Styxx (Dark-Hunter 22)

"I love cheese. It's one of my favorites." After taking the pole from her, he pressed something into her hand. "I brought you flowers."

She brushed her fingers over the small bouquet. Her smile widened at the softness of the petals. "Poppies?"

"They are, indeed."

"Thank you." Rising up, she placed a chaste kiss on his cheek.

Styxx closed his eyes and savored the sensation of her lips on his skin. He ached to sink his hand into her hair and hold her there, against him until time itself stopped moving. "I'm sorry I was so late. If you need to leave..."

"I don't. Not really." She started back toward the stream.

"Here, let me carry that for you." Styxx took the basket from her arm.

As they walked, she pulled a blanket from the basket in his hand. Once they reached her spot, she spread it out on the ground. It amazed him how she moved with such ease and grace when she couldn't see anything. How she remembered the exact place she'd been in when they'd met.

"May I ask you something personal?"

She paused. "It depends. How personal are we talking?"

He leaned the pole against a tree. "It's ... never mind. I shouldn't have mentioned it."

She arched a brow at him. "Now you have my curiosity fully tweaked. What is it?"

"I ... um..." He scratched nervously at his cheek, hoping to the gods he didn't offend her with his stupidity. "Were you born blind?"

She laughed lightly as she set out her items from the basket. "You and I have completely different definitions for the word 'personal.' No, I wasn't born blind. I had my sight at birth."

"Is that why you move so easily?"

"No. I move easily because I'm not old."

It was his turn to laugh. "That's not what I meant."

"I know what you meant and no, it's because I have overdeveloped senses that allow me to know where things are, and it's why I tend to hum or make noises as I go. Whenever I get near something, sound will echo back from it, letting me know it's in my way."

"Really?"

She nodded as she sank down on the blanket. "What about you? Were you born with your eyesight?"

He laughed again. "I was indeed. Though I have no memory of it. And sometimes it doesn't work as well as it should." He set the basket down beside her then took a seat on the opposite side of the blanket so that he could admire the way the light cut across her skin that reminded him of warm, dark honey. "You changed your hair."

"I curled it."

"I like it ... though it was nice straight, too," he quickly added.

Her sweet, beautiful smile hardened him instantly. "My poor Hector. You're really not very comfortable around women, are you?"

"Not even a little, but I have to say that you're a lot easier to talk to than most."

"How so?"

You don't deride me, for one thing.... "I think it has to do with the fact that I met you at the height of my ineptitude. I have nowhere else to go in your estimation except up." Cringing over those words, Styxx cleared his throat. He'd said too much about his stupidity and clumsiness. No need in reminding her of it when he didn't have to. "Nice weather, isn't it?"

She tsked at him. "You're changing the subject. It makes me wonder why."

He sighed wearily before he answered her original question. "Women tend to want to use or judge me."

"Use you how?"

He plucked a blade of grass and ran it through his fingertips. "They see me as a hefty purse."

"Are you?"

"No. I'm quite certain I'm human. Most days anyway. Mornings not always withstanding. Instead of a purse, I'm much more of a bear in the early hours of the day."

Her laughter washed over him like the sweetest wine and had the same intoxicating effect on him. "But do you have money?"

That succeeded in sobering him. Was she like the others, after all? "Why are you asking?"

"Because I don't like people who are wealthy. They tend to be arrogant and hold the belief that any problem can be solved by applying more funds toward it."

While that would be true of both his father and uncle, it wasn't his philosophy. "Honestly, my lady. I have no personal wealth at all." As his father was so quick to remind him ... Everything belonged to his father. Even the horse he rode. "I'm quite worthless."

"You are definitely not worthless."

"And to that, I would remind you that you're blind." Styxx cringed again as those words left his lips. Oh gods, how could he have been so stupid and insensitive? "Bethany, I didn't mean-"

"Shh." She pressed her fingers to his lips. "The truth doesn't offend me, Hector. I am blind. I can't deny that. But because of it I see much more clearly than those who have working eyes."

She picked up the bread and tore a small piece from it that she held out to him. "Here, sweet. Perhaps this will remove the taste of foot from your mouth?"

Smiling, he started to take it from her then before he could stop himself, he leaned forward and ate it from her hand.

Bethany shivered at the sensation of his lips against her fingers as he took the bread in his teeth. She heard him pour and mix the wine into the two goblets she'd packed. With the tenderest of touches, he took her hand and placed it against the cup. Sweeping her finger over the edge, she had to bite back a smile. He'd barely filled it halfway.

"You're definitely not trying to get me drunk."

"I don't believe in taking advantage of others."

"Then you are a rare man."

"Just an honest one."