Fated (10 page)

“Technically you aren't alive, Romeo.” I muttered softly.  He rolled onto his back and rubbed his hand over his face in exasperation.  I turned to face him, draping myself across his chest. “I love...I...”

As much as I wanted to tell him I loved him, I couldn't say the words.  I felt a tear escape from the corner of my eye as I buried my face against the coolness of his chest, unable to look at him.  I was a coward.  I loved him and was too scared to say the words.

His hand lifted my chin to search my red-rimmed eyes.  His smile was gentle as he lowered his lips to capture mine in a soft, loving kiss.

“You do not have to say it now, Josephine,” Stefan murmured softly against my lips. “You will say the words when you are ready.  Always know that I will love you eternally.”

He wrapped me in the strong embrace of his arms and rocked me gently as I sobbed against his chest.

***

I woke up to the sound of rain splattering against the window, the gloomy light of an overcast sky darkening my bedroom.  I stretched and rolled over, expecting to see Stefan stretched out beside of me.  His side of the bed was empty, a note sitting on his vacant pillow.  I sat up and reached over to pick it up.

Josephine-

I am sorry I will not be here to see the beauty of your face when you awake.  I will count the moments until I return to you...

Stefan

I read the note twice, running my fingers over his elegant handwriting and held the note to my nose to see if I could smell his scent on the paper.  I rolled my eyes, mentally berating myself for my behavior.  I was acting like I was the heroine in a vampire version of a Harlequin romance novel, swooning and smelling a piece of paper he had written the note on.  Sighing heavily, I reviewed the previous night in my head, groaning when I remembered that I couldn't bring myself to tell him I loved him.  I was pathetic.  He told me he'd love me eternally and I cried against his chest like a scared little girl.

It was true.  I did love him.  I didn't make it a habit to attach myself to anyone, yet within days I'd made a 180 degree turn.  Now I was in love with a vampire and smelling his notes in the off-chance that I could smell his scent on the paper?  Had I lost my mind?

Throwing back the covers in disgust, I made my way into the bathroom.  As I brushed my teeth, my eyes passed over my reflection in the mirror and I did a double take.  My hair, even in its disheveled, 'I was fucked by a six-foot-four sex god' state was bouncy and had a sheen to it that could never be achieved by any shampoo or conditioner.  My skin was glowing and my green eyes sparkled back at me in the mirror.  I watched my hand trace my much plumper lips in the reflection of the mirror.  I looked like I'd spent hours at a spa.  What the hell is going on?

My cell phone rang, causing me to jump and tear my eyes away from the mirror.  I sprinted down the hallway to unplug my cell phone from the charger, not bothering to look at the phone. I knew it was Georgia calling to berate me for not calling her.

“Hello, Georgia.”

“You know, you were supposed to call me.  I'm sure you were too busy with Hunky McHunkerson to remember little old me.” I could hear almost hear Georgia's pout over the phone.

“I know, I know.  Time got away from me.  We're talking now, so what's up?”

“'What's up!?  I'll tell you what's up,” Georgia mocked, her voice incredulous. “I just talked to Anna.  Obviously you and Mr. Hunky are serious since you were mooning all over each other at dinner last night.  What the hell is going on? And now is not the time to feed me a line of bullshit either, Josie.”

“He has a name, Georgia.  It's Stefan.  And yes, it's serious.  I think.”  I busied myself filling up a kettle with water, placing it on the burner to boil water for coffee.  I scooped coffee into my French press and waited for Georgia to continue.

“You
think
it's serious? I don't like to get in your business but…”

“Really?  I would have never known by this conversation.  You've been all about being in my business for two days,” I retorted sharply. “I like him.  A lot.  I don't know where this is going but I'm not going to push him away.”

I was being a coward again by saying I liked him.  I loved him.  I loved how he made my stomach flip like an infatuated school girl when I saw him.  I loved how he made me want to pull my hair out and then jump him.  And I even loved his aggravating smirk and swagger...yeah, I especially loved his swagger.  Yum.

Georgia sighed into the phone.  “Whatever, Josie.  This isn't like you, honey.  I'm running into town.  Wanna join me?”  The water boiled, and I poured the hot water over the coffee in the press.

“Give me twenty minutes.  I do need to grab some groceries.”

“See ya, chick.”

I hit ‘end’ on my phone and shook my head, closing my eyes in exasperation.  Georgia took twenty minutes to mean fifteen.  I ran back down the hallway to start the shower.

***

I was walking up the hallway after my quick shower and brief primping session to find Georgia and Anna both sitting in the living room, pointedly looking at my clothes that still littered  the living room floor.  It was obvious this was going to a double interrogation, a surreal version of bad cop, bad cop, neither taking my side since they both wanted the dirt.  I immediately decided to feign ignorance since it didn't take psychic abilities to know what was going to happen.

“Coffee?” I asked as I darted around the kitchen, getting cups and sugar out of the cupboards.

Georgia and Anna's heels clacked over the wood floor as they made their way into the kitchen.  I was nervously waiting for the questions to begin.

“Sure,” Georgia said, pulling out a chair and sitting down at the table in the kitchen.  Anna nodded and sat down across from Georgia.  “It looks like you had an eventful night, honey.”

Pouring coffee into three cups, I passed cups to both of them.  I took my time spooning sugar into my mug, stirring my coffee with my spoon and placing it on the napkin I'd pulled from the basket.  I focused on my coffee, shrugging nonchalantly.

“I have to admit you look gorgeous,” Anna said, her eyes taking in my hair and skin.  “You look like you've been properly fucked.  It looks good on you.”

“Anna,” I warned, my eyes narrowing.  I took a deep drink of coffee and fought off an exasperated sigh.

“Ok, ok.  Don't tell me!” Anna waved her hands in surrender, rolling her eyes in exasperation.  I thought she'd given up when she leaned in over her coffee cup. “Just tell me one thing, Josie.  Please tell me he's packing.  Someone that is that huge has to be packing.  And I can tell by the way he moves that he knows how to use it.”

“Anna!” I groaned, dropping my face into my hands.  “I'm going to say this once. Once!  And I will never admit I told you anything.” I set my gaze on Anna.  “Yes, he’s ‘packing.’  And yes, he knows how to use it.  Multiple times.”

Georgia and Anna looked at each other and squealed in delight.  Georgia clapped her hands together like she just found out she had the winning lottery ticket.

“I knew it!” Anna said smugly, smoothing her curls with her hand.  She finished her coffee and stood up.  “Let's go.  We have places to go.”

Draining my coffee cup, I pushed away from the table.  Where was Stefan when you needed him?

We piled into Georgia's sedan and made the short trip into town.  There was a small market that sold fresh produce and farther in was a small row of shops.  We split up, each doing our respective shopping.  I made sure my shields were in place and enjoyed the first alone moments that I'd had for the last few days.  I was deep in thought and contemplating buying a dark purple silk dress with a halter style neckline when Anna rejoined me.

“That would look fabulous on you.  You should get it,” Anna said, turning her head to the side and admiring the dress. “Look, I don't know what's going on with you and Stefan and I'm not going to bug you about it.  I think it's long overdue that you met someone.  Does he know?”

Nodding to Anna, I took the dress down from the hook it was hanging on, double checking the size.  I carried the dress to the clerk, waited for her to ring it up, paid and grabbed the bag.  Anna was hot on my heels as we left the store.

“He knows.  He's very observant.” I shrugged as Anna linked arms with me.  We walked slowly to Georgia's car, content in idle conversation and people watching.

“He's something.  Sex on two legs for sure.  Wanna know what I noticed last night?  For the first time, you looked really happy.” Anna smiled at me.  I gave her another shrug and we leaned against the car, waiting for Georgia to join us.

“I like him, Anna.  A lot,” I said quietly and paused, watching Anna's reaction briefly.  I could feel Anna’s happiness for me.  “So we'll see what happens.”

Anna laughed, waving her hand.  “Lukas is under the impression that Stefan is ready to ride off into the sunset with you.  I can only imagine the size of the horse that would take to hold him.  One more thing.  Please tell me that Stefan has a twin, or an equally gorgeous friend that's not gay.  Lie to me if you have to.”

I didn't have a chance to answer as Georgia decided to make her appearance, her arms loaded down with bags.

“Y’all ready to go?”  Georgia didn't wait for an answer.  She unlocked the doors and we piled inside again, this time heading towards home.

***

It was early evening when Georgia pulled into my driveway, much later than I'd intended to stay out.  Stefan was pacing the front porch, almost a little too quickly to appear human.  I was going to have to remind him that I had human friends.  Very perceptive human friends.

“It looks like someone is nervous,” Georgia observed, glancing over at me.  I pursed my lips and shrugged.  I had no experience when it came to nervous boyfriends.  Did you call a 975 year old vampire a boyfriend?

I couldn't help but smile when I saw the look of relief flash across Stefan's face when he saw me in the car with Georgia.  He stepped off the porch and had my car door open before the she'd completely stopped.

“Hey, stranger,” I whispered as Stefan grabbed me to him impatiently.  Pulling back to look at him, I realized that now that he knew that he knew I was safe, he was angry.  This sort of behavior was not going to work with me.  The last thing I needed was a vampire bodyguard.

“I was worried.  I came back and you were gone.  Perhaps if you had left a note, I would have known where you were, Josephine."

Georgia was out around the car quickly, her arms crossed.  “Perhaps if you weren't up her ass 24 hours a day and had something productive to do you wouldn't need to worry about her.  She does have a life outside of you, Mr. Hunky McHunkerson.”  Georgia was just getting warmed up, taking her index finger and poking him in his chest. “You showed up on the scene two, count them, TWO days ago and now you think you need to know where she is at all times?  Not happening.  You obviously think you're much more important than you really are.  I think someone needs an attitude adjustment.”

“Georgia!” I looked at Georgia sharply.  I'd unfortunately seen this side of Georgia before. She was full of anger and was ready to come out with guns blasting.  I was usually able to diffuse the situation since I could normally see it happening and could easily divert the situation.  I was wondering why I didn't see Georgia doing this.  She's normally easy to read although I'd been blindsided again.

Stefan raised up to his full six-foot-four height and leaned in close to her, his upper lip curled up into a snarl.  To give Georgia credit, she stood her ground but she was looking at me for help out of the corner of her eye.  I could feel the panic rolling off of her in waves as she tensed beside of me.  Snorting, I grabbed Stefan's hand to try to get his attention.

Leave it to Georgia to start something she couldn't finish.

“Stefan,” I soothed, concentrating on staying as calm as possible.  His gaze was still focused on Georgia. I waited a moment and squeezed his hand again.  “Stefan, please.”

Stefan snapped his head around to look at me, his lip still curled up in a snarl.  Managing a shaky smile, I squeezed his hand again.  Only his lip relaxed, anger still darkened his handsome face.  The swooning romance novel heroine inside of me was already thinking of the angry sex we would be having soon and was mentally clapping.
 
I needed to get a grip on my hormones, since it was obvious Stefan was close to snapping.