“Teagan.”
Her name again. He wrapped her in black velvet when he spoke in that tone. A sorcerer’s spell, and she kept falling deeper into it. Willingly. That was the worst part. She shook her head. “I don’t have a choice.”
“No, you do not have a choice,” he agreed.
Okay, that hurt. She needed to hear him agree with her, but still, there was a part of her—a big part of her—that wanted him to protest and say she couldn’t leave him or he’d die of a broken heart.
“Okay then. You get it. That’s good. That’s a good thing.” Her throat felt clogged. She hated that. Hated the burn behind her eyes so she closed them tight and kept her head back, resting against the rock.
“I get what has happened between us, Teagan, but you do not.”
Her stomach clenched. Hard. Her heart stuttered. It was the way he said it. She opened her eyes again and looked at him. Yeah, there was trouble there. She just didn’t know what it was or why. She bit her lip. Something was different about him. Something more. Predatory. He was just a little bit scary, and she didn’t even know why.
“Andre? You’re just a little scary right now. You aren’t angry with me, are you? I mean, you know about visas, right? I can only stay so long legally.”
“I have told you that you are safe with me.”
He made it a flat statement and she had the feeling he didn’t like repeating himself. Well, okay then. He shouldn’t scare her like that if he didn’t want to repeat himself. She made a little face at him just to show him she wasn’t all that intimidated by him, although she kind of was. But he wasn’t in her head anymore so she figured she probably could get away with it.
“What did you mean, by saying you get it, but I don’t? I’m the one explaining it to you. I have to leave. I’m trying to be honest with you.”
He nodded his head slowly. “I get that you think you are being honest.” He held out his hand. “You need to have something warm in your stomach. I will make the tea and we can talk about this.”
“Well, if I’m being strictly honest,” Teagan said, taking his hand and standing up carefully, “I don’t think tea is going to agree with me right now. Just the thought of it makes me feel a little queasy and since you’re certain I’m not pregnant, then I’d just better not risk it. In any case, if I’m really caught in some very strange hallucinatory dream state, I’m definitely not having another cup of tea. The tea is the only thing I can think of that might have been drugged. But then that would make you a huge delusion as well and you’re the one who made me the tea in the first place.”
His hands spanned her waist and he lifted her easily out of the steaming water. At once he enveloped her in a towel.
“I am a delusion?”
“Actually, I don’t think so, but you have to admit, it could be a possibility, since there’s no one like you in the world, but I don’t think I could make you up. Especially not the sex. I couldn’t have made that up.”
He rubbed the towel over her body, gentle, massaging strokes that soaked up the beads of water and left her a little breathless and definitely aroused. She couldn’t help but love the way he touched her so gently.
She glanced up at his face. He wore a strange look that didn’t bode well for her and she wanted to avoid finding out what it meant, because he really did look dangerous. He really could look scary—like a predator—and she was alone in the cave with him. She was avoiding the word lair at all costs, but it floated into her mind all by itself.
“I don’t have many clothes left,” she said into the silence. “I’ll have to make a trip into town and pick a couple of shirts up.”
“That will not be necessary, Teagan. I can provide clothing for you.”
Her heart thudded. She bit her lip. “My grandmother expects me to be in touch with her once a week. I’m due anyway. I’ll just pick up the shirts and call her at the same time.”
He caught her chin. “I do not like that you scare yourself like this. You have a vivid imagination for a woman who travels as much as you do.”
“I know. I’ve always been afraid of everything. When I was a child I was certain there were monsters under my bed and in my closet. Most nights I’d go crawl in bed with my grandmother, but sometimes I couldn’t make myself leave my bed and put my feet on the floor so I’d yell for her at the top of my lungs. I’d wake up the entire household. My sisters were in school so they weren’t happy about it, but they always comforted me.”
Andre removed the towel and held out a large men’s button-down shirt. It was his size, but nothing like she thought he’d ever wear. Still, when she inhaled deeply, the material held his scent. He seemed the type to wear skintight shirts that clung to his muscles and blue jeans that cupped his very nice butt lovingly and only made him look sexier than ever. Or a really classy, elegant suit. Black and white. He’d look spectacular with his wide shoulders and ice-blue eyes.
Andre shook his head and reached his arms around her so she was caged against his body. He did up her buttons, pulling a little on the shirt so she leaned back, pressing her back into his front. Somewhere along the line, while he was drying her off, he’d gotten dressed. Yeah. Skintight shirt, soft material, blue to match his eyes, every muscle rippling so amazingly. She licked her lips and tried not to stare.
He’d brought her to two screaming orgasms and it had been her first time ever. She knew it wasn’t always that good for virgins, but he’d made it good. No, he’d made it great. Spectacular.
“Teagan. You are doing it again. Going off somewhere. We need to straighten things out between us. You have tried to be honest. I am trying as well. I need you to focus. Keep your imagination under control for just one moment.”
She was a little hurt. She’d shared a traumatic, recurring event from her childhood, which, okay, didn’t exactly match the raging vampire who had punched holes in his body and tore long strips of skin off of him, but really, she’d shared.
“I’m focusing,” she said quietly. She might as well get it over. They couldn’t be together, and if they needed to end things right then, she could be grown-up and understand. She looked him in the eyes. His beautiful eyes that made her tummy flutter. “Really, Andre. I’m entirely focused on what you have to say.”
And she meant it. She was absolutely finished with avoidance. It was going to hurt like hell when he said his piece, but he deserved her full attention when he did it. He’d been wonderful and he had saved her life and given her two orgasms, after all.