day for women.”
“For some,” she amended.
“Not for you?”
“No. I never saw the point.”
He was silent longer than she was comfortable with. At least in this conversation. But then he sighed, his deep chest moving up and down beneath her ear, before he asked, “What do you want, Layla?”
“What I’ve always wanted,” she admitted, suddenly taking the entire conversation much more seriously. “You.”
“Then stay with me,” he said quietly. “Be with me. As my mate.”
It was her turn to remain silent, but not because she didn’t understand what he was saying. But because she did. And it had tears filling her eyes all over again.
“Layla?” He shrugged his shoulder, which had the effect of lifting her face so he could see her better. Which was great for him, since she could see jack all in the pitch black room. “Are you crying, cariño? Are you unhappy?”
“No,” she said softly. “I mean, yes, I’m crying, a little. But I’m happy. Happy my father will soon be back home and well, but mostly . . . happy to be here, with you. Even though I didn’t believe I would be when I first came back.” She propped herself on one arm and looked up to where his beautiful face had to be, knowing he could see her, which was what mattered in that moment. “And yes, I want to stay here with you. And damn it, yes. I’ll be your mate.”
She’d swear his heart beat a little bit faster then, when he put his arms around her and rolled, until she was completely covered by his weight and warmth. Her arms circled his neck when he kissed her. It was the kind of kiss they wrote songs about, she thought. Warm and romantic and full of emotion. Full of love. And oh damn it, she was going to cry again. She never cried like this. Like a girl. But hell, if she couldn’t shed a few happy tears now, when could she? The love of her life . . . literally, the Love. Of. Her. Life had just asked her to be his mate. That was about as serious as vampires ever got. Mating was for permanent. It was for life. She was going to be Xavier’s mate.
When the kiss ended, he licked up her tears and kissed her closed eyelids, one at a time. “Llàgrimes de felicitate,” he murmured. Tears of happiness. “Now,” he growled.
“What?”
“I want to complete our mating now.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
He made an exasperated noise. “How can you have lived here and not know?” he repeated.
“Because no one ever asked me before,” she explained, just as exasperated as he was.
“I’m a vampire, Layla. Everything we do involves blood. The mating is blood. I take yours—”
“You’ve already done that more than once.”
“And you take mine.”
“Oh. That’s . . . new.”
He laughed. “It’s ancient.”
“New to me, then. Interesting. Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yeah, okay. Let’s do this. I want to get my hooks into you, so I can give the next buxom beauty who glances your way a fully justified split lip.”
The noise he made this time was nothing short of preening pleasure. “You’re jealous.”
“Uh huh. Just like you’re jealous of Brian.”
“Pfft. Certainly not.”
She laughed, then rolled over and turned on the bedside lamp, so she could see. If she was about to mate with the most beautiful, most brilliant, and most deadly man on earth, she wanted to see him when they did it. She sat up, which had him reaching out to cup one of her naked breasts, his thumb rubbing idly over her nipple, his gaze fixed in fascinated attention as the soft nub hardened to a firm peak under the attention.
“Lovely,” he whispered, more to himself than her.
She leaned closer, going in for a kiss, but biting his lower lip instead. He didn’t curse and pull away as most men would have, most human men, anyway. Instead, he laughed and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her down on top of him and taking over the kiss, biting her lip in turn, then soothing the hurt with a stroke of his tongue that swept up the blood that spilled between them, a mingle of his and hers. His growl told her he liked it, and wanted more.
“It’s time.” His voice had gone dark and snarly, vibrating with the kind of hunger only a vampire knew.
“All right,” Layla agreed, a little out of breath, a little scared, but determined and ready.
“You should take my blood first. It