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He snorted. “Do you still get nervous about seeing him? I’ve been with Pierce for years now and I still do.” He paused and amended that to, “Good nervous, though.”

“Were you ever afraid of him?”

James chuckled. “Nah. If anything, he was afraid of me. I think he thought I was insane, because I was so blasé about the vampire thing. Plus we were trapped in a cabin together.”

“Trapped in a cabin with a hungry vampire sounds like horror movie material from the human’s POV,” I pointed out. “Why wouldn’t you have been nervous?”

“He saved my life,” James said, a fond smile curving across his lips. “Plus, I just kind of knew, if that makes sense? Like, I looked at him and I knew who he was, deep down, on some instinctive level. I knew he’d never hurt me.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “Vampire or no, he’s my big grumpy teddy bear.”

I couldn’t help but smirk at that. Pierce—serious and perpetually surly from what I’d been able to gather, except when he was with James, of course—would not have liked his mate calling him a teddy bear.

“Was he ever worried about hurting you?”

The smile on James’s face dimmed fractionally. “Occasionally. It’s silly, because he’s very gentle. But he’ll get past it in time. He’s gotten better.”

I looked down at my untouched glass. There were beads of condensation on the sides of it. I could still feel James’s attention on me. “What if I’m worried I might hurt Derek?”

“Then you’re probably a pretty normal, well-adjusted vampire. It seems like that’s a rite of passage when you date a human.”

I looked up at him sharply. His golden-brown eyes had filled with concern.

“It’s not that easy. If I’m not careful, I could—”

I broke off, swallowing. I didn’t even want to verbalize my thoughts.

“You totally could,” James agreed. “You’re stronger than he is, you’d be able to overpower him easily. And you’re faster than just about any creature on earth, so he couldn’t outrun you, either. He’s still a regular human, too, so he wouldn’t heal the same way I would.”

James was a sanguinato, which was a term used to describe a human who regularly drinks vampire blood. As long as they keep doing it, they live basically forever, heal faster, never get sick, stop aging, and are more resilient to injuries. They even have sharper senses, better reflexes, and are stronger than average humans. Not quite a vampire, but not quite human anymore either.

Derek, however, wasn’t. Not exactly reassuring.

“Are you saying I ought to—”

James put up a hand. “No. I’m not. That’s not my business. I’m pointing out that the danger is real. You’re not crazy for thinking it.”

“Okay…” I trailed off, feeling a little lost.

“The point is, you’re recognizing it. Which means you can be a little more careful with him. And you don’t ever need to push yourself further than you’re willing to go. Derek is a good guy. He’ll wait for you, I promise. Just do small steps.”

As if on cue, the door to the bar opened and Derek stepped through. He blinked against the dimness. It was overcast outside—which is why I was entertaining the idea of a date, since direct sunlight and new vampires don’t exactly mix well—but still lighter outside than in. I had sunglasses inside my shoulder bag.

Derek’s gaze searched the bar until he found me. His face lit up and he smiled, causing my stomach to do backflips. But his smile seemed forced somehow. And his pulse was beating way faster than normal.

“Hey there,” he said, a little faster than usual for him. He joined me at the bar. “Are you ready to head out?”

“I texted Sadie. She’ll be busy for the afternoon, but she agreed to do a double date.”

“Can we try it without her?” Derek said immediately. “Maybe she and Sarah can meet up with us for dinner or something?”

Unease flooded through me at the idea of going into a public place, potentially for hours, without a chaperone.

I glanced over at James helplessly, though I wasn’t sure what I expected.

He caught my gaze and gave me a very slow nod. He mouthed you’ve got this.

He was right. I could do this. I had to at least give it a shot and there was no better reason to try than Derek. He deserved better than a shut-in who was terrified of the world.

Which meant I had to try sooner or later, right? Why not now? For him.