I shove the bowls away. “Bring me wine.”
He reaches for a white. I shake my head. “The bottle Sarah had before. The red.”
He picks it off her vanity and sniffs, wrinkling his nose. “It’s gone bad.”
“That’s the one I want, Gideon.Please.”
My voice cracks on the word. I’ve never asked for anything before. I never wanted to use that word with him.
I never asked for him to care for me like this.
Yet here he is.
Gideon rushes over with the bottle and pours me a tall glass. As I drink, he watches me intently. “You look so much better. I’ve been so worried.”
“You never left my side?”
He nods. My heart does an uncomfortable fluttery thing.
“Lucien Vega must have loved that.”
A shadow passes over Gideon’s face. “He’ll manage without me.”
He sets the food aside and climbs up onto the bed, resting his head on the pink headboard and stretching his long legs out beside mine. He watches me as I drink the blood in long, hungry gulps. Cleo II slithers up to nestle along my side. Gideon shies away from her. “Are you going to keep that thing?”
“Don’t call her a ‘thing’.” I stroke the snake’s back, and she wriggles with delight. “Cleo and I have a lot in common. We’re cold-blooded, wear diamonds, and will bite if attacked.”
“I’m not frightened of you.” He glares at the snake. “Either of you. Maybe I’d like to be bitten.”
As if to prove it, he lays down beside me, wrapping his arms around my torso and pressing his body against me. Warmth radiates from his skin.
Cleo slithers over us. Gideon stiffens, but he doesn’t flee. She curls up in a ball in the back of his thighs, seeking the warmth of his living flesh.
We have that in common, too.
He strokes my hair. “You don’t have to be alone, Arabella. I’m here to take care of you.”
I should bite him, drain him and run. Because he’s wrong. Ihaveto be alone. It’s the only way I know I’ll be safe.
Instead, I find myself sinking into his warmth, my head resting on the pillow as I fall into the dreamless sleep of a vampire who, for the first time, has someone to watch over her.
20
Gideon
Winnie:So that grand gesture was a bust. Perhaps a movie and candles weren’t grand enough, or maybe the whole stealing her car thing was a bit TOO morally grey.
Yes, I know technically Sinead stole her car.
You’re not giving up, are you? Maybe you just need to try something a little grander.
ISINK INTO THE SOFT LEATHERseat of my car. A thick scent rises from the fabric, a chilly tang spiced with myrrh and ginger, like the first frost falling on fresh grass.
My car has been Arabella’d.
I breathe in deeply. I’m never washing this car again.
There’s other evidence that she’s been here, too.
