“What did you go to college for?” she asked.
“The parties,” he answered with a rueful smile. “I even did the frat thing.”
“Of course you did,” she said with a chuckle.
“I think, if Beth hadn’t come along and changed all our lives, I would have gone on to be a coach or gym teacher. I really would have enjoyed coaching.”
“I could see you as a coach.”
Mike pondered what his life would have been like if Beth hadn’t entered it before shutting his imagination down. He didn’t like the boredom and thirst that came with being a vampire, and recently he’d felt more adrift and lonely, but he loved his family and his life.
And he wouldn’t have met Mollie if he’d remained human.
Watching her as she licked the last of the rabbit juice from her fingers, he knew he wouldn’t have changed anything.
“I did buy a house recently,” he said. “I plan to fix it up and flip it. I thought it would be a fun project to undertake by myself. Over the years, we’ve built several homes together and learned how to do every aspect of it, but I’m going to do this one on my own.”
“How come?”
“Something to keep me occupied. Lately, I’ve been feeling a little… I guess you could say bored... or maybe lost.”
Mollie’s eyebrows rose at this admission. She never would have expected him to say he felt lost. He carried himself with a confidence few others did, but more than that, when he talked about his family and how close they were, love radiated in his voice.
“But you have such close friends and a large family,” she said.
“Yes, and they mean the world to me, but many of them are settling down and starting their own families.”
“Are you on the lookout for Mrs. Right, Mike?” she teased, yet she found herself breathlessly waiting for his answer.
Staring into her striking green eyes, Mike was becoming increasingly convinced he’d already found her, but he couldn’t say that. “I’m keeping my eyes open,” he replied with a smile.
Mollie ducked her head when an unexpected blush crept up her neck and into her cheeks. She hadn’t blushed this much in her entire life, but she couldn’t seem to stop around him. “Wouldn’t you eventually grow bored with only one woman?”
“No.”
The emphatic answer drew Mollie’s attention back to him. “How can you be so sure?”
“When vampires find their mate, they stay with them for life.”
“Their mate?”
“Yes. Some vampires have mates, and when they discover that human or vampire, they forge an eternal bond with them through an exchange of blood and sex.”
Despite her apprehension about the entire vampire thing, his words piqued her curiosity. “A human can be the mate of a vampire?”
“Yes, but if they are, they cannot remain human. The vampire will be driven by the need to make them immortal to complete the bond and ensure the safety of their mate. I’ve seen what an incomplete bond can do to a vampire and how unstable it can make them, but once it is complete, they calm again. The bond also makes both vampires stronger. A vampire never strays from their mate, and if one dies, the other dies or goes insane. A vampire will also destroy anyone who threatens their mate.”
“And you’re hoping to find your mate?”
“Yes.”
She couldn’t form words to reply as they stared at each other until the seconds ticked away a minute.
“What is your full name, Mollie?” Mike asked to break the tension after his revelation.
He’d considered not telling her anything about vampires and their mates, but if she was his mate, then she should be prepared for what could happen in the future. However, he’d barely delved into the realms of how insane a vampire could go when the bond was incomplete or they were forcibly separated from their mate.
“Would you like my middle name too?” she inquired, trying to sound teasing, but it came out strained.
