Harvey, on the other hand, was found dead in his office. The coroner ruled it a massive heart attack. I don’t know if the ring was buried with him or not and it is not a question I ask myself. Some things you can’t explain or find logical little boxes for. Some things you don’t want to have to answer. Or answer for or to.
“Strawberry?”
The single word knocked me from my reverie. I turned back to see a green grocery holding up a tray of strawberries to sample. “Try one. Best you’ve ever tasted. Get two punnets for the price of one.”
The man standing in the stall held out the plump and juicy fruit. I stared at it, my heart aching. He called again to another passerby and my eyes closed, remembering the way that word had fallen from Owen’s lips.
Had anything ever been as sweet as that? In all that had changed in my life, in all the good I’d found, I still missed him. My eyes opened to see the stallholder looking at me carefully. He held out the sun-warmed fruit. “Here, try it.”
I placed the ripened berry between my lips. It broke open between my teeth. Juice spilled across my tongue, filled my mouth and tears broke from my eyes. I turned away to hide them.
“It’s so sweet.”
I waved the stallholder away. I wasn’t going to buy from him. I turned my back quickly so I could wipe my eyes, and behind me I caught sight of a familiar face, staring at me through the aisle between stalls. My heart stuttered to a standstill.
I’d had false sightings too many times before. Owen haunted my dreams and my waking life, too. I thought I saw him everywhere but when I chased him down it would be some perfectly ordinary guy looking back at me. One of them had asked me out, one had given me a look that said I was nuts, and one had been so startled he had dropped his bag of groceries.
The man turned away in an instant and started heading the other way. It was broad daylight. I knew it could not be him, but I had to follow him anyway.
His hair was a lighter shade than I remembered Owen’s being. He was muscular without being bulky and moved with a lithe grace. He wore a grey shirt rolled up to the elbows that showed his tanned arms off to perfection. It wasn’t him. It couldn’t be. There was no forgetting the pallor of Owen’s skin.
I almost left it at that, when the man flicked his face around quickly to check behind him, meeting my gaze.
It was him. My heart clenched like a fist then bloomed back open. My head spun. It was him. There was no mistaking it, no mistaking those lips or high angles of his cheeks. Even from a distance I could see the blue of his eyes. I remembered how they had faded away from black to periwinkle. It was him, of that there was absolutely no doubt. He was as magnificent a man as…
He was human. That thought hit me and staggered me. That was what his grabbing his chest had been all about, his heart had begun to beat again for the first time in centuries! My blood had restored him to his human form and what had I gotten in return for that? Five grand, a new wardrobe and abandoned like a one night stand? I have lousy taste in guys. I should have known he would be no better than the rest of them.
Why was he here? It had looked as if he had been following me but as soon as I spotted him he had turned away. Had he been keeping tabs on me? Was it possible he missed me as much as I missed him?
He was walking away faster than before, his arms swinging by his side. I could not wait because if I did I would lose sight of him, perhaps forever.
I pushed through the crowd, throwing apologies over my shoulder to those I bumped. He crossed the hot parking lot and I ran after him, my heart beating so hard and fast I was sure I was going to simply topple to the ground. I wet my lips with my tongue and called out.
“Owen.”
He kept walking. My heart plummeted. I caught up and grabbed his arm. He swung around to look at me, his face carefully blank and his eyes inscrutable.
“Can I help you, Miss?”
“It’s me.” I ran my gaze over his face, the face I had once hated to see and had missed so much since it had been gone from my sight. “It’s me, Kitty.”
“I’m sorry. I think you have me mixed up with someone else.” He withdrew his arm carefully and gently.
“The hell I do. I know it’s you, stop pretending it isn’t.”
“I’m not who you think I am.” His voice held an aching tenderness. His eyes were kind and warm but there was hurt under that, I could see it.
Tears as corrosive as battery acid sprang to my eyes and my throat filled with a salty lump that would not let me speak let alone refute his words. I had been mistaken before but not this time. I knew him, knew him all too well.
He turned away, reaching for his keys. I heard the locks on the sleek black sports car disengage and I knew this was my only chance. Not only would he drive away from me he would likely leave LA and my chances of ever finding him again were slim to none.
I said, so low that I knew those around us could not hear but he could, “Don’t you turn away from me. You face me dammit. You turn around here and face me. You owe me that, vampire.”
His shoulders slumped and he turned back toward me. Guilt creased his features and he met my eyes, “Strawberry,” he sighed. “You always were too persistent.”
I fell onto his chest, swallowing away the sob that rose. The solid warmth of his body met me like a wall and I welcomed it. He was real, he was there and I hugged him so tightly I could hear his back creaking.
“It really is you.” I said. “And you’re really human?”
He stiffened in my arms but I held on, not letting go.
He let out a long sigh. “Yes. Something in your amazing blood changed me. I had felt the change coming, the slow progression of my humanity coming back to me, but almost didn’t believe it until that morning after we made love. I walked into the daylight, and I did not burn. You made my heart beat again, and you gave it something to beat for.”
I looked up into his eyes. “Then why did you leave me?”
“When I found myself human, I also found that I had fallen in love with you. In that moment I realized the tragedy that had befallen me. How could you ever forgive me for what I’d done to you? How could you, when I could never forgive myself?”
“You… fell in love with me?” Trust a girl to focus on that part.
“Heart, body and soul.” His voice was barely a whisper, like his confession pained him, stealing his breath. “But I knew you could never love me in return. I had to leave.”
“You were a monster.” I said. I saw him flinch and look away. I reached a hand to his chin and turned him back to face me. “Were a monster. I love the man who was trapped within the monster. I love Owen Raine, not the vampire that possessed you for so long. You are human again, and it does not matter what the cost was. I don’t love the monster that imprisoned me. I love the man who set me free.”
He held me. My face pressed into his chest and I could hear it, his heart beating. It was a steady drumming below my ears. I picked up one of his hands and held it to the sun, the sunlight turned it red, outlining the veins below his skin.
He smelled of cologne but the coppery scent of blood had left him. He was a human, a man, and the one I wanted to love forever, for the rest of our natural lives.
“I am so sorry,” he said, pressing his lips into my hair. I could feel the warm trickle of a tear on my face but it was not mine, it was his. “I did not know how to handle all the emotions that came with being human. I did not know how to be human. Your blood changed me, made me something far better and I can’t believe you would ever be able to look at me and not see the vampire that had harmed you.”
I leaned back to look at him.
“What if we just start over?” I held out my hand to shake his. “I’m Kitty, Kitty French. I’m an actress and I am not doing too badly at it. I like food, especially good food, cats, and happy endings.”
He smiled, a smile that sent arrows slicing into my heart. “I’m Owen Raine. I’m a multimillionaire businessman who currently lives on a ranc
h with horses. I like grocery shopping because every time I go there is some new and wonderful food to try. I just learned how to use a computer in order to keep up with the world better. I googled you, just so you know. I recently began to hang out on the beach and I have learned to like dining in restaurants.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” I said shaking his hand, both of us laughing at each other.
The day shone down on us as he pulled me in for a slow, tender kiss. I wanted to keep that moment forever, but knew I didn’t have to. I had Owen again, and he loved me, and I loved him, and everything was right in my life.
He whispered in my ear. “I noticed your credit for your new movie says Kaitlin French. I like it. Sounds less like a porn star.”
“Oh, bite me.”
A THANK YOU TO MY READERS
As an indie author, I rely on reviews and word of mouth to promote my books. If you’ve enjoyed Strawberry, please consider writing a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or Smashwords, or just email your comments to me at [email protected]
I appreciate all honest reviews. Whether you loved it, liked it, or weren’t too keen, they are all valuable to me. It means so much to me to know people are reading my writing and giving their opinions. Thank you for sharing my stories with me.
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COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
First Published by Desdemona Grey July 2013
Strawberry Copyright © 2013 Desdemona Grey
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-9875635-2-1
http://www.desdemonagrey.com
Table of Contents
About This Book
STRAWBERRY
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
A Thank You to My Readers
Want to read more Desdemona Grey books?
Copyright Information
Table of Contents
About This Book
STRAWBERRY
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
A Thank You to My Readers
Want to read more Desdemona Grey books?
Copyright Information
Strawberry Page 10