Page 39 of Protecting His Vampire Mate

Bryan grinned back at me, his eyes dancing. “See?”

“I do.”

I was overcome, in that moment, by his simple beauty. With his broad smile, sparkling green eyes, wind-tousled sandy blond hair, and heart-shaped face, he seemed far more wide-open and innocent than I knew he was, like he could have been any one of the mundane guys nearby. I felt like I was seeing a glimpse of who he’d been before all of this had been done to him. Who he could maybe be again, if he were able to heal from all of this.

“Oh, here,” Bryan laughed. He reached forward and brushed a little glob of frosting off my lower lip.

Then he froze, staring at me. And, abruptly, the innocence was gone. Instead, pain flashed in his eyes. “Jeez,” he whispered, stricken, staring at me. “I’m sorry. I keep doing that—I keep inviting you in. Even though…”

He trailed off, but I got the gist of his thoughts well enough.

“Don’t make it weird,” I told him lightly, determined not to let him use me as a tool to hurt himself with. “I’ve already told you I’m not putting out until after you buy me dinner.”

He snorted at that, rolling his eyes. Just like that, the pain was gone from his face. Relief flooded through me.

“Fair enough,” he raised his eyebrows and nodded to the donut. “Are you planning on giving that back?”

I flashed him my most winning smile. “I might not. I might have found a brand-new love affair.”

He rolled his eyes, not taking the bait, and fished another bacon maple bar from the white paper sack the cashier had handed us. “Good thing I made you buy us two.”

*

“I had no idea you were a nerd,” I teased him an hour later, watching Bryan’s face light up in wonder as we stepped through the doors of Guardian Games. He took in the massive store, filled with shelves of cellophane-wrapped board games, figurines, books dedicated to role-playing adventures, and glass cases crammed with trading cards.

“Shush. This is my holy land.”

I smiled again—it was so easy to do in his presence—and followed him as he practically skipped to the nearest aisle and began browsing the shelves.

“I can see that.”

“This is the biggest independently owned game store in the whole city. And they have a huge area in the back, filled with tables to play at and shelves full of games you can try for free. This place is awesome.”

“I thought you were into frat parties and doing things you can’t spell with gentlemen you can’t quite recall.”

“Oh, I’m into all that too,” he replied absently. “Though, not the hooking up part. Not anymore.”

“Definitely not,” I agreed.

His eyes scanned the shelf before him, crammed full of board games I’d never even heard of. He finally tore his gaze away long enough to shoot me a bemused glance. “Come on, you’re not into anything nerdy?”

I batted my eyes innocently at him.

I was actually a huge nerd. And inwardly, I was geeking out a little at finding that Bryan was too. But I enjoyed not making this about me. Bryan was here, so clearly in his element, and I hadn’t realized how badly I wanted to see this side of him until I had.

“I mean, I like Star Trek.”

He paused, cocking his head at me. “Huh. I would have pegged you more as a Star Wars guy. Because, ya know, ‘the force’ is basically just magic in outer space.”

“That’s a bit on the nose,” I told him, scoffing. “And I get enough magic in my day-to-day.” I paused, then added, “I like Star Trek because it’s just regular people trying to do the right thing in the face of impossible circumstances. The whole point is that they don’t have magic to fix things. They just have knowledge and will. And each other.”

“And advanced technology.” But he frowned thoughtfully at my words, considering me. I got the sense that I had just surprised him. “But seriously, you need to knock that off.”

I’m reasonably certain that my eyebrows must have slammed together at that.

“Knock what off?”

He rolled his eyes. “Being so goddamn perfect all the time, obviously. It’s unnerving.”

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