in the dark room and she felt her heart warm at his words, “When you feed from me, I feel things from you, too, Tristan. It’s like there’s bliss inside me. I feel and see passion and emotion from your eyes as well as feel it inside me.”
“I feel those emotions because of you.”
“We’re some co-dependent pair, huh?” She laughed a little but then went serious, “But I also felt it inside of me when you were mad at me. Rage flooded my veins like something hateful and… unholy. That was so scary. I never want to feel it again.”
“I never want to make you feel it again.” He kissed her nose and then nuzzled into her neck.
“I don’t think I love you,” he whispered, “I know I do. I love you, princess.”
She felt pins and needles disperse through her limbs, then heard an ugly-sounding sob escape her mouth. She pulled it back.
Oh great. An ugly cry? That’s what a guy wants to hear when he says the 3 magic words! But Tristan hadn’t just said three magic words; he’d said 4. Was it corny that she wondered if he really was her prince, the prince she’d dreamt up when she was a little girl hoping to be rescued? She thought back to that Lite Brite screen with the green eye and the blue eye.
There was quiet for a moment. Then, Tristan broke the silence with a soft whisper,
“I can feel it and you’ll say it when you’re ready…”
He didn’t initiate sex, surprisingly, but she was happy about that. She just wanted to feel close to him right now. She could see his blue eyes piercing the darkness of the bedroom, gazing at her lovingly. She curled in deeper and slid into a deep sleep, feeling 100% protected.-10-Kyla woke up first the next morning and the first thing that entered her mind was: He loves me.
No one had ever loved her, not that she could ever remember. Jackson said he did but they just felt like words and she’d never said it back. They’d had more than a few big blow-ups about that fact, too. Tristan saying it didn’t just feel like words. It felt real. She stared at his sleeping form. Could a human and vampire live together happily?