Rogue Darkness by Dianne Duvall

“I’m what?” she asked, her voice a little slurred.

“Hardheaded,” he replied with a grin, happy to see those pretty brown eyes open again. “Very hardheaded. And beautiful.”

“Awww.” She reached toward him with her free hand. “That’s so sweet.”

Chuckling, Sean abandoned the chair and sat on the side of the bed, his hip pressing against hers.

Nicole touched her fingers to his cheek. “Come closer.”

He leaned down so she wouldn’t have to reach up so far.

She gave his jaw a gentle stroke, then drew her hand over his hair, shorn shorter than usual on the sides. “Handsome.”

He smiled. “You think so?”

“Absolutely,” she said with the smile of a siren. “Always have.”

His heartbeat picked up as he fought the urge to lean into her touch and rub against her like a cat. Her touch should not affect him the way it did.

Energy waning, her hand slipped from his face and came to rest on her stomach. “I smell pizza.” Her jaw cracked with a yawn she ordinarily would’ve covered. “D’you eat it all?”

“Yep.”

She snorted. “Figures.” Again, she yawned. “Why’m I so tired?”

Sean brought the hand he still held to his lips and kissed the back of it. “You had a big night. Go back to sleep.” The fear that had clamped around his heart like a vice eased.

She was going to be okay.

When he tried to release her hand, Nicole wouldn’t let go. Instead, she yawned again and rolled away from him onto her other side, tucking his hand against her breasts.

Sean froze. Hmm. He would wiggle his fingers in an attempt to break free but didn’t want her to think he was trying to cop a feel.

After sitting there for a moment, bent at an awkward angle, Sean opted to take the path of least resistance and gave in to temptation. Lying down on the bed, he spooned up behind her.

They were a good fit. On any other night, if he’d snuggled up to her like this, he might’ve focused on how fantastic her slender, toned body felt against his. Tonight, however, he was so relieved that she hadn’t died and was still in his life that nothing else mattered.

Her hair tickled his nose as he rested his head beside hers on the pillow. Some strands were damp from Emma’s ministrations.

As stress gradually released its grip on him, he sighed.

“Night,” Nicole mumbled, sounding more asleep than awake.

He kissed a shoulder bared by the thin strap of her pajama tank top, confident that she wouldn’t remember it. “Goodnight.”

Gradually, her hold on his hand loosened.

Sean closed his eyes. Peace descended, luring a smile from him.

What a night.

“Love you.”

His eyes flew open at the barely audible murmur. His heartbeat picked up, and fatigue fell away as he stared at the back of Nicole’s head. “What?” Rising onto an elbow, he peered down at her.

Had Nicole just said what he thought she said?

Long lashes rested upon smooth cheeks. Her lovely lips parted a bit as her chest rose and fell with slow breaths.

“What?” he asked again, tempted to jostle her a little.

No response.

Heart pounding, he settled behind her once more.

Had she been talking in her sleep? Or had she spoken just before she’d fallen asleep?

His mind raced as question after question barreled through it.

Had Nicole even been talking to him?

Melanie had warned him she’d be loopy for a while. But how loopy?

Was she so out of it that she thought he was someone else? She hadn’t, after all, said I love you, Sean.

Though he’d been an immortal for a couple of years now, Sean didn’t have that much experience with women who had been bitten. Usually, those he rescued from vampires were already unconscious when he reached them. The few who had clung to consciousness had been incoherent and barely aware of where they were, let alone who they were with.

When he realized tension tightened every muscle in his body, he forced himself to relax.

Even if Nicole had been conscious, in her right mind, and had said it to his face, she wouldn’t necessarily have meant it romantically. They were friends. Best friends. How many times had he heard her jokingly tell Cliff—also her friend—I am so in love with you right now when he brought her and the vampires she played poker with pizza, donuts, or cookies?

And why was he getting so… rattled, he decided after determinedly nixing the word excited… over this, anyway?

Sighing, he closed his eyes.

Deep down, he already knew the answer to that.

He was rattled because Nicole meant more to him than a Second should. And those words coming from her lips had changed something deep inside him.

Something that would keep him from ever thinking of her the same way again.



Sprawled on her back, Tessa stared up at the ceiling.

Though the room was dark, she could see the faint edge of every paint stroke made by the roller some network employee had used to coat it.

She glanced at the kitchen, only partially visible through the open door to her bedroom, and could read the fine text on the bottom of the pita chip bag she’d left on the counter.

Was this what cats saw when they prowled around at night? Was their vision as sharp as hers?

Rolling onto her side, she stared at the art that adorned her wall. It still felt odd to see so clearly. And not only in darkness. Before Gershom had transformed her, she had been extremely nearsighted with astigmatism and had worn glasses since she was five years old. She’d tried contact lenses once she reached her teens, but frequent bouts of insomnia and late nights spent studying had left her eyes so dry that she’d quickly given up and switched back to glasses.