“Is that what you think? That I chose you for dinner? Josephine, I have been waiting for you for many years. And here you are,” Stefan murmured, reaching for my arm, the weight of his hand stopping my rapid pacing. “Please. All I ask is that you listen to me for a moment. I beg you.”
Sighing heavily, I let my eyes close as I considered his pleas for me to listen and my situation. I'd found a vampire that claims he's been waiting for me for years. I'd willingly brought him home with me and had sex with him. And not just sex, but 'mind-blowing sex that made me want to lose my mind' kind of sex. I took a shaky, deep breath in and exhaled slowly. When I opened my eyes, I felt slightly calmer. I noticed that he was still sitting motionless with his hand on my arm, like a beautifully carved statue. My earlier resolve to shut down was crumbling.
“You can explain in a minute but I have questions. How old are you?” I asked uneasily. His eyes met mine for a moment, his expression dark and his mouth was set in a narrow line. The silence between us grew tight with tension and a cold knot gripped my stomach as I waited for him to answer.
“How old am I now or how old was I when I became a vampire?” Stefan questioned softly, the accent in his voice heavier than before. The self-assured, swaggering man I'd met on the beach was gone, replaced with this subdued and hesitant version of himself.
I promptly decided I preferred the confident, cocky version to one sitting before me now.
“Humor me. Both,” I blurted out, sitting down nervously on the edge of the bed and tucking my legs underneath me.
Stefan stood and his naked form was impressive even in the shadows of my bedroom. I watched his back muscles tense as he walked to the opposite side of the room and braced his arms against the window frame, his blond head falling forward. My eyes unintentionally started tracing down the toned expanse of his back and lingered over his taut ass.
In spite of the situation I'd gotten myself into, my desire for him coiled in the pit of my stomach. I already had feelings for him that had nothing to do with rational thought or reason.
“My human life ended in 1070. I was 33 years old when I became a vampire,” Stefan glanced at me over his shoulder, pushing off of the window frame. He averted his eyes and focused on the floor as if deciding what to say next.
I sat in a stupor as I mentally worked the math out in my head. He was 975 years old?! My poor mind had gone into a state of overload. To give myself a chance to recover, I started firing off questions about vampire legends.
“Mirrors?”
“Myth.”
“Sunlight?”
He sighed irritably. “Another myth. It is bothersome to our eyes more than anything. Sunglasses help.”
“Garlic?”
“Unpleasant to smell. No worse than any other human food. Do you have more vampire legends for me to dispel?”
“One more. Do you sleep in a...” I hesitated, rolling my eyes at my own absurdity. I'd just had sex with this gorgeous creature in front of me and now I was going to be shy about asking him questions? I really did need to look into mental help.
“A coffin? No. I sleep when I want to sleep. Day time. Night time.” Stefan finished my sentence and dropped beside of me, his hand rubbing up and down my arm. I settled against his shoulder, both physically and mentally drained. After a moment I felt the weight of his head rest lightly on top of mine. “I truly did not want you to find out this way. There really is not an easy way to break this to someone, Josephine.”
“If you're a vampire, why didn't you bite me? And why tell me anything?” I cringed after I asked that question. I was glad to see my lack of internal filter and verbal diarrhea was still working properly.
Stefan laughed softly, his chest moving against me. I heard a soft click. “Josephine, look at me.”
Raising my head to look at him, I gasped when I saw the proof I couldn't deny. Fangs. My dream man had blond hair, blue eyes, a face like an angel, a body like Adonis and fangs. Sexy fangs. My fingers unconsciously lifted and started to reach out to touch them. I realized what I was doing and nervously dropped my hand into my lap, clasping my hands together. Stefan smiled, his fangs retracting and disappearing before my eyes.
“As strong as my urge is to bite, making love to you was more important. The way I tasted you earlier was better than simply biting you.” Stefan waggled his eyebrows, causing a blush to spread across my face.
“Is biting me something you want to do?” I asked curiously, feeling moisture pool between my legs as I thought of his fangs slipping into my skin. Stefan immediately noticed my arousal, his nostrils flaring and his eyes darkening in response.
“Ah, Josephine. Biting you is something I would enjoy. You would enjoy it as well. But I will only do it with your consent,” Stefan paused and his hand smoothed my hair behind my ear. “To answer your other question, I told you because I have been looking and waiting for you for over 200 years. You are more perceptive than I had assumed you would be.”