Page 44 of The Devil and the Dancer
Please don’t dump me on my favorite couch.
“Hey.”
He smiled a little and patted the space next to him. “Hey, yourself.”
Chloe walked over and sat next to him. “Everything all right?”
“Should I ask you the same?” He turned his head. “You didn’t text today.”
She tucked her hair behind her ear. “I got busy with work, and then I went over to Arthur’s for dinner. The night kind of got—”
“You don’t need to explain yourself,” he said. “You’re not required to check…” He frowned. “No, I shouldn’t lie. It bothered me. More than I’d expected. I enjoy seeing those little messages from you when I wake up. They always make me smile, and since you’re usually the only one who texts me without stating a problem I need to fix, I’ve come to count on them to start my night.”
Chloe felt even smaller. “I’m sorry.” He’d been honest, so she needed to be honest right back. “I was trying to prove something to myself.”
He frowned. “What?”
“That I wasn’t getting too attached to you days after we slept together. That I wasn’t becoming some obsessed little—”
“Chloe, you’ve been texting me nightly for over nine months now. It has nothing to do with the two of us becoming lovers.”
She put her head in her hands. “I just… I don’t know what I was thinking. I’ve been all over the place the past few days.”
“Because we made love?” He pulled her hands away from her face.
“No. Yes. Because of that and because… I don’t know. Everything.”
“Hmmm.”
What was it with vampires and their vague nonverbal communication?
“I’m sorry I didn’t text you tonight,” she said. “I wanted to.”
“Beatrice came and spoke to me tonight.”
Her head popped up. “She did?”
“She did, and we had an actual conversation. I’m quite proud of us both.”
Chloe smiled.
“There it is.” He touched her cheek. “I needed to see that smile. Beatrice told me something else. She said that right now imagination is your worst enemy.”
Chloe didn’t know what to say. “I don’t know—”
“Yes, I thought that might be the problem.” Gavin sat forward on the couch, his elbows braced on his knees. “Forgive my interrupting, but I realized tonight that youdon’tknow. I don’t think you do, and you should.”
“I should know what?”
He stared straight ahead. “You should know that I’m in love with you.”
Chloe’s breath fled her lungs. There was no more air in the room. None.
“I’m in love with you, Chloe Reardon.” He kept his voice low and steady. “It’s the first time it’s happened for me since I became immortal, so you should know that you have quite a lot of power over me at the moment. And I want things from you. Many things.” He turned his face to her, and the expression in his eyes was searing. “I want an exclusive and permanent relationship with you. I want you to move into my home—not this halfway arrangement we’ve been playing with for the past year. Move in.”
Chloe’s mouth was hanging open, but she couldn’t speak.
“I want to bite you. I won’t be able to stop drinking fresh blood from others—I’m not that old—but if you want me to refrain from taking it at the vein, I am willing to do that. In fact, I think after I drink from your vein, I might prefer not to drink from any others.” His eyes fell to her thighs and his accent grew thick. “Yer not the only one with an imagination, dove.”
