Page 110 of A Bond Beyond Blood

Maybe she’d agreed to come tonight for the sole purpose of telling me to kick rocks in person.

My heart plummeted at the thought.

“Hey,” she said as she approached from behind me.

I stood quickly and turned around, grinning when I took her in.

Bundled in a black puffer jacket, with a bright blue scarf wrapped tightly around her throat and billowing out the top of the jacket, her light olive skin was ethereal in the moonlight.Those blue eyes popped even more than usual thanks to the similar shade of her scarf.

“Hey, baby—” I stopped myself abruptly, catching my mistake before she could reprimand me.“Hey,Jackie,” I quickly amended.

Her lips twitched on a smile, then she looked over the bench, catching sight of the prepared picnic basket.When her gaze met mine again, she released that grin and my heart skipped a beat.

I had to hold my breath as she rounded the bench, lest the familiar scent of her overwhelm me.

“You packed a picnic?”

I nodded, swallowing hard, but the lump of emotions created by the sight of her remained lodged near my Adam’s apple.So I motioned toward the bench and she sat down, looking at me with a curious glint in her bright blue eyes.

My blue-eyed Italian princess.

Fuck, I missed her.

“I don’t forgive you yet,” she said with a hint of playfulness in her sultry voice, “but this is a good start, Gannon Hayes.”

I flashed her a smile, then got to work.She sat quietly while I began removing things from the basket and setting them on her lap.A napkin, a small plate, half a baguette...Then I reached in and pulled out a half-moon of cheese that hadalwayssmelled fucking horribly to me, but now?As a vampire?With heightened senses?

This stuff smelled like death.The ability to hold my breath and not pass out was a welcome gift in this moment.

“Raclette?”Jackie whispered.Her stomach growled as she stared longingly at her favorite cheese, quietly but not so silent I couldn’t hear it, and I smirked as I grabbed the torch and began to heat the cheese above the plate resting on her denim-clad thighs.She reached for the baguette, tore it open hungrily, then held it out to catch the melted cheese as it began to slide off the half-wheel.

The way she moaned after that first bite made my cock twitch, but I settled beside her on the bench and poured us a couple glasses of our old favorite—cheap—pinot noir.The same bottle we used to swipe from the bodega near our old high school.

Thirty minutes or so passed as she devoured her meal, little bits of small talk interspersed throughout, but the heavy topics we’d soon need to discuss were set aside so she could enjoy the food I’d packed for her.This used to be our thing—the picnic, the nasty cheese, the cheap wine...just the two of us sneaking off to be together.To be alone.In love.

Just us against the world.

Now it was her against me, and I had no one to blame but my stupid self.

When she was nearly finished, Jackie hummed happily and I smiled as I closed my eyes to revel in both the sound of her contentment and being this close to her again, just the two of us—as it should be.

“Remember when your mom caught us stealing this...”The words trailed off, and she winced as she side-eyed me.“I’m sorry, G, I didn’t mean to bring her up.”

“No, it’s fine.”I finished the last sip of my second glass of wine, then tucked the empty glass back into the basket and shoved my hands into the pockets of my coat.“It’s...”I paused, trying to figure out how to put my feelings into words.“It’s not her fault, Jackie.I can’t blame her—”

“What?”Jackie huffed, then followed my lead, tucking her plate into the basket.She finished her second glass of wine as well, then placed it inside the basket beside mine.Lifting the basket by the handles, she set it on the ground, then pushed it beneath the bench so she could scoot closer to me.“Don’t do that, G.Don’t blame yourself.”

Looping one arm through mine, she leaned on my shoulder.

My pulse sped at the sudden closeness and I dared to turn my head, dared to press my nose against her hair and breathe her in.The scent of her didn’t just set my hunger ablaze, burning in my belly and building up my throat, but it kicked up a million different feelings at once.

Of loss, of love, ofhome—

She huffed, annoyed by my nonresponse.“Your mom disowning you isnotyour fault.”

Her words ripped me back into the present and I sighed as I settled my cheek against the crown of her head.“It is, though.I scared her.”

“I’m sure it would scare anyone to discover their only child has been turned into a vampire.”She laughed awkwardly, then sobered and gave my arm a squeeze.“She’ll come around.”

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