Page 97 of Wedlock

“I’m calling to see if you’ll do me the honour of dating me, Angelina.”

My eyes widen.

“What?”

“It’s become patently clear that you and I don’t know one another. You said it yourself during your visit. I’d like to get to know you.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to know more about you.”

“Why?”

“So that I can confidently answer our son’s questions about his mother as he grows.”

I bite my lip and consider his request. It sounds weird. It sounds like bullshit.”

“Falcon, we’ve been on dates all over the world. Morocco, Thailand...”

“I mean a date where there are no other women involved,” he sighs.

“Aren’t there?” I whisper.

“No.”

I narrow my eyes. Just the mention of other women still makes my blood boil. It’s true I can’t be with him, but that doesn’t mean I want to imagine anyone else with him.

“Lord Dragonspur,” I snort. “Your mistresses do count as women, you know that, right?”

“I believe you met the last woman who bore that title, albeit briefly,” he murmurs.

I frown and sift through who he could mean.

“You mean the girl whose head you pushed back behind the door with your foot?”

“I do.”

“Can’t you see how even me saying something like that is so fucking terrible that any normal woman would run to the hills?”

“You’ve always known I’m a vampire, Angelina. You’ve seen me do worse. And unless I’m mistaken, the woman I’m speaking to right nowdidrun to the hills.”

I look at the ceiling and try to order my thoughts.

Eventually, he sighs heavily.

“No one is sharing my bed, or my life, Angie. Both are reserved, and have been for some time, for my wife.”

I frown and shake my head in disbelief.

“How am I supposed to feel about that? What kind of response are you looking for by saying something like that?”

“I just wanted you to know,” he says quietly.

‘My God. What’s he trying to say? That he wants me back? That he still loves me?’

“It’s too late,” I sigh. “It’s too late, Falcon.”

“It’s never too late. I want to see you, Angie. All I’m asking for is a date. No strings. I’d like to spend time with you as an equal rather than as someone who questions my feelings and has to fear I might kill her at the end of each evening.”