Andre rubbed his eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
I bit into the cookie, enjoying the taste of sugar and empty carbs. “Will you stop apologizing?” He’d done it quite a bit of that tonight, and it was freaking me out. “Personally, I thought the whole experience was . . . titillating. Well, other than passing out.”
His lips thinned, but he didn’t say anything.
“Oh-kay. Be all moody and vampy,” I said, polishing off the cookie and moving on to another.
“I’m not being moody and vampy,” he said, folding his arms over his chest.
I shrugged, more interested in the sweets in front of me than arguing semantics with a vampire. I blew through five more cookies before I began to feel perky again.
“I’ve never seen someone eat quite as savagely as you,” Andre commented from where he still stood in the middle of the room, his eyes narrowed. Crumbs were littered across my shirt and pants.
“That’s because most women would be horrified for you to see how they really eat,” I said, crumpling up the wrapper of the last cookie I ate.
“And you’re not?” Andre raised an eyebrow.
“Nope,” I said, licking my fingers. Despite what I said, I discreetly brushed sugar and crumbs off myself and tried to not draw attention to the fact that I’d gotten food all over the place.
It didn’t work. One of Andre’s lips quirked. “You missed a couple spots.” He came over to me and wiped something out of my eyebrow and something from the corner of my lip.
“There.” He didn’t let go of my face. Instead his eyes searched mine.
“What are you doing?” I asked, watching him watching me. I was still tired, but having him this close was waking me up. Quickly.
“I’m trying to remember this moment.” A stray lock of hair fell over one of his eyes.
I reached out and tucked it out of the way. “Why would you want to remember this moment?”
“You’re so . . . you. That goes away with time.” His gaze dropped to my lips.
“How could I ever stop being me?”
But he didn’t answer. Andre tilted my chin up and his lips brushed mine. My eyelids closed and my lungs felt like they were collapsing from all the pain and pleasure. For someone like me, who was used to the lustful looks of men, this kiss touched a part of me that all the passionate kisses and heated gazes couldn’t.
This was true, deep, blind love. And it made me ache for the man in front me.
***
I woke to the sound of a scream.
It took me a moment to place where I was. From the faint moonlight streaming in through the window, I could see my bed and desk.
My room. I was back in my room. The smell of fear and adrenaline skittered past me.
“Ugh, who woke me from my beauty sleep?” Oliver said from the middle of the room. Leanne and I still hadn’t managed to get rid of the mattress, so we hadn’t also managed to get rid of our third roommate.
I could hear the quick palpitations of Leanne’s heart; it sounded as though she had just finished a sprint, not just awoke from sleeping.
I reached over and clicked on a bedside lamp. The light blinded me longer than it rightfully should’ve, probably because my eyes were increasingly sensitive to all light sources.
When my eyesight finally adjusted, I focused on my frightened friend. Leanne was sitting up in bed, curled in a protective ball. She’d pulled her legs up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. Sweat had matted her hair to her scalp and neck, and her breaths were shallow.
I watched her body tremble and her lips move. The words she spoke were too low for human ears to understand, but not for mine.
“Lady of Death, I embrace thee with open arms as my time draws to a close.”
“Leanne, are you okay?” I asked.
I didn’t know if she even heard me. “May I gaze upon thy face with courage and know within my dying hour that I shall live on.”
“Obviously she’s not okay,” Oliver chimed in—helpful as always. “The girl’s clearly gone cray-cray.”
“Not the right time, Oliver,” I said. “Not that it ever is.”
“Let those left behind feel no sorrow but rejoice in my passing. For while the body decays my soul is immortal.”
“Leanne, what are you talking about? You’re not going to die.” Now it was me who was getting terrified.
“All I wanted was for a certain incubus to visit, but no, that was too much to ask for,” Oliver grumbled.
I ignored Oliver and walked across the room, careful to sidestep him and his atrocious bed. I crouched next to Leanne.
Close up her eyes were bloodshot and unfocused. “Forgive me my grievances. Cleanse me of my sins. I am ready to die.”
“Leanne, what is going on?” I asked.
She blinked a few times, focusing on me. Her eyes welled up and a tear spilled over. “I can’t talk about it—I won’t.” And I thought I was stubborn.