Page 81 of The Vanishing
“Send their mates to the hospital to get their lungs pumped? This is what they do? Create expensive medical bills?”
“Not exactly,” Nino says, squeezing him tighter. He kisses his forehead. “It’s just fun, tesoro. Playful.”
Haruka raises his eyebrow. “Fun?”
Slowly, Nino’s body unlatches from Haruka’s, but not of his own accord. He’s being manipulated off Haruka and upward. Then up some more. Nino blinks, his body immovable as he rises higher and higher. At first, he’s amazed, taking in his new perspective of the placid, shimmering lake, the breathtaking mountains and surrounding forest. The sunlight makes all the colors vivid, as if everything is dialed up ten more notches than usual.
He rises even higher. Nino’s heart beats harder in his chest. He calls out, “Haru… what are you doing?” Nino narrows his eyes to view the small features of his mate’s face far below. Haruka is smiling a little too hard.
“Having fun,” his voice echoes.
“You’renotgoing to drop me from this high up.”
Haruka grins.
“Haru—”
The sensation is like being in a bubble that unexpectedly bursts, or if the invisible floor beneath him has dropped out. Nino gasps as his body free-falls down toward the surface. Just as he mentally prepares himself for impact, his body freezes again, graceful and bouncing in mid-air. He’s paused a foot above the surface, getting just a moment to catch his breath before the bubble pops again. He tumbles into the water.
When he’s reoriented, he swims over to Haruka again, this time breaking the surface just in front of him. Nino wipes his face. “That was like a rollercoaster. You have this devilish streak in you that catches me off guard. It’s kind of sexy though—I like it.”
“This is ‘fun,’ is it not?” Haruka smirks, flicking water at Nino with his fingertips.
Nino draws back, scrunching his face. “Smartass.” He inhales a deep breath and stiffens his body so that he dips below the surface. Underneath, he opens his eyes, watching Haruka’s long, creamy frame twist within the shiny turquoise lake, trying to move away from him. Nino grabs the back of Haruka’s knees on his way up, pulling him into his body.
Above the surface, Nino shakes his head free of water. He grips and lifts Haruka against him, wrapping his arms underneath his ass so that his thighs are gapped open at Nino’s hips. Haruka holds onto his shoulders, apprehension set in his burgundy eyes. “I do not want water in my lungs, Nino. It is extremely uncomfortable.”
Nino embraces him tight, holding him still against his body. The water stops stirring and is calm. The summer birdsong echoes through the surrounding forest. He stares into his mate’s face, serious. “Would I ever cause you harm?”
Haruka raises his eyebrow as he looks down at him. “Perhaps not intentionally.”
“You think I would hurt you by accident? Like a stupid kid?”
His mate’s teasing expression drops like a sack of potatoes. “No—I… Of course not. I thought we were being playful. You saidplayful.” Haruka brings his palms up to Nino’s face, then leans in and kisses him. The heat in Nino’s chest cools and relaxes. He takes a deep breath.
“Why are you upset, my love?” Haruka asks. “There is no need. I have had water in my lungs before from an unfortunate bathtub incident, and it is not painful. It just… sucks?” Haruka blinks, then frowns as if he’s uncertain about something distasteful he’s just tried.
Nino shakes his head. “It feels weird when you use slang. What kind of bathtub incident?”
“I agree. And the incident is not important. Are we okay? My comment was not to be taken in a serious context. Of course I know you would never harm me.” Haruka kisses him again, even slower this time—licking Nino’s bottom lip and nipping it between his own, soft and teasing.
“We’re more than okay.” Nino smiles, caressing his hand up the small of Haruka’s slick back underneath the water. He feels like an idiot. Taking his own insecurities out on his mate and making things confusing.And I was totally acting like a child…
“You were not,” Haruka assures him. “I love your playful and effervescent nature. It is who you are—”
“Please don’t dip into my head right now.” Nino grins, staring up at the elegant vampire wrapped around his body. “Jesus, we can hear each other without even trying. I think we’ve been doing this too much…”
He makes a firm decision. After everything he’s been through in the past few months, after what he’s realized from Giovanni and Cellina, and what he’s witnessed in those quiet moments of Haruka unknowingly revealing a hidden part of himself, Nino has an answer to the question he’s been avoiding. It’s time to address it head on.
“Is this bad?” Haruka asks, concern lingering in his evocative eyes. “If I am not in your head then I don’t know exactly what’s wrong.”
“Can we go inside? I want to talk to you about something.”
Thirty-Eight
Having showered first, Haruka sits on the couch in the front room of the cabin, arms folded tight against his chest and his knee bouncing like a paddleball on a string.
He’d showeredfirst. As in, they had showered separately, because Nino said he didn’t want them to get distracted. At what point has their intimacy become a “distraction”? Nino’s temperament had shifted while they were in the lake together. Haruka usually feels confident in knowing his mate—in understanding his unspoken emotions and discerning his general state of mind.
