Page 124 of Sinner's Salvation

“Anna, how much blood have you taken from me?”

She dropped her gaze. “I didn’t measure it.”

“Are you trying to tell me that after eight hundred years of drinking blood, you can’t tell how much you took?”

She sighed. “All together, I took about a unit of blood.”

“You bled more than that.”

“No, not really,” she said to his neckline. “Our bodies heal wounds quickly.”

She still wouldn’t look at him.

“Anna,” he said tilting her face up, so she’d meet his gaze. “Take just a little more.”

When she opened her mouth to refuse, because that refusal was written all over her face, he spoke before she could, “I promise to drink a big glass of orange juice and have a good steak dinner when I wake up.”

She stared at him with big eyes and a downturned mouth. “I’m scared,” she said, her breathing becoming choppy and her gaze dropping to the front of his flak jacket. “I’m scared I’ll take too much.”

She was scared all right, but not of that.

He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her to him. She clung to him, burying her nose in the fabric covering his chest.

He leaned his head down so he could whisper in her ear. “You’re scared I’m going to bail on you. You’re scared I’ll become resentful of your long life and other advantages, and leave you. Or even betray you to those who would use you.”

She jerked herself out of his hold and was ten steps away faster than he could blink. She stared at him with horror all over her face. “I never said that.”

“No, but you have been hurt by those you loved in the past. You said so. It wasn’t difficult to imagine what those circumstances might be.” He smiled at her. “But I’m not one of those morons. I’ve known about you for years. I know who you are as a person, not as some kind of superhero.”

Evan walked up to her and cupped her shoulders with his hands. This time, she didn’t look away. “I know the good, the bad, and the ugly, and I know that if you had a choice, you’d never have chosen the life you’re living. I know you do the best you can and you frequently do things that don’t benefit you in any way.”

“What do you want from me?” she asked, her tone still hesitant.

“A partner. A lover. A friend.” He grinned. “I know it seems fast, but I fell in lust with you as soon as I opened the door and saw you on that bloody gurney, resting like you were at a resort.” He slid one hand up her shoulder until he could stroke her bottom lip with his thumb. “I fell in love with you when you tried so hard to protect Brian from Ledger’s bullshit.”

“Love me?” her voice wasn’t just low, it was small.

“I know it seems quick, but...”

“I fell in love with you when you told me you blew up that building all so you could give Brian and I an opportunity to escape,” she said, a tear rolling down her face.

“I guess, as gestures go, it was kind of big,” he admitted.

“It wasn’t the bomb or your willingness to use it,” she said, a smile warming her eyes and lips. “It was your unconscious, unhesitant, unshakable belief that I could escape without having to rely on you to save me...and you called me ‘Sunshine’.”

He frowned. “Well, of course. I mean...is that so...weird?”

“Very,” she replied, snuggling up to him and putting her arms around his neck. “You already treat me like a partner, and that’s...rare.”

He leaned down to kiss her softly, a barely there touch of the lips, but it incited his whole body to riot. The kiss deepened, her tongue inviting his inside to play. He tried to bring her closer, so he could feel her body against his, but all his gear was in the way.

“Shit,” he muttered. “I don’t want to let go of you because I think I might die if I’m not touching you right now, but I’m wearing all this crap and—”

She burst out in the biggest belly laugh he’d ever seen on any person in his entire life. It shook her whole body so hard, she lost contact with him, then lost her balance, and fell up against him.

“Whoa,” he said, catching her before she hit the floor. He set her on her feet. “You okay?”

It took her a moment before she could talk, but she finally managed to catch her breath. “That has to be the most romantic unromantic thing I’ve heard anyone say. Ever.”

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