Page 9 of Resurrecting His Soul
A single tear slid down her cheek and he caught it with his thumb. But even so, she found herself smiling up at him. “You really think I’m strong?”
He smiled that blindingly sexy smile that took her breath away. It was a damn good thing her body no longer required oxygen because she couldn’t breathe when he smiled at her like that. “You are the strongest person I’ve ever met.”
When he bent his head down towards hers, she knew he was going to kiss her and her body hummed with want. God, she wanted to feel his lips pressed against hers more than she’d ever wanted anything. The need was worse than any blood lust she had experienced so far, but if he kissed her, she knew she would get lost in that feeling. Get lost in him. And she wasn’t ready to give herself over to him, or any man that way just yet. When he was close enough that she could feel his breath on her skin, she turned her head, and his kiss landed on the corner of her mouth. It didn’t stop the electricity and heat she felt coursing through her body each time they touched, and the urge to turn back to him and kiss him back properly was nearly too much to ignore, and she almost gave in before her phone started to ring.
The distraction was enough to help her pull away. “That has to be Allison,” she called out, running towards the room where she had left her phone.
ChapterSix
Ricardo
God, he wanted to chase Lisandra when she took off for her phone. She might have turned away from him just before he could really kiss her, but he knew she felt the connection when his lips pressed against the corner of her mouth. The way her body had melted into his, even if she didn’t realize she was doing it, and the way her scent flared—damn, he was going to destroy that phone.
“Allison’s at the Blue Tree Motel. We have to go get her.” Lisandra’s words pulled him out of his thoughts, and he turned around to find her standing by the front door, a coat on, with her phone in one hand and the other on the doorknob like she was about to walk out with or without him.
He raised his eyebrows in response. “Go get her?”
“Yes. I’m not letting her sit in some musty motel while I’m staying in this place.” She waved her arm in front of her. “I’ve already got some serious making up to do for leaving her alone for the last few days.”
He sighed. “Lisandra, I said we would find her. I am not sure that bringing a human here is wise. At least not so soon. Maybe we should both take some time…”
“No,” she cut him off. “I am not leaving her alone. We are just going to have to suck it up. She’s freaked out because she saw Melina bite me, so I told her how you saved me. She’s smart so she probably already figured out Melina and you were vampires. She knows it’s a risk, but she still wants to see me. She’s not going to let up until she does. She has never backed down from a fight when it comes to me.” She closed the space between them and reached for his hand, which he quickly gave her. “You say I am strong. I believe you are strong, too. We can do this.”
He frowned. “I am afraid your confidence in me might be misplaced. I am not a good man, Lisandra.”
She squeezed his hand. “You made choices that were bad, but I get the feeling there is more behind those choices than you simply not caring about hurting people. We both have to choose to believe in ourselves. If we do that, I think we can do whatever we set our minds to.”
“You sound pretty confident now.”
“Yeah, I guess I do. I think that part of that is thanks to you. It meant a lot that you told me I’m strong. It is nice to have someone else believe in me, well, other than Allison. She’s been telling me that for years.” Her eyes darted away, and something told him there was more to why Allison had been trying to convince Lisandra she was strong, but she didn’t elaborate, and he knew it wasn’t the time to push her.
He brought her hand up to his chest and ran his thumb over it back and forth for a minute. “I believe in you, but you need to be aware that having that temptation right here, it will be difficult.”
“We just have to keep each other in check. I have to do this. Allison is my family. I need her in my life, and right now that means I need her here with me. You were the one who said my love for her would give me the strength I need not to do anything that would hurt her. I am choosing to believe that is true, and I believe in you too. I don’t think you’d do anything to hurt me, and that includes not hurting her.”
He ran his eyes over her face slowly, and when she smiled at him he knew he would give her anything she wanted just to keep that beautiful look on her face. “I think you are right, my dear Lisandra, because I’m beginning to believe there is nothing I wouldn’t be able to overcome for you.”
When she sucked in a breath and bit her lip, he couldn’t resist. With his free arm he pulled her flush against his body and dropped his mouth to hers in a soft kiss, and he knew right then that no matter how selfish it made him, he was never going to be able to let her go.
****
Ricardo wasn’t sure what he expected when he went after Lisandra, but it definitely had not been to wind up bringing her home and inviting a human to live in his guest house. Sure, his home was on a large piece of land and the guest house was what any human would consider a reasonable distance from the main home, but humans couldn’t smell each other half a mile away. They couldn’t hear each other’s heartbeats, and they certainly didn’t have to consciously stop themselves from tearing into each other’s necks to drink every drop of blood they heard coursing through the other’s veins. Yeah, having a human living in his back yard was going to be great. Still, every time he looked over at Lisandra on the drive to pick up the woman whom she declared was her best friend, he knew there was no way he could tell her no. He only prayed she was strong enough not to hurt her friend herself because he knew she’d never forgive herself.
She had fed well, likely trying to get full, and even though they didn’t get full in the way a human would eating a meal, satiating herself on the four bags of blood she had downed would help her tame her thirst; at least he hoped it would. Drinking from blood bags was hardly the same as getting blood directly from the source, and she had only transitioned in the last 24 hours. Young vampires were not known for their abilities to pace themselves when around humans, but she’d already proven to be stronger than any young vampire he’d ever met by pulling away from that waitress without killing her. He damn sure had not been strong enough.You’re a monster.A voice from the past threatened to infiltrate his brain, but he forced her out as fast as the memory had flashed into his mind. He glanced at the passenger seat and watched Lisandra while she stared out the window, shaking her leg up and down. It was obvious she was excited to get to her friend. All he could hope was that her love for her friend would be enough to help her refrain from going into a feeding frenzy when they were both in the car.
He pulled up to the Blue Tree Motel where Allison was staying and parked the car. Looking over to the passenger seat he saw that Lisandra was digging her fingernails into her pants, squeezing then relaxing her hands repeatedly.
“I think I’ll stay here in the car while you go get her,” she said.
He reached across the console and put his hand on top of hers. Her eyes went to his hand, and he worried she would pull away, but after a moment she closed her eyes and exhaled, then he felt her relax a little beneath his touch, and she put her other hand on top of his and turned to look at him. For a moment he was lost in her; in her eyes, and the feel of her skin against his own where her hands were on his. It occurred to him in that moment he had been cold. Not in the way that made you want to put on a jacket, but something deeper, because with her hands encasing his, and those beautiful emerald eyes of hers locked with his own, he felt that coldness lift and it was replaced with a warmth that went deeper than his bones. His heart couldn’t beat, hadn’t in centuries, and he had thought his soul had hightailed it long ago, but for just a moment while she looked into his eyes, with nothing more than their hands touching, he was sure her warmth was breathing life back into what he thought was long dead. He cleared his throat, needing to pull himself out of the haze she always seemed to have him in, and darted his eyes back to the motel. “We’ll both stay here,” he said, noticing a gruffness in his voice that hadn’t been there before. What was she doing to him? “Why don’t you call Allison and tell her to come out and meet us? We are both testing our restraint here. I want to take this nice and slow, and I believe we’ll be better off if we stick together for this.”
Lisandra nodded and pulled her phone out, running her fingers across the screen before putting it back in her pocket. “I think you’re right.” She paused, and he looked back at her. “I don’t know why, but being around you makes me feel stronger.” That made him smile, and when he saw the corners of her mouth twitch and a small smile graced her beautiful face, he knew she could light up the world with her smile. “Anyway,” she darted her eyes towards the motel again, “she’ll be out here in a minute. She knows to open the back door and wait for us to say it’s okay to get in.”
“Good.”
“Any tips for being able to tolerate riding in a car with her?”
“Just focus on your love for her. On how much you don’t want to hurt her. If that’s not enough, hold your breath so you’re not inhaling her scent.”
