Empath (Book 1 of The Empath Trilogy)
Page 18
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It was several hours later, we had been working diligently and I’d called for a break. James had put the kettle on and we were idling in the kitchen, waiting for the water to boil. It felt domestic and homey, my ease around him had become second nature since that first awkward night.
His smooth voice broke the silence, “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure, anything.” I didn’t have any secrets. I was pretty sure he even knew what I wished he didn’t. He probably also knew that I was all sorts of nuts about him, he’d been pushing my boundaries on blocking hard tonight.
“Anything?” He raised an eyebrow archly at me. I wondered if he knew the effect that he had on me as my heart started hammering its staccato beat.
Awkwardly I nodded, “Yeah, I don’t really have some secret life or anything.”
He gave me a dubious look. “Don’t you?”
“Yeah, I guess I do now. But you know all that,” I admitted with a sigh.
“I would like to know if you feel comfortable enough to take a field trip with me.”
“A field trip? Where?” I tried to imagine where we would go on a field trip and felt a quiver in my core. It didn’t matter, as long as I had him with me I knew I’d enjoy it.
He turned the heat off the whistling teakettle and answered without turning around. “I would like to take you downtown. There is a nightclub frequented by my kind. It would give us a chance to test your distance, something we have been unable to do up until now.” He turned to catch my eyes, “If you’re willing.”
My heart skipped a beat then started to pound. We were going to a vampire hangout with me smelling like a snack?
“Claire, I won’t let anything happen to you.” His smoky eyes were sincere; it was impossible not to believe him. I wondered for a fleeting moment if he was using any of his vampire tricks on me to get me to agree.
Feeling oddly assured and eager to prove myself, my mind moved to more practical concerns. “Am I dressed for it?” We were both wearing blue jeans and I was wearing a light green sweater that I hoped, for his benefit, would be flattering. He outshone me of course, but when wouldn’t that be the case.
James stood up and, putting his hand on his chin, made a show of giving me a once over. I was not successful keeping the heat out of my face. Giving a grim nod, he replied, “It’ll have to do.”
I could feel my self-esteem take the hit. Of course someone so beautiful would see me as completely ordinary, I knew that already. But before I could berate myself any further, I heard him laugh warmly as he shook his head. “Why do you doubt your appearance? You look incredible.” My disbelief must have leaked out. “No, really. You are a stunning woman. I find it hard to believe that you have no suitors.” He hesitated and I thought I saw a flash of darkness flash across his features, jealousy? No, that had to be wishful thinking. “Do you, Claire?” The dark edge to his words tickled up my back.
I laughed dismissively at his question. “No, I have never had a boyfriend.”
James feigned surprise like he hadn’t had access to all of this in my head for the last week. “Never?”
Crossing my arms, I looked severely at him, done joking. Pushing this way to make me discuss a painful subject with someone whom I particularly did not want to discuss it with was cruel and I didn’t appreciate it. “If I can’t shake hands with someone without losing control, how could I have had a relationship? Think about it. You’re the first person that has even had his hands on me for more than five seconds, aside from a few unfortunate incidents here and there.” My strong stand had ended with a fizzle as I thought about what I was saying. It was kind of sad really but between Stephen messing with me about dating all the time now, his favorite pastime I was learning, and now James picking up the torch, I wanted to let him know it was an off limits subject.
“How lonely you must have been.” He didn’t say it condescendingly so it was not as horrible as it could have been, but it still hurt to have him look at me like that with something akin to pity in his eyes.
“It will soon be your choice whether you want to share your life with someone or not. I promise you that.”
I tried, but failed, to hide my lack of enthusiasm, considering the one person I wanted to share my life with was not an option. “That’s something to look forward to. How about we go meet some vampires?” In spite of his assurances that I would not be harmed while in his company, I had serious doubts about our destination. The best I could do was to try to swallow the fear building in the back of my throat while in my mind’s eye I saw James at his most frightening, times twenty.