Maya pushed a lock of hair away from her forehead. “Keep doing what?”
Harper opened her eyes, blinking slowly until her gaze refocused. Then she gave Maya a slight scowl.
“Stealing my voice.”
Maya couldn’t help but laugh. Harper was still groggy, so her annoyed tone wasn’t as sharp as clearly intended.
“Not sure. I didn’t realize I’d done it before tonight.”
“Well, you have. Several times.” Harper’s scowl faded, a tiny smile replacing it. “It’s super annoying. Just so you know.” She leaned against Maya again. “You didn’t bite me. I kind of thought you would.”
Maya stiffened. Only for a second, and going by how lax Harper still was, she hadn’t noticed.
“That won’t happen.” Maya swallowed, jaw clenched. “I don’t feed like that. It’s not really my thing.”
Never mind that she’d wanted to. That she’d been tempted. That when she’d nipped at Harper’s throat, her fangs hadachedat the thought of breaking the skin. Of tasting this woman as pleasure made her moan and shiver.
But she wouldn’t.Couldn’t. This wasn’t aboutthatat all. It was just a glimpse of normalcy. One she had been without for a long time.
Plenty of the women she’d dated had been surprised about this side of her. She was, too, at first, as one long-ago evening of experimenting had turned into a fascination.
For most of her life, she had been drifting, never really fitting in. Never being wanted or missed when she eventually left. Butthiserased all of it. The push and pull and play of it all…Thatshe was good at, both when the power scales were tilted in her favor and when they returned to equilibrium.
“You okay?” Maya kept her voice calm and quiet. Harper needed both at the moment. “It got pretty intense before.”
Harper’s brows furrowed. Then she stiffened. She looked down at herself, seemingly just noticing how they were sitting, with Maya leaning against the headrest and Harper curled up in her arms.
“Yeah, I… I’m fine.” She moved away slightly and rubbed her temple. “Just a little dizzy.”
Maya grabbed the water bottle from the bedside table. There should really be food there, too, but she didn’t have any in her apartment, and no force on earth could have made her leave Harper alone right then.
“Here. You’re probably dehydrated.”
Harper looked at the bottle as though she didn’t know what it was.
“What are you doing?”
Maya frowned. “What do you mean?”
“You’re being all… attentive and stuff.” Harper tightened the blanket around herself. “It’s unnecessary. You don’t need to bother with it, and I said I’m fine, so… you don’t need to.”
Maya’s frown deepened. She hadn’t expected that response, especially not its delivery. With suspicion and discomfort, as though Harper was surprised. As though she hadn’t experienced this before.
Moving carefully, Maya pressed the bottle against her hand.
“I do need to. Please let me.”
Suspicion still shined in her eyes, but Harper accepted the bottle.
“You’re being sappy, you know that?” Harper muttered, taking a sip of water. Sighing.
“Being sappy is important for this sort of thing. I need to make sure that you’re okay. That I didn’t go too far.”
“Does it look like you went too far?”
A surface-level glance would suggest no. If all you noticed about Harper was her smirk and teasing tone, she looked like her usual confident self.
But the unease hadn’t left. It remained as tension around her shoulders and in the way she still clutched the bedsheet.
