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Her cheeks flush a lovely rose that looks beautiful against her golden skin. “You… have your appeal.”
I lean back on the couch, arms behind my head. “Go on.”
Esmeralda rolls her eyes and dismisses me with a wave of her hand. I shoot forward, gripping her jaw to force her face to mine. “Esmeralda. Tell me.”
Her scent sweetens, apricots and rosemary and olive oil a direct link to my most primal instincts. “You don’t need me to tell you that you’re handsome. It’s the whole vibe… with your dark hair and the tattoos and those golden eyes. You’re the definition of tall, dark, and dangerous.”
My eyebrows furrow for a millisecond until I realize what she’s talking about. The black bands at my wrists. The sigils up my arms. They would look like tattoos, to the human eye. “And you find that appealing?”
Esmeralda chews on her lip, but doesn’t answer. I stand, caging her with a knee next to her thigh on the couch and both hands on the back cushion behind her. “Don’t keep things from me, little one.”
The color in her cheeks deepens to a ripe cherry shade. “I like that you’re wrong.”
At first I think she means wrong for her, and I’m about to agree. But Esmeralda continues. “It’s like you don’t belong here. And I don’t mean Hazel Creek, I mean… I don’t know, the world, I guess. It makes me feel at home. Because I don’t feel like I belong, either.”
Her acumen leaves me speechless. I knew at first sight that she doesn’t see me as other humans do, but hearing her speak it out loud does something to my gut I don’t want to think about, so I lean on one elbow, bringing our faces closer. “You want to belong to me?”
I’m twisting her words and I know it, but Esmeralda nods anyway. When my mouth crashes against hers, she welcomes it, parting her lips for me. My exploration is anything but gentle as I lick and nip at her mouth. Esmeralda gives back in spade, chasing my tongue with hers when it retreats, and lacing her fingers through my hair to keep me close. Her throaty moans send vibrations through my body that make me shiver.
Meilin’s presence moves closer, too close for comfort, and I let Esmeralda go. By the time we part we’re both breathing heavily, and her lips are red and swollen. Since drinks have materialized on the coffee table behind us, I reach for hers.
“Drink your liquid courage,” I say. “You will need it for what I plan to do to you on the dance floor.”
She grabs the martini glass with shaky hands and nurses it as if it were a cup of hot tea.
“Where are you going?” she asks when I move away.
I lay a gentle peck to her cheek. “Closing out the tab,” I lie. “That drink better be gone when I come back.”
With that, I move toward the bar, acutely aware of Esmeralda’s eyes on me. I don’t want to leave her, but Meilin needs a talking to. As I lean against the bar, she appears by my side.
I pull out my phone and press it to my ear, pretending to have a conversation with someone. “You need to get yourself in check. Your interference is starting to get on my nerves.”
Meilin thrums her fingers above the counter. She can’t touch it, but that doesn’t stop her nervous tick. “You should choose someone else, Tei.”
“Pardon me?”
“Leave the girl alone. Choose someone else.”
I run a hand over my face. “You know that’s not how this works.” Even now, the mere feet of distance between myself and Esmeralda are enough to trigger the curse’s pull, and my insides feel like they’re lurching forward trying to reach her. If she doesn’t accept the bargain soon, I might go mad.
“This time, it has to.” She reaches a hand for my forearm. “Tei, that girl is wrong.”
It’s not lost on me how her words echo Esmeralda’s a few minutes ago.
I pull my arm from her grasp. “I promise you, she’s most definitely the right one.”
Meilin shakes her head. “That’s not what I mean. Something about her feels off, like she doesn’t —“
“Belong,” I finish her sentence for her.
Her eyes widen. “So you feel it too?”
I shrug. “She said it herself.”
Meilin steps in my personal bubble, and lowers her voice. “When our eyes meet, I feel like she’s actually seeing me.”
I scoff at that, because what a ridiculous concept. My little prey may be astute, more intuitive than her peers, but she’s certainly human, and humans can’t see spirits. There isn’t an ounce of deceit in her small body, nothing that could compare to… those vengeful creatures.
