His lips thinned for a few seconds. You know what I mean. You said you were my Beloved, twice, before others. The first time I understand you were simply trying to establish your hold on me with Naomi. But you said the same thing to de Marco.
“Your hearing is entirely too good,” I told him, smiling to myself.
“I felt that!”
I looked down at where my hand rested possessively on his thigh, immediately pulling it into my own lap. “Oh, I’m sorry. I just . . . er . . . like to feel the muscles in your thigh move when you drive. I didn’t mean to bother you when you’re trying to concentrate.”
“It’s not bothering me at all.” He placed my hand back on his leg, then shifted uncomfortably. I couldn’t help but glance at his crotch when he gave a little wry laugh. “Not in the sense you mean. I was referring to the smug smile you tried to hide from me. You did mean it, didn’t you?”
Inner Fran urged me to spill everything to him, every thought, every emotion, every intention, but I have not lived with her my entire life without having some ability to ignore her desires. Instead of yielding to her demands, I looked long and hard at what it would mean to say yes. My lifetime would be measured in centuries, not decades. My life would be bound to Ben’s in ways that right now I had only the vaguest of understanding. It would be acknowledging that yes, in this case fate was right, and that rankled. I had fought so long and hard to make my own decisions and not do what people felt I should that it smacked of surrender to give in.
On the other hand, who’s to say I didn’t just decide that fate was right, and agreed to go along with it? There was the issue of Ben, too. I wanted him as in love with me as I was with him.
Ben waited patiently while I sorted through my thoughts, never once trying to touch me either mentally or physically. He was just there, a warm and comfortable presence who seemed to merge so well with me. I had a mental picture of the yin and yang symbol, with the two of us fitting together in a way that left us individuals, and yet greater as a sum total.
Did I mean what I said to de Marco?
Ben glanced at me, his expression wary.
Yes, I meant it. But I’m only one half of the equation, Ben. I think you need to make absolutely sure that your feelings—
I banged against the door as Ben jerked the wheel of the car and slammed on the brakes, the squeal of tires on cobblestones causing several people in the parade we’d almost plowed into to turn around and glare at us.
“Are you hurt?”
I was still shaking the stars from my eyes when Ben was out of the car and at my side, unbuckling the seat belt, running his hands quickly over my and shoulder. “No, not hurt, just kind of surprised. What on earth is going on?”
He closed my door and went around to the driver’s side, backing up the car until he parked in front of a bakery. “I believe this is the Running of the Brunhildes. Francesca, I must have you.”
“You must?”
“Yes. Right now.” His jaw tightened, and I was immediately aware of a burning red need pulsing deep inside him.
“I thought you couldn’t,” I said, panting just a little at the instant arousal that inflamed my body at the thought of him touching me. Tasting me.
“I think Naomi trying to kill me is a sign that I can finally do what I’ve wanted to do for the last five years.”
“Have sex in the middle of a parade?” I asked, looking around at the crowd packing the sidewalks in order to watch a race of people dressed in metal breastplates, winged helmets, and knee-length blond braids. The crowd cheered as a group of Brunhildes raced past, skirts hiked up, braids a-flying, each one bearing a fiery torch.
“Have sex with you in the middle of a parade,” he corrected, turning first in one direction, then another. “Why aren’t there any hotels in this damned town?”
“I don’t know.” I almost sobbed with the overwhelming need to have him feed from me. His compulsion to do so fed my desire, leaving my entire being tight and wanting and desperate for release. I looked around frantically, needing to be alone with him so he could feed, so we could complete all those things we’d started so many years ago.
Ben snarled something rude at the world in general. I didn’t argue, just followed when he took my hand and wove his way through the throngs, avoiding a thundering herd of Brunhildes, moving in and out of the crowds, his eyes constantly searching for a potential spot.
“Whoever heard of a town without hotels?” I said, shivering when a fresh wave of desire washed from Ben to me. If I was desperate, he was nigh on frantic. We darted here and there, looking for a hotel, but it was slow going through the mass of people. It was as if the entire town had turned out to watch the race. “I’m seriously going to complain to the tourist board about this!”