“Oh no, I was really looking forward to it.” Celine’s voice is thick with sarcasm. “Wait.” She holds up a hand. “Where are you going?”
Zav takes off his eye patch and sets Midnight on the ground. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Four words I do not want to hear from you,” Valen finally speaks, and I nod in agreement.
I clap my hands. “Well, with that, I think Valen and I are going to see ourselves out. He has a surprise planned for me.” I give a little excited shimmy and salute them. Zav is Celine’s problem now. If anyone can figure out where he’s going and talk him out of it, it’s her. Walking behind Valen, I admire his lean frame and the toned legs that show through his pants. Who would’ve thought the quiet, contemplative,virginvampire was a killer in the sack?
He’s a quick learner and oh so eager to please.
“Will you tell me where we’re going?” I ask Valen as we walk into the apartment. I grab Pom Pom and hold him against my chest while his little tail wags. The dog might be Valen’s familiar, but I’m quite fond of the little guy.
“Secret, I’m afraid.” He pushes a pile of folded clothes toward me. “Please change into these and then we’ll go.”
Consider me intrigued.
CHAPTER 32
AVA
Gravel crunchesunder our tires as Valen rolls up to our date spot. Snow dusts the ground and continues to fall from the sky. I’m bundled up in the winter attire he pulled together for me, and as breeze picks up outside, I wrap the scarf tighter.
“Trees?” I peer out the windshield wide-eyed.
Rows and rows of pine trees fill the lot in front of us. A few have string lights decorating them, and the setting sun is the perfect contrast against them.
Too busy being distracted by the picture-perfect scene in front of me, I miss Valen getting out of the car and opening my door. I accept the hand he extends and jump out of the car.
“I thought we could check off another item on your list and pick a tree together. The tradition seems funny to me, but upon further research, I determined it is a staple for the holiday season.” We walk along while he talks, and I try not to giggle at how matter-of-factly he speaks about a fun holiday tradition.
I slip my arm through his and he looks down at me. Thespark of life in his eye has continued to shine a little brighter, and I reach up on my tiptoes to nuzzle my nose to his.
“Thank you for indulging me and my silly human traditions.” He kisses my temple, and I hum at the contact. “We need to find the perfect tree.”
It hits me now that I saidhuman tradition. It still doesn’t feel like I’mnot, especially with my powers refusing to manifest.
Rubbing my glove-covered hands together, I stick my tongue out in concentration and survey the rows.
“How do you determine the perfect tree, oh wise one?” Valen quirks a brow because he doesn’t understand this is serious business.
“Don’t make light of tree picking,” I chide. “First, we need to know the max height it can be based on the apartment. Lucky for you I have that information since I wanted to buy a tree soon anyway.” I pull up the note on my phone. “Then we need to see how wide we want it to be. I like mine to be taller with less girth.” I wink at him, then smile at his bashful expression. We continue to stroll along, and I pull him over to a tree. “See the needles? They should feel soft, not brittle.”
Valen takes in everything I say and reaches out to feel the tree. He gives it a shake, and needles scatter across the snow-covered ground. “This seems like a bad tree. Let’s try this one.”
“Look at you already learning,” I praise and watch him flit from tree to tree, inspecting them from all angles and shaking the branches.
“Ava, I think this is the one,” Valen calls from behind a tree. He’s so tall I can see his brown hair peeking over the pine, but otherwise he’s hidden.
As I inch closer, I look at the tree and see it checks all the boxes. Testing the branches and needles, it looks fresh and strong.
“Winner, winner chicken dinner!” I pat Valen on the back, and he shoots me a concerned glance.
“I already had blood. Why are you talking about a chicken dinner? Are you hungry?” Valen peppers me with questions, and I laugh.
“Figure of speech, baby.” His eyes crinkle around the corners and my breath is taken away at the sight. “What?”
“I like that nickname. It makes me happy,” he responds softly and gives me a sensual kiss. I hold him to me to make the kiss last longer and sigh while pressing our foreheads together.
“Let’s go get this tree so I can jump your bones later.” I pinch his butt through his jeans.
