Page 138 of Bitten By Desire
I closed the distance between us. “You waited until you found your way back to me?” For some reason that was the best proof that he wouldn’t hurt me. He loved me. He really did. “You didn’t have sex with anyone else?”
“It was worth the wait, baby.”
I wanted to squeal but I pressed my lips together so I wouldn’t do anything embarrassing. “I love you.”
“Are you sure? Because it kind of seems like you came here to ask a bunch of questions to convince yourself we’re a bad idea.”
“What? Not in a million years, Callum. Speaking of a million years…how old are you exactly?”
“That portrait you took photos of at my old house was taken shortly before I turned. I’m 273 years old.”
I stared at him. That was a long time to live. “So you are immortal?”
He nodded.
“And I’m…not.”
“Being immortal is a little overrated.” He smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.
I understood why he wasn’t really smiling. He’d lived through so much pain. How many people had he watched die? Not just by his hands, but loved ones too? “I’m sorry.”
“I’ve waited several lifetimes for you. But it was worth the wait.”
He was seriously trying to make me melt. Or distract me from all my other questions. “So your name isn’t Theo or Callum? It’s…William right?”Sir William Evans.
“I’m actually quite fond of you calling me Callum. Although this is the best version of me.” He gestured to himself. Standing there as Theo Gold. He’d given up what he truly craved in order to be with me.
“I fell in love with you ten years ago,” I said. “But I like this version of you too. It’s going to be hard to call you anything but Callum though, so that works for me. Callum Walsh.”
He smiled down at me. “So you’re really staying?”
I shrugged. “I know what life without you feels like. And it’s not for me.” I’d been stuck for the past ten years. I hadn’t really been living. All I could think aboutwas him. He’d completely consumed me since the first moment we met. Of course I was staying.
I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him. Even though I still had a million questions for him. Did I really want to know how many people he’d killed? How much regret he carried with him? I could see it in his eyes. His beautiful, golden eyes. He was tortured by his past. I didn’t want him to feel that way anymore. He deserved to be happy. We deserved to be happy together.
He stepped forward, pushing my back against the front door.
God, he was so distracting. As much as I wanted to go for a round two… I put my hand on his chest. “Your eyes get darker when you’re hungry, right?”
“Yes.” It came out as more of a question. He had no idea where I was going with this.
“And you just fed on me. A bit. So you’re not hungry right now?”
He shook his head.
“Can you show me what’s in your garage? In all those freezers?”
“It’s blood, Emma.”
“Like dead animals?”
“No. Bags of it.”
Oh.For some reason that seemed less gross. I remembered back in elementary school when they used to give us these little plastic bags of milk. You had to poke the side with a straw to drink it. “How often do you need to drink blood?”
“A few times a week.”
“Do you ever eat normal human food?”
