All Souls' Night - Renee Rose Page 0,146

stay calm.”

“Stay calm?” He slips off the barstool and takes a step back. “Ty, I just found out you’re a freaking vampire, and you are seriously telling me to stay calm?”

I blur the short distance between us, pull him into my arms, and kiss him again, holding his body tightly against mine.

He’s hard, and so am I. At first, he tries to push me away, but then his arms wrap around me, tightly holding on to me, and I feel my hope grow.

Maybe this will be okay after all.

Only when he’s completely lost and compliant in my arms do I risk breaking our kiss. “Because I’m a vampire, I know you’re meant to be mine.”

This time, the unfocused daze in his green eyes is due to passion—not fear, not my thrall. “Are… you going to kill me?”

“I would rather walk into a sunrise than harm you, baby.”

“But… you can force me to do what you want?”

“That’s not how this works. I don’t want to force you to do anything. I want you to do something because you want to, not because I make you do it.”

As he stares into my eyes, I see the doubt and desire swirling there. It’s a struggle to hold back my thrall, but I refuse to build our relationship on anything other than honesty.

I mean, now that my secret’s out.

Then his stomach rumbles.

“Can we please sit down and eat?” I ask. “You’re hungry and need food.”

When he finally glances at our plates, I know he’s considering it. Waiting him out is difficult, but I manage it.

Relief fills me when he finally nods. I step back, giving him space and waiting until he moves toward his stool before I return to mine.

He doesn’t speak, and I don’t try to force the conversation. He’ll talk when he’s ready, I’m sure.

I mean, I hope he will.

Chapter 15

I wish I could claim this was a nightmare, but I’m wide awake.

And I can’t stop looking at my reflection in the fridge door.

Rather, I can’t stop looking at Ty’s lack of a reflection.

Doesn’t it just figure that I fall for a…

Freaking vampire.

Even thinking it feels strange and otherworldly.

Like I’m caught in a dream.

I finish my food more because now a mix of terror and lust have vapor-locked my brain. I don’t want to give up what I’ve just discovered I need.

Yet…

Vampire.

I escaped a life of lies and made-up fairytales of a toxic kind just to stumble into a myth come to life.

When I’m finished, I set my fork down and lean back. I’m still trying to figure out what to say when Ty takes my plate for me and, carrying his, too, walks around the counter to rinse them off and put them in the dishwasher.

I watch him as he does, knowing if I try to run, it’ll be pointless.

My body’s betrayal as I watch him, led by my throbbing cock, also keeps me rooted to my seat.

He’s a sexy man who literally made my sexiest dreams come true.

But…

Vampire.

When he finishes with the dishes, he turns, approaching no closer than the end of the counter. “Can we talk about this? Please?” His pleading tone only adds to my confused mix of conflicting thoughts and feelings.

“How many other lies have you already told me?”

He sighs. “Technically, none. I just didn’t tell you the whole truth.”

“And that’s better how, exactly?”

He holds up his hands again. “I admit, it’s not the best way to start a relationship.”

“Gee, Ty, you think?”

His hands settle on his hips. “Why don’t we go talk?” He points down the hall, the way we have to walk to reach his basement bedroom.

“You mean in your bed? I don’t think so.” Although my body thinks that’s a great idea. “So all the bullshit about being ‘security conscious’ was because you need, what, a basement hiding spot?”

“Technically a crypt, but yes. But it is also a panic room. That’s what I told the contractors.”

“Of course you did.” I wrap my arms around me because I really want him to hug me and comfort me.

Problem is, he’s now the source of my current distress.

For a few delicious hours, I thought my world was perfect, that my luck had turned around for the better.

I knew it was too good to be true. I point to the windows. “Light-proof shutters?”

He nods. “I fall asleep after dawn and usually sleep until evening. Not always until sunset. They allow me security while I sleep, as well as give me the ability to leave my room before sunset.”

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