Page 37 of Till Death Do Us Part

“Yes?”

“You should be careful.” She dragged her gaze down me. “I’m a predator. And you’re prey. I can only help myself for so long.”

Maybe I didn’t want her to help herself. I whispered like a prayer. “I’m not afraid of you, Vera.”

“You should be.”

“Then it’s my mistake to make.”

She bit her lip, and she slipped her hand down my side. My heart was racing as she reached the bottom of my shirt and touched her fingers to my bare skin, slipping up under the fabric. My breath came in short, ragged pants.

“I want to claim you,” she growled. “I want to own you.”

“Oh, God, Vera.” It slipped out of me without me knowing.

“I want to have you for anything I want. I want you to belong to me.”

“I…”

“Say it.” She pushed both her hands up under my shirt, slipping the fabric up higher. “Say you belong to me.”

My voice didn’t ask my permission. “I… belong… to you.”

Something flashed in her eyes, and I felt her fingertips digging hungrily, possessively into me, and then something flashed in her eyes.

She pulled away.

She slipped off of me with a frustrated sigh, taking her hands out from my shirt and sitting next to me, and she flopped onto her back.

“No,” she said. “You don’t.”

“Vera—” I sat up, but she waved me off.

“Go back to sleep. I’m sorry for waking you up.”

“Do you not want me?” I didn’t mean to say it, it just tumbled out. She shook her head.

“Not really.”

“Vera…” I shouldn’t have been so crushed. I slumped back down in the bed, tears stinging at my eyes, feeling stupid, ugly, undesirable. “I’m sorry.” I turned away, and it was quiet except for the clock ticking in the corner of the room. Quiet enough I could hear Vera’s breathing, knowing she was awake. Knowing she knew I was awake.

Finally, she sighed.

“Go to sleep, Elaine. We have a wedding in the morning.”

“I am asleep.” I sounded like a petulant child.

“Funny. You’re talkative for a sleeping woman.”

“Well, I’m not the only one.”

“It’s not…” She let out a long, controlled sigh. “Elaine, of course I fucking want you. I just can’t make this thing more complicated right now. I don’t do… romantic ties. I don’t love people. I barely even like people on rare occasions. You and I are different beings.”

“Vera…” I turned back to face her, my chest tight. She kept her gaze up on the ceiling.

“But short of romance? I want to have you. I’ll spare you the details.”

I almost… wanted the details.