Page 70 of Vampire Visions

I rubbed my fingertips across his side, feather light touches bouncing over his skin. “Here?” I asked, my eyes following the movements as he tensed.

Grabbing my hand, he laced his fingers through mine, effectively stopping my assault. “Yes,” he responded, shaking his head as if he regretted his answer.

“Is it weird,” I began, sitting up as I searched my mind for the right words. “That when this is all over… I just want to slow down and actually date you? You know, dinner, movies, romantic walks on the beach at night?”

Stone huffed and then chuckled. “You want romantic walks on the beach?” He pushed up on his hands, leaving his legs extended.

I shook my head. “Maybe in Hell,” I admitted.

“Yeah, that sounds better.” He was silent for a moment, pondering my confession. “How about a romantic date at the lava falls? We can pack a picnic, swim in the hot springs, and fly to the bluffs to watch the sunrise.”

“Mmm, that would be amazing,” I mumbled, stretching back out and resting my head in his lap. “Who knew the quiet demon could be romantic,” I teased, smiling up at him.

When he grinned down at me, I noticed the dimples in his cheeks for the first time. I hadn’t seen them before, and now that I had, I wanted to see them all the time. I wondered how often I’d be on the receiving end of his real smile or how refreshing it would be to hear him laugh a little each day.

“Are you hungry yet?” he questioned. “Briggs is probably cooking something.”

“Mmm,” I mumbled, not really wanting to end the tranquility. “Better him than Jack or Grim. Both of them will burn cereal if left unattended in a kitchen.”

Reluctantly, I forced myself out of Stone’s lap. He stood, reaching for my hands to haul me up. With one last kiss, we left the peaceful escape of the rooftop patio and entered the house. I could smell something delicious coming from downstairs, and realized then that I was hungry.

While we’d been in Louisiana, Franklin had bought more chairs to add to mine and Jack’s usual brunch table. The backyard patio was full of laughter and food. Seeing the house so lively made me even more grateful for my parents. They’d built it for me — us — and now that it was at its capacity, I couldn’t be happier.

“You guys have been gone for hours,” Novak teased as soon as he saw Stone and me, swiveling his chair from side to side.

“We’ve been on the roof.” I shook my head at him, grinning to myself over what he thought we’d been doing. “Exactly where you left us.”

“It’s almost ten in the morning,” Vaughn informed us.

“What is time?” I asked him, laughing. “It’s not important today. We’ve clocked out.”

“Yeah,” York agreed. “I like that idea. We were going to come get you, but we didn’t want to interrupt.”

“You mean, after all of you ate?” Stone quipped.

Palmer nodded his head, his mouth full of food. Briggs glanced at him and then to us. “Yep.”

“Assholes,” Stone hissed as he pulled out a chair for me.

The whole scene was making my little black heart constrict. For the first time in a long time, the feeling was welcome. These were my guys. My mates. The Fates had dealt us all plenty of bullshit, past and present, but they hadn’t been wrong when they linked us together.

I listened to them talk as we ate. Briggs was a great cook, but of course he was. He’d told me that he was a chef when we played twenty questions. After eating the meal he’d prepared, I suddenly wanted to buy a restaurant. Impulsive, I know. The thought made me giggle.

“What’s so funny about York running a marathon?” Palmer questioned me as he pushed his plate away.

“Is that what you were talking about?” I shook my head, fighting the urge to cackle at them. “That’s not what I was giggling about, but… Wow. You guys missed that. He was so sore when he finished that I had to pick him up to get him out of the car and into the house.” I deepened my voice, mimicking York’s Australian accent. “I don’t need to train. I’m a druid, sweetheart. It’s just forty-two kilometers.” I threw my head back, giving in completely to my cackle as I revisited the memories.

“It wasn’t that funny,” York grumbled, narrowing his eyes at me.

“Maybe not to you,” I wheezed.

Vaughn raised both eyebrows at York. “Just forty-two kilometers? You said that? You know humans-”

“Yeah, yeah. I know. She preached to me for three days.” Mocking me, he pitched his voice, picking up a little southern twang. “Training, endurance, a specialized diet. Fucking shoes, York. You at least needed shoes to run that far.”

“Ya tried ta run it barefoot?” Palmer widened his eyes as he stared, disbelieving, at York. “Were ye high? Some of those special druid herbs in yer tea?”

“No,” York interjected. “I didn’t try to run it, and I wasn’t high on anything. I finished that motherfucker, then I laid on the couch for three days trying to heal the burns on the bottom of my feet from the asphalt.” He glared, pointing his finger at me. “She didn’t want to ‘waste’ healing potions because ‘you need to learn a lesson from this, York.’ So, she left me to suffer.”