Page 49 of The Donor’s Dilemma

“I never said that…”

“It always ends badly…” she mimicked.

“That doesn’t mean… Verity… I…” he rubbed a hand over his face. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“No,” she snapped. “You shouldn’t have!”

They stood for a moment, neither knowing what to say.

“I know that there’ll be times when… we need to put on a show,” she said. “To convince everyone I belong to you, but when it’s just us…”

“I know.” He stared down at the desk.

“It’s confusing, Theo,” she pleaded. She couldn’t live like this, but she could see the pressure he was under. A man about to break.

“When do you want to feed?” she asked. Their next appointment wasn’t for three days, the couple of drops he’d just had wouldn’t last him until then.

“Sunday?” he asked. “I can pick you up, take you back to mine for a bit. I’ll behave, I promise.”

Verity nodded. They had discussed her visiting him at home, so it made sense. As long as he behaved of course.

“Oh, and Elliot’s invited us to the theatre.”

“Us?” she asked and Theo laughed, his smile looking almost genuine.

“I think they’re looking forward to seeing you more than me.”

“Sounds like a date,” she winked. “See you Sunday.”

A third person had joined the queue to see Theo when she exited the room. All three watched her as she headed over to Stella.

“Better?” Stella asked her, and Verity wasn’t sure if she meant her or Theo. She was about to tell her she honestly didn’t know when the door opened again.

“I am so sorry to have kept you waiting,” Theo said to the woman by the door, beaming and offering a hand. “I was just reading your proposal and must say there are some truly insightful points.”

“Err… thank you?” the woman said, following him into the office.

Theo closed the door behind them, sparing Verity one last smile as he did.

“I’ll have what he’s having,” Stella muttered, plucking a stick note from her monitor and tossing it in the bin.

“Don’t,” Verity said, attempting to ignore the devious look on the vampire’s face. “I’ll see you Monday.”

Stella waved and Verity headed out, grateful to find the rain had finally stopped as she walked to the cafe.

What had just happened? Verity made no secret of her feelings, she didn’t see the point. Any vampire would be able to read her like a book. Her heart, her breathing, her smell. Lying wasn’t an option. He always knew, and he never reciprocated. There was the growling, but he was hungry. There was the club, but that was to prove a point.

Moments of more had seeped in when they were with Elliot and the others, but he apologised for that. Made it clear it wasn’t real, it wasn’t happening again. That they weren’t really together.

The story of Isabella broke her heart. Theo insisted he wouldn’t let something like that happen again and she believed him.

Until he grabbed her face. Until he forced her to watch him. No audience, no one to convince, just him and her. Perfectly alone. Perfectly desperate. One mention of another man and he snapped.

Theo needed to decide what he wanted, and decide fast, because Verity couldn’t take it. Pretending was one thing, but if he expected her to be the better person, to fight him off if he tried something like that again, he had another thing coming.

As the cafe came into view, Verity pushed thoughts of Theo from her mind. Today was about Cora. She’d answer any questions she threw at her, whatever it took to distract her friend from Toby and the Cafe.

Cora looked up from the counter the moment she walked in. Then smiled, then squealed, then ran straight at Verity.