He knew some of his fellow immortals had implied such in the past to stave off unwanted questions, but he didn’t want to lie to her. “I was injured tonight. It frightened her.”
“Oh no.” The low words carried concern. “Are you okay?”
Physically? “Yes.”
“I hear another but.”
He paced back toward the living room. “But I’m terrified of losing her.”
A long sigh carried over the line. “What happened after she cried?”
“She got quiet.”
“Wow. Whatever she found out must have been really big.”
“It was.”
“Well… I know it may seem like she’s freezing you out, but she isn’t. That’s just how she processes things. The day she found out my dad was cheating on her, she got so quiet I worried I had done something wrong and pissed her off. I didn’t know it at the time, but she’d found some receipts from his pregnant mistress’s OB-GYN, among other things. And she just needed time to let it sink in and to sort through it. She was back to being Mom the next day.”
He glanced toward the stairs. “Should I leave?”
“You’re at our place?”
“Yes.”
“Did she ask you to leave?”
“No.”
“Then stay. Mom’s tough. If she wants you gone, she isn’t going to keep that information to herself. She’ll kick your ass out the door.”
He smiled. “Is that what she did to your father?”
Becca laughed. “Yeah. She drove me to school, then went home, stuffed all his crap into garbage bags, left it on the back porch, and had the locks changed.”
“Did she tell you what she’d discovered?”
“No. She just said she and Dad had grown apart and had reached a point where they couldn’t live together anymore. I think she was trying to keep me from finding out what a cheating asshole he is. My best friend’s parents went through a bitter divorce when she was eight and Judi got caught in the middle. Her parents were constantly badmouthing each other to her and trying to pit her against each other. Her grandparents did the same. It was messed up, and I think Mom was hoping to avoid that by not telling me what Dad had done. But then he spoiled it by begging her forgiveness when he got home and found all his shit on the patio, promising he would never cheat on her again. So… yeah. If she wants you gone, she won’t be shy about it. She’ll shove you out the door.” Something it seemed she could perceivably do once she woke up. She hadn’t, after all, booted her husband out immediately. She had taken a night to process it.
“Thank you,” he said. Becca could’ve cursed him out, assuming the worst, but hadn’t.
“Don’t thank me yet,” she said, a smile entering her voice. “If you hurt her, I still plan to cut your balls off.”
He laughed, unoffended.
“Don’t tell Mom I told you that, by the way,” she added sheepishly. “She’d be horrified.”
“I won’t.”
“On that note, I’ve gotta go. I’ve got class in an hour and need to grab some breakfast.”
After they hung up, Nick thought about Becca’s words. He probably shouldn’t have sought her advice on dating her mother, but he hadn’t courted a woman in… well… not since they still called it courting. He had briefly taken a lover during the sixties. Most immortals had. The popularity of psychedelic drugs had dramatically reduced concerns about their eyes glowing during sex. But there hadn’t been anyone special. No one he cared about nearly as much as he did Kayla.
Drawn to her like a bee to a flower, Nick climbed the stairs and silently entered her bedroom.
She lay curled up on her side, so small she didn’t even take up half the full-sized bed.
He stared down at her, fighting the desire to stroke her hair or kneel beside her and wake her with a kiss. He had never expected to fall in love. Had never thought he would experience the euphoria manifested by finding that one person who completed him. Had never believed he needed completing. He had existed for hundreds of years, after all.
But he knew now that something had always been missing. Not simple companionship. Something more. Something intrinsic that felt like the mortar that held a brick wall together.
Kayla did that for him. She filled the empty spaces. She made him stronger. She made everything better. Bigger. He wasn’t content. He was truly happy for the first time since his transformation. He didn’t worry for her safety. He was terrified for her. He didn’t want to make her smile. He wanted to see her throw her head back and laugh uproariously. Sex wasn’t good. It was fucking fantastic. It didn’t simply sate a hunger. It touched him deeply and brought him an ecstasy he had never before experienced.
He couldn’t lose her. He didn’t want his life to go back to what it had been before he met her. He didn’t want to face an endless stretch of days in which he had nothing to look forward to.
He wanted forever with her.
As if she sensed him standing beside the bed, watching her sleep like a damn stalker, Kayla opened her eyes. She blinked once, then looked up at him.
Heart pounding in his ears, Nick stared down at her.
A long moment passed that stretched his nerves taut. Then she reached out and snagged his hand. He curled his fingers around hers, grateful for the simple touch.
Closing her eyes, she pulled his hand around behind her back.
Nick didn’t have to be asked twice. Unwilling to relinquish her hand, he knelt on the mattress, straddled her legs, then rolled onto the empty side of the bed. As he slipped beneath the covers and curled his body around hers, that feeling of completeness returned.
Without saying a word, Kayla drew his arm around her and pressed his hand to her chest.
Snuggling closer, he exhaled a long sigh.
This was what he needed.
This.
Chapter Eleven
Kayla smiled as sleep slipped away and consciousness beckoned. Nick’s arms were around her, his big body spooned up behind hers, his soft breath brushing her neck.
It had rapidly become her favorite way to start the day—all of those hard muscles pressed up against her back, his erection trapped between his thighs and her bottom.
Of course, today clothes separated them. They’d both gone to bed fully dressed after the tumultuous occurrences of the previous night.
In tiny increments designed not to wake him, she inched toward the edge of the bed. His arms tightened and drew her back against him once more.
She smiled. The first time he’d done that, she thought she’d woken him. But after spending several nights—or rather mornings—with him, she now knew he most likely still slept.
She loved that he wanted her close so much that he even cuddled her in his sleep. But she really needed to relieve her bladder. She inched away again. Usually it only took a couple of tries before he would relinquish her. This time he did not want to let her go. She glanced over her shoulder after he dragged her back a fourth time.
Nope. He was still asleep. Perhaps it was a subconscious reaction to the events of last night? She didn’t know. Nor did she mind. She just kept pulling away until he finally let her go.
His brow furrowed with subconscious discontent. What a sweetheart.