Page 6 of The Vampire's Mate

I draw out that last word just a little too long, and Jesse’s eyes narrow. He looks…insulted. Shit. Now I feel bad.

“I’m sorry,” I say quickly, “but this is the epitome of weird.”

“I know,” he says, his shoulders dropping slightly. “Can I please come in? I know you have questions. I have answers. I promise to be good.”

That last sentence vibrates in my lady bits, and I mentally yell at them to stand down. I cannot, will not, allow myself to be seduced by him. I can resist his charm, his good looks, his penetrating eyes, that deep voice, those large hands, that—

“Fuck it. Come in,” I say quickly before I can stop myself.

Please, God, don’t let me die today.

I inhale his spicy scent as he steps inside, and my eyelids flutter down as I push the door closed, shutting us inside. Together. Alone.

I take a deep breath and turn around to find him standing in the middle of the room, his intense gaze moving over the space. I shift my weight from foot to foot, then step forward, pasting a polite smile on my face.

“Would you like something to drink?”

He twists around to face me, a mischievous smile curling his lips. “No, thanks. I’m good…for now.”

I gasp, realizing my faux pas. I just offered a vampire a drink. Might as well slap my fingers against a vein to make it bulge and slather on some gravy.

What? God, I’m making no sense.

“I don’t know what we’re doing here,” I say aloud.

“I’ll start,” Jesse says, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m a vampire.”

“No shit,” I mumble, and he smiles.

“Vampires have excellent hearing,” he says, his smile shifting into a smirk.

“How excellent?”

“I can clearly hear you mumbling under your breath like that…from inside my apartment.”

My mouth falls open slightly. I talk to myself, a lot. I know this, even if I don’t realize I’m doing it half the time. What have I said out loud since he moved in? How much has he heard?

“You don’t have to move,” he says, giving me a meaningful look. “And you’re not going to lose pints of blood. Even if you agreed to let a vampire bite you—and most of us would never bite without permission—the most we take amounts to about four ounces.”

“Most of us?” I ask, choosing to focus on that and not the fact that people actually give their permission to be bitten.

“Just like in the human world, there are outliers. Rogues. Criminals,” he says, shrugging.

I nod thoughtfully, then head to my desk. Grabbing a pen and a notebook, I walk over to the couch and plop down. Jesse is giving me valuable information here, and I don’t want to forget a word of it. I quickly write down what he’s said so far.

“What are you doing?” he asks, cocking his head in question as I look up to meet his dark gaze.

“Taking notes.”

“Why?”

I nod my head toward the bookcase as I speak. “I’m a romance author. I write a lot of vampire romance books, and since they’re not exactly fantasy anymore, I want to make sure I get the details right instead of relying on myths and legends.”

He uncrosses his arms and strides over to the bookcase. Pulling a novel off the shelf, he studies the cover before looking back at me with an arched brow. I shrug.

“Sex sells,” I say, knowing that particular book sports a bare-chested vamp with his mouth sealed to the neck of a bustier-wearing heroine who’s sporting her best “O” face. “If you don’t mind, I’d love to learn everything from you. To separate fact from fiction…now that I know there are actual facts.”

I realize my nervous tension has faded. Jesse has been in my apartment for several minutes, and we’ve had a normal—well, semi-normal—conversation. He hasn’t shown any fang or made any move against me.