“How did you get in here?” Erin yelled.
“Easy. Your door was unlocked.”
She looked around, her eyes wide. “That’s not possible. I never forget to lock my door.”
“Well, you did today.” I went forward to take her into my arms, but she edged away.
“This has me pretty freaked out.”
“You forgot to lock your door. So what? It’s probably not the first time.”
“I assure you it is the first time. Seriously, how did you get in here?”
Did she really think I was lying to her? “I opened the door and walked in. It’s that simple.”
She looked around again. “Something’s off in here. I can’t tell what it is, but it’s off.”
I inhaled. Nothing smelled off to me. But I’d been away from all the scents of the world for so long, I didn’t trust my nose quite yet. All I could smell was Erin—lusty, earthy Erin. She was already getting wet. I inhaled again.
“Did you knock before you broke into my home?”
“Of course I knocked.”
“And then, when I didn’t answer, you decided to try the doorknob? Who does that?”
“I don’t know. It seemed like a normal thing to do.”
She brought her hands up to her temples and rubbed. “I’m so stupid. I keep forgetting that I just met you. I keep thinking I can trust you. I want to trust you.” She closed her eyes and inhaled. “But I can’t.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I found you vandalizing our blood bank. Have you forgotten already?”
I had forgotten. Because it hadn’t happened—rather, vandalism hadn’t been my intent. I’d had no choice. I was starving. But she had no way of knowing that. “I should explain about that.”
But how could I explain? Normal people didn’t think vampires existed. If I told her what I truly was, she would run away screaming.
She regarded me, her eyes glazing over as if an opal were clouding a peridot. I’d never seen eyes like hers.
“It’s all right. You don’t owe me an explanation.”
“I don’t?”
“No. As long as you tell me you haven’t committed any crimes or misdemeanors since I saw you last.”
I smiled. “I haven’t.”
“Good. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why I believe you, but I do. So is everything okay with your family?”
“Yeah. Why wouldn’t it be?”
She walked into her kitchen and poured a glass of juice. “Want some?”
“Sure.” What I really wanted—needed—was surging through her veins, but juice was okay.
“Have a seat.” She gestured to her little kitchen table.
Her scent overpowered everything else in the small townhome. I sensed nothing else, not even the citrus fragrance of the orange juice, which was usually a strong aroma for me. I concentrated. There it was. That acidic tang.
“Tell me a little bit about you,” she was saying. “What were you doing in the blood bank the other night? I assumed you were looking for food, but since you’re not homeless, that’s probably not the case.”
“I…uh…” What could I say to that? Telling her the truth wasn’t an option. I could lie and say the blood bank had already been vandalized when I got there, but I didn’t want to lie. I was already being dishonest by not telling her who I truly was. Lying to her seemed profoundly wrong to me. Especially when all I could do was stare at her pink lips, wet from the orange juice. I wanted them wet from my kisses.
“It’s okay,” she continued. “We can get to that later. Where do you live, anyway?”
Why did she so easily let me off the hook? I’d overthink that later. Right now, all I could think about was her. Erin. Her enticing aroma. That beautiful body that I instinctively knew was hidden under her sweats. “Right now I’m staying with my grandfather. He lives in the Garden District.”
“Cool. That’s such an amazing place. I get goose bumps whenever I walk around there.”
“He lives in an old brick house. It used to be a bed-and-breakfast. The Heartsong B and B.”
“The Heartsong? Really?”
“You’ve heard of it? It’s been closed for… Well, over thirty years.”
“My friend Lucy told me about it. She’s a native. She says it’s haunted.”
I held back a chuckle. Paranormal activity abounded in the Garden District, but it wasn’t from ghosts. It was from all the voodoo practitioners and the cosmic energy they drew down. Ghosts didn’t exist. Vampires believed that a person’s energy merged with the universe when he died. “It’s not.”
“It’s such a gorgeous house! I envy you. Do you want anything else? Toast or eggs or something?”
About a pint of your blood. Already I knew how sweet she would be, how satisfying. My gums started to itch, but I tamped it down. Couldn’t go there. She wouldn’t understand.
I should leave. Leave her in peace. Not draw her into my fucked-up world.
But I couldn’t. Couldn’t get my legs to move. She was so beautiful. Her hair in disarray only made her more so. Her lips were red and plump, her complexion fair and rosy. And that body… I longed to feast my eyes on her flesh for the first time.
“Erin…” I couldn’t wait much longer to have her. Just being near her, hearing her heart pump her blood, the heady whoosh as it traveled through her veins.
As much as I ached for it, I could not taste her. Not yet.
But I could have the rest of her. She’d begged me to take her to bed the last time we’d been here. How I’d ached to. I longed to now just as much—even more—but so much of me was still like an untried adolescent.
I’d never been in this situation—wanting a woman so much. It was nothing like the pure sexual urge I knew well. My hormones rose within me, tightening my cock, making my gums tingle. That was familiar. What wasn’t was the heady emotion swirling around me, the desire, the passionate ache.
I closed my eyes for a moment.
Erin’s soft fingers found my cheek, and I opened my eyes to see her beautiful face staring up at me, her eyes shining. My whole body throbbed with desire, and then something foreign. She was also pulsing with desire. I felt each beat of her heart as if it were my own, felt each prickle of her skin. I reached out and touched her cheek, and it was warm. Tiny pinpricks tore through my fingertips as her capillaries burst—each small pop resonating within me—giving way to an alluring blush that turned her cheeks rosy.
I turned quickly away from her.
My fangs had elongated. I hadn’t been able to stop. The raw desire, the primal urge…
It was all too much.
I would not be able to have her until I was able to control this part of me.
I summoned all the strength within me, and when my teeth had retracted and my cock had gone down a bit, I turned back to her.
“Aren’t you going to answer me?” she asked.
“I’m sorry. What did you say?”
“I asked you what was wrong three different times. You ignored me. You’re starting to scare me, Dante.”
“I don’t mean to.”
“Why didn’t you answer me?”
In truth, I hadn’t heard her. I’d been forcing all my energy into retracting my teeth and slowing my libido.
I had to face the truth. We could not do this. Not yet. Not until I learned to control my urges. No way would I get through sex without taking her blood.
I had no discipline around her. What would happen when I climaxed? My fangs would come out, and my thirst for blood would be too much to handle.
In some ways, I was still that adolescent boy. I hadn’t learned to control myself. I hadn’t had to.
Her skin glowed like fresh strawberries, and when I inhaled, her earthy pheromones infused my senses, and my cock responded once more.
Unfortunately, so did my teeth.
“I’m so sorry. I have to go.”
“Dante—”
But I was out the door.
I needed blood.
I needed it now.