“I’ll go to the shelters and adopt animals for you. The children are always finding wounded birds, and the hunters have livestock that sometimes requires medical attention. I’ll take you to concerts,” he offered. “If you want to go somewhere, I’ll take you, as long as it’s safe.”
It would be a form of torture to stand with all those humans while listening to that music they often played at those festivals. He didn’t consider it music, but he would listen to it for her. If it made her happy, he would do anything for her.
Some of Callie’s apprehension ebbed at his words and the fervent tone of his voice. “You would hate that.”
“Not if you were there. Not if it made you happy.”
Her heart melted, and she longed to hug him, but she was acutely aware that while he’d announced her as his mate, he hadn’t mentioned love. However, his promises and words spoke of love even if he didn’t say the word.
“I’ll do anything to make you happy, Callie. I know this isn’t the life you dreamed about, and I know it’s difficult for you to give up your dreams. You didn’t ask for this, and I can’t change what happened, but I’ll do everything I can to help you fulfill some of your dreams.”
The lump in her throat made talking difficult. “I think it’s time to find some new dreams.”
Lucien’s hand tightened on her hair as he tried to keep his surge of emotions under control. Had he heard her right? Was she saying what he thought she was?
“I’d like to go to Bonnaroo next year if it works out, and we’re definitely going to the Download Festival at some point,” she said.
“Anywhere you want to go.”
The gruffness of his voice pulled at her heart, and she stepped into him. Lucien finally released her hair to hug her. He pressed her head into his chest and closed his eyes against the swell of emotions flooding him.
She was so beautiful, caring, and strong, and she washis, but he didn’t dare get his hopes up too much. “Does this mean…. Does this mean you’ll stay with me?”
The hesitancy of his words caused Callie to dig her fingers into his back. “Yes.”
Lucien closed his eyes as he sighed in relief.
“I’m not…. I’m not exactly ready to become a vampire.”
Lucien kissed the top of her head as he rested his cheek against her silken hair. It was becoming increasingly difficult to control himself around her and to keep his impulse to turn her at bay, but she was giving him her life; he could give her more time.
“I understand,” he murmured.
Callie clung to him as love swelled inside her. He hadn’t said the words, but she needed to say them. She’d grown up surrounded by love; her father had always been free with his words, emotions, and hugs, and so had she.
Lifting her head from his chest, she looked up at him. Those black eyes filled her vision, and he gazed at her with a look of wonder that only reinforced her feelings for him.
“I love you, Lucien.”
Lucien’s mouth parted as her words sank in, and a wave of emotion flooded him. Words he’d never spoken to another caught in his throat. Unable to respond, he bent and claimed her mouth.
Chapter Thirty
Lucien liftedher off the ground as her mouth parted and her tongue met his. They’d done this dance often, but her kiss still excited him to the point of making him nearly mad with desire.
His heart raced as he carried her to the bed while her fingers pulled at his shirt. She tugged it up to his stomach and over his chest. He broke the kiss long enough to set her down and pull it the rest of the way off.
Grasping her shirt, he pulled it off and tossed it aside. Following her afternoon training session, she smelled of sweat and baby powder from her deodorant, but neither of those scents could mask her increased pomegranate aroma as it grew thicker on the air.
He ran his fingers over the silken skin of her shoulders and along her black sports bra. Her ample breasts swelled along the top of it, and he couldn’t resist dipping his finger into the cleavage it revealed.
“You’re beautiful,” he murmured as he grasped the bra and tugged it over her head.
Callie looked up at him as his ravenous gaze ran over her body. Her toes curled as his fingers dipped into the waistband of her black yoga pants.
“And so sexy,” he said as he tugged her toward him.
The rigid evidence of his arousal prodded her belly as he started sliding her pants down. Callie remained unmoving as he knelt before her to pull them lower.
