sun has entirely set,” he replied. “Why, what are you planning for the two of us to get up to inside this car?”
“Nothing like that,” I scoffed, nudging at his shoulders as he chuckled. “I just mean, it’s a good thing. It will keep us off of the kitchen gossip circuit...unless we stand out here all night.”
He sighed, opening the passenger side door. “I could have picked you up. I believe Dick mentioned that as part of the ‘rules for gentlemen who don’t want to have their asses handed to them.’”
“No, you really couldn’t have,” I assured him. “My family wouldn’t have understood and answering the questions would have been…difficult.”
“You could have just said I was a friend,” he said as he handed me into the car.
“Werewolves don’t have vampire friends,” I told him. He closed the door, but not before I saw the injured expression on his face. When he returned to the driver’s seat, I added, “I’m sorry. It has nothing to do with you. You’re…I don’t want to use the word ‘perfect’ because that seems like a little much. But it wouldn’t matter that you’re kind or smart or you treat me well or that Jolene trusts her children to you. My family just wouldn’t understand. And they would make life really difficult for me at home. I would never be allowed to forget ‘that time you brought home a vampire.’ And this is so new…”
“That you don’t want to risk that sort of repercussion without knowing whether this is going to work long term.” He took my hand and I leaned across the front seat, my forehead almost touching his.
I wanted to object, but honestly, he was right. I didn’t want to risk that sort of estrangement from my family if this relationship wasn’t going anywhere. “Thank you.”
“I’ll try not to push,” he promised, his lips hovering over my skin, just over my cheek. My fingers stroked over his jaw, tracing the sharp lines of it. All I would have to do was move my head up just the tiniest bit and my mouth would connect with his. And the closeness, the knowledge that kissing him would be so effortless, made butterflies the size of condors fistfight in my belly. “But that’s going to be difficult…I want you, Tylene. And not just with the aggressive and slightly creepy implications of the way I just said that. I want all of you. I want to be able to take you out on my arm, without you looking over your shoulder like we’re doing something wrong. I want you in my home, relaxed, knowing you belong there. I’d like to be able to meet members of your family beyond Jolene and the twins. I just want to be part of this strange, colorful life you live. I haven’t been a part of the light in a long time. I hope to borrow a bit of yours, for as long as you’ll let me.”
I breathed him in. I wasn’t sure if he closed the distance between us or I did. All I knew was the cool, sweet press of his mouth against mine. He let me lead, only opening to me when I slid my tongue tentatively across the soft line of his bottom lip. He moaned softly as I licked into his mouth, tasting mint and the copper-bright tang of blood.
His hands slid down my back, not quite pulling me closer, but keeping me right where I wanted to be. His skin was so cool against mine, smelling of cedar. I wanted to wallow in it, to carry that scent on my skin forever so I would never forget this moment and how it felt to kiss someone I wanted so much. Someone who wanted me in return. I slid my hands under his jaw, my thumbs brushing his earlobes.
I guess they were pretty sensitive because something seemed to shift in the kiss. The console of the car kept us apart, and that was probably for the best, considering that my instincts were commanding me to climb into his lap and test how far back his seats reclined. I could feel his teeth moving and a sharp point drew across the sensitive flesh of my bottom lip. I gasped at the sting, though it wasn’t enough to draw blood.
“Sorry!” he exclaimed, cradling my jaw so he could examine my mouth. “Are you all right?”
His fangs had come out, which, from what I understood from the books I’d skimmed