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“I’ll have whatever she’s having, my good man,” I say, tossing her a wink.
She smiles but then a blush creeps into her cheeks.
Her heartbeat begins to beat faster, almost frantically, as her eyes roam over the menu.
“Could we have some more time to decide, please?” I say, speaking to the waiter but keeping my eyes on Tammy.
“I thought you were having whatever I’m having, hmm?” she sasses.
Or she tries to sass.
But beneath her words, I can hear a note of anxiety.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“How do you know something’s wrong, hmm?”
“Why do you keep saying hmm?” I mutter, smirking despite myself.
There’s just something about this woman, and by something, I mean that she’s life-changing, paradigm-shifting, that she’s the only person either in this time or at any time I’ve lived through who has made me want to enter the world of mortals again.
“Because it’s what you say,” she giggles. “Every now and then, you’ll just go hmm, like you’re the biggest badass in the world and you’re too important to say any actual words.”
“I do not,” I say, though I know she’s right.
Bantering with her is just too damn fun.
“You do too,” she laughs.
“Tammy,” I say, reaching across the table and taking her hand in mine. I feel her flinch slightly at the coldness I have to envelop myself with if I’m not going to light up this restaurant like a goddamn fireworks display. “You can tell me if something’s wrong, always. I’ll never judge you.”
“It’s just … I’m supposed to be on a diet, you know?”
I can’t help it. My mouth splits open and a savage laugh escapes my throat, causing several people to turn and look at me.
She snatches her hand away.
“How is that funny?” she snaps.
“I’m sorry,” I say quickly. “I’m not laughing at you, I promise. I never would.”
When I take her hand again, she doesn’t flinch or pull away.
“It’s just the idea of you needing to go on a diet is absurd to me. Firstly, you’re the sexiest goddamn woman just the way you are. Your curves drive me insane. When I had you naked and curvaceous and wet for me—”
“Torsten, we’re in public,” she says, her shimmering heartbeat betraying her.
“Right,” I say, baring my teeth at her, fangless for the time being. “But when I had you like that, I just couldn’t believe how perfect your body was—is. It’s curvy in all the right places. But there’s more to it than that. You have to understand, I’ve lived a long, long time. I’ve been alive long enough to find this modern, Western obsession with stick-thinness thoroughly ridiculous. When it first started appearing, I thought it was a strange phase, and would pass.”
“But it hasn’t, has it?” she murmurs. “And whatever you say, you can’t deny that most people find skinny girls more attractive than—”
“Than curvy fucking goddesses?” I snarl, not caring to keep my voice low now. “No, Tammy, I can’t agree with you there. If you want to go on a diet, then fine, go on a diet. But don’t for a second think you need to, or have to. Don’t feel as if you’re being compelled by me, or society, or whatever else. Because just looking at you drives me into a feeding frenzy, a feeling that, before you, I hadn’t felt for two hundred years.”
She bites her lip, light shimmering in her eyes that makes me want to fist her hair, spoil the intricate artwork of the stylist, and guide her lips to mine as I pulse redder then a crimson sunset.
“You wouldn’t just say that?” she whispers.
“I’d never just say anything with you,” I growl carnally. “You’re going to be the mother of my children. We’re going to spend the rest of our mortal lives together. I wouldn’t just speak empty words to you.”
Her grip tightens around mine, and then an impish smile lights up her face.
“Okay, then I might have the steak.”
“Good choice,” I say. “I’ll get mine nice and rare.”
“Well, I could’ve guessed that,” she giggles, seeming more carefree now as I gesture for the waiter to return.
“So how does it work?” she asks once we’ve made our orders. “Turning you into a human, I mean?”
She shakes her head, laughing under her breath.
And she’s so damn musical that even her quiet laughter is better than half the music filling the charts these days.
“I still can’t believe we’re even talking about this, ceremonies and amulets and magic. It all seems pretty ridiculous. Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to totally call your life ridiculous.”
“No, it is,” I chuckle deeply. “Especially in these modern times, when most people don’t believe in magic. When I was first changed, it didn’t seem that impossible to me. We believed deeply in the gods back then. We saw the world differently. But yes, it is. You’re right.”
