Page 14 of Hot Blooded
“How does it work?” Her voice sounds steady even if she looks uncertain.
“We each share one truth. Can you handle that?”
She lifts one shoulder. “If you can.”
I offer her a grin. “I’ll begin.” I lean back in my seat and cross one knee over my ankle, still watching her. “Tell me one truth about you that no one else knows.”
For a moment, I’m not sure if she’ll play this game with me. Her expression is open though, and her eyes meet mine. I feel her assess me, her gaze vigilant.
“I felt something when we touched.”
I felt it too—that hot, electrical pulse between us when her skin met mine for the first time.
Emotion stirs within me where it has lain dormant for half a century. It’s disorienting.
“Your turn,” she says in an encouraging voice. To behere, swapping secrets with my new librarian is the last thing I expected, but you couldn’t tear me away now.
Part of me wishes I were human. Maybe instead of the depraved things I crave, I’d have the urge to gather her in my arms and hold her close. Whisper sweet words into her neck, rather than sink my fangs into it.
“I haven’t met anyone as remotely interesting as you in the past hundred years.”
She swallows and her eyes flash with understanding.
“What do you dream of?” I ask her. Of all the mortal things I miss, dreaming is one of the more pressing ones. My nights are bleak and uneventful.
Maybe my brother was right. Maybe the boredom and monotony has gotten to me. Maybe I need this human—Tressa—to breathe some life into my tired existence.
She has this way of making me feel as though she really sees me. The real me. The one I never let others see. It’s equal parts unsettling and thrilling.
“Dream?” She tilts her chin, considering my question.
She’s asking if I mean for her to tell me her goals and aspirations. I guess I should be more clear. “At night. When you sleep. I haven’t dreamed since I turned.”
She blinks in surprise, surely cataloging another difference between us. “Oh.” She looks down at the floor like there’s something she’s ashamed of. “My dreams are not very pleasant.”
“Will you tell me?”
She stiffens. “Maybe. But not now.”
I decide not to press her. We’re all allowed the occasional off-limits subject.
Chapter 8
Reign
In the days that follow, I do my best to give Tressa her space. Our little chat leaves me feeling more unsettled than I expect. I don’t normally swap secrets with humans, and I don’t engage with my employees. But Tressa seems to possess a unique ability to draw things out of me.
Today, though I don’t want to stay away.
I find Tressa in the library, working and having her lunch. That’s no surprise. Since hiring her, her work ethic has been impressive. She spends most of her time in the library and leaves time for fun.
Her head lifts when she hears my footsteps against the marble floors.
“Reign…” She looks nervous. About what, I have no idea.
I get my answer when I wander closer. Approaching the table where she’s working, I find a half-eaten sandwich along with a fashion magazine that’s been flipped open to a quiz entitled, “What’s Your Sexual Style?”
She’s nibbling on the end of a pen, and I gaze down at the quiz. She’s already answered the majority of the questions. There are little blue check marks beside each box. A slow smile uncurls on my lips as my eyes scan the page.
