Chapter Twenty-Two Amelia

TWENTY-TWO

Excerpt from the BoisterousBulleters Discord Server, #off-topic channel

REGINALD_THE_V: hey

REGINALD_THE_V: I know it’s the middle of the night and you’re all probably sleeping

REGINALD_THE_V: but I’m freaking out. i’m sleeping in A’s bed because she’s afraid of the storm and she said she only wanted to sleep but

REGINALD_THE_V: this is REALLY fucking hard

ANDIFROMAUSTRALIA: ohohoho FINALLY, I’m NEVER awake for the good shit

ANDIFROMAUSTRALIA: when you say “this is REALLY fucking hard” do you mean the situation is hard or that *you* are hard?

REGINALD_THE_V: I meant the situation but…both?

ANDIFROMAUSTRALIA: YESSSSSS

Amelia

I blinked my eyes open to the unpleasant aroma of burnt baking soda.

I tried to sit up so I could investigate what was happening in the kitchen. But I couldn’t. My face was pressed against a broad, solid chest. A heavy arm draped over my side, pulling me close.

Wait.

There was a person in bed with me .

I froze, the events of the previous night coming back to me in a rush.

Oh my god.

I’d asked Reggie to sleep next to me.

And he’d agreed .

Bright sunshine streamed in from the window. How long had we been cuddled up like this?

“Reggie?” I whispered.

He stirred without waking up, tucking me even closer to his body. We’d both slept in our clothes. Thank god for that. The fabric of his long-sleeved flannel shirt was so soft against my cheek and smelled impossibly good. The scent of laundry detergent, cool male skin, and something entirely other, something entirely Reggie , clung to him. I wanted to linger in it.

But no.

I couldn’t give in to whatever this was.

“ Reggie ,” I said again, a little louder this time. Both to wake him up and to remind my sluggish brain that I needed to get out of this bed, too, and put some distance between us. I gave his shoulder a shake. “Wake up.”

He cracked open an eye.

“Amelia?” There was a moment of confusion as he struggled to focus on my face. “What—?” And then, realization hit. He jerked, and flung himself back from me as though I’d burned him. Partly, anyway; our legs still twined together beneath the covers. “Oh, shit . I’m sorry. I didn’t realize—”

Something about this whole absurd situation—being snowed in and stuck for who knew how much longer with my vampire plus-one; telling him we absolutely could not kiss again, only to end up inviting him into my bed the same night and sleeping wrapped in his arms—made something inside me snap.

I started laughing. Nothing about this situation was funny, but once I got started, I couldn’t stop. What began as a quiet giggle quickly became a laugh that was so hard, I was gasping.

I took some deep breaths as I tried to get myself under control. “Oh, god , Reggie, I can’t believe that we’re—”

“What’s so funny?” Reggie was grinning, clearly delighted, but the corners of his eyes crinkled in confusion. He moved closer to me, his arm again wrapping around my waist. “Did I make a joke without realizing? Usually, I know it when I’ve been funny.”

“I can’t—I can’t believe we’re here, stuck…in this bed…You’re a vampire !” I said between peals of laughter.

“I am,” he agreed. He was beaming at me now. “And yes, we are. I made pancakes if you’re hungry. I couldn’t sleep. Though I may have used too much baking soda. I couldn’t find a teaspoon , so I used a large measuring cup instead.”

So that’s what that smell was. It only made me laugh harder. My eyes leaked with tears as I sat up and clutched my stomach. “Oh my god, I can’t—”

“Do you have any idea how gorgeous you are right now?”

His words cut through my hysteria like a knife. My laughter, the ridiculousness of our situation, melted away. All that was left was our proximity, the way our legs still tangled together beneath the covers—and his bright blue eyes, boring into mine.

I swallowed. “I’m…I’m what?”

“I’ve wanted to see you like this for what feels like a century,” he breathed. He sat up in bed beside me, then trailed tentative fingertips up my side, along my neck. Slowly, as though giving me the opportunity to rebuff him if I didn’t want him to touch me. I did want, though. I shivered at his touch, at the way the space between us went suddenly breathless and hot, and made no move to stop him. “I’ve wanted to make you laugh like this since the night we met. You were terrible at pretending to laugh when I asked you to, but in hindsight I see that was a good thing. Because if I’d seen what you are like when you truly let go, I would have fallen to my knees. Right then and there.”

Now that I wasn’t laughing anymore, my breathing should have been slowing down. It wasn’t. His was quickening, too. I could see it in the way his chest rose and fell, in the way his nostrils flared almost imperceptibly. If I’d been in my right mind, I probably wouldn’t have inched closer to him. I certainly would have had the sense not to reach for his hand. But it felt like we resided in some liminal space here. A place where we were freed from having to worry about work and good decisions. And from the fact that most of the time, vampires like him fed on humans like me.

All the nervous anticipation coiling tight like a fist in my belly was mirrored in his expression. His eyes were fixed firmly on my face, as though not trusting what he might do if he allowed his gaze to wander.

“Can I kiss you?” His voice had gone quiet. Almost shy. “I don’t want to make you—”

“Yes.”

It was the wrong decision in every way. I was too busy for romantic entanglements. He was a vampire . But I shoved all of it to the side. I was a live wire, every nerve in my body awake in a way I had not experienced in god only knew how long. I wanted this. “You aren’t making me anything.”

I reached up and twined my fingers into his soft blond hair. He groaned, a broken sound, as I scraped my fingernails gently along his scalp.

When he kissed me, it was more a sweet mingling of breath, a gentle brushing of his lips against mine, than a proper kiss. He pulled back almost as soon as it began, leaving me breathless and wanting. Giving me the opportunity to end this if that was what I wanted.

“I realize that my touching you without an audience was never part of the original plan,” Reggie began, his eyes never leaving my face. His lips were so soft. I needed them on me again. Right now. “It certainly wasn’t part of mine. But ever since the night we met, all I have wanted was to touch you.”

I shivered at the heat in his words. “Since the night we met?”

“Yes.” His hold on me tightened as he pulled me deliberately into his lap. I straddled him, our bodies seamed together chest to chest. “Even as I walked away from you that night, all I could think about was what it would feel like to hold your hand. To kiss you.” His eyes dropped to my mouth. “The reality of that is way better than I imagined it would be. Which just makes me wonder if the reality of touching you in other ways would be better than my imagination, too.”

My heart raced at his words. His eyes fluttered closed as his nostrils flared. Could he smell it, the way my blood pumped harder through my veins? The idea of it shouldn’t have excited me as much as it did.

“You’ve imagined touching me?” I managed.

A long pause.

He nodded.

Outside, the wind was picking up again. I barely heard it. There was only the beating of my heart, Reggie holding me so close we were breathing the same air—and me, wanting so badly for him to kiss me again it felt a little like madness.

When I spoke next, it was in a brave voice I hardly recognized. “Then do it.”

His mouth was on mine before I could draw breath, devouring me in a way that left me gasping, showing none of the gentleness he had a moment ago. He kissed like a man on the verge of drowning breathes: desperate, and like he couldn’t get enough. His lips pressed so hard to mine it felt bruising, his tongue tracing the seam of my lips for only a moment before plunging within.

He asked me something that sounded vaguely like is this all right? But I could hardly hear him over the thundering of the blood in my ears and the racing beat of my heart. I twined my arms around his broad shoulders by way of response, fingers reaching up to tangle again in his hair. This man made me reckless in a way I had never experienced before. Not with anybody.

I didn’t have the words to tell him any of this, so I showed him instead.

Kissing him was like finally working out the solution to a difficult problem, euphoric both mentally and physically. I needed him shirtless so I could run my palms over his chest and feel the bunch and flex of his muscles as I touched him. I slid my hands down his body, reveling in his sharp intake of breath, pausing only when I got to the bottom hem of his flannel button-down.

I fumbled with the buttons with useless fingers. “Off,” I mumbled against his lips, rendered monosyllabic with need. “I want—”

Before I could finish the thought, he yanked both the flannel and the thin T-shirt he’d been wearing beneath it over his head and tossed them over his shoulder.

Then he took each of my wrists in his hands and pinned me, arms above my head, to the mattress.

Our change in positioning seemed to unleash something within him. He kissed me again with a harsh groan, his grip on my wrists like a vise. He was everywhere, all at once, his mouth on my cheek, on my jaw, on the sensitive pulse point where neck met shoulder. I felt seconds away from bursting out of my skin, writhing beneath him as he kissed his way down my body.

What would it feel like, I wondered, to be pressed together with him flesh to flesh, with no clothes between us at all? All at once I had to know. In that moment, it was all I wanted.

I had just been about to beg him to take off my blouse and chuck it to the floor with his clothes when he released my wrists. He sat up, placing a hand on each of my shoulders.

“I need to eat something,” he said, panting hard. His voice was gravel on stone. “Before we… before .”

It took a moment for what he was trying to tell me to sink in. And then, all at once, it did.

He needed to eat something .

“Oh,” I said. And then, feeling like an idiot, I asked, “Why?”

He looked away, uncomfortable. “It’s just that it will be better if I do. Safer. For you.”

Would he lose control during intimacy if he didn’t feed now? Would he bite me? The small part of me still capable of sense was screaming at the rest of me that his failure to elaborate further was the reddest of red flags. I wanted him too badly to care.

“Just come back quickly,” I said. Begged, really. “Please.”

He groaned, sounding pained. “I don’t have it in me to keep you waiting long.” He chuckled. “Or myself either, apparently. I stashed my supplies in the garage so they’d stay cool. I’ll only be gone a few minutes. I promise.”

Then he raced from the room. I heard the door to the garage creak open, then slam shut behind him.

I took the opportunity to ransack my suitcase in the hope of finding something sexy to wear when he came back. Or at least, sexier than the mismatched pink and lime-green bra and panty combo I wore beneath my clothes.

It was a lost cause. Why hadn’t I followed Sophie’s advice and tucked something slinky into my bag? Other than bringing along a pair of hiking boots for hikes that the feet of snow outside had now rendered impossible, the only planning ahead I’d done for this trip involved thinking through which work files I’d need to take with me.

I hadn’t done any of the things I really should have done to get ready. Like check the weather. Or anticipate that I’d maybe want Reggie to touch me while we were here.

Frustrated, I tore off my shirt, and then my bra, hoping that the sight of my breasts would distract him from the fact that I hadn’t brought anything pretty with which to dress them up. The room was cold, the air hitting my bare skin making my nipples tighten.

Then I sat back on the bed, trying to arrange the blankets around me in an enticing way. And I waited.

And waited.

And waited.