Page 19 of Little Wing (Shades of Fairhaven #1)

A s Lotus spoke, I battled against the urge to pull her into me.

My hand on her knee was pushing it enough, but I didn’t dare move it away when she didn’t appear to reject its presence.

If I didn’t feel like a dick before for berating her with questions about her identity, then I definitely felt like one now.

Fucking Christ… her own brother…

It wasn’t uncommon to see waves of vampires plaguing villages back then.

From her retelling, I could finally piece together that we were similar in age, not only in appearance, but existence as well.

It was even more evident in the way that her modern tongue slipped into an accent I was no stranger to. Scottish, maybe?

But when she asked if it was enough, I gritted my teeth and pulled my hand from her leg only to set it over her hand that wrapped tightly around the glass still full of her drink.

“I’m so sorry…” I said again. “I’m sorry for my fucked up—everything! You don’t owe me anything. Look, I may not get the makeup,” I admitted as I motioned to her face with a tip of my chin. “But I will not beg you for an explanation. Not unless you offer it.”

I watched her lips remain spread into a gentle smile while her eyes looked upon our covered hands. After a quiet moment, she looked up at me. My gods—that was a smile men would ride into battle for. I savored every single one she shared with me, storing it in my memory.

What she shared with me was a gift because I knew many who suffered, who did not choose this, and certainly did not offer their story up freely. There was too much pain tied with their turning.

This time the space between us felt less tense. Having shared pieces of each other felt like we were more equal. She wasn’t defensive when I asked her questions, and she even came back with questions of her own.

Talking with her was so easy that before we knew it, the usual late night crowd filled the space of the bar.

I concentrated on letting the noise around us dampen until all I heard was the woman seated beside me.

When I watched her lips curl and eyes crease as she spoke about something that excited her, I realized that I really couldn’t get tired of just watching her exist. Even as the live music from the stage became louder, all I heard was her.

Maybe now was as good a time as any to bring up the night I still couldn’t stop thinking about.

“Hey,” I started, leaning forward as I nudged her knee with mine. “Don’t know if we covered this yet, but I hope I didn’t make things weird for us when I kissed you.”

Her lips parted slightly, allowing yet another peek of her pointed canines. She tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and shrugged. “It was a good kiss.”

Ah fuck—here we go. Wait… what?

“Oh?”

She bobbed her head as she looked past me. A sly smile crept across her lips, even as her eyes wandered to the noise happening on the stage. “I kissed you back, didn’t I?”

I admit I hoped she would say that, but there were plenty of times where people got lost in the moment and ended up regretting their decisions. When I saw her smile hadn’t faded, I allowed myself to believe her.

“Yeah, you sure did,” I responded as confidently as I could while my brain screamed at the possibility of kissing her again.

I longed for another chance to taste her, to show her the kind of tenderness she deserved. Even as Lotus smiled and laughed, there was a pain behind her eyes that couldn't be ignored, that left me to wonder what it was that haunted her.

The need to hold her, kiss her, protect her—this woman was in my head and I was going to lose my mind if I didn’t get more of her.

It didn’t help that she no longer looked at me like I was about to ruin her night.

Speaking now didn’t feel like an interview.

We shared more drinks, switching over to crimson after our third glass of chilled blood.

We talked about our experiences living in Fairhaven—how long we’ve lived here, how we liked it, and what we saw for its future.

And then we cracked jokes that made her laugh and talk so fast that hints of her Scottish roots slipped out.

I didn’t want the night to end. Not when I wanted to see more of her like that, just so damn free.

When I did finally glance at the time on my phone, I hung my head, dreading having to get up from the booth.

I admit it did please me to see that Lotus appeared just as disappointed.

Guess it wasn’t just me that enjoyed the company.

This time when we did settle up at the bar and make our way down what I learned was her favorite path home, there wasn’t a moment of silence between us.

Lotus continued to ask questions about Little Wing and how my life was here in Fairhaven, and I shared it all with her.

The only thing I didn’t share with her was how much I wanted to be closer to her, and how I wondered if she was feeling the same pull.

I believed she did when she swayed into me, her hand gently brushing against mine.

At least she wasn’t keeping a rigid distance from me anymore, accident or not, I would take it .

When we made it to her apartment building, I stopped to lean against the metal gate.

The not-so-distant memory of what happened there had me shifting my weight to one side.

Lotus showed no rush to head upstairs, so we stood together, listening to the swaying of the tree branches around her building.

Rather than feeling awkward and tense, I could have stayed there until daylight if it meant having this moment with her.

Of course, we didn’t have that luxury anymore, so anything else I wanted to share with her before heading home, I had to say now.

“I’m glad you came out today,” I confessed, breaking the silence between us. “I admit I was worried that I scared you away and you were just trying to be polite when I kept coming in to the store.”

“I wasn’t scared,” she said, looking down at the ground. Her hair draped over her face, but I could see her biting down on her bottom lip. What I wouldn’t do to be the one nipping at her.

I wondered what was going through her head. What was she taking so long to think about? What was she filtering out before speaking to me? And how could I have her uncensored thoughts spoken to me without such calculation?

“Maybe we could do this again sometime?” she finally asked. I could hear it in her voice—the sheepishness that came with taking a chance she wasn’t used to. I fucking loved it.

I pushed off the fence, eager for an excuse to touch her. “Wow, you’d let me take you out on a proper date?”

She gasped softly and I just knew I’d be depositing that sound to my mental library of sounds I’d like to hear her make again.

“I mean—um, maybe just—uh—”

I nodded and leaned forward to touch her cheek before pressing a chaste kiss to it. “No need to get so flustered, Lotus. I’d love to see you again. Now go on upstairs and rest well. We’ll chat real soon. ”

The promise was meant for her, but I knew I would cling to it just the same.

Because my dear Lotus, another petal was plucked tonight, and it wouldn’t be long before I get to the center of you. And when that happens, I don’t know if I will have the willpower to stay away.