At her look of confusion he said, “Some drew unwanted attention, so it was easier for us if we travelled alone. There were those among us who enjoyed killing for the sport of it. ”
“I know,” she said, softly.
“I wasn’t one of those people at any point.”
“I know that!”
The confidence she had in him was astounding. He knew he had to be honest with her, though. She deserved to know what he was. It almost pained him to admit, “I’ve killed before, though.”
She was silent for the longest time. So long, in fact, that he was beginning to regret the entire conversation. Eventually she asked, “Did you enjoy it?”
He made a horrified face and said, “Jesus. No!”
“In self-defense?”
“Accidentally, too. When I first turned, it was really hard to control myself,” he said, shame filling him.
The sadness that filled her eyes nearly broke his heart. She squeezed him and said, “That’s gotta be a hell of a thing to live with. I’m sorry.”
“Some days,” he admitted, not at all expecting that particular reaction from her.
“We all just do the best we can. Some days that means we do some things we regret, and other days that means we quietly donate two million dollars to the children’s hospital in Oakville.”
Talan blinked rapidly at the subject change. “I didn’t exactly announce that, Lilly. How did you know about the donation?” he asked, curious. That had been one of several donations, but it wasn’t worth mentioning.
“I Googled you after you asked me out,” she admitted.
He raised an eyebrow and asked, “You Googled me?”
“Absolutely. A rich, gorgeous, somewhat reclusive man who’s almost five hundred asks me out. You can’t blame me for wanting to make sure you don’t have any dead hookers in the basement, ya know?”
He couldn’t help the laugh that burst free. She was absolutely priceless.
“I assure you, Lilly. There are no hookers in the basement, dead or otherwise. Well, if there are, they aren’t mine. Perhaps I’ll have security check to be certain,” he said, moving as if he was going to get out of bed.
She giggled, pulled him back into place, and said, “I figured as much. There were a lot of business articles, a couple of stray, personal interviews. I assumed no news was good news on the dead hooker front.”
Talan leaned in and pressed a hard kiss against her lips. “You,” he said, “are a treasure.”
By the time the sun was ready to come up, they were both nodding off. They’d ended up talking and making love all night. As he fi
nally let himself drift off to sleep with Lilly nuzzled against his side, he’d acknowledged that he’d never felt closer to anyone in his entire existence.
****
Talan vaguely remembered Lilly leaving the bed sometime around noon, but he’d dropped off only moments after she’d given him a kiss. He knew she’d gone to class and that she planned to come back here afterward so they could go out later.
When he’d woken around two, he’d had a message from Lachlan. He had asked him if he and Lilly wanted to go out tonight. Talan was up in the air about it. On one hand, he wanted to be selfish with Lilly. Especially now. On the other hand, he didn’t want her to feel as if she wasn’t a part of his real life either. It would be difficult enough to line up their schedules, considering that she kept the opposite time schedule from most of the people he knew.
He’d adjusted his own schedule, waking during the afternoon. That way he could work, then spend the remainder of the evening with Lilly. It was still a little strange and unsettling to think of the future, but he knew that no matter what happened, he wanted her in it.
Four hours later, and Talan had managed to handle everything he’d set out to do for the day. He headed back up to his suite to wait for Lilly to return. He’d skipped lunch so he called room service on his cell to have them deliver a pint of synthetic blood.
When he opened the door to his suite, he was surprised to find Lilly curled up with a textbook on his couch. He said, “Oh, you’re here already. Why didn’t you let me know? I would have come to meet you.”
She looked up at him and asked, “Is this not okay? I thought you wanted me to come back after class?”
“I liked walking in the door and finding you here,” he explained. “I just meant that I wish you would have called me when you were back. The roads are icy. I like knowing you’re here and safe.”