Chapter Twenty-Seven

I love you a latte.

"Damn you, woman!" Oliver's deep voice cut through the room. Standing in the doorway, he continued, "Do you think so little of me that I can't know my own feelings or that you couldn't have talked to me about this before you drove across three states to get away from me?"

"That's my clue to leave." Delta slipped smoothly from the bed and lay a soft hand on Oliver's arm before sliding out of the room. Over the last few days, the two had fallen into a quiet existence together, enjoying coffee and tea respectively in the mornings—after sleeping in, of course—and working on individual projects. Eva would write while Delta puttered around gram's garden cutting, pruning, and tutting at plants that seemed to once again thrive from her ministrations.

They read, listened to music, watched Baby Boy and Apollo play together most afternoons, or in Delta's case, watched Apollo bounce strangely and comically alone around the yard, before settling into Eva's large bed to watch a movie late into the night and finally falling asleep in their respective beds.

Sitting up, Eva watched Oliver shove his hands uncertainly into his pockets. She'd done that; she'd made him unsure of himself. "Do you like it?" he questioned gruffly, examining the bedroom without looking directly at her for several long seconds.

"It's perfect," Eva admitted, standing up although like the first time they'd met, she wanted to run from the room. Silence filled the space as they each examined the other. "Thank you," she tacked on belatedly, which he ignored.

"You didn't take your phone."

"I'll buy another."

"You even left your laptop and all your work."

Holding up her thumb with a wiggle, she told him, "Thumb drive and cloud." Eva had figured she would buy a new laptop as well. Why not? She hadn't wanted to take too long gathering her things. Hadn't wanted to give herself a chance to weaken and change her mind.

"I applied for a passport."

An eyebrow raised at her as if to say pray continue.

"I'm ready to live and not just survive," Eva admitted. No longer could she watch her life from the sidelines.

"Why?" he began at the same time, she said, "I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry? For leaving me? For making me have feelings for you? For being what I dreamed of even when I couldn't dream?" he asked softly, a touch of vulnerability in his voice. The sound broke her heart all over again. "Why did you leave me? I thought . . . I thought we were more than that?"

A half laugh, half cry escaped Eva. "But everyone I've ever been with thought we were more. How can I know when it's real or when I've made it happen? How can you trust me or trust these feelings knowing what sort of creature I am? Being with me literally steals life from you. I'm a parasite. A fucking jailer."

"I'm dead, Eva. How can the life force be taken from the undead? And I would give it to you freely. Not as a way to own or control you, but because I can. How can you steal something that is given freely?" His eyes pleaded with her to hear his words. "If you'd stuck around even a little bit longer, I could have told you this. Whatever I give freely to you doesn't deplete me. It completes me. I've never felt better. I thought after that last night, you could see that. Whatever energy of mine that feeds you, it also replenishes me."

Walking closer, he continued, "Did you think I was a monster or parasite that last night when I took your blood?" Waiting for her answer, his brows furrowed as he considered the possibility that she was, in fact, running from him.

Blushing at the memory, Eva vehemently shook her head. "No, it was beautiful. Perfect." A moment in time that she could hold onto for a lifetime.

"Why would you think it was any different for me?" Oliver questioned. "Am I not deserving of love? Of acceptance? We both are."

Another step closer. Eva stood still, caught between wanting to throw herself upon him and running away.

"I was awake when you left, you know. I kept thinking you wouldn't go. You would make it to the door, then come to your senses and turn around. Then I thought you'd make it to the garage and turn around. Then maybe at the gate you would stop and come back to me. Then I realized you weren't coming back. So I gave you time. Hell, I didn't want to, but Delta convinced me to give you time. And she verbally kicked my ass for letting you go in the first place."

Shaking her head, Eva sadly explained, "You don't know if it's you feeling this or if it's what I've made you feel. I'm just an ex-barista with a knack for hiding away who got lucky with a bit of writing. You deserve so much more than that."

"You are that, but so much more." Oliver's quiet, low voice reached across the room to her. "How can I not be obsessed with you? Not crazy kill anyone who gets between us obsessed"—he paused as he considered his words—"well, maybe. But I own my obsession with you. It's not due to any succubus genetics or blood connections. I felt it the moment I laid eyes on you in the coffee shop. I felt it well before we had sex and well after our bonds were broken. It's due to you and me." He pointed back and forth between the two of them.

"I can only hope you feel even a smidgen of the same obsession with me. And I will regret to the end of my days that I didn't tell you before . . . before we were intimate. I regret that you think that's what I feel, because what I feel is real and so much more."

Hope sprang from Eva, hope followed by shame. She hadn't even given them a chance. At the first opportunity, she'd treated him like all the others who had come before him despite knowing he was different. This time, she closed the space between them. "All you've done is save me. I can't even save myself. Why would you want a damsel when you could have a queen?"

Shaking his head firmly, he argued. "You don't see what I see. You are my queen. I don't save you. You save me."

"I've been so wrong."

"You have," he agreed, then waited. "If you're a monster, so am I. Maybe you make me less of a monster."

Pointing between herself and him, she clarified, "This is real."

"It is."

"You haven't given up on me."

"Never."

The tightening in her chest began to ease at his earnest tone. "You're not going to become crazy obsessed with me?" For the first time in days, the tension between her shoulders began to relax.

Tilting his head as if considering, he shook his head. "I already am, but I think you know that. I know we're new to this sort of thing." Pushing his hands deeper in his pockets, he continued, "But I want to give it a try, if you want to. I know your entire world has changed almost overnight, and I know that it takes some time to figure it out, but I would really like a chance to be a part of that, if you're willing to have me."

And there it was. The difference. Her past attempts at relationships usually ended with demands and begging or pleading. Being unseen and forgettable was sometimes a better alternative than being hunted and stalked after mediocre sex. Oliver asked her what she wanted; he could wait for her rather than force her to accept his attention. For the first time, a choice was being given to her, and with a flush she admitted to herself the sex was phenomenal.

Holding his jaw in both hands, Eva drew him closer, close enough to kiss, while keeping her eyes locked on his, searching for anything that might suggest he meant differently before admitting, "I am sort of a mess. And I'm going to make a lot—and I mean a lot—of mistakes."

Oliver slowly pulled his hands out of his pockets, not breaking their eye contact. "As will I, but this—us—it isn't a mistake."

Eva let out the breath she was holding as he reached out to her hips and pulled her closer, maintaining eye contact, but not pushing for more. She could meet him halfway; she could chase him to the ends of the earth. Instead, she held his face between her hands, bouncing up onto her tiptoes to reach his lips as he turned his head down to meet her, leaving her momentarily breathless before he ended the kiss.

"And I'm sure you've noticed by now that Delta has moved into your house, at least temporarily."

"I thought she was just doing some work on the wards and helping with this amazing remodel." Now that Eva thought about it, Delta had seemed pretty at home here, and clearly this was why she hadn't been seeing her around since the rescue.

"She is. She was. Or at least she said she was checking things out. Then she took a leave of absence or a vacation. I'm not sure which, but apparently I'm still paying her, and she'll be back when she's back. I quote." The young witch often left Oliver confused, but clearly Delta had no plans of heading back to Chicago any time soon now that Eva considered how comfortable she'd made herself in Eva's guest room, as well as her living room and kitchen. "She's got the right idea," he admitted as he kissed the top of Eva's head, holding her close as if afraid to let her go.

Pulling back, Eva looked up questionably, raising a questioning eyebrow herself.

"I think it's time to step back from some of the day-to-day running of the business. Maybe my partners can step out of the shadows a bit. They all know what they're doing and don't need me looking over their shoulders all the time. Maybe it's time to relax, explore, travel. Maybe bring coffee to my favorite author while she works."