Her mind was a jumble as she tried to sort through everything that happened to turn her world upside down in a matter of hours. Vampires? How completely crazy was that? She’d never have believed it if she hadn’t seen it herself. She had so many questions. But what she kept coming back to was that Dom had saved her life and had given her answers.
Leaning back, she closed her eyes. Only just for a minute. God, the water felt good. When had she ever felt this calm? So completely at peace? Hearing the clink of silverware from thekitchen, she knew she was feeling these things because she was here with him.
She awoke with a start to hear a light tapping on the door. The water was tepid.
“You all right in there?”
“Yeah,” she called. “I must’ve dozed off. I’ll be right out.”
After drying off and finger-combing her hair, she realized she didn’t have a change of clothes to put on, so she donned one of the robes hanging from a peg behind the door and walked out.
The smell of tomatoes and spices made her mouth water. She didn’t realize how hungry she was. “Smells wonderful. Spaghetti?” she asked as she padded barefoot into the kitchen.
He glanced at her over his shoulder and paused. His eyes went dark for a moment and a little thrill tickled at her insides. She loved that his desire for her was so obvious and knew it was more than just her blood. “It’s nothing fancy. Jars and a bag of salad. Hungry?”
“Famished.”
Seeing a bag of prepared lettuce sitting next to a bowl, she tore it open along with the dressing pouch and tossed it all together with the tongs.
“So...a... You eat food, obviously, but do you still... I mean, how often...”
“You want to know what exactly are our dietary requirements?”
She nodded, making sure every piece of lettuce was evenly coated.
“Most of us feed from a live source once every few weeks. It may be a donor—yes, there are a few humans who know about us—or we may take it from someone whom we’ve put into a light hypnotic trance so as not to frighten or scare them. We don’t need much and we leave no trace. But we do require human energy on a fairly regular basis.”
Human donors? She rubbed her neck. What would that be like? she wondered. After finding the silverware drawer and grabbing two forks, she carried the salad to the small dining table, lit with several votive candles, and sat down.
He’d thought of everything.
Her head hummed, and she looked up to see him smiling as he set the pasta on the table and pulled out a chair.
“You’re listening to me, aren’t you?”
“I try not to, but sometimes I can’t help myself.”
His dark hair fell forward as he took his seat. Would it brush her cheeks if she kissed him?
“I’d say you had an unfair advantage since I just found out about this tonight. You’ve been able to read my mind all this time.” Her face heated as she thought of the times they’d been together. When he—and she?—
He nodded and dished out their meals. “It is rather an invasion of your privacy so I try not to do it too much, although sometimes I find I can’t help myself.” She saw a hint of a smile.
“You can’t help yourself?” As if he’s so innocent. “I’ll bet you knew I wasn’t wearing panties at the auction. Is that why you took advantage of me on the roof deck?”
“I seem to recall that you jumped me first. I would’ve let you walk away.”
“Walk away? You are such a—” She threw a crouton at him, but he dipped his head and caught it in his mouth.
“I trust you, you know,” Mackenzie said. “I know you won’t hurt me. It’s not in your nature.”
Even through the pungent smoke of the bonfire, he smelled the sweet scent of her desire rolling off her skin, and his cockgrew stiffer. How had he let her talk him into this? She should be in bed, and he should be on his way back to Seattle to fry that bastard, but here he was on the beach in the middle of the night with the most beautiful woman in the world. Well, maybe it wasn’t so hard to imagine after all.
“That’s a pretty bold statement. Rather naïve actually, considering everything you’ve seen. I wouldn’t dare try—ever—because I wouldn’t know if I’d be able to stop.”
“This thing isn’t one-sided, Dom. I can feel you in my blood, too. It all makes sense now. You’re not capable of hurting me. All you’ve done is healed me.”
He rubbed his bare wrists and wished he were that confident. Not expecting ever to see her again, he had packed away the cilice. God, he wished he had it with him now. She snuggled into the crook of his arm, and he pulled the blanket up higher on her shoulders.
