He looks soearnest, with all his dangerous edges softened by sentiment. This is exactly what I wanted. Gideon Blake is still completely besotted with me. This will make the moment I betray him that much sweeter.
But I can’t let him think he’s won me over so easily, or he’ll know something is up.
“That’s called being a vampire,” I bite out. “Our lives are an eternity of second chances. It’s rather tedious.”
“That’s a lie and you know it. Youlovewhat we are. You love never growing old, always being the most beautiful woman in the room, and getting to pull out all your vintage clothes once they become fashionable again.” He pauses. “And you love to dance.”
I snort. “I haven’t danced since my theatre was taken from me.”
“That doesn’t mean you don’t love it. What about at Zen and Tonic?” A note of something like awe enters Gideon’s voice.
“I was doing a favour for Beth.”
Gideon holds up a finger. “You love your friends.”
I huff. This is becoming rather too personal for my liking. “My friends are the most ludicrous, most annoying—”
“And yet, youchosethem. Winnie tells me you’re at book club every week. You may huff and puff like a big bad wolf, but you’re the one they count on.” He leans back in his chair, folding his arms behind his head, and smirks at me with that same self-satisfied look that drew me to him one hundred and fifty years ago. “And you love fighting with me.”
“I do not.”
“You do. Admit it. You may be throwing darts at my face, but you’re the one who put my picture on the target. No one goes to so much effort to hate someone who means nothing to them.” Gideon grins.
My fingers curl into fists. I’m going to wipe that grin off his face. Howdarehe make up such a ridiculous story?
“You’reabsurd.”
That infuriating grin makes his eyes sparkle. “You’re the same Arabella. The music never left you.”
Yes, it did. The music left me because you took it away.
I want to find a way to hurt him, to level things between us. Because if I’m the same Arabella, then he’s the same Gideon – that warm, life-loving human boy who made me see the world as more than a cruel, harsh place to be endured.
I can’t give him an inch. We’re each as strong-willed as the other, and for some unknown reason, he seems to believe I’ll give us another chance.
Gideon leans over, his hand brushing my thigh in theexactspot where he knelt for me, all those years ago.
Now he’s a vampire, his skin should be cool, like mine. But everywhere he touches is fire.
For all he says that we’re the same as we were back then, we’re not.
I’m no longer a sex worker scrabbling to make a life for myself.
He’s no longer human. No longer forbidden.
“You don’t know how many times over the years I’ve thought of things I’d like to do with you,” he murmurs. “Or to you. When this movie came out, all I could see when I closed my eyes was you lying on that huge, ridiculous bed of yours in your gold corset…”
His voice chokes.
I shake my head. I don’t want to remember that corset, that night. The night I let Gideon Blake into my heart and he betrayed me.
He moves closer, his breath caressing my cheeks. “Haven’t you thought of me over the last century?”
“Only when I took out the rubbish.”
He is always so expressive, the complete opposite of me. I never want people to see how I feel. My emotions are secrets to be hidden away. Except for all those times when I let slip around him.
Not this time.
