SeduceMe(17)

“I only had one sip of champagne,” she said. “I’m not drunk. Or delusional.” To Drake, she added, “You move quicker than my heart beats. How is that possible?”

“Haven’t you already answered your own question?” he countered.

Shana didn’t appear to have a response to that. At least, not one she found acceptable.

“This is fortuitous, really.” Jane stepped forward, albeit with trepidation. Again, so as to not spook their guest. “You think you’re different. Imagine how we feel?”

“But I don’t believe in vam—”

“You don’t have to.” Jane’s tone was soft, her smile a friendly one.

Shana sucked in a breath, then let it out with a sharp whoosh. “Oh my God.” The color drained from her face and her back pressed to the closed door as one hand searched for the doorknob. “Am I, like, dinner?”

Jane stared at her, aghast. Drake bit back a grunt, offended.

“You’re perfectly safe in our company,” he assured her, though his voice was tight. “Our interest in you is not sustenance related.”

She stared quizzically at him. “What is your interest in me?”

“Oh dear,” Jane murmured.

Drake turned away. He returned to the living room seating in front of the glowing embers in the fireplace. Settling in a chair adjacent to the sectional, he crossed his legs and tried to appear casual. Tricky though it was. Something dangerous and forbidden and exhilarating swirled around inside him, making his gut clench and his cock throb. He’d crossed a line he shouldn’t have and wasn’t putting much effort into a retreat.

The fact was, he wanted to be open with Shana about his and Jane’s true nature. He wanted her to know them—really know them.

But how detrimental would that be to all three of them in the end?

And what on earth made him think she’d actually believe them if they continued to travel this path? She’d already admitted she didn’t buy into the idea vampires truly existed. In order to validate their claim, he or Jane would have to reveal their demon natures. Show their fangs.

How could she not freak out if she saw who they really were?

“Perhaps it’s best if you leave,” he finally said. Something about her made him trust in the fact that she wouldn’t share the revelations of this evening with anyone. Maybe because she couldn’t comprehend the idea of vampires. Maybe because no one was likely to believe she’d just met two of them, were she to tell anyone.

He was resigned to the fact he’d botched the whole evening. Was monumentally pissed off at himself for it, but what could he do at this point? Best to cut his losses and hope his Shana White obsession would end sometime soon. This century, at least.

But just as he was berating himself and fighting off the fury that warred with the peculiar liberation he felt over her knowing his deepest, darkest secret, she went and shocked the hell out of him.

Pulling away from the door, she took two steps toward Jane. Her mouth opened and she appeared to search for the right words. She gave up and took a couple more steps forward. Jane stayed where she was, shooting a perplexed look over her shoulder—toward Drake—before her attention returned to Shana.

Jane said, “You’re not scared.”

Again, she didn’t pose a question. Drake guessed she’d tapped into that mysterious part of Shana’s existence once more, connecting with her soul in a way Drake would never understand or experience himself, much to his dismay. He’d never been as envious of Jane’s gift as he was tonight, wanting very much to share that intimacy with Shana himself.

She said to Jane, “I just realized you would have gone for my jugular long before this. If that was your intent.” She set her purse on the edge of the desk, as though offering a truce, a white flag of sorts—silently telling them she wasn’t about to turn tail and run, or divulge their secret.

Drake found this interesting. His eyes narrowed on her as she took another small step toward Jane.

“Yvette said you’re both very mysterious. You keep to yourselves, for the most part.”

“It’s not that we don’t like humans,” Jane said, her tone somewhat contrite. “That’s not the case at all, in fact. We live in your world and we respect your rules and your boundaries. We don’t drink human blood. I never have and Drake gave it up centuries ago.”

He could practically see Shana’s mind churning as she processed what Jane had said, chewing over every bit of evidence presented, laid out right before her very eyes.

When her glowing amber gaze landed on him, Drake felt a powerful reaction that made him jolt in his seat. As though she’d touched him physically and his body had reacted innately and lustily to it.