says as he pushes over until he’s flush against me. A piece of paper couldn’t slide between us.
“You’re too close.”
“I could never be too close,” he says, and I can feel his breath on my ear.
It makes desire stir inside me, so I growl at him because that seems to be the only option when we’re in the middle of the woods and he’s taunting me.
Instead of moving away like any normal person would, he plants a big kiss right on my cheek.
Heat instantly rises to my cheeks, which irritates me because it shouldn’t, and I shouldn’t give in to him or be… enamored by him. It’s just because he looks sexy in my clothes. That’s all this is. There is nothing else to this. Why does my body betray me like this?
Claude watches me for a moment, waiting for a reaction out of me, but I refuse to give him any as I stoically stare ahead, the turmoil only going on inside my head.
He seems to think this is an invitation for another kiss on the cheek that I try not to lean into or think about or any of that nonsense.
“What are you doing?” I hiss.
“You just look so kissable.”
“Which part of me looks kissable?”
He raises a perfectly manicured eyebrow. “Do you want me to answer that? Because if you need me to, it’s going to be a long list.”
“Please don’t.” I don’t need more reasons to be slowly driven insane.
He takes my hand. “Because if I had to, I would start with your fingers,” he says before running his tongue up my finger.
I yank my hand back from him while pretending like that did nothing to me. Clearly, he’s trying to kill me. “I need to watch them!”
“But it’s boring. I shall read, I suppose. Ooh, research. Yes, I’ll research some stuff,” he says as he pulls out his phone and then looks at me. “What do you want me to research?”
“If vampire hunters have ever used vampires in the past.”
“Like… for fighting? I mean, it’d make sense to have someone stronger on your side, but how could you control a vampire and force it to kill other vampires… and why is this what you’re thinking about? If it’s something that was done, they probably wouldn’t have tried to light you on fire. To my understanding, you were one of the best hunters around, so I would have assumed they would have kept you in the group to help them. Unless you were unwilling.”
“That’s true… I mean, I was willing to help him. At that point I hadn’t fully seen the wrongs I’d done. He could have easily talked me into fighting for him. Hell, I even suggested it.”
“Is this about what Adrik said? Was there something to it?”
I think for a moment as I watch the children kick a ball. It rolls into the brush and they chase after it, disappearing from sight. “I’m just curious if there’s ever been hunters who either enslave vampires or get them to help them somehow. It would make sense how they’ve been able to do so much as mere humans.”
“Let me think and do some digging and I’ll let you know if I find anything.”
And with that, he gets lost in the world of research. For all the times that Claude can’t focus on anything, the moment he has books or data or research in front of him, he’s all business.
Silent business.
Which… okay, I know I asked him to be silent but sitting here staring at the campground is steadily growing boring as hell. But I can’t exactly ask him to talk, I mean, that would ruin everything I’ve accomplished. Everything I’ve told him. It would just end it all because I would be giving in, and if I gave in… it’s purely impossible.
“Why are you staring at me? Am I that hard to look away from?” Claude asks. “I thought you were ‘so busy’ looking at the campground you couldn’t spare a moment for me?”
I show him my fangs and am saved from doing anything by the vibration of my phone.
Finn: I got ahold of the local police who said that they don’t have permission to be there. They’d like to meet with you and have you with them when they go in for questioning.
Me: Okay. When?
Finn: As soon as you can. I’ll send you the number.