“If you’re hungry,” she responded with zero animation in her voice. It made me want to do something to piss her off just so the fire would come back into her eyes.
Instead, I’d take her somewhere special.
* * *
“What is this?” Siren asked when I drove through the gates of Asheville’s well-known Biltmore Estate.
“This place was built by George Vanderbilt, Cornelius Vanderbilt’s grandson.”
“Should those names mean anything to me?” she asked, looking out at the spectacular views of the property.
“Not necessarily. To be honest, I know very little about the family myself.”
Siren gasped when we drove through a second set of gates and, to our right, she saw the main house. I stopped the SUV and put it in park.
“It looks like a castle.”
“It’s the largest privately owned house in the United States,” I said, reading over the brochure I’d picked up earlier while shopping. “Would you like to look at this?” I asked, handing it to her.
“Is this where we’re having lunch?”
“Not precisely, but we are dining on the estate.”
I continued our drive past the vast gardens, along winding roads, until I came to Antler Hill Winery.
“This is lovely,” Siren said, stopping to look out at the rolling hills of vineyards. “It reminds me of something.”
I walked over and stood behind her. What I was about to do was risky. However, Siren needed to remember things, whether or not that meant she and I would go from lovers back to enemies. Not helping her was selfish on my part. “Close your eyes.” I peeked over her shoulder and put my mouth near her ear.
“You and I were in Spain, on the island of Mallorca. We were working an asset-protection op, and one night, there was a meteor shower predicted. We sat on the sand as the full moon illuminated the ocean and the hills of vineyards on the estate.”
A tear rolled down her cheek. “I think I remember,” she whispered without opening her eyes.
“You looked so beautiful—your pale skin glowed, and the fire I saw in your eyes…I came so close to kissing you.”
Her eyes opened. “But you didn’t?”
“Not then.”
“Why not?”
“A lot of reasons. We were working.”
“And yet we were sitting on the beach, looking for shooting stars?”
I turned her in my arms and looked into her icy-blue eyes. “I didn’t dare hope you’d want me to.”
“I did.” Another tear ran down her cheek. “I don’t know how I know that, but I do.”
I leaned down and kissed her like I’d wanted to do that night. Siren wrapped her arms around my neck, and I slid my tongue between her open lips. I didn’t care if the tourists walking to and from their cars saw us or even if it made anyone uncomfortable. I’d stopped myself from tasting her lips that night, and today, I couldn’t.
She pulled away first and looked into my eyes. “Thank you,” she murmured.
“If you don’t mind, I think I’d enjoy shopping a bit before we head back,” said Maureen.
“You’re not hungry?” asked Siren.
“I’ll grab a bite on my own,” she said with a wave as she walked away.