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as a little over 300 years old. "
Sucking in a shallow breath, I looked down at the silky, pale skin of his stomach instead of his eyes. "Did you love her?"
"Josephine, my love. Look at me," Stefan murmured. I fearfully looked up and his sea blue eyes met mine. He reached over to stroke the side of my face. "Yes, I loved her. She was my sire and for a time, we were lovers. Do not do this to yourself. I love you and only you. What I felt for her cannot even compare to my depth of my love for you. Once I had my vision of you, no one else mattered. I understood 200 years ago that you would be the one I would be with until the end of my life. Do you understand?"
Nodding, I let Stefan pull me into his arms. He started crooning and humming to me in Swedish, comforting me. "I liten Reck . . . f?r att n? henne riskerade jag mitt liv ofta . . . Fast jag dr?pas inom armar min ?lskade, Sova i Sif-of-siden-kl?nningar "omfattar: F?r den blonda kvinnan k?nner jag ?lskar ?ndl?sa. "
His deep voice was lovely to listen to, regardless of what he said. "What did you sing to me?"
His lips curled into a smile against my temple. "When I was human, men did not write or recite love poems. It was forbidden to do so. I am sure it is safe to do now. " He tipped my face up to look in his eyes as he spoke. "I little reck. . . to reach her risked I have my life oft. . . Though I be slain within the arms of my beloved, sleeping in the Sif-of-silken-gowns' embraces: for the fair-haired woman feel I love unending. "
"That's beautiful," I whispered, my fingers tracing lines across his chest.
He softly stroked my hair and peppered kisses against my face. He continued to hum, the deep sound rumbling in his chest and lulling me to sleep.
"Kian was right about one thing the first day I met him," I mumbled drowsily.
"And what was that, vackra?"
"He said you died that night to be reborn for me. It took over 900 years for us to find each other, yet here we are together in an apartment in New York City. "
Stefan tucked the covers around us. "He is correct. Against all of the odds, we found one another. It was fate. "
Burrowing closer to him, my eyes were heavy and my voice tired as I recited part of one of my favorite poems to him. "He loves my heart, for once it was his own, I cherish his, because in me it bides. My true love hath my heart and I have his. "
* * *
Flying commercial with a vampire turned out to more interesting than I'd expected it to be. We were flying first class out of JFK, but even with all of the perks it was humorous to watch Stefan bypass body searches and scanners. He would put the agents under his influence, which was an almost trance-like state, informing them that there was no need to check him. He was no threat to anyone on the plane. He would then release them and he would be passed through with a wave of the TSA agent's hand. This seemed to work especially well with the female agents.
It was almost 6 pm when we boarded our flight. I hurried to snag the window seat before Stefan had a chance to grab it. Stefan grumbled and stowed our carry-on bags in the overhead compartment, sighing heavily as he attempted to arrange his large body comfortably in the much too small seat.
"This is why I hate flying commercial. It is these fucking seats! J?vla m?nniskor och deras sm? s?ten!"
Smothering a giggle, I had to turn away. He jostled both of our seats as he struggled beside of me. Out of the corner of my eye I could see his long legs stretched out as far as they could go and he still looked like he was hunched over. It was going to be a long flight for both of us.
Stefan powered up his laptop and handed it to me with a smirk on his face. He pulled CD's out of the laptop case and handed them to me wordlessly. I grabbed them from him and inserted one in the CD drive, slipping ear buds in my ears and sticking my tongue out at him as I thought back to receiving these CD's earlier in the morning.
I'd packed light for our return trip to Bali with us. We really didn't need to take much since we would only be there a few days: long enough for me to pack up and ship what I wanted to keep, put my villa on the market and say my goodbyes. I'd walked into the living room to see Lukas sitting on the couch, talking to Stefan. Lukas popped off of the couch, bouncing over towards me with a shit-eating grin on his face. He handed me a gift bag he had partially hidden behind his back.
"What's this?" I asked as I took the bag from him, trying to peek inside and see what was underneath all of the paper.
"This will come in handy for you. After walking in the other morning," Lukas rolled his eyes skyward and wrinkled his nose in distaste. "I thought you could use this. "
Putting the bag down on the counter, I pulled all the bright tissue paper to see a box for a foreign language program with the word 'Swedish' prominently displayed. I looked at Lukas with furrowed brows.
"Swedish?!"
"Since Stefan obviously likes to talk dirty to you in Swedish while you get your freak on, I thought you should at least know what he's saying. " Lukas smiled, pinched my cheek and bounced back to the couch where he plopped down and looked very arrogant.
Meeting Stefan's eyes, he shrugged non-commitally at me and folded his hands behind his head, prominently displaying his broad chest.
His voice was filled with humor as it drifted through my mind. "Are you sure you are ready for an eternity of Lukas, vackra?"
"Is anyone prepared for an hour with Lukas?" I mentally shot back, fighting the smile that was threatening to break over my face.
"Touche. "
"Lukas, I didn't realize you were so concerned about me learning different sex words in Swedish. I think Stefan has it covered, but I appreciate the gift. Maybe I should remember the ones I don't know and have you translate for me instead. " I countered. How I managed to keep a straight face, I'll never know.
