A World of New (A Shade of Vampire, #26)

Oh, my God. No, no, no. “It’s just my stupid, rambling notes,” I said, moving to stow the book back in the suitcase.

“I didn’t detect anything stupid about them,” he commented, polite but insistent. “And I have a pretty high stupid detector. I found your observations incredibly interesting. Enlightening, even. At least, those I managed to glimpse so far.”

I paused, staring down reluctantly at the book in my hands. Since he really was insisting, I supposed that I could hand-pick a few observations and let him read them.

I turned on him, my eyes narrowing. “Okay. Scooch over.”

He moved over on the bed, making room for me to sit next to him. I kept the notebook’s pages away from his view as I began turning them. Since he had already scanned the first page, I moved to the second. But from here on, as I’d started to get to know him a little better, the comments all seemed kind of personal.

“I’m waiting,” he said.

“And you may be waiting forever…” I murmured grimly, gritting my teeth as I flipped to the last page. Augh. I really didn’t want him to read any more than he already had.

“How about this,” he suggested. “You hand me the notebook, but read along with me. If I get to something that’s absolutely too excruciating for you, you can just snatch the book off me again. All right?”

I heaved a sigh. Would there really be any harm in him reading it, other than my own embarrassment? It might even be good for him to read all my observations compiled in one place. Perhaps it would help to spark something in him.

I reluctantly handed him the book and leaned back against the pillows with him as he held the notebook up and opened to the second page.

As his eyes began to travel down the page, I nudged him in the shoulder and said, “Hey, no cheating. Start reading from the top.”

And so he did. Details of the second day we’d spent with each other. Most of it seemed pretty mundane now, in light of everything that had happened since, but Josh read it with interest before turning to the third page.

Once I realized that he was nearing the bit when he’d snapped at me in the bathroom after his failed attempt at shaving, I wasn’t sure I could bear it. I moved to take the book from him, but he held on tight.

“Come on,” he said. “I’ve read this far. You might as well let me finish it.”

Oh, no…

I let go of the book, allowing him to continue reading. I didn’t want to follow along the part about his fall. I kept my eyes on the other side of the room until he’d passed it. I was glad that he didn’t comment about it. I guessed he’d felt uncomfortable too.

“‘Josh was in much better spirits today,’” he began to read aloud, in a higher tone of voice than usual. “‘He enjoyed the trip to the beach and—’”

I clamped a hand over his mouth and glared at him. “Don’t read it out loud.” It was embarrassing enough as it was without him reading in his stupid girly voice.

He chuckled. “Fair enough.”

I removed my hand and allowed him to continue reading in silence. After about a minute, another smile cracked his lips. He turned to me and smirked. “You don’t half go on about my muscles.”

Oh, my God.

Just kill me now.

“It’s part of my job,” I insisted, even as my cheeks grew red hot.

“Sure it is,” he said, slanting me a sly glance.

He fell quiet again, fixing his eyes back on the pages. And gradually, as he moved further into the notebook, toward the middle of my notes, his smile faded and he stopped making comments. By the time he had turned to the last page, it was hard for me to put a finger on his expression. Somber… Touched?

He closed the book and placed it on the bedside table before twisting on the mattress to face me fully. His gaze was hard to hold. I wondered what was going through his head exactly.

He cleared his throat, and his voice was quite hoarse as he said, “Thank you, Grace, for letting me read that.”

I shrugged, smiling and trying to make light of the situation. “Just doing my job, as I said.”

But he didn’t return my smile. He continued gazing at me so intensely that I almost looked away… yet something about his deep, brown eyes kept mine glued to them.

His hand moved downward, brushing against my arm. His fingers wrapped around my hand before raising it to his lips. I was breathing a little too hard as he pressed a chaste kiss against the back of it.

“Not to sound corny,” he said in a low voice, “but you honestly have been a grace to me. I’m not sure where my spirits would be right now if it weren’t for you visiting me every day. If it weren’t for your friendship… I suspect that you won’t ever know quite how much it has meant to me.”

I beamed at him, the corners of my eyes heating.