Kade
"Don't look at me like that," she said.
"Like what?"
"Like you feel sorry for me."
I tried to pull my gaze away from her face, but that only forced me to admire the rest of her. Did she have to wear that to bed? Of course she did. Her boyfriend or husband must have had the pleasure of it every night. I bit down some unwarranted need to bring her closer to me. She was like a scared little kitten that, underneath, was actually a tigress waiting to pounce. She clearly didn't know her own strength. Yet I could see it. See it in the way she always raised her chin in defiance, like me.
She was like me in other ways too … lost, unreachable.
I grabbed the blanket and draped it over her. The damn thing kept moving.
She tried to get up. I eased her down cautiously by the shoulders. There was no way I was lifting her into my arms. The last time had almost undone me. My primal instinct had wanted me to tear off the little she had on and ravage her in a way only my kind could … brutally, hard, with no limits.
Could she take hard? Could she handle me?
I shook my head and cast the confusion of arousal out of my head, then sat back against the bed, adding more wood to the fire. My thoughts thankfully took me somewhere else. When I returned to the present she had somehow managed to sit herself next to me. The blanket covered every tempting part of her. I was both disappointed and relieved.
She was naturally beuatiful. A little ghostly, some might say, but it suited her. It gave her a regal and serene look that was spellbinding. Did she know of her power? She couldn't. It was surprising even to me. It wasn't as if I hadn't seen a beautiful woman before or had my way with as many as I'd liked. I had, when I was human and when not, so why was she so different? So infatuating?
Because she feels like your hidden reflection, my thoughts carried back.
"Thanks," she said, appearing more alert and steady.
I didn't want her to be. I wanted her to go to sleep till sunrise. The tingling was happening again, and had been intensifying ever since I touched her hair.
"Thanks for helping me. I don't know how I ended up in the woods. Maybe I've started sleepwalking."
She wouldn't look at me as she spoke. It gave me ample time to examine every freckle, blemish, and faint scar on her face. There had been a slight bruise around her wrist.
"Who did that to you?" I frowned.
"Hm?"
"The bruise. It looks inflicted."
My hands were balling into fists. I had a feeling I wasn't going to like her reply.
"I'm clumsy." She let her gaze flit up to mine. There was that tigress again, trying to defy me, trying to pretend. I decided to let it go. Who was I to care about her or her problems? I had enough of my own.
"Then get un-clumsy," I told her. "Make it a habit."
"Like you do?"
"Like me what?"
"You've made a habit of being unemotional and composed. That's what you mean by becoming un-clumsy, isn't it?"
"Interpret it how you want."
She turned to face me, her inner tigress getting all the more confident. "I wonder what would make you genuinely smile."
The scent of raspberries was driving into me again. Was that raspberry lip balm on her lips, too? The woman was obsessed with that fruit.
I looked away. Her scent was overpowering. "Get back on the bed." It came out a lot more aggressive than intended.
"Fine." She got on top of it and lay down.
The distance was calming. If she had been back home, it would have been even better.
"Get some sleep. I'll take you home in the morning." I tried to sound gentle, but I just sounded irritated. I gave up trying to be normal and shot to my feet.
"What's your name?" she asked as I marched away, wanting to reach the secluded confines of my cave, the one I had roamed, sleepless, for years.
"Kade," I ground out.
"Ava. Good night, Kade."
I walked to another section of the cave and shut myself in my prison. I stayed with Blake and her dad most of the time, but this was the one place I could be alone.
Yet no night had ever been good here. Not since the night my family was slaughtered. Not until now.
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