“Why not?”
I shrugged at him. “I just want to be greedy and keep you all to myself. It’s your charm. You’ve won me over.”
He blinked at me.
I shook my head. “I’m being sarcastic.”
Quinn looked down at the floor. “Can I ask you one question?”
“Ask away.”
“At the bar the other night, were you planning on killing me?”
“Pardon me?” I lowered the gun a bit.
“Biting me. Making me into a vampire,” he clarified.
“No.” I almost laughed. “Why would you think something like that?”
“Because that’s what vampires do. Bite people.”
“I haven’t bitten anyone yet, and I’m not planning on starting anytime soon. Do the words ‘gross’ and ’unhygienic‘ mean anything to you?”
He frowned. “You seemed so normal. I still can’t believe I had no idea what you were. Are.”
“Touch?.”
“So, what were you doing in there—in Clancy’s— the other night?”
“You probably wouldn’t believe me if I said I only wanted to have a drink.”
“Probably not. But what did I have to do with anything?”
I rolled my eyes. “Wow, self-centered much? Hate to burst your bubble, buddy, but I wasn’t out to get you, if that’s what you think. I felt like a drink, so I had a drink. I saw a cute guy at the end of the bar, so I flirted with the cute guy.”
“Cute guy?” He raised his eyebrows.
I felt an immediate flush rise in my cheeks. “I think we’re getting off topic here. This is supposed to be our little chat about why you can’t kill all of us.”
“You thought I was cute?”
“Trust me, I’m over it now. You’ve been a royal pain in my ass ever since I met you, so that takes a bit away from the whole package.”
“So, that man, the tall one dressed in black, is he your boyfriend?”
“Thierry’s a boy and he’s a friend. But not in the way you might think. What difference does that make?”
Quinn stood up. I took a step back and raised the gun, which I’d lowered almost all the way down to the floor.
“I’ve had a lot of time in here to think things through,” he said.
I felt every muscle in my body tense as he took another step nearer to me. “Why don’t you sit back down? It’s a comfy couch.”
He took a third step toward me. I didn’t want to shoot him, but it was feeling as if it might be easier and easier the nearer he got to me.
He stopped then and sighed. “Look, Sarah, I know that if it wasn’t for your help, I would have died last night.”
“And?”
“And I know you’re different from the rest of them.”
“The rest of who?”
“The vampires.”
“Hate to break it to you, but you’re a vampire now, too.”
A flash of pain went through his eyes, but it wasn’t physical pain this time, that much I could tell. “I know. But I don’t feel any different than when I was normal.”
“See? I tried to tell you.”
“But… I am different now. I have to be.” His voice was sad. “I just can’t be the same thing that killed my mother. I can’t be an evil, bloodsucking, dead thing.”
He lowered his head then and began to sob very quietly. The way men sob. Quiet, dry, and as discreet as possible. If I hadn’t been standing right in front of him, I might have missed the signs.
I swallowed hard, but didn’t put the gun down. “Quinn, it’s not true. You’re not like that. I’m not like that.”
“Dead things,” he said. “We’re disgusting dead things.”
“No, we’re not.” I closed the space between us, grabbed his hand, and thrust it against my chest so he could feel the steady beat of my heart. Immediately my heart increased to an embarrassed pounding as I realized I’d just forced him to touch my boob. I let go of him, but his hand didn’t move away. His breath was ragged as he lifted his gaze to meet mine.
“You’re right,” he said. “Definitely not dead.”
He leaned toward me with his hand still pressed warmly against my chest. I felt something tighten inside me as I stared into his intense blue eyes—it might have been desire or need or want. I didn’t know. All I knew was he was so cute and vulnerable and deadly. And I was going to kiss him. I really was.
The gun dropped to the floor as I reached for him. I felt a hand clamp down on my shoulder and I was lurched back a few feet out of arm’s reach of Quinn.
“What the hell?” I turned around.
Thierry stood behind me, looking very unhappy. He turned his gaze to Quinn and pushed him up against the wall behind the desk, knocking the wind out of him.
“Thierry, no!” I yelled. “He wasn’t going to hurt me.”
Thierry had his hands wrapped around Quinn’s neck and had lifted him a few inches off the ground. But he’d heard me. He slowly, very slowly, lowered Quinn back to the ground, where he then sputtered and coughed and sank to the floor in a heap.
“What did you think you were doing coming in here all by yourself?” Thierry said to me.