Page 36 of Burn for the Dragon
He gave her a little shrug. “Guess we’ll eventually find out.” He looked her over. “But not today, it seems.”
Her jaw tightened, halting the chattering. Before Hawke could think of what to say that would help put things in perspective, she asked, “Do vampires feel anything? Other than thirst?”
The question, completely off topic, threw him for a bit of a loop. He studied a soft, red curl lying along the curve of her cheekbone. Right at this moment, Hawke was feeling way more than he should. He was feeling so many things he was worried it was going to affect his judgment when the time came to do what he needed to do with her brother—and at some point in time, possibly her.
He should tell her what she expected to hear. Tell her what he should to end this thing between them right now. The lie was right there, on the tip of his tongue…
But he couldn’t bring himself to tell it.
“I feel things,” he told her when she finally got up the courage to look at him for an answer.
Her eyes, clear as the morning sky just before dawn, searched his face. “Do you feel anything…for me? Other than the urge to drink my blood.” Her tone was teasing but her emotions didn’t match. No. Her emotions were dead serious.
Though he knew the entire time where she was headed with this, the question hit him right in the gut. Maybe it was the way she held herself so carefully, like she would shatter into tiny pieces if he touched her. Maybe it was the set of her jaw and the way she so carefully and distinctly pronounced each word. Or maybe it was the way a fire of a different kind all together burned through the mist in her gray eyes.
Maybe it was because he’d been through enough shit in his long life to know he shouldn’t—couldn’t—have any kind of feelings for this female.
And, yet, he did.
Only they weren’t simple “feelings.” They were fucking cyclones of emotion that raged through him every time the faintest whisper of her scent reached him. Every time he heard her laugh. Every time she lit up a room simply with her aura. It seemed impossible after so short a time, and yet, there it was.
Hawke straightened, setting himself away from her. He needed to regain control of this conversation. “My feelings for you, or lack thereof, aren’t important right now.”
“They’re important to me.”
“It won’t change anything.”
“Because you don’t want it to.”
“Because it’s not possible.”
She was silent then, but the way she looked at him spoke volumes.
Hawke sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Everly, sometimes hard choices have to be made.”
She stood and pulled his hand away from his face. Her mouth twisted into something resembling a snarl, and he blinked in surprise. “Don’t tell me about hard choices, Hawke. I know all about them. Every choice I’ve ever made in my life has been hard except for—” She snapped her mouth closed abruptly.
“Except for what?” Was it wrong that his heart pounded in anticipation? Should he despise himself for being so weak that he wanted to hear the words? “Except for what, Everly?”
“Except for the choice to be with you,” she whispered. “That choice was easy. It was right. And nothing you say will ever convince me otherwise.”
He inhaled sharply in an attempt to clear his head, and her sweet scent filled him. Hawke froze and ground his teeth together, keeping his fangs concealed. But it was no use. This female with her questions and her imperfect smile and her laughing eyes had burrowed her way under his skin. It was more than the bloodlust, more than the sex. It was the way she embraced her life with a joy he hadn’t felt in a long time. It was the way she flayed him open with her frank honesty. The way she cared for a brother she barely knew. The way she gave herself openly, trusting him not to hurt her.
Hawke couldn’t lie to her. Not when she stared at him with her heart in her eyes. He took her hands, pressing his forehead to hers briefly. “This thing between us, whatever it is, it has to stop.” He raised a hand when she was about to argue. “It has to stop. You’ll hate me when this is all over.”
“No, I won’t.”
He pulled back to see her expression better. Something fluttered in his gut. A warning, perhaps. “You won’t?”
“No.” Rising up on her tiptoes, she pressed a kiss to his lips. “Because you’re not killing my brother.”
Pain lanced through his skull. His vision cleared just in time to see Everly throw the keyboard back on the desk and turn to run. If nothing else convinced him she was a shifter, the strength in that hit just fucking did.
He caught her before she made it to the door, spinning her around and wrapping his arms around her. She struggled, but he wouldn’t release her. Kohl was standing right outside. Hawke was actually surprised he hadn’t come in yet. Even over the music, he should’ve heard the commotion.
When she finally realized her plan was thwarted and she wasn’t getting away, she took a deep breath, the movement pressing her breasts against his chest, and lifted her chin. “Let me go.”
Hawke knew she wasn’t talking about being in his arms. Not entirely. “I can’t do that, honey.”
