Page 114 of Bitten By Desire
His eyes dropped to my hand. The one that was still holding the bloody tissues.
I swallowed hard.Oh my God. He smelled my blood.
“You’re trembling,” he said. “Even though I already told you I’d never hurt you. That is…unless you ask me to.”
I swear his eyes grew a shade darker. “You…you’re a…” I couldn’t even get the words out.
“Emma.” He reached out to touch my bloody hand but I took a step back.
“Show me your arm,” I said.
His eyebrows lowered.
“Show me your arm, Callum. Your left one. Right here.” I pointed to my elbow, where Bennett swore Callum would have a scar.
He didn’t move. “Did Bennett do that to you?” He nodded toward my hand. “Because this is the second time he’s hurt you, Emma. Yet you’re scared of me?”
I shook my head. “It wasn’t like that.”
“Then what was it like? Because this morning we were on the same page. And then suddenly we weren’t. What has he been whispering in your ear?” He drew a fraction of an inch closer, so that he was the one whispering in my ear. “Tell me.”
“He told me his secret.” It fell out of me, and I didn’t even mean for it to. It was like Callum was controlling me. Even though I knew he didn’t possess the pocket watch anymore. Or maybe I just needed to talk about this with someone. Bennett said that Callum knew. That I’d be able to speak openly about everything to him.
“Which one? That he’s an art thief?” Callum’s breath was cold on the side of my neck.
“No. The other one.” All I could focus on was his breath. And how easily he could bite down on my flesh.
“A bank robber?”
God, Bennett had a lot of secrets. “The other one. The big one.” Honestly all three of them were big red flags.
“Ah. That he’s not even human?” He said it so casually. Without even coughing.
“That’s why you warned me about him, right? Because you knew what he was?”
“I warned you because he can’t control himself. And I didn’t want him to hurt you. Because you’re mine.”
I hated that his words made me melt closer to him. Why was I still standing here? Callum was just as much of a monster as Bennett. “Show me your arm,” I said again.
He moved so that his gold eyes were boring into mine.
I was pretty sure that was worse than when his lips were by my neck. I didn’t know how to be scared of him when he was looking at me like that. I took a deep breath. “Show me now.”
“You want me to strip right here? Right by the tracks? Your train could arrive any minute.”
Yeah, but the train wasn’t here yet. And we were all alone. “Yes.”
“The autumn air is a little crisp, isn’t it?”
“I don’t think the cold bothers you.” I was done playing games with him. He’d flat out told me he wasn’t a vampire. He was a liar. And an asshole. A gorgeous, annoying asshole.
He lowered his eyebrows. “How about we just go back to my place?”
If he wanted to stuff me in one of his freezers, he was going to have to work for it. I wasn’t going to come willingly. “No. Take it off. Now.”
“I’m used to people listening to me,” he said as he pulled off his jacket. He set it down on the bench. “But I kind of like this stubborn side of you.” He slowly unbuttoned his dress shirt.
Okay, his eyes weren’t the most distracting thing about him. His perfect six-pack was.
