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“Nah. Maybe tomorrow,” Esther replied, as though someone carrying a car with their bare hands was a boring feat. “Let’s try this mesmerizing thing.” She scooted over and patted the seat next to her.
“We don’t have anyone to mesmerize.” Ashley ignored her signal to sit. She didn’t like where this was headed.
“You can try it on me. Just don’t make me do anything too embarrassing.”
“You?” Ashley saw this coming, but the words still took her off guard. “I can’t try it on you.”
“Why not? I trust you.”
Esther trusted her with her free will? Ashley didn’t know what to say. After the incident on the plane, she wasn’t sure if it was trust or Esther was just reckless. “Not to sound like a cliché hero, or basically any vampire romance, but you shouldn’t. This is too much trust for one person to handle.”
Esther took Ashley’s hand, and Ashley let herself be pulled down into the seat next to Esther, as though this was something they did. Casually touching each other. “Really, Ashley. It’s all right.”
“I mean, I’ve never gotten this one to work before either. I’ve had better luck turning into a bat.”
“Start small then.” Hands on her knees, Esther faced Ashley. “Have me lift a hand or something.”
Ashley took a deep breath. She could do this. Surely nothing bad would happen. This was Vampire 101. She just needed to clear her mind and force her consciousness into Esther. Oh god, it sounded violent already. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate, but even with her eyes closed, all she saw was Esther’s trusting eyes. This was too risky. Who knew what would happen?
“Hey.” A hand fit into Ashley’s, and she opened her eyes. “Let’s take a minute. I don’t want to force you to do anything you don’t want to do.”
Ashley gave a halfhearted laugh. “That’s exactly what I’m struggling with.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, why did you become a vampire? Was it a choice?” Esther’s hand was still in hers, rubbing her thumb along Ashley’s knuckles, almost absentmindedly. Did she know she was still holding Ashley’s hand? Ashley wasn’t about to point it out.
“It was my decision. I mean, how often do you get offered immortality?”
“Probably not often,” said Esther. “I’ve never been asked.”
Ashley tried to meet her eyes, but Esther was still looking down at their hands as she continued to draw circles. “What would you say? If you were offered.”
Esther’s nail drew a small circle around the freckle near Ashley’s thumb. “It depends on who asked.”
Ashley freed her hands and brought them to Esther’s face. Resting her fingertips lightly along Esther’s jaw, she used only enough touch to guide, not force her gaze up. Esther’s lashes lifted. She met Ashley’s gaze like a magnet snapping into place. Concentrating, Ashley willed her mental bubble to expand and encase Esther. “Lift your left hand and touch your nose.”
They waited, but Esther’s hand remained on her knee.
Ashley tried again, concentrating harder. “Lift a finger.”
Still nothing.
Her thumbs grazed along Esther’s cheekbones. “Are you straight?”
They sat in silence. The last log on the fire crumbled into the embers, and a snowflake landed on Esther’s cheek before melting into a drop of water.
Ashley wiped it away.
“I don’t know.”
22
Esther
Four days sharing a bed with Ashley and it hadn’t gotten any easier for Esther to keep her feelings in line. She had three more to go and was desperately eyeing her phone’s calendar—avoiding the pair of long, smooth legs nudging her own on the couch as they considered what to do with their time in a small town where everything closed by nine.
Maybe it was the tilt of that traitorous bed, or maybe a subconscious part of Ashley sought out heat in the night. Either way, at some point in those dark, daylight hours, Ashley’s chest ended up flush to Esther’s back, her hand resting on Esther’s hip. And one especially memorable morning, Esther woke to their legs tangled together, Ashley’s cool thigh resting between Esther’s.
And Esther knew she could say something. Conscious, Ashley was respectful of her space, but a part of Esther craved waking up like this. The weight of Ashley’s arm draped over her side. The cool thrill down her spine whenever Ashley pulled her in closer, slotting Esther into the nook under Ashley’s chin.There was the erotic rush of endorphins, like dark chocolate melting on her tongue, knowing the heat Ashley wore first thing in the morning was hers. But god, the dreams they inspired. Ashley using her cool thighs to part Esther’s. Crawling down Esther’s body and sinking her teeth into Esther’s thigh. And the look in Ashley’s eyes while she did it. The same look she gave Esther on the plane that had Esther’s heart slamming into her chest. Like Esther had something that Ashley desperately wanted, needed, couldn’t live without. And maybe that look wasn’t just about blood.
