He rubbed the towel over her body, gentle, massaging strokes that soaked up the beads of water and left her a little breathless and definitely aroused. She couldn’t help but love the way he touched her so gently.
She glanced up at his face. He wore a strange look that didn’t bode well for her and she wanted to avoid finding out what it meant, because he really did look dangerous. He really could look scary—like a predator—and she was alone in the cave with him. She was avoiding the word lair at all costs, but it floated into her mind all by itself.
“I don’t have many clothes left,” she said into the silence. “I’ll have to make a trip into town and pick a couple of shirts up.”
“That will not be necessary, Teagan. I can provide clothing for you.”
Her heart thudded. She bit her lip. “My grandmother expects me to be in touch with her once a week. I’m due anyway. I’ll just pick up the shirts and call her at the same time.”
He caught her chin. “I do not like that you scare yourself like this. You have a vivid imagination for a woman who travels as much as you do.”
“I know. I’ve always been afraid of everything. When I was a child I was certain there were monsters under my bed and in my closet. Most nights I’d go crawl in bed with my grandmother, but sometimes I couldn’t make myself leave my bed and put my feet on the floor so I’d yell for her at the top of my lungs. I’d wake up the entire household. My sisters were in school so they weren’t happy about it, but they always comforted me.”
Andre removed the towel and held out a large men’s button-down shirt. It was his size, but nothing like she thought he’d ever wear. Still, when she inhaled deeply, the material held his scent. He seemed the type to wear skintight shirts that clung to his muscles and blue jeans that cupped his very nice butt lovingly and only made him look sexier than ever. Or a really classy, elegant suit. Black and white. He’d look spectacular with his wide shoulders and ice-blue eyes.
Andre shook his head and reached his arms around her so she was caged against his body. He did up her buttons, pulling a little on the shirt so she leaned back, pressing her back into his front. Somewhere along the line, while he was drying her off, he’d gotten dressed. Yeah. Skintight shirt, soft material, blue to match his eyes, every muscle rippling so amazingly. She licked her lips and tried not to stare.
He’d brought her to two screaming orgasms and it had been her first time ever. She knew it wasn’t always that good for virgins, but he’d made it good. No, he’d made it great. Spectacular.
“Teagan. You are doing it again. Going off somewhere. We need to straighten things out between us. You have tried to be honest. I am trying as well. I need you to focus. Keep your imagination under control for just one moment.”
She was a little hurt. She’d shared a traumatic, recurring event from her childhood, which, okay, didn’t exactly match the raging vampire who had punched holes in his body and tore long strips of skin off of him, but really, she’d shared.
“I’m focusing,” she said quietly. She might as well get it over. They couldn’t be together, and if they needed to end things right then, she could be grown-up and understand. She looked him in the eyes. His beautiful eyes that made her tummy flutter. “Really, Andre. I’m entirely focused on what you have to say.”
And she meant it. She was absolutely finished with avoidance. It was going to hurt like hell when he said his piece, but he deserved her full attention when he did it. He’d been wonderful and he had saved her life and given her two orgasms, after all.
11
Andre gestured toward the chairs. “Come sit down.”
Teagan walked silently to the chairs. They were positioned side by side and were deep and comfortable. She dropped into the nearest one and drew her legs up to rest her chin on her knees. The shirt was more like a dress, so she knew she was decent. Andre sank into the chair beside hers and reached for her hand. He enveloped her fingers and brought her palm to his thigh, his hand covering hers.
Her heart did a little stutter and butterflies took wing in her stomach all over again. It was the little things he did that got to her, she decided. The sweet, intimate gestures, so gentle and yet burning with an intensity only he seemed to be able to generate with her.
“You know I am not quite human, Teagan,” he said softly.
This time her heart stood still and then began to thud. She closed her eyes for a moment, not wanting to face the superhuman thing. Flying. Clothes appearing. The memories she saw in his head. It was best to remain ignorant.
She moistened her lips. “I’m not certain I’m ready for this talk. I thought we were going to talk about my having to leave and why you think I’m not ‘getting’ it.”
“We are going to talk about it.” His hand tightened around her fingers. “I am Carpathian. We are an ancient race. There are very few of us left. For us, we have only one chance to find the woman who is our other half.”
This time her heart and her stomach fluttered. She couldn’t help it, she liked the idea of being his other half. She really did, whether or not she had to leave. She would never find another man. She knew that already. Just the thought of being apart from Andre was terrifying. She didn’t know how she was going to let him go. And she didn’t know how she had fallen so hard so fast, so she closed her mind, refusing to deal with the consequences until she had to.
“That woman, for me, Teagan, is you. Carpathian males are born imprinted with the ritual binding words. I suppose it is necessary in order to ensure our males are safe from the gathering darkness in us. In any case, when we find our other half, we bind the woman to us.” Andre spoke gently but matter-of-factly.