while after al . I mean, the last time we joined we didn’t even trade fluids. It was just—
emotional.”
“I know.” He set the soap in the dispenser and pul ed me in until it felt as if every inch of my skin was touching every bit of his. “I have a feeling our journey toward a new
“Then we might as wel enjoy the ride,” I murmured as I stroked his broad, muscular back. “I was just wondering, though. If this al works out, I’m definitely going to want a shower after we get back.
What do you think about three in twenty-four hours? Too much?” He considered the question as his hands drew erotic circles down my sides to my hips and back up again. Final y he said, “Wel , they do say that cleanliness is next to godliness. And, considering our vocations, that cannot hurt.”
“You’re just saying that because you like to get wet with me.” His grin made my heart go pit-a-pat just like in romance novels. Or so I’ve heard. He said, “That, also, is quite true.”
I turned in his arms, waiting until he’d clasped his hands across my stomach before I said,
“We’ve got to exploit every advantage. Especial y since I’ve got a big night planned for you. So give me that soap and let’s get dirty, uh, I mean clean.”
We used up most of the soap. Al of the hot water. And every bit of strength in our legs. By the time we left the shower our kneecaps were no firmer than spaghetti noodles. We helped each other dress in colors so dark we’d have lost each other inside a movie theater, and then col apsed on our homemade bed for five minutes of recovery time.
At which point I told him about our change in plans. He leaped off the bed. “What are we doing here, then? We should have left the moment I rose!”
“About that,” I said. “I figured out a way for us to get to Hanzi. I even tried it out to make sure it would al work earlier today. I’l show you soon. The point is, your kid isn’t going to be at that location or on that motorcycle for another”—I checked my watch—“fortyfive minutes. We don’t have time, no.
But we have to take it. Raoul told me that, for some reason, the only time it’s okay to grab the kid is right before the accident. He’s got to see something happen there before we take him to hel , or the deal is nul and void. So ‘patience’ is the word of the day, okay?” Vayl kissed me so thoroughly I almost forgot we had important items on our to-do list. When he lifted his head he said, “You are a wonder.”
“I try.” My lopsided smile told him to cut out the sil y compliments, they were just too far over the top.
He touched the spot where I’d taped a piece of gauze underneath my right breast. I checked to make sure it didn’t show through the thick cotton of my front-pocket pul over as he asked, “Did I hurt you?”
I brushed my palm against his cheek. “A little. It’s teeth in skin, babe. You know it’s got to. But the pleasure is so intense. I can stil feel the tingle in my toes. And the bubbles are stil popping in my brain. You get me high in a way that leaves me permanently powerful. Even after the crash. How does it feel for you?”
He caressed my lips, studying them so closely I would’ve thought his next step was to re-create the image on canvas if he hadn’t started talking again. He said, “When I taste you, when I am inside of you, and you surround me, then I am no longer alone.” He stopped. Stared into my eyes. And I suddenly understood the significance behind the looks he’d been giving me since before I realized how he felt for me. He’d been trying to tel me how lonely he’d been. Al those years, searching for his sons. It hadn’t mattered who he’d touched, whose blood he’d swal owed. He’d never truly connected with anyone in al that time. He’d been isolated, like a TB carrier stuck in quarantine, until he’d met me. And now he was about to risk losing that forever.
I wrapped myself around him until my arms and legs ached. Only then did I say, “I know a little bit about these things, Vayl. People have choices, even after death. I promise, I wil always choose you.”
He pul ed back so he could look into my face. “Not Matt? He may be waiting for you in paradise, you know. He may be standing behind the pearly gates holding a beach umbrel a in one hand and a margarita in the other.”
I jumped to my feet. “I was real y going to do this later. Afterward? But no, now real y seems…” I rushed to my suitcase. It didn’t take much digging. I knew right where I’d packed the box because I’d checked on it every day since to make sure it hadn’t disappeared.
I came back to Vayl, who looked like a male model the way he sat in front of his sleeping tent, one leg stretched out in front of him, the other bent at the knee so it could prop up his arm. I said,
“God, you’re gorgeous. Have I ever told you that? Don’t let it go to your head. Egotistical vampires are the worst. Here.” I shoved the box into his free hand. “This is for you.” Which was such a stupid thing to say, but I was suddenly, incredibly nervous.
I sat on my knees in front of him, trying not to twirl my curls nervously as he unwrapped the classy blue paper and pul ed out the black velvet box. When he opened it he went al Vampere on me and I couldn’t tel at al what he was thinking behind his stil -as-death features. So I began to babble.
“You said I could give you a ring. Remember? In Marrakech? So I asked Sterling to make me one for you, to sort of match Cirilai, which is why it’s gold. I went for a semi-plain band because you don’t seem the gemmy type to me. I mean, when I met you, you were wearing Cirilai around your neck, so… did I guess right?” When he didn’t answer I rushed on. “The runes on both sides are, wel , he wouldn’t explain exactly how he did it. But my blood is in there. Not literal y. That seemed a little too Angelina Jolie/Bil y Bob Thornton–esque to me. But it was part of the spel that burned the runes into the band, inside and out, see? Which was how he said that some of my essence melded with the ring. When you wear it I’l be literal y wrapped around you. Does that make sense to you? Are you ever going to speak, or am I just going to keep yapping like one of those annoying diva dogs?
Vayl?” By now my voice had risen about three octaves, Stewie Griffin style.
When he final y looked up, Vayl’s eyes had gone the honey gold I associated with his deepest feelings for me. The amber flecks mixed with green sparks to steal my breath, so that for a second I felt that time had stopped, and nothing existed beyond the love showering me from those wide, wondering eyes. “I have never before held such a treasure,” he said, his voice so low I had to lean forward to make sure I didn’t miss a word.
I sighed and felt the lurch as my world decided to keep spinning. “That was such the right thing to say.” I took the ring from his square-tipped fingers and slipped it onto his left hand, watching his face as he registered the fact that I’d mimicked the same moves a bride would’ve made. He watched the ring slide over his knuckle and snug into the space just above his palm, made a fist to assure himself it fit wel , then looked up at me again.
