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He winked and Nora smiled. "Arrogant, are you?"
He pointed to one of his pointed ears. "These are hard to resist, or so I've been told before."
Nora actually laughed. "How in the world could your ears be hard to resist?"
Leaning over, he dropped his voice. "Because want to know a secret?" She bobbed her head and he continued, "If you stroke a fae witch's ears, especially the pointed bit, it drives them crazy and all but puts them at your mercy. For as long as she has me by the ears, the female has power over me."
She eyed his ears in a new light. "I've never really thought about a fae witch's ears like that before."
He grinned. "But now I bet you're thinking of touching them and making me beg."
She bit her lip. For a female who'd had almost no power over her own life, it was tempting.
But then she recalled how touching a fae witch's ears aroused them, and she didn't want to risk driving River too far and him being unable to stop.
Because then he'd hurt her, just like all males did when they took what they wanted.
Leaning forward a bit and bracing her hands on the railing, Nora looked back out at the street. Her gaze landed once again on the tea shop at the end of it.
And for a brief moment, Nora wished she wasn't so damaged and could simply go for a walk with a handsome male by her side.
* * *
One moment Norawas laughing and the next she retreated and looked back down the street toward the ice cream shop.
River wished he knew what was going on inside her head, but he wasn't a mind reader.
His best guess was that he'd gone too far with the teasing about his ears.
Although for a few seconds, he'd seen yearning and curiosity in Nora's gaze, as if she wanted to stroke his ears and watch him beg, but then something had scared the shit out of her.
Not for the first time he wished he could go back and murder her fucking father for what he'd done to her. For the actual rapes themselves, but also for the long-lasting damage they had caused.
Still, he was determined to spend some time with her, and his gut said that with a little nudging, Nora might be able to make it to the ice cream place. He wouldn't force her or make her feel guilty if she stepped outside and instantly wanted to return to the building. But sometimes a person needed a kick in the ass to get going, as he'd learned with patients over the years. Even if he wasn't a therapist, sometimes he'd had to team up with one for his terminally ill patients. And over the years he'd picked up a thing or two.
Standing tall, he cleared his throat until Nora looked back at his face. "Miss Yates, would you care to walk down the street with me and get some ice cream?" She frowned and quickly added, "Or just try. If it's too much, we'll come back and I'll find a way to sneak you back some. But it'd be nice to have someone at my side who could make sure I didn't end up challenging a guy to a duel or some shit by mistake."
The corner of Nora's mouth ticked up. "No one duels anymore."
He dramatically wiped his brow. "Whew, good. Because I've never fired a gun before and I'd probably lose."
Shaking her head, she replied, "What, are you accustomed to magic duels instead?"
He realized Nora was actually joking and he grinned. "Oh, sure. We just sort of stand there, concentrating, and wait for someone to get close enough to use our magic. All that intense staring and overwhelming silence is super entertaining for bystanders."
She laughed, and like before, he stood a little taller at the sound. "Until your sister came here, I'd never really been around magic before. Plenty of shifters and even some humans come to Leo's gaming hell, but not as many fae witches. So I'm still learning about it all."
"Well, feel free to ask me anything. But later. Right now, the sun isn't too bright with all the cloud cover, and I think it should be easier for you to go walking about."
Unlike human movies, all paranormals knew how vampires were overly sensitive to the sun and wouldn't instantly turn to dust in it. Cloudy days were best, which was why so many vampires lived in the UK to begin with, or so Yesenia had mentioned.
Nora looked down the street again and bit her lip.
He loved how her fang pressed against the full bottom one, making him wonder what it'd be like to take her soft flesh between his own teeth.
When she answered, it was so low he could barely hear it. "I'll try." Nora looked at him again. "But I can't promise I'll make it, River. If I say I need to go back, promise me you'll listen. I know fae witches can lie unlike vampires, but I'm going to hope you'll honor my wishes in this."
Triumph surged through him. "I'll listen to what you want to do, Nora. As long as you promise to only ask to go back when you truly can't stand it anymore, and not just because you think someone's looking at you weird. Because, in all seriousness, they'll probably stare at me given how few fae witches show their faces in London's vampire territory."
