As she looks up, it seems like her canines have elongated. The blue of her eyes is barely visible as the pupils are blown. “It was your blood.”
My cock stirs and thickens. I have to gather my wits before I manage to ask, “You want to bite me?”
“I know that sounds horrible.” She takes a deep breath. “I know that I should have control of these urges.” Another pause to breathe. “Mari is trying to teach me to meditate so that I can find peace and not feel the urgency of my vampirism.”
My body’s response does not match her thoughts. “You did control your urge, Tilda. You didn’t harm me, and as far as I know, you haven’t harmed anyone since you’ve been here in Harmony Glen.”
“The urgency is usually controllable even if it’s uncomfortable.” She stares at the counter as if it holds some answer. “When you pulled out the stool for me at your house, the blood running through your body sang to me.”
“Sang? Does blood do that?” I have keen senses, but I don’t hear blood flowing through veins. Sometimes I can hear a person’s heartbeat when they’re stressed.
She swallows hard and balls her hands into fists. “Not usually. I mean, I’ve never heard that before.”
“Do you hear it now?” I listen to see if I can detect what she’s talking about.
With a nod, she grits her teeth. “I hear it like angels calling my name.”
I can see that she’s struggling to stay behind the counter and using it to keep her distance from me. “Why do you think I’d be opposed to you tasting my blood?”
Looking up, her eyes get impossibly wider, and her tongue slides over her long canine tooth. “Most people don’t want to be bitten.”
“I’m sure that’s not true. I’ve heard a vampire bite can be pleasurable. When I was in officer training, a guy from Los Angeles told me that there are clubs for vampires and humans who want to be bitten.”
She pulls a face. “Those people are obsessed with the romance of vampires. They want to be bitten for the endorphin rush. They don’t understand that a vampire can lose control and take too much. Humans have only ten to twelve pints of blood. Take too much, and they can die, or worse, you have to turn them into a vampire to save them.”
“Listen.” I round the counter.
She backs away.
Stopping, I hold up both my hands in peace. “I am not human. Also, just so we’re very clear, I like you, Tilda. I’ve thought of little else since you first came to town.”
Instead of continuing to back away, she steps forward. “Why didn’t you say something?”
“It was my job to keep you safe. I wouldn’t want you to think I was taking advantage of the situation.”
Her jaw ticks. “I need you to leave, Max.”
“Because you want to bite me?”
Nodding with a jerk, her eyes fill with pain. “It’s very hard to resist tasting you with the way your blood sings to me.”
“What if I invited you to drink my blood? What if I offered it to you? Would that ease your ache?” Seeing her in so much discomfort sends my need to protect her into overdrive. “I have a lot more blood than a human.”
Knuckles white on the edge of the counter, she says, “I could hurt you if I lose control.”
“I don’t think you will.” I step closer.
Her chest rises, and she gulps air, but doesn’t back away. “How can you be so sure?”
Running my knuckles down the curve of her jaw, I breathe her in, and it’s like the elixir of life. “I have no idea, Tilda. I just know you would never harm me or anyone. It’s just your fear, not reality.”
“You don’t know that,” she whispers. “I’m a vampire, a natural killer.”
“That’s Brochet talking. I’m sure he said a lot of things and maybe some of them are true, but vampires are hunters, and that doesn’t always mean killers.” I thread my fingers through her hair and tilt her head back. “I’d like to kiss you. Would that be alright?”
With a swallow, she nods.
I’m so much taller than she is that I have to take a half a step back to lower my mouth to hers. Sweet and soft, her lips are perfection. I linger for a long moment and pull back, studying her blue eyes.
