Lowering her hand, she focused on the trees as she tried to think of something to distract from her awkward gesture. “Were your parents mates?”
“No, they were just lovers. My father didn’t talk about her much, but it sounded like they were also good friends.”
Willow almost asked what became of his father, but after her blunder with his mother, she wasn’t sure if she should. “So, you joined when you were twenty-four; how old are you now?”
“I’ll be six hundred and five on June first.”
Willow released a low whistle. “I bet you’ve seen a lot in your lifetime.”
“I have. And how old are you?”
“I turned twenty-four January twenty-second.”
“I bet you’ve seen a lot in your lifetime.”
She smiled at his teasing manner and brushed a strand of hair out of her face. “I have. What’s your last name?”
“Keogh. And I know you’re a Byrne.”
“One of many,” she said with a laugh.
The sound of her laugh caused him to suck in a breath. It was lyrical and beautiful and carefree in a way he’d never been. It was the laugh of someone who loved and enjoyed life.
“What about boyfriends?” he found himself asking. “I bet the boys chased you all over.”
Her eyes twinkled when they met his again. “I’m not easy to catch.”
“So, no boyfriends?”
“Is there a point to having a relationship with someone if you know they’re not your mate?”
“There are plenty of vamps who seek out comfort from a long-term partner to ease their loneliness or start a family. My parents did.”
“True, but no boyfriends for me. Some flings, but no one I wanted to see again.”
The jealousy twisting like a knife in his chest was so unexpected he didn’t know how to handle it. He’d give anything to be one of those men who got to touch her, hold her, taste her.
“And they were all human,” she said. “I stayed away from vamps.”
That meant she’d never known what it was like to be with a vampire, someone who could match her stamina and strength. Someone who could enjoy her for hours. When he found himself growing aroused, he shut down the image of her lying naked on a bed, sprawled out before him as he tasted every inch of her.
“Why stay away from vamps?” he asked.
“Humans were simpler,” she said. “And they can do the same thing.”
“Not quite,” he murmured and elaborated when she gave him a questioning look. “A vampire could match your stamina a lot more than a human.”
Willow couldn’t stop her gaze from running over him. She barely managed to stop herself from licking her lips as she pondered exactly how much stamina he had. She started to scold herself about not sleeping with her boss but stopped. A little harmless fantasizing never hurt anyone.
She told herself this, but she knew she was lying. It wasn’t harmless. She wanted him, and she was playing with fire by letting it continue, but she couldn’t shut her mind down now that it had traveled this very enticing path.
“And what about you?” she asked. “Any girlfriends?”
“None.”
“You’ve never wanted a relationship?”
He was never capable of having a relationship that didn’t revolve around blood and sex. However, he didn’t know how to explain that without traveling a road that would have her looking at him with disgust instead of with her beautiful smile.
“My life has always revolved around the Alliance.” It may not be the whole truth, but it was the truth.
“So a string of flings?” she asked.
“I guess you could say that. Is that what you would call your relationships, a string of flings?”
“If you consider four a string, then I guess so.”
“I wouldn’t.”
“What exactly have you seen?” she asked. “I’ve always loved history. Did you see the French Revolution?”
“I didn’t see it, but I was alive. It was a turbulent time everywhere.”
“What about Napoleon?”
“That guy,” he said with a roll of his eyes that made her chuckle.
She asked more questions about events he might have seen or experienced. She could have listened to the baritone timbre of his voice for days on end. He was alive for Columbus, the Protestant Reformation, Galileo, the Seven Years War, the Crimean War, and so many other things. He went to balls, visited gaming halls, went on hunts, and walked among royalty as well as the poorest of the poor.
While the humans were waging numerous wars, he was fighting with Ronan and the Alliance to keep the spread of Savages under control. Unfortunately, it was a battle they would have to fight for the rest of their lives; as long as there were vampires, there would always be Savages.
“I enjoyed Woodstock and Studio 54,” he said. “If only because they were fun places to people watch, and those people were insane.”
Willow chuckled. “Why did you go to them?”
“They were both places where people were having a good time, and you know how Savages feel about that.”
“I do.”
Eventually, they lapsed into silence, but Willow found herself repeatedly looking at him. He was as intriguing as he was alluring.
“It looks like we’re spending another night in the woods,” she said when the sun started to set again.
“Civilization has to be somewhere.”
He was right, but she was beginning to feel like the rest of the world had ceased to exist, and they were all that remained of it.