He made me feel safe.
And that wasn’t something I’d had for the first twenty-five years of my life.
It was something I appreciated more than anyone could ever understand.
Roman looked over at me with a questioning look, and I realized I’d been staring at him for far too long. Likewaytoo long, if the looks I was getting from everyone else were any indication.
I felt my cheeks flame, but Ihadto cover it up. Roman couldn’t know all the gooey feelings I was feeling for him right then.
So I leaned over and wiped my thumb across his cheek, saying, “You have sauce or something on your face.”
He wiped at himself. “What? Ew. Get it off.”
“I did.” I sent him a wink, then walked into the kitchen to wash my hands—even though he hadn’t actually had anything there—and to catch my breath for a moment.
Damn. What the hell was Roman doing to me right now?
Chapter Eight
Roman
Since the others arrived at our safe house, I’d caught Oakley staring at me no less than ten times.
And I had no idea why.
Had I screwed everything up with that forehead kiss yesterday?
Had that been a mistake?
Even as I thought it, I grimaced because no. It hadn’t been a mistake. At that moment, the feel of their skin under my lips, had been… the most amazing moment of my life.
And that was saying something considering I was around two thousand years old—I’d lost track of the exact number a long time ago, though I could probably figure it out if I thought about it.
“Roman?”
I blinked and turned toward Oakley. “Yeah?”
“You want some mac and cheese? I made, like, the biggest bowl of it ever.”
I grimaced. “You seriously cooked something?”
They rolled their eyes. “Yeah, I did, and guess what? I didn’t burn anything down. Yay! Aren’t you proud of me?” The sarcasm was strong with this one.
“Yes, I am. Very proud.”
They snorted and smacked my chest. I really wanted to capture their hand and kiss it, but I held back. If a forehead kiss did this to them, I wasn’t sure I was ready to know what a hand kiss would do.
“I thought I was supposed to cook?”
They waved me off. “You took too long, and Tan and I were hungry. I made some chicken nuggets and green beans too. Come on. Come eat with me.”
The sweet and earnest expression on their face made me want to squeeze them to me, but I knew they wouldn’t appreciate that right now. So I nodded and followed them to the kitchen instead. Since our dining room table was covered in plans, we ate at the little breakfast nook. It worked out since the three vampires didn’t need to eat food. They just sucked on blood bags like they were juice boxes. I used to think it was gross, but after spending so much time around them, I was used to it. I supposed it wasbetter than bringing a human back to our safe house for the three of them to nibble on. Gross.
“You guys better eat up,” Jed said. “You’re gonna need your strength tonight.”
Oakley stuck their tongue out at him, giving me another good look at their piercing—I really wanted to suck it into my mouth and—ugh. Oak said, “I could eat you in one bite.”
Jed flashed his fangs at them, grinning. “Try it, little one.”
