Page 33 of Demure
“Somewhat. I wouldn’t say we are as strong as human bodybuilders, but we are more in tune with our body, more physically fit, and we have many more years to work on building our strength to the best it can be. You humans have so little time to really come to your full potential.”
Sierra’s feet came to a stop on the sidewalk. They were just around the corner from her apartment, but she couldn’t keep her thoughts inside her mind any longer.
“Aodhan, I need you to be 100% honest with me. This—” she motioned between them, “—is it even possible it will work?”
Aodhan looked at her, and Sierra could see that the answer he was about to give was painful for him. “I…I don’t know.” He let out a breath, his shoulders sagging in her presence for the first time she had ever seen. “I want it to,” he added, bringing his hand up to cup the left side of her face.
“Is that why Kaye and Braan were giving me weird looks? Because they know it won’t work?” Sierra asked, at last, the burning in her stomach calming the minute the words passed through her lips.
Aodhan lowered his hand from her face to clasp her hand in his. “I can’t lie to you. I felt doubt coming from them. But I don’t think it had anything to do with you being human. They don’t judge like that.”
Sierra removed her hand from his, turning away to walk more quickly to her home.
Aodhan had no problem keeping up with her brisk pace, and right before she reached into her pocket to grab out her key, hishand landed on her wrist. “Give us a chance, Sierra. Just because we’re going on a few dates doesn’t even mean this will be long-term anyway.”
Sierra pulled her wrist from his hold, grabbing her key. “You’re right.” She took a deep breath, unlocked her door, and began her walk up the stairs. Aodhan followed silently.
Once they were both inside her apartment, she closed the door behind them. “I’m getting ahead of myself. It’s just meeting them, it felt a bit…permanent to me, and the way they were looking at me made me nervous.”
“I understand. I wasn’t planning to introduce you to them so early, but there was no way for you to see my place without meeting them. As you saw, there is no way to evade their attention in their home.”
Sierra bit her lip. She wanted to add that she was uncomfortable with the way he had referred to the human servants, but she held back. That was a conversation for another day. Plus, he probably didn’t mean it the way she thought he did. She was overreacting and on edge because of the discomfort she felt.
“I understand,” she told Aodhan before her eyes landed on her messenger bag. “I did have a good time with them today, I just didn’t feel comfortable at all.”
“I could tell.” Aodhan reached up, brushing a loose tendril of Sierra’s dark hair from in front of her face. “But I would like the four of us to spend more time together. You’ll get used to them; I promise.”
Sierra nodded. “Okay, we can try that.” She had no idea what time it was, but she felt like she needed some time alone, and she definitely needed to study as she had barely done any studying all week. “If it’s okay with you, I’m going to study for the rest of the day, I think.”
Aodhan was a bit disappointed, but he nodded in understanding as he pulled her into a tight hug. “Are you working at the library tomorrow?” His voice was muffled bySierra’s hair.
“Yes, are you?” Sierra answered from where she was, tucked into his chest.
“Yes. I will see you there,mo ghrá.”
“What does that mean?” Sierra asked, tilting her head to the side.
Aodhan’s lip turned up at the corner. “You’ll have to learn Gaelic, I guess.”
Sierra opened her mouth to argue that she wanted to know now, but before she could even breathe a word, he leaned down, capturing her lips in a kiss. Sierra moved her lips against his, feeling some of the tension drain from her body as his arms came up to embrace her. The kiss felt like just what she needed to soothe her worries about their relationship, and as Aodhan held her tightly, his mouth pressed to hers, she considered changing her mind about being alone. But before she could, Aodhan stopped the kiss, hugging her tightly once more before letting go.
“Until tomorrow,” she whispered, as he ran his hand down the side of her face.
“Until tomorrow,” he repeated before disappearing from her room.
Chapter Eighteen
Sierra pushed her cart along the aisle, reshelving books, as Tyler prattled on about something behind her, as per usual. She had lost track of what he was talking about. The conversation had started about the book he was currently reading, but now he was just going on about some author that Sierra couldn’t care less about.
“…And that’s why I’m pretty sure she is out of ideas and that she should fess up, you know? Before she releases another book of nothing.”
“Yeah,” Sierra agreed halfheartedly, as she inspected the book in her hand, turning the worn cover over and running her fingers along the embossed gold lettering.
“What’s going on with you these days?” Tyler asked, drawing Sierra’s attention away from the book and up to his face, where his lips were pressed in a tight line.
“Nothing,” Sierra replied, slipping the book onto the shelf before realizing she had put it on the wrong one, so she had to pull it back out and slide it on the shelf beneath where it had been.
“Bullshit.” Sierra opened her mouth to argue, but Tyler held up his hand. “You haven’t wanted to talk to me all week. I know Imay have been a bit forward in the past, but come on, we’re friends.”
