“I am waiting for her father’s permission before asking for her hand,” I say.
Her eyes go soft. “That is so nice. What a gentlemanly thing to do. You certainly have my permission.”
“Thank you.”
We both turn to the man who still hasn’t answered the most important question of my eight-hundred-year-old life.
Her father turns wide eyes on me, but he speaks to his wife. “Irene, he wants to buy our vineyard and merge into one larger estate. Five million dollars. And we could still be full partners.”
“Oh my gosh!” Her hand flies to her chest. “Now I understand. I was so caught up in the marriage part, I missed that.” She leaps from her seat and hugs me and then hugs her husband. She looks at me over his shoulder. “This is wonderful news! Of course we accept your offer!”
I cannot join in their excitement because her father has not granted me permission. I stand and make my case once more. “Mr. Baker, I will take great care with Stella. She will never want for anything. I will do everything in my power to make her happy. Whatever she wants or needs, I vow she will have it.”
He pulls away from his wife, walks over to me, and gazes directly into my eyes. He doesn’t flinch at the power there, like most mortal men, and I am glad to see he’s a man of great strength too. “Boz, you have my permission to propose to Stella. We would be honored to welcome you to the family. And I look forward to our partnership in the future.”
Joy fills me so powerfully I have to fight not to levitate. “Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Baker. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to see Stella.”
Before I can go, her mother hugs me again. I pat her back gingerly, unused to affection. She looks up at me, her eyes shining with happiness. “Thank you, Boz. Just thank you.”
“You’re quite welcome.” My heart beats proudly. I am a changed vampire, a better one, all because of my love for Stella.
Her mother releases me, and I make my way swiftly to the stairs. I catch her excited whisper to her husband. “We can send Mabel and Eliza to culinary school,” she says.
I smile to myself. Stella’s family is pleased with my plan. Now I simply need to inform my mate.
“Stella, my love,” I call.
Her bedroom door opens, and she walks to the top of the stairs. “I am not your love.”
It is a dagger to my heart. My knees actually go weak. I lock them and pull my shoulders back to display my manly form. “Stella, we must talk. Alone. It is important.”
She walks downstairs, her gaze locked on mine. “Anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of my family. They deserve to know the truth.”
“I have already—” I turn, shocked to find her sisters hugging me.
“Thank you, Boz!” one of them exclaims.
“Mom just told us! You rock!” the other exclaims.
I pat their heads. “Which one is Mabel? And which one is Eliza?”
They giggle.
“I’m Eliza,” the girl with the cupcake T-shirt says. “You can tell because I have a scar right here.” She lifts her chin, exposing her delicate neck.
“Eliza! No!” Stella exclaims, putting herself between us.
She believes I am a monster. That I would destroy her sister because she offered me her neck. But I do not dine on children, and that goes double for my mate’s siblings.
“What is wrong with you?” Eliza asks Stella. “I was just telling him how to tell us apart.”
Her mother appears in the foyer. “What’s all this yelling?”
Eliza turns an affronted look on Stella. “Stella’s acting all possessive of Boz. I wasn’t flirting, I swear! I was just explaining how to tell Mabel and me apart.”
“Okay, girls.” Her mother gestures them toward her. “Let’s give Stella and Boz some privacy. He has something important to ask her.” She winks at me.
They leave.
Stella crosses her arms. “Fine. What is it?”
This is not going as I imagined. By this point, Stella was supposed to be gazing at me with total adoration. I remember the importance of the close heart-to-heart talk between partners and gesture for her to sit with me on the stairs.
Once we’re settled side by side, my heart beats in rhythm with hers. My mate, if only I could make her understand my love is sincere. “Stella, I have offered to buy your family’s vineyard and run the combined vineyards as equal partners. Your parents have happily accepted my offer.”
Her hand flies to her mouth, her eyes watering.
“It is my sincere grand gesture so that you may know that I take care of those my mate loves.”
She drops her hand. “Oh, Boz. I’m overwhelmed by your generosity and so thankful, but…” She swallows audibly. “The mate part. I’m not sure I’m ready for what that entails.”
She needs more from me, so I continue from the heart. “I did everything properly and received your parents’ approval to ask you to marry me.”
She blinks.
I gaze deeply into her eyes. “I love you. I didn’t realize it until we met, but you are the one thing I have been missing from my life, the one woman capable of filling the dark void in my chest with sunshine. No one could ever come close to your beauty, your kindness, your pure soul. Only you could have broken the curse.” I take her hand and brush my lips across her fingers. “Stella, you are my destiny. I do not expect you to be anything but you. I would only turn you if you chose it, when the time is right. I am immortal. I can wait as long as you need.”
She sighs. And when I lower her hand, she leans close, her lips meeting mine. A surge of triumph goes through me at contact. I frame her face with both hands, deepening the kiss, keeping my fangs in check. She needs a slow seduction, my sweet virgin.
When I release her, she’s breathing hard, staring at my mouth. “I don’t see fangs,” she whispers.
“I can control when they emerge. Stella, I would never hurt you. Only bring you pleasure.”
She shivers. “This kind of love was never in my plan.”
I smile. She’s seeing her way to a different kind of love with me—fanged love. “Let me see your planner. I have something to write in it.” She is quite fond of her plans.
Her lips twitch, and then she goes upstairs to get it. When she hands it to me, I step away to write my most personal grand gesture for tonight before handing it back to her. She must meet me halfway. I want her willing.
“Now it is up to you, my love.” I brush a kiss over her lips, just enough to tempt her for more. Seduction is my strong suit.
I turn and walk out the door to the sweet sound of her sigh. She will be mine.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Stella
Boz is gone in a flash, his movements supernaturally fast. I open my planner and read his note written in elegant script: Meet me in the ballroom of Castle Sangria. Wear your gown.
It’s so romantic. I missed the ball I’d so been looking forward to at the wine competition because of my total meltdown, and now he’s offering to recreate the moment just the two of us. I could love this man. I’m just not sure I can join him in his world. It’s so different. And my family—
My family! I hurry to the kitchen.
My parents beam at me. “Did you say yes?” Mom asks.
My sisters rush in. “Oh my God, Boz proposed!” Mabel exclaims. “I love him!” She blushes. “Not like that.”
“Congratulations!” Eliza exclaims.
“I didn’t say yes,” I explain.
Everyone’s faces fall.
“He caught me by surprise, okay?” I take them all in, looking so disappointed. “I didn’t say no either. I just wasn’t expecting this.” I am still getting used to the fact that he is a vampire.
Mom walks over and hugs me. “None of us were expecting what would happen when we opened our hearts to someone who seemed so different from us. I’m only sorry we weren’t friendlier with our neighbors from the start. We were put off by how eccentric that place was, made assum
ptions about the people in it, but you were right all along, it was his willingness to follow his own path to happiness that made him the success he is. We all love Boz and, if you love him too, we’re happy to welcome him to the family.”
My dad nods. “I understand the hungry looks he gave you. He was in love with you. Poor guy had it bad.”
Mom laughs and elbows him. “Sounds like someone I used to know.”
He kisses her hair. “I was a goner from the start. Thank God she married me.”
“What will you do?” Mabel asks.
I hold up my planner. “He invited me to a private ball and says I should wear my gown.”
Mom sighs. “Such a romantic. Do you love him?”
I take in the family I love, so happy together, able to keep their beloved home and vineyard, working as equal partners with my love. My heart pounds. My love. If I love him, shouldn’t I love all of him, even the parts that aren’t human? Only one way to find out. I must go to him.
“Excuse me, I have a ball to attend,” I say.
I rush from the room to get ready for my handsome prince as their cheers fill the air.
Boz answers the door himself, looking impossibly gorgeous in a black tux. “You look beautiful, Stella.”
“Thank you. You look handsome.”
He offers his arm and guides me to the ballroom, which is at the far end of a long hallway. I didn’t even know he had a ballroom until today. Sconces light the way, lending romantic candlelight. It feels like a dream that I’m wearing a beautiful red gown on the arm of a handsome prince in a castle. This could be my home. I would be a princess.
“What are you thinking of, love?” he asks.
“Silly stuff.”
“Please tell me.”
“I was feeling like a princess.”
“As you should.” He smiles at me, love shining in his silvery eyes. I let out a swoony sigh.
Once in the ballroom, he uses his phone to play ballroom dance music, saying, “I have discovered a wonderful way to find all types of appealing music. This is my ballroom playlist. I have learned the most romantic of dances for you, my love—the waltz.”
His formal speech appeals to me. I can get used to the courtly manners of an eight-hundred-year-old gentleman who looks like a hot vampire of thirty. Nerves skitter over my skin. Vampire.
He sweeps me into his arms, taking the lead in the dance, his hand on the small of my back. It’s wonderful. I get caught up in the music, in his heat, his sexy scent. All of it. I never want it to end. We dance to song after song until the playlist ends.
He executes a formal bow to me. “I very much enjoyed our private ball. I was looking forward to it in France, but this is even better. Just the two of us.” His eyes search my expression for a long moment, and then his arms wrap around me, holding me close.
I rest my head on his chest, listening to his heart beating. Wait, I thought vampires were dead.
I lift my head. “You have a beating heart.”
“It beats for you.”
I suck in air, overwhelmed by all I’m feeling. I suddenly realize that this is the love I’ve dreamed of all my life. This connection of ours, this feeling in my chest that tells me he’s my destiny, this…desire that won’t ever fade. He’s changed me somehow, and he’s changed my family’s fate too. All for the better. Simply put, parts of me still might feel afraid of this—of the unknown—but a bigger part of me knows I couldn’t ever walk away from him. Not now. Not ever. I’m in, sunk, fascinated, and completely smitten by this man, and the fact he’s not like me—human—won’t change that.
“I love you,” I whisper. A realization. The strange part is, I feel like he’s been by my side for years, waiting in the shadows, loving me too. It just wasn’t our time yet.
Boz’s dark eyes glow with his unspoken happiness. He goes down on one knee, takes my hand, and gazes into my eyes. “Stella, will you do me the great honor of becoming my mate for life?”
I drop to my knees in front of him. “I want to say yes, but how can I when I don’t know what being your mate means?”
“Oh, Stella.” He holds me close. “It means I will be so careful with you. I will love you and care for you for eternity. You need never fear me.”
He strokes my cheek. “It means I will love you forever.”
“No more lies?” I ask.
“There will never be secrets between us again. Please be my wife, Stella. Let me give you a perfect life so that I may experience everlasting happiness. Because living forever means nothing if my mate isn’t by my side.”
In that moment I know. His love for me is in his eyes, in his touch, in his voice. It’s everything I’ve always wanted. If I can just take this leap of faith and trust that what he says is true, then there is nothing to fear.
“Then I do. I accept.”
He wraps me in his arms, holding me tight. “I am so honored in your trust. I will spend the rest of my days making your every dream come true.”
“Oh, Boz.” How could I have ever doubted this wonderful man?
He pulls back to look in my eyes. “I know you love to check things off your list. The first step was saying you’ll marry me. The others will come in time, only when you’re ready.”
“To become a vampire?”
“Only if you wish. I am prepared to say goodbye at the end of your natural life if that is what you want. I will mourn you for eternity.”
A surge of love fills me, pushing out the last of my fears. “I will think about it. I promise.”
He grins and sweeps me off my feet, carrying me out of the room, cradled in his arms. “The next step is a slow seduction to initiate you into the pleasures of the bedroom.”
“I love that step!”
He nuzzles into my neck, and I tense. “Stella, I’ll only bite you with your permission and only for pleasure.”
I let out a shaky breath. He did give me an orgasm that way. It’s difficult, knowing how powerful he is, potentially deadly. But I know he loves me, and that makes all the difference. “Okay. And what are the next steps?”
“I will write every one of them in your planner. But first, we must plan our wedding. Right away. I cannot wait long to have you.” He sets me on my feet by the front door. “And I want you to know I understand if you had to sell your maidenhead for a plane ticket—”
“What! Boz, I used a credit card.”
“Ah. Those are very useful, and I am most pleased to hear your maidenhead is intact.”
“But—”
He swoops in, dipping me back over his arm and kissing me. A rush of dizzying lust races through me. He rights me again and gives me a little push toward the door. “All in good time, my love. I will get everything taken care of. Good night to you.”
I turn back, hands on my hips. Seriously? He’s turning his new fiancée away from his bed? I’m still aching for him, but he’s already gone with supernatural speed. Maybe one day I’ll move like that too. Super Stella.
I walk home with a bounce in my step, love in my heart. Boz understands me; he loves my family; he loves me. He’s not like I ever dreamed my husband would be. I smile to myself.
He’s better.
Boz
I shuffle my beloved Stella from my castle in a hurry. This is not how I planned the evening to go. I wanted to dance with her until the morning light and tell her all the ways she has brought sunshine into my very long, very tedious life. She has filled me with a renewed sense of purpose and brought my humanity back. Well, some of it. I am, after all, still a vampire. A little nibble on her neck might have been a pleasant way to finish off the night.
However, all that must wait. While she and I danced, I caught wind of an intruder. “Come out!” I yell. “I can smell your foul stench, vampire!” Why any of my kind would dare to enter my castle is beyond me. I am ancient, which makes me faster and deadlier than most.
I grab a claymore from the stone wall in the hallway. The decorations in my castle are there for a reas
on. “I will find you! And I will remove your head!” I sniff my way down the hallway, toward the parlor that connects to the kitchen. The trail grows stronger with each step.
Blood. I smell blood. I stand in my parlor and notice the tiny people in the TV box are still awake. They truly are dedicated to their craft, rehearsing at all hours of the day, whether someone is there or not. “Shhh…” I hold my finger to my mouth. “I would not want you to be harmed. There is an intruder.”
They ignore me and continue talking amongst themselves. I press the tiny button and close the curtain for their safety.
Two more steps and I am at the door leading to the kitchen. Someone is in there drinking all my snack blood! There are rules among vampires. One, you never touch another’s mate. And two, you do not eat my snacks!
I push open the door, ready to strike with my claymore. “Relinquish my treat, you foul—” I freeze with my arm in midair. There is a vampire, caked from head to toe in mud, standing in front of the open refrigerator. Its two green eyes stare unblinkingly. “Neli? What are you doing, girl? Where have you been? And what are you doing with my food?”
Her mouth flaps for a moment, and that is when I notice her fangs.
“Neli, you—you’re a vampire?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Boz
“How did this happen?” I ask, standing on the other side of the shower curtain in Neli’s bathroom. She has yet to say a word besides “I need more blood.” I assured her that the ten bags she took from my snack bin were enough. Cold and tasteless, but enough.
“Neli, I asked you a question, and I expect an answ—”
The curtain flies back, and naked Neli is in full shampoo mode, her hair covered in bubbles. “I am not your servant to command any longer!” She closes the curtain.
“No,” I mutter to myself, “I suppose you are not.” And then the realization hits me; what will I do without her? A problem to resolve another time, I suppose. At the moment, Neli needs my superior vampire guidance. And, possibly, vengeance. “But you are still family, and I demand to know who harmed you. Who is responsible for killing you?”
Fanged Love, Book 1 Page 19