“I love you,” I whisper. A realization. The strange part is, I feel like he’s been by my side for years, waiting in the shadows, loving me too. It just wasn’t our time yet.
Boz’s dark eyes glow with his unspoken happiness. He goes down on one knee, takes my hand, and gazes into my eyes. “Stella, will you do me the great honor of becoming my mate for life?”
I drop to my knees in front of him. “I want to say yes, but how can I when I don’t know what being your mate means?”
“Oh, Stella.” He holds me close. “It means I will be so careful with you. I will love you and care for you for eternity. You need never fear me.”
He strokes my cheek. “It means I will love you forever.”
“No more lies?” I ask.
“There will never be secrets between us again. Please be my wife, Stella. Let me give you a perfect life so that I may experience everlasting happiness. Because living forever means nothing if my mate isn’t by my side.”
In that moment I know. His love for me is in his eyes, in his touch, in his voice. It’s everything I’ve always wanted. If I can just take this leap of faith and trust that what he says is true, then there is nothing to fear.
“Then I do. I accept.”
He wraps me in his arms, holding me tight. “I am so honored in your trust. I will spend the rest of my days making your every dream come true.”
“Oh, Boz.” How could I have ever doubted this wonderful man?
He pulls back to look in my eyes. “I know you love to check things off your list. The first step was saying you’ll marry me. The others will come in time, only when you’re ready.”
“To become a vampire?”
“Only if you wish. I am prepared to say goodbye at the end of your natural life if that is what you want. I will mourn you for eternity.”
A surge of love fills me, pushing out the last of my fears. “I will think about it. I promise.”
He grins and sweeps me off my feet, carrying me out of the room, cradled in his arms. “The next step is a slow seduction to initiate you into the pleasures of the bedroom.”
“I love that step!”
He nuzzles into my neck, and I tense. “Stella, I’ll only bite you with your permission and only for pleasure.”
I let out a shaky breath. He did give me an orgasm that way. It’s difficult, knowing how powerful he is, potentially deadly. But I know he loves me, and that makes all the difference. “Okay. And what are the next steps?”
“I will write every one of them in your planner. But first, we must plan our wedding. Right away. I cannot wait long to have you.” He sets me on my feet by the front door. “And I want you to know I understand if you had to sell your maidenhead for a plane ticket—”
“What! Boz, I used a credit card.”
“Ah. Those are very useful, and I am most pleased to hear your maidenhead is intact.”
“But—”
He swoops in, dipping me back over his arm and kissing me. A rush of dizzying lust races through me. He rights me again and gives me a little push toward the door. “All in good time, my love. I will get everything taken care of. Good night to you.”
I turn back, hands on my hips. Seriously? He’s turning his new fiancée away from his bed? I’m still aching for him, but he’s already gone with supernatural speed. Maybe one day I’ll move like that too. Super Stella.
I walk home with a bounce in my step, love in my heart. Boz understands me; he loves my family; he loves me. He’s not like I ever dreamed my husband would be. I smile to myself.
He’s better.
Boz
I shuffle my beloved Stella from my castle in a hurry. This is not how I planned the evening to go. I wanted to dance with her until the morning light and tell her all the ways she has brought sunshine into my very long, very tedious life. She has filled me with a renewed sense of purpose and brought my humanity back. Well, some of it. I am, after all, still a vampire. A little nibble on her neck might have been a pleasant way to finish off the night.
However, all that must wait. While she and I danced, I caught wind of an intruder. “Come out!” I yell. “I can smell your foul stench, vampire!” Why any of my kind would dare to enter my castle is beyond me. I am ancient, which makes me faster and deadlier than most.
I grab a claymore from the stone wall in the hallway. The decorations in my castle are there for a reason. “I will find you! And I will remove your head!” I sniff my way down the hallway, toward the parlor that connects to the kitchen. The trail grows stronger with each step.