Page 140 of Eternal Obsession

“Now, please, you’re standing on my foot.”

“Sorry.” She drew back. Ingrid furrowed her brow.

“Don’t ask me, you’re the detective,” I said.

“What?”

“You just wondered what you’re meant to do next,” I said. “I read your mind.”

“Shit!”

I unbuttoned my shirt and removed it. “Can I wash this out? It’s my favorite shirt . . . well, was.”

“You have a favorite shirt! You’re a vampire with a favorite shirt!” She slumped down on her couch. “You can read my mind?”

“Yes.”

She blushed. “That’s how you knew what to say to me and when we were intimate⁠—”

“That does happen to be a vampire trait.”

“No, I can’t believe it . . .”

“Sure. I’d be happy to provide a demonstration.”

“I think you just did.” Ingrid’s eyes wandered.

“Chocolate flavor?” I said.

“Oh, bloody hell! Every thought?”

“Pretty much.”

“Even those thoughts?”

“Particularly those!” I said with a wry smile.

“I hope you can’t put thoughts in my mind as well. Can you?”

“No, those are your thoughts. Even I can’t think that dirty!”

“That’s how you seduced me, isn’t it? You read my every desire. You scanned my mind so that you would know what would work on me?”

“Your desires are those of a normal woman.”

“No one will ever believe me,” she said.

“That’s probably a good thing.”

“This is freaking me out!”

“Me too.”

“This is such a mess.”

“I never meant for any of this to happen. I will go, and you need never see me again.” I backed up, shirt in hand. “This . . . you, me . . . it’s unnatural, not meant to be. I have to go, and you must forget me. I also beg you to forgive me.”

“Jadeon, no! Not like this. You do not come into my life, turn it upside down, then say, Sorry I must be going.”