trace. But we do require human energy on a fairly regular basis.”
Human donors? She rubbed her neck. What would that be like? she wondered. After finding the silverware drawer and grabbing two forks, she carried the salad to the small dining table, lit with several votive candles, and sat down.
He thinks of everything.
Her head hummed and she looked up to see him smiling as he set the pasta on the table and pulled out a chair.
“You’re listening to me, aren’t you?”
“I try not to, but sometimes I can’t help myself.”
His dark hair fell forward as he took his seat. Would it brush her cheeks if she kissed him?
“I’d say you had an unfair advantage since I just found out about this tonight. You’ve been able to read my mind all this time.” Her face heated as she thought of the times they’d been together. When he—and she—
He nodded and dished out their meals. “It is rather an invasion of your privacy so I try not to do it too much, although sometimes I find I can’t help myself.” She saw a hint of a smile.
“You can’t help yourself?” As if he’s so innocent. “I’ll bet you knew I wasn’t wearing panties at the auction. Is that why you took advantage of me on the roof deck?”
“I seem to recall that you jumped me first. I would’ve let you walk away.”
“Walk away? You are such a—” She threw a crouton at him, but he dipped his head and caught it in his mouth.
“I trust you, you know,” Mackenzie said. “I know you won’t hurt me. It’s not in your nature.”
Even through the pungent smoke of the bonfire, he smelled the sweet scent of her desire rolling off her skin and his cock grew stiffer. How had he let her talk him into this? She should be in bed and he should be on his way back to Seattle to fry that bastard, but here he was on the beach in the middle of the night with the most beautiful woman in the world. Well, maybe it wasn’t so hard to imagine after all.
“That’s a pretty bold statement. Rather naпve actually, considering everything you’ve seen. I wouldn’t dare try—ever—because I wouldn’t know if I’d be able to stop.”
“This thing isn’t one-sided, Dom. I can feel you in my blood, too. It all makes sense now. You’re not capable of hurting me. All you’ve done is healed me.”
He rubbed his bare wrists and wished he were that confident. Not expecting ever to see her again, he had packed away the cilice. God, he wished he had it with him now. She snuggled into the crook of his arm and he pulled the blanket up higher on her shoulders.
“How did you find me tonight?” The glow from the fire flickered over her slightly upturned nose and the small mole above her lip that moved as she spoke.
“Because I’ve had so much of your blood, I can not only hear you, but I learned if I really concentrate, I can see your surroundings with my mind’s eye. I am highly aware of your energy trail—the energy of your life force. When it’s disrupted or disturbed, it ripples inside me and that’s how I knew something was wrong. I tuned into you immediately when I felt your worry. I recognized the part of town you were in and raced to find you. My God, I can’t believe how close—”
“Shhhh. My energy trail? My life force?” She snuggled in closer. “It sounds so science fictionish. But I like it. I want our life forces to get together again. The feeling is out of this world.”
He threw his head back and laughed. Her spunk, her sassiness and her comfort with him lifted the heaviness anchoring him down.
“If I had more of your blood, would I be able to hear and feel you better?”
“I’d imagine you would.”
“I’d like that.”
Was she crazy? She turned her face up to his. Her eyes burned with an intensity hotter than the embers at the base of their driftwood fire. Being with her felt so natural, so easy. He had a plan for his life and love had never been a part of it before. As he leaned in to kiss her, the flickering light glinted on her earrings and he pulled away.
“What?”
“Your earrings. They’re silver.”
With a few flicks of her fingers, they were gone. “Better?”
“For me, but maybe not for you. You probably should have kept them on.”