Suddenly intense, he grips my chin in his hand. “Never apologize for being you.”
I smile, cautious of the seriousness of his tone. I get up to fetch the other bottle of water and practically ripping the cap clean off, I hand it to him, distracted.
He doesn’t know me, not the real me. And that bothers me. A lot. Would he understand? Not be afraid? Accept me? It’s a big ask and if he doesn’t…
“Liv?” He touches me. “Where’d you go?” he asks quietly.
“Just tired, I guess. Been a long day.” I smile to cover up my lie.
Glancing at the clock, now glaring 2:00, he sighs, “Yeah. We should catch some sleep.”
Knowing sleep won’t come to me for another couple of hours, I still crawl onto the bed next to him. He pulls me close, so I lean my head on his chest. Listening to his heart beating rhythmically, I fall into a bit of a daze.
I come to when I realize my fangs are down and I am ready to bite him. Bolting upright, I notice that, thankfully, Cole is still fast asleep. So careless. I’m acting like a stupid newbie with no self-control. Careful not to wake him, I crawl out of bed. The clock glares 4:00. Shit! I slept with him for two hours. What is going on with me?
I pick up my robe and the now warm bottle of wine. I can’t be bothered going downstairs for a cold one in case I run into Devon again. Coward, that I am.
I grab a glass and head out to the balcony, situated off the sitting room. I discard the robe in the sitting room, preferring to be naked. It is high enough up that I can see the ocean crashing to the shore. It’s so peaceful here in the dead of night. Alone. I pour a glass of the tepid wine and sit back to reflect. Taking a deep sip, I shake my head at myself. Not only am I acting like a schoolgirl, but also, and more importantly, I am not acting like a Vampire. A Master Vampire at that. But right now, with him...he makes me lose myself in him. Am I falling in love with him? After all this time, could it be happening again so quickly? I can’t love him and not tell him my secret. I know if we are to be together, I have to. Again, my thoughts return to my long-dead, sweet, mortal husband, Fraser, only to be quickly squashed.
CHAPTER FIVE
M y phone buzzes next to me catching my attention. I wince at it and lean over to grab it, as I see the sunrise.
Caller ID flashes ‘CK’.
Again?
I groan inwardly, this is Devon’s doing, no doubt, I realize with a flash of irritation. “Hello, my love,” I say sweetly.
“Do not try to distract me with endearments,” he snaps in Italian. “I am very pissed at you.”
“Oh, why is that then?” I ask innocently.
“You know why,” he responds shortly.
“You spoke to Devon?” I ask.
“What the fuck are you thinking?” he growls.
“That I think that I’m falling in love with him and he needs to know,” I growl back.
“We are not going to argue about this over the phone,” he states and hangs up.
My mouth drops open in shock as I realize what he’s going to do. Seconds later, he pops up in front of me, in all his glorious anger.
“You Teleported here to argue with me in person?” I ask in disbelief.
Some incredibly old Vampires develop this ability to Teleport. CK is as old as they come and has had this annoying – yet admittedly very cool – ability for over four hundred years.
His furious gaze scans over my naked body; head to toe and back again, lingering in all the right places until his dark eyes pin my green ones like two spikes.
I will not flinch, even though I have an irrational need to cover up my private parts with my hands.
I handle CK very well by all accounts. He indulges me a lot though. I know he loves me, and he knows I love him. But I often forget how ferocious he can be. He can scare the crap out of me, and I don’t scare that easily.
“Liv,” he growls, “you have five seconds to put some clothes on, or we do this with you standing naked before me.”
Holy crap.