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“What things?” I barked furiously. Mostly out of frustration and terror. This night was supposed to move me closer to a Stark-free life. Now I was knee-deep in vampire muck.
“If I tell you, then it will ruin the test.”
“Fine. Let’s go,” I said.
“Go?” He raised a brow, looking surprised.
“Yeah. To your house. Show me all the things you planned. I want to know if I’m this person you say.” Really, though, I saw this as an opportunity to end this insanity. I was not his Anna.
“Are you certain?” he asked.
“Just promise me one thing: If I’m not her, I want to be left alone. No fighting your exes. No more seduction. I want you outta my town, outta my life.”
He narrowed his eyes. I could tell I’d set him off.
“Montgomery,” I said calmly, preparing to lie, “let me be completely transparent. I’m not gonna be with a man whose heart is taken and always will be. I deserve to be loved, to have my soul mate, to live life knowing that the person I’m with only has eyes for me.” Okay, maybe that first part wasn’t a lie. “So if I’m not your Anna, then it’s only fair you let me go and that you leave Leiper’s Fork. Because it’s clear to me you’ll never love anyone like you loved her.” That last part was also true.
Stark stared, his eyes softening. “That is exactly what my Anna would say. She demanded all or nothing.”
“Then she was a smart woman.”
“Youare a smart woman.” He took my hand. “Masie?”
“Yes?”
“Whatever happens, I want you to know I have no regrets meeting you. You are truly a special woman. Full of fight, passion, and love, but mostly, I like your darkness masked in light. Perhaps, someday, you will share that darkness and tell me the origin.”
Something unexpectedly shifted. Maybe it was the way he looked at me—like I could do no wrong. Maybe it was because I’d spent most of my teen years and adult life hiding my sadness, and that maybe, just maybe, Stark wasn’t put off by it.
Of course, he called my sadness by another name, but he knew I carried the past and sudden death of my father with me—something I never revealed to anyone.
Or maybe it was that when I looked at Stark just now, I realized something about him that gave me a sick kind of comfort:He can’t die.
He would never grow old or get sick. He would always be there.
A dark shudder rolled through me. Suddenly, the thought of having this vampire in my life didn’t seem so crazy.
“Can we go now?” I asked.
He smiled wickedly.
“Stop that,” I snapped.
“What?”
“Please try to be less evil tonight. It’ll go a long way.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
It didn’t take much effort to realize that the country club was really a community of blood-drinking, wealthy vampires, and Stark appeared to be the richest of them all. He lived two minutes from the restaurant, overlooking the ninth hole in a massive three-story mansion.
Maybe he was some sort of prince? Because if his mate had been the ruler once, it probably meant he was high up on the social ladder.
“So this entire community is filled with vampires?” I asked as we got out of the golf cart, which he’d driven. Yes, vampires drove golf carts, and no one was more shocked than me.
“Yes, though there are some who prefer to live outside the club. They must pay for their own staff, including security.”
“Security for what?” I asked.
