Page 39 of The HalloQueen

I shook my head, “No. I don’t want you to go. Do you need to?”

“No. I didn’t want to either, I was just trying to be gentlemanly.”

“Well, stop it.”

He snorted, “There’s something about you that makes me want to stay right here forever. You’re going to have to tell me to leave.”

Nodding, I pulled myself closer to him and he kissed my head. I did some mental math while I drifted off, still floating from bliss.

I didn’t understand it, and I didn’t know how it happened or where he came from, but somehow I had to wrap my mind around the fact that I had just slept with a 400-something-year-old vampire less than one year out of a relationship, and he had given me the most intense orgasm of my life.

16

THOMAS

She was beautiful while she slept. Her eyes would flutter and she’d release small moans or humming noises as if escaping into her dreams was the relief she’d needed her whole day. I laid there contentedly as she snuggled against my chest, her long hair freed from the buns she’d had them knotted in on either side of her head. Purple hair splayed across her pillows and the scent of ginger and citrus intoxicated me and make my mind drift into a trance like state.

I should have slept. I should have given in to the bone-deep exhaustion that I’d earned from the emotionally and physically arduous day I’d had, especially after it had taken me years to reteach my body to sleep like a mortal. I’d experienced the never ending day of immortality when I’d been turned and I’d hated it. If our lives were bound to balance, then our days should be balanced with nights, and wakefulness with sleep.

I twirled a lock of her hair around my index finger and thought about how entirely different she was from Monique or Yusuf. Not that that mattered, but Monique had radiated sexuality from her lithe form. Her straight white blonde hair and predatory beauty could stop a man in the middle of the road, fascinated by the creature in front of them and she basked in it. She fed on it. Her sexuality was intense enough that I often wondered if she was left unsatisfied by Yusuf and me and if she needed more. Butmerde,when she looked at me with claiming and love, it stoppedmein the middle of the road. Her beauty was unparalleled and she knew it. Her kindness and logic were sometimes lacking, but she had been through so much that we never held it against her; she knew that Yusuf and I would have destroyed ourselves to bring her joy.

Yusuf was a handsome Persian, with bushy and coarse dark hair and brows and delicious smooth olive colored skin. He was toned, yet soft, and his short stature often left people feeling more comfortable than they should have around him. He was a filler. He knew how to fill any void, any where. He was a chameleon, shifting to fit the needs of others, or to blend into the crowd. He took control of situations that needed to be handled on the regular - like taking care of Monique’s whims or leading the tours when she simply couldn’t bother with them.

The woman next to me didn’t project the cruelty and sex that Monique did, or the deceptive stealth and persona of Yusuf. She didn’t feel like the self-obsession or entitlement. Yes, she held confidence and love for herself, but her kindness covered the hole that she guarded inside of her that needed to be filled with love from another,foranother. I could feel it in her mind- the need to love, to give instead of take. I could feel her need formorenot to come from exclusively physical connections from others like Monique craved, but from a desire to simply coexist with another in mutual affection.

She was a woman who wanted someone to eat breakfast with, someone to hold her hand as they walked along the ocean dreaming of their future. Her desire for a partner was so potent in her emotions that I couldn’t ignore it. And yet, this was a woman who lived alone, worked alone, did everything alone. It was confusing. Why should such a magnificent creature live without a companion when she so desperately wanted one?

I’d finally managed to close my eyes as the sky began to lighten with the dawn, but even then, I woke quickly and pulled myself from her bed with a need to please her. This woman wanted someone to eat breakfast with and while I may not be able to eat it, I knew I could cook it.

I put on my jeans and slunk to her kitchen, quietly switching on the overhead lights and rummaging around her cabinets to look for breakfast ingredients. This woman, my beautiful creature had almost no food in her home. I’d wanted to make simple crepes for her, knowing that she’d find the stereotype delightful in her strange way, but Annabel didn’t even have eggs. I’d made myself comfortable with the layout of the space and knew where to find utensils and such, but as I’d brought everything for dinner last night with me, I hadn’t bothered to look in her fridge. It appeared I should have brought things for breakfast as well, though that likely would have been presumptuous of me.

I considered going to the store quickly to grab a few things, but then I thought about how much it would hurt Annabel to wake up alone, with me nowhere in sight. I immediately marched back up the stairs, undoing my pants as I went and climbed back into her bed.

I wasn’t going to let her wake up alone, and mortals had created grocery delivery apps for a reason. I downloaded one, created an account, and immediately piled in everything I’d wanted to eat for years. Strawberries and hazelnut spread, lemons and sugar, blueberries and mascarpone…mon coeurwould have everything I couldn’t, I’d give it all to her. The need for her to be in my life and to be happy in it had only multiplied overnight.

Annabel rolled and shimmied her bottom against my hip while releasing one of her small sleep-filled moans. I couldn’t resist the urge to run my hand down her smooth side as I sat beside her, enjoying the dip of her waist and the feel of the small indents of stretch marks across her hips. Her tattoo filled most of her thigh and I ran my fingers over the details, leaning over to place a kiss on her shoulder and she moaned again.

“Good morning,” she yawned, scooting even closer to me.

“Bonjour ma chérie, you should not be awake yet, the sun is still rising.”

She stretched her legs out, extending them fully and I heard her back crack with the movement, “then why are you awake?” her nose wrinkled, “oh god, do you sleep? You haven’t just been sitting in my bed staring at me all night have you?”

I scoffed a laugh, “non, mon coeur,I wanted to make you breakfast, but it seems to be the end of your shopping week - you didn’t have so much as a glass of milk in your fridge.”

She flushed in embarrassment, “yeah, I don’t cook much. It sucks to put in all the effort for one person.”

“Well, fear not, far too much food is on its way.” I waved my phone at her, “it appears that Judy is shopping for us now.”

“You know how to grocery shop?”

I shrugged, “sure, I clicked a couple buttons and delicious things will appear at your door like magic.”

Arching a brow, she asked skeptically, “would you even know how to pick out a ripe piece of fruit if there was a bowl of it in front of you?”

“Non, but I’m sure Judy can and will.”

She chuckled, “okay, but you really don’t need to cook for me again, I can just grab a bagel while I drive through for some coffee.”

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