“She sensed something about you that, quite clearly, resonates within her,” he said. “Something similar you both share, although I don’t think she knew it at first. She wanted to help you. But she can’t do that until she admits she needs help too.”
Shana stared curiously at him. “You mean she has to accept her need for a human’s touch?”
“After fifty years of being a vampire,” he said, “yes.”
“Oh.” Shana understood intuitively, though it was realistically not understandable, why she’d felt a significant and meaningful connection with Jane earlier. It was an indescribable yet palpable bond.
Jane tried to pull her hand away, as though she felt inferior now that her vulnerability had been exposed. But Shana knew all about vulnerabilities and she held fast to Jane’s hand, keeping their entwined fingers pressed to Jane’s chest.
“It’s not a weakness,” Shana told her, “to need something beyond your grasp.”
“Really?” Drake countered.
Shana bristled, because she had a feeling he’d gotten a good glimpse of her vulnerabilities when she’d turned tail and almost run after encountering a sexual display she’d never imagined. One she’d never fathomed in her sheltered existence. One that had made her think of a lot of possibilities she’d never considered because she was too self-conscious to put herself in any position that would expose her physical flaws.
Still staring at Jane, she said, “You could have taken a bite out of me at any point. You didn’t. And clearly you don’t want to. You can control it. So what makes you think you can’t have regular human contact?”
“I’d never forgive myself if I slipped,” Jane said. “It’s as simple as that.”
Finally, Shana’s eyes lifted and she pinned Drake with a pointed look, surprising herself. “And what do you fear?”
“That someone I want to believe in me can’t, because it’s not…natural.”
In an instant, her rebuff of vampires flashed in her mind. She said, “Please forgive me. It’s not a common thing, encountering a vampire. It’s not like meeting a lawyer or a doctor, you know? Well, maybe it’s a little like meeting a lawyer.”
He actually grinned at her. It seemed to take him by surprise, but the corner of his mouth lifted in a half-assed way that told her he found her amusing.
Heat seeped through every inch of her, especially along her inner thighs. The coolness of Jane’s fingers, tangled with hers as their palms pressed together, was a welcome relief to the fiery sensations consuming her, particularly the sudden, unfamiliar feeling of something akin to flickering flames against her clit.
Her reaction to Drake, however, did not overshadow the connection she felt with Jane. She turned back to the blonde vampire. “You said we’ve not met before. Is that true?”
Jane’s gaze flitted to Drake, a somewhat quiet observer of their exchange, though Shana could see in his dark eyes that he was not having an easy time staying put over there in his chair while Shana and Jane sat so closely together. Also, she could see there were things he wanted to say, perhaps more admissions he wanted to make. She read him well, with the hard set of his jaw and the rigidity of his posture.
He watched them intently, silently, but there were questions he wanted to ask and reconciliations he needed to make. She could practically see right through him all of a sudden. As though discovering his true identity had somehow unlocked a door to who the man really was—and he didn’t refrain from inviting her inside.
But he gave Jane the floor, sitting back and listening more than participating.
In a soft voice, Jane said, “I have a gift that’s not necessarily a welcomed one either. I connect with other’s souls. I can feel what’s inside them. What elates them. What troubles them. Sometimes it’s…painful.” Her pale green eyes locked with Shana’s, making her point quite clear.
“I’m sorry.” Humiliation instantly welled within her.
How utterly embarrassing for someone else to know her internal misery. It stemmed from so many different avenues, like never having the opportunity to embrace her own heritage or make her own decisions. She’d gone along with the tutelage because she’d loved to play before it had all turned so serious and the demands on her had escalated. When she’d reached the point where she was old enough and meticulously trained, she’d joined the orchestra. She’d understood the money she made helped her parents back in Mexico, who’d had several more children after she’d left, all of whom Shana had never met.