I nodded. “Yes, I live here alone.”
There was a brief flash of relief on his face and I realized that he had been asking for another reason: To see if I had a boyfriend. For a reason I couldn’t explain, that knowledge filled me with joy and caused my heart to flutter.
“Please, have a seat. Get comfortable,” I encouraged him, motioning toward the soft leather couch. He settled onto one end and I sat on the faraway opposite end, perched nervously on the edge.
“How old are you?” I murmured. He glanced at me, amusement apparent on his handsome face.
“Why do you ask?” he teased. He certainly didn’t have Jason’s shyness issue. Brennan seemed at home with anyone and he wasn’t intimidated by me.
“Just curious,” I answered with a shrug.
“No specific reason?” he raised an eyebrow. I fought the urge to say, Yes, because I’m 1,000 years old and I want to see exactly how much I might be robbing the cradle. But of course I didn’t.
And robbing the cradle? I suddenly had the urge to do a face plant into my palms. Robbing the cradle would imply that I had plans to seek a relationship with him. And I didn’t. Did I?
Did I?
I shook my head. “Nope. No specific reason.”
“If you say so,” he grinned. “I’m eighteen, if you’re still curious. I go to college in town.”
Long pause.
“And you?” he finally prompted. “Now would be the time when you shared a little something about you.”
“Oh.” I looked at him blankly, observing the way his t-shirt stretched across his muscled chest. I hadn’t actually had a conversation with a mortal in a while and certainly not in this context. I wasn’t sure what to say and fiddled with my fingers nervously.
“So, where are you from?” he prompted with a grin. “How old are you? Do you have a boyfriend?”
I glanced at him sharply and he laughed. I had forgotten how appealing his laugh was. It was impossibly smooth yet husky at the same time. I swallowed hard.
“Sorry,” he chuckled. “I had to throw that last one in there.” He was sprawled on his end of the couch, perfectly at ease with his arm stretched along the back.
I consciously forced myself to relax. I was being stupid. There was no reason to be nervous. After taking a deep breath and then another, I smiled.
“I’m eighteen, too,” I answered. And I did look eighteen. “I’m not from here and no, I do not have a boyfriend.”
“Well, now we’re getting somewhere,” Brennan grinned. He smile was beautiful and every time he smiled, it threatened to bowl me over at the knees. He was the epitome of the term ‘golden boy’. Golden hair, butterscotch eyes, tanned skin. And I was sure that he was athletic. You could just tell.
“Do you play football?” I asked conversationally, remembering my social skills. He nodded.
“I do. Linebacker. But we’re skirting the issue.”
“The issue?”
He scooted down the couch toward me and I lunged to my feet, backing away.
“Why are you running from me?” he asked, his eye growing serious. As they did, their color shifted from butterscotch back to hazel. Odd. It seemed they reflected his mood. But that wasn’t possible. Was it?
“I’m not running from you.”
“Yes, you are,” he said quietly, as he stood. His tall frame cast a long shadow against the wall and my gaze flickered toward it and then back to his face.
“Have I offended you somehow?” Brennan asked seriously. “Because I didn’t mean to.”
“No, of course not,” I answered weakly.
My knees suddenly felt weak at his close proximity and I ached to have his hands lift up and touch me. I could practically feel the warmth emanating from him and I wanted to lean into it, into the palms of his masculine hands. My body almost moved toward him subconsciously and I had to fight to remain still.
What was wrong with me?
“Why am I so drawn to you?” he asked curiously, taking another step toward me, his question telling me that he was feeling the same.
And this time, when he approached, I didn’t move away. I couldn’t. I couldn’t find the strength inside of me to step away from him. I clenched my fists at my sides and stood firm. I was not weak. I could do this. I wouldn’t hurt him.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. My palms were growing clammy from my efforts, but I couldn’t relax.
“But you feel it too,” he observed, his eyes flitting to my fists. I was sure my knuckles were white from being gripped so tightly.
“Yes,” I whispered.
He took a final step and lowered his head, covering my mouth with his. Colors exploded behind my closed eyelids and sensations that I couldn’t even describe filled me up. My knees almost buckled and my heart throbbed, almost painfully, against my sternum. I wanted him. With everything in me, I wanted him.
But it was more than that. As his large hands splayed across my back, pulling me closer to him as he deepened the kiss, it was as if he completed me. He was something that I hadn’t even realized was missing, but now that he was here, I never wanted to let go of him. It felt silly to even think something like that, but it was true.
I also felt an unbelievably strong inclination to take his soul. I wanted to consume it, inhale it and keep it inside of me. That startling desire pulled against my need to be near him and I fought to overcome the dangerous thoughts. I could do this. I wouldn’t hurt him.
Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pulled him closer. It would be so easy. All I had to do was inhale. It was as easy as breathing. And I so, so wanted to. My chest practically ached from the urge.
But with an inner strength that I didn’t even know that I possessed, I held my breath and loosened my arms. His tongue was in my mouth, his heart beating loudly against my chest. And with a start, I realized that our heart beats had synchronized. They were beating together. I could feel my pulse in my ears, roaring like a crashing waterfall.
Being with him felt so good, better than anything ever had in my entire life.
He finally pulled away, breathing raggedly.
“What was that?” he asked hoarsely.
I fought to regain my composure and walked away from him to the windows, where I stood in the light of the moon. It would strengthen me and by the gods, I needed strength right now.
He stared at me for the longest while, silently appraising me.
“You’re beautiful, you know,” he said softly. “But that’s not it. That’s not the reason that I need you.”
“Probably not,” I confirmed. “There’s a lot about me that you don’t know.”
“I don’t know anything about you,” he laughed, breaking the tension. “I know that you’re eighteen, you live alone and you don’t have a boyfriend.”
“Aren’t those the important things?” I replied, leveling my gaze at him.
He nodded seriously. “Yes. But there’s more to you- a lot more. Will you share it?”
“Maybe someday,” I murmured. I strangely found that I really did want to. I wanted to share everything about me with this boy who I had just met. It made no sense. I had lived for a thousand years without once feeling this way.
Brennan studied me again, but made no move toward me. It was as though he understood that I needed space. I wanted him near, but I didn’t know if I could restrain myself.
“Touch my hand,” he requested, holding it out. “I want to see if it happens again.”
Sighing, I crossed the room once more and stood in front of him. Reaching trembling fingers out, I touched mine to his, as my eyes met his.
The same strong sensations flooded me, like every natural source of light in the universe was entering my body. He grasped my hand and pulled me to him, bending to kiss me fiercely once more.
“I almost can’t stand it,” he growled against my lips. “I can’t seem to get close enough to you.”
I knew the feeling. I was clutching his back, trying to pull him against me as close as I could. And it wasn’t enough.
“Tell me about you,” he said softly. “Please.”
He released me, but held my hand. And I was grateful for it. I felt almost panicky at the thought of being separated from him and I found that as each minute passed, I was more and more able to withstand the temptation to drink his soul.
“Let’s walk,” I suggested, pulling him toward the door.
I hesitated in the door frame to allow him to pass, but as his large, warm body slid past mine, he paused and dipped his head to kiss me again. His lips were warm and soft against mine and I knew that I would never get enough of him. The moonlight bathed him in silver, illuminating the face that I knew would haunt me from this day forward.
“I can’t keep away from you,” he said with a smile as he pulled away. “I can’t explain it.”
I said nothing, but smiled slightly as we walked down the wooden steps for the beach. My mind was turning a mile a minute, trying to decide what to say, how much to explain. Then I frantically wondered why I was even considering it. I really didn’t know anything about this man. But my body seemed to think otherwise.
“Tell me more about you,” I said as we stepped onto the soft sand of the beach. “Tell me everything.”
He grinned and I sucked in my breath. The moonlight made him seem other-worldly. His scent wafted toward me on the breeze and I inhaled, breathing in the male scent. He smelled delicious.
“Everything?” he asked smiling. “I don’t want to bore you.”
“And you won’t,” I assured him. “I want to know everything about you.”
He started talking and I allowed myself to become immersed in the sexiness of his voice. His words blended together as he told me of his childhood, his upbringing, his parents. He had lived in this area his whole life, his mother had died years ago with cancer and he had no brothers or sisters. I found nothing in his words to explain my connection to him.
Yet, as he finished speaking, he brushed his hand across my lower back to guide me around a piece of driftwood in our path and the strange electricity followed his touch and flickered up my spine. There was certainly something between us.
“Now, you,” he prodded. “Tell me everything.”
I sighed. “I wish I could,” I told him honestly. “But there are things about me that you couldn’t possibly understand and I wouldn’t want you to. I don’t want you to see me in that light.”
He looked puzzled. “In what light? You don’t want me to know the truth?”
I studied his face for a moment. “Honestly, I would like nothing more,” I admitted cautiously. “But for the first time in my life, I’m afraid. I’m afraid that once you know everything, you won’t want anything to do with me. I need to figure out how to explain. Can you trust me for a while? I know you don’t know me. But just give me a while to sort this out. Can you?”
He nodded slowly. “Yes. I can.”
I hadn’t even realized I had been holding my breath but when he spoke, I breathed again. The tension I had been holding exhaled with my breath.