Page 32 of The Guardian's Curse

“Top or bottom?” she asked him.

Lust smoldered through him as his dream echoed once more. He smirked beneath his hood. “I am pleased either way.”

Her eyes widened, and then her lips pursed into a faint smirk. An invitation to dance, and an acceptance. “Then I’ll be on top.”

“Lovely,” he said. Wait. Was she...no. There was no way.

Her pupils dilated slightly, and her smile widened. The realization that he awakened her desire filled him with pride that he hadn’t felt in decades. He sat to her left on the bench, close enough that their arms brushed.

He leaned into her slightly. “From the top, shall we?”

“Sure,” she said. “I’ll follow you.”

He tilted his head, then began to play, immediately enrapt with the rich vibrations of the piano beneath his fingers. Music had always been the language of his soul, but since becoming a vampire and developing super-powered senses, it had only become more intense. The sound was almost too loud, but it drowned out everything else, lifting him to a place beyond his ravaged body.

He nearly jumped in surprise when Shoshanna joined him a few measures into the piece, playing the melodic line. She’d taken his advice to heart, keeping her fingers curved. Her posture still needed work, but he didn’t have the heart to correct her and ruin the moment.

A sour note rang out. “Dammit,” she swore.

“Keep going,” he said quietly. “No need to weep for one lost note.”

She muttered and scanned the page before rejoining him. He started to push the tempo, bringing the volume into a gradual crescendo. She followed him easily, matching his tempo and volume.

A good follower, a lovely quality in a fellow musician and a lover.

As they finished a tumultuous section, he murmured, “Shhh. Now a secret.”

Her eyebrows lifted in surprise as she played quieter, with a light touch. As the notes spun and swirled around each other, her quiet breaths marked each phrase as if she was singing. There was a heart-stopping moment when her left hand pressed close to his right, their fingers dancing dangerously close together.

With his hands upon the piano and a lovely woman at his side, he could almost forget the curse. This was the happiest he had been in years.

Finally, they finished the first movement, and he glanced at her. “That was lovely playing.”

“Nowhere near as good as you,” she said shyly.

“Well, I do have two hundred years more experience.”

She laughed again. “There is that.”

He reached for his glass of blood and took a sip. Her nose wrinkled a little, but she didn’t comment. “I hope that you have felt safe in my home.”

She nodded. “It’s been very nice.”

“Paris only told me a little about your situation,” he said. “Someone attacked you?”

“Sort of,” she said. “He wants me to go work for the Casteron vampires, and he was willing to drag me out of there to do it.”

“Who was this person?”

“His name is Elliott McAvoy. We...” Her shoulders slumped. “We dated in high school and he didn’t take it well when I broke up with him in college. But I haven’t seen him in ages. Last time I saw him, he was human, but that’s changed, clearly.”

The thought of someone daring to terrorize this lovely witch made his blood boil. “And have they found him?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “Paris says it’s complicated, and I just have to be patient. That’s easy for him to say when he’s not stuck somewhere. No offense to you, but I miss my neighborhood and my job.”

And there was the gentle reminder that she did not belong here. The light she had shone into his home was temporary.

“Is being a tisserand not your job?” he asked.

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