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“For all of this.” He waved his hand in the air.
“Baz, if you remember, the wedding game was my idea. At least some of this is my fault.”
He shook his head. “Ember, we were just playing kids games. None of us knew there’d be real consequences to us playing pretend together. There’s no blame there. But the rest… I feel like if I hadn’t been captured, hadn’t lost my essence to that dreambound woman, none of this would have happened.”
“Baz, that’s about as dumb as me blaming myself for our games.”
He sighed. “On some level, I know that. On others, I’m not so sure.”
“Well, the only thing we can do is try to make it better, I suppose.” I rested my head against his shoulder. “This okay?”
“Yes, Ember. I’m feeling better about being around you. It was just a lot to unravel for a while.”
I wondered what he and my dad had talked about, but neither had mentioned it so I wouldn’t pry. It wasn’t my business unless they wanted it to be.
“I understand and I’m feeling the same. The pressure was a lot. The memories from not-Baz on both our ends was a lot. Everything that is going on is still a lot. Your feelings were completely valid.”
He rested his hand on my leg and leaned his head back against the rock so he could look at the sky. “I feel like I’m fading.”
“Don’t do that.” I stayed where I was, because a lot of me was touching him, but I wanted to move, to fix him, to do something.
He sighed. “I’m not sure there is anything to do.”
“I’m going to give you more energy, okay?”
“Okay,” he replied after a quick hesitation.
I hadn’t noticed before, but all the times I’d shared energy with Nic and Dio it had been erotic, at least a little. I hadn’t experienced that with Baz, yet. Maybe because we hadn’t been ready? Were we ready now? Well, we were certainly closer.
I shifted so that I straddled Baz’s legs.
He widened his eyes.
I shrugged and placed my hands on his chest. “Okay?”
“Yeah.” He gazed into my eyes, his expression soft.
Taking a breath, I channeled more essence from the surroundings through me and into Baz. This time there was a pull, a connection between us that flared into more than just channeling life-saving energy. Maybe that was part of the difference. Dio had been in bad shape but not nearly as badly off as Baz was. Nic had been dying, but he hadn’t been wasting away for months and it was easy enough to restore him. Also, we’d wanted each other, anyway.
Baz shifted, his hands going to my waist before he froze. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay, Baz. We gotta work through this. Touch me if you want.”
“Okay.” He tightened his grip on me. “Maybe give me a bit more energy?”
“Sure.”
I did what he wanted, gathering more energy and pouring it into him. This opened the weak connection between us wider. Emotions flooded through me, too fast to sort, and tears sprang to my eyes.
Baz pulled me closer until I was sitting in his lap, facing him.
“Maybe we can try a kiss?” He licked his lips as if nervous, but the suggestion and the quick flick of his tongue across his lips certainly got my attention. There was no point in playing coy, either. Working out our differences meant us ending up having sex, so if we were feeling it, we might as well work toward that goal. Either that or we could try going the vampire route, but I’d rather have sex with someone I was feeling marginal about than share blood with anyone unless there were no other options. Outside of a mating bond, that was. Remembering Dio’s teeth piercing my skin sent a thrill through me.
I curled my lips in a smile. “Maybe we can.”
Baz
Ember’s soft lips touched mine, igniting emotions that had lain dormant for so long. It wasn’t hard to be attracted to her, but the darker thoughts and memories that weren’t even mine kept interfering with my actual memories.
