After donning a multicolored skirt and pale pink shirt, Tessa brushed her hair, took a last look in the mirror, and went into the living room. A moment later, Andrei appeared bearing a bottle of red wine and a box of dark chocolates.
His gaze moved over her, bringing a blush to her whole body. “You look lovely.”
“So do you.”
He kissed her cheek, handed her the candy, and carried the wine into the kitchen.
Tessa set the box on the coffee table, then followed him. In the last few days, their relationship had changed in subtle ways. They weren’t living together, they weren’t sleeping together, and yet he was no longer a guest in her home. He often spent the night in her bed, though he was usually gone in the morning.
He was at home in her kitchen. She smiled as he opened the wine and filled two goblets. “Cabernet sauvignon,” he said, offering her one of the glasses. “From Chateau Montelena. One hundred fifty dollars a bottle.”
“A hundred and fifty dollars? I can’t wait to taste it.” Returning to the living room, she sat on the sofa and sipped her wine.
“What do you think?” Taking the seat beside her, he stretched his legs out in front of him.
“Worth every penny!”
“How was your day, dragostea mea?”
“Almost as good as this wine. Jilly finally found a dress. I guess now I need to find one.”
“You’ll outshine the bride, no matter what you wear.”
“I’m glad you think so.” She set her goblet aside to unwrap the candy box. “So many choices,” she murmured as she lifted the lid. After a moment, she reached for a fat dark chocolate truffle. “These are sooo good. Too bad you can’t have one.”
“Who says I can’t?” He plucked one from the box and popped it into his mouth.
Tessa stared at him as a look of pure enjoyment spread across his face.
“Why so surprised?” he asked. “It’s not the first time you’ve seen me eat.”
“I know, but . . . it’s just so . . .” She shrugged. Then smiled inwardly. She had worried that, if her parents met Andrei, they would wonder why he didn’t eat much. Apparently that was one fear she could lay to rest.
Andrei draped one arm over the back of the sofa. “What’s going on in that head of yours?”
“Oh, nothing much. I was thinking about us earlier, about introducing you to my parents and . . . you know, whether you’d want them to know what you are, and how they’d react and . . .”
“Does this mean we’ve reached the ‘meet the parents’ stage in our relationship?” he asked with awry grin.
“Sort of.”
“I see.”
“Do you?”
He set his glass on the coffee table. And then he kissed her, his lips lightly brushing hers, his tongue teasing her lower lip before dipping inside. Lifting his head, he gazed deeply into her eyes, and then he kissed her again. There was nothing light about this one, nothing tentative.
Pleasure curled in the pit of Tessa’s belly as his arms enveloped her and his kisses grew longer and more intense. As always, she forgot everything but the wonder of being loved by this remarkable man, by the feeling that she was the most important thing in his life.
Lifting his head, he gazed into her eyes. “You are mine, dragostea mea,” he said fervently. “Never doubt it for a minute.”
* * *
Andrei’s words played and replayed in Tessa’s mind long after he had left to go hunting. It seemed he had taken the decision out of her hands, she thought. It hadn’t been a question or a suggestion, but a statement of fact. The “I am woman, hear me roar” part of her wanted to be upset. How dare he? And yet the softer, more submissive part of her found it appealing on some level she found troubling. Then again, he wasn’t an ordinary man. He was a vampire, with supernatural powers, not concerned with political correctness or women’s lib. He was a man who loved her, who had sworn to protect her.
And right or wrong, for better or worse, she loved him just the way he was.
* * *
Bailey ran alongside Tristan, every sense alert as they tracked a deer along a narrow trail in the mountains behind the town. Each time she shifted, it became easier, more natural. To think there had been a time when she hated what she was. But no more. She reveled in it now. She loved the power, the feel of earth and leaves beneath her paws, the myriad smells that assailed her from every side. She loved the bond forming between herself and Tristan. She looked forward to being his life-mate, to joining with him, to becoming a full-fledged member of the pack.
The pack. There was a bond between herself and the others. When they ran together, she could hear their thoughts, as they could hear hers. Sometimes they all hunted together. But tonight, it was just the two of them. Running side by side like twin shadows in the darkness.