“It appears that it is.”
“Tell me…tell me something only I would know,” she said. “You could be an imposter.”
That was practically impossible. No one could pretend to be Beckham. She could feel down to her very being that it was him. She had sensed him upstairs in his bedroom and run the length of the driveway to reach him. It had to be him. And yet she needed to be sure.
His dark eyes clouded with frustration at having to prove himself. But he never let the words slip from his mouth. He just considered what to tell her.
“White roses are for new beginnings,” he told her, taking a step forward. “I used to focus solely on my phone because your presence was such a distraction.” Another step forward. “I can sense your blood.” They were practically touching now. “I can sense it right now. You. All of you. The smell of you. The taste of you. The way your body vibrates at my nearness.” He dipped down and brought his lips close to her mouth. “I am who I say I am, Little One. I am yours.”
The dam broke.
Reyna threw her arms around his shoulders and crushed her body against his chest. He tucked her in close, burying his face into her dark hair.
“You’re back. You’re really back,” she gasped as her tears soaked through his shirt.
“Shh.” He stroked her affectionately.
“I don’t understand. I don’t…”
She pulled away to look up at him. They were facing down the impossible. Vampires didn’t return from the dead, yet Beckham was here. He shouldn’t be standing before her, but he was.
Their eyes locked and she lost sight of everything else. The pain disintegrated. The cold was gone. She didn’t even notice their breath fogging between them. Or the people he had brought with him. Or the trees. Or the gravel. Or the gate.
Nothing.
It was just her and Beckham once more.
“How are you alive?” she whispered. “I saw you die. I watched it happen.”
His brow furrowed at that. “Let’s get you out of the cold and I will explain everything.”
He gestured for her to walk. Her boots crunched against the gravel and the cold bit back into her consciousness. It was subfreezing temperatures, and she didn’t even have a coat on. What had she been thinking?
Well, of course she hadn’t been thinking.
The four people with Beckham formed up around them as they moved forward. They all looked lethal and kept assessing their surroundings for threats. She wondered what their stories were and how they had ended up with Beckham.
She had a lot of questions.
“I can’t believe you’re really here.” She touched the sleeve of his jacket. He was solid and firm. Real.
“I’m as surprised as you are,” he admitted.
“It isn’t every day that your boyfriend comes back from the dead.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Has it happened to you before?”
She laughed. It was the first time she had laughed in over a week. It made her feel lighter. As if she walked on clouds. Sheglanced up at Beckham. “No. Just you.”
He wrapped an arm across her shoulders, and they continued the rest of the way to Washington’s mansion. Gabe and Meghan were arguing out front. Reyna suspected it had something to do with her sprinting out of the house at top speed. But when they saw her coming back with Beckham and a retinue, both of their jaws dropped.
“Oh my God,” Meghan said.
“Is that…” Gabe let the question trail off.
“Yes,” Meghan breathed.
“How?”
