"I don't believe you."
Valerius lay on top of her and just listened to her breathe. She cradled him with her body and he reveled at the feel of her skin against his. Of her arms and legs wrapped around his bare body.
But it wasn't just his skin that was naked. His spirit was stripped bare as well.
He would give anything to have this woman and she was the one person he could never keep.
It wasn't fair.
Tabitha stroked Valerius's back as she felt his emotions. He was filled with angry despair and she didn't know why.
"Baby," she whispered. "Talk to me."
"Why do you call me baby?" His breath tickled against her breast.
"Does it bother you?"
"No. I've just never had anyone else use an endearment when they talked to me. It's odd to hear it from you."
She ran her hand over the scars of his back as her heart clenched for him. "Were you ever in love?" she asked.
He shook his head. "I only had Agrippina."
"But you never touched her?"
"No. I slept with others who had a choice about being with me."
She frowned at that. "But you didn't love any of them?"
"No." He angled his head so that he could look up at her. "What about you? Have you ever been in love?"
She sighed as she remembered her past and the one person she had wanted to share the rest of her Me with. "I loved Eric. I wanted to marry him so badly that when he broke up with me, I thought I would die from the pain of it."
She felt jealousy cut through Valerius. "Why did he break up with you?"
She traced the fine line of his left eyebrow, then buried her hand in his hair to toy with it while she explained herself. "He said I burned him out."
Tears filled her eyes as she remembered that summer day when Eric had come over and ended the only decent relationship she'd ever had. "He said that as hard as it was to keep up with me while he was in his mid-twenties, he was terrified of trying to keep up with me at forty. He told me that if I could give up the vampire hunting and my store that we might stand a chance. But how could I ever give up the things that mean so much to me? I live to hunt. I owe it to those who can't fight for themselves."
Valerius lifted himself up and gently kissed away her tears. "Eric was a fool."
She smiled at that as his lean, muscled body slid sensuously against hers. Oh, he was delectable. All that strength and power...
And she wondered who he'd gone after once he became a Dark-Hunter.
"Who did you take revenge on?" she asked quietly.
He went rigid as he pulled away. "Why do you want to know?"
"I was just curious. I slashed Eric's car tires when he broke up with me."
His face was aghast. "No, you didn't."
She nodded. "I would have done more, but decided that that was enough to get my anger out. He had really nice Pirelli tires," she confessed.
He shook his head at her and laughed. "It's a good thing I don't drive, then."
"And you're avoiding my question," she said, tapping the end of his nose with her finger. "Tell me, Valerius. I won't think any less of you, I swear."