Page 4 of Messy AF
“You must be Tobias. I’m Warren Frost.”
“Please, call me Tobi,” he responded, smiling in a way that transformed the sharp lines of his face into something truly angelic. “It’s nice to meet you.”
The skin on my palm instantly warmed, and a tingling sensation spread up my arm when he took my outstretched hand. Judging by his quiet gasp and how quickly he ended the contact, he had clearly felt it as well.
Probably just static electricity.
His gaze scanned the area around my feet with a creased brow, presumably wondering why I hadn’t arrived with so muchas an overnight bag. He didn’t say anything, though, and the expression cleared as he took a step away from the doorframe to wave me inside.
“Please, come in.”
The inside of the cottage appeared just as welcoming as the outside, decorated in shades of ash gray and sage green, with accents of deep teal. A large L-shaped sectional took up most of the living room, the sofa situated in front of a massive flatscreen television.
That alluring scent from the porch was stronger here, more concentrated, drowning out everything else in the space. I inhaled deeply, shivering involuntarily as it filled my senses, but I kept a neutral expression while I waited for him to close the door behind me.
“Can I get you something to drink?” Wringing his hands together, Tobi came closer but stopped well outside my personal space.
“I’m good, but thank you.”
“Okay.” The refusal seemed to have short-circuited something because it took him a moment to decide what to say next. “Um, we could sit?” The way his voice lilted at the end made it sound like a question, which was kind of cute. “Here.” He motioned toward the sectional. “Or, um, in the kitchen.”
I wanted to tell him to relax, but though the words played on the tip of my tongue, I held them back. It was one of those things people said with good intentions, but no person in history had been soothed by the statement.
“Here is fine,” I answered instead, moving over to settle down on the end of the sofa.
He exhaled, his shoulders finally relaxing. A smile whispered over his lips, and he bobbed his head as he came to join me. Halfway across the living room, however, he stumbled, his legs giving way for seemingly no reason.
Moving at my natural speed, I reached him in less than a heartbeat, sliding an arm around his waist to keep him upright. A wave of heat immediately assaulted me, making my heart stutter and my muscles flex, but I pushed the reaction away to focus on Tobi.
“Okay?”
His cheeks tinted with embarrassment, but he nodded. “Thank you.” His eyes flickered to where I’d been sitting. “You’re really fast.”
True, and while I didn’t intentionally hide it, I had learned long ago that my supernatural speed tended to freak out humans. As such, I normally made an effort to move at their pace when in their company.
“Perks of being a vampire,” I teased as I helped him over to the sectional. “You mentioned something about muscle weakness in your request form. Is this what you meant?”
“Yes, but I think it’s getting better.” Tobi curled up in the corner of the sectional and pulled his knees to his chest. “It doesn’t happen as often anymore.”
My gut told me that wasn’t true, and furthermore, he probably didn’t even believe it himself. In my experience, side effects from sleeping potions didn’t fade gradually over time. They hit hard, lingered, then just vanished.
Still, if the little lie gave him comfort, I didn’t want to take that away from him.
I resumed my seat, leaving a cushion of space between us, and angled to face him. “Is it just in your legs?”
“Mostly, but sometimes, it happens in my arms and hands.”
“Dizziness?”
He dipped his head.
“Nausea?”
“A little, but it’s not bad, and kind of sporadic.”
“Passing out randomly?”
“Yes, but not like fainting. It’s more like—”
