Reborn Yesterday

Ginny,” Jonas said thickly. “I’m lost.” “No. you’re found. Stay with me.

If someone put a single scratch on your skin, I would go utterly mad, Ginny, and yet I burn to sink my teeth into your neck every second of the day. I don’t know how to uncomplicate that for you.

With this kiss, I willingly damn myself to a lifetime of suffering.

Everyone has a deck of cards for each person they love. You’ve got your regret cards, your good memory cards, bad memory cards. When one of your people dies, the deck of cards gets thrown up into the air and the cards scatter everywhere. Wakes and funerals are about putting them into a new order. You have to.

My sanity, my soul, my existence, depend on you being mine.” He groaned a first to his chest, right above his heart. “This cannot be governed by rules. I was a fool to think it ever could.

As soon as I get a handle on myself where you’re concerned, Ginny,” he groaned into her neck. “I am going to fuck you endlessly.

I can’t be here.” It was almost alarming how panicked she grew at his imminent departure. Her throat closed to the size of a straw and an engine false started in her belly, chugging and failing, again and again. “Can I drive you somewhere? I’d have to use the hearse, but—” “You should not be offering me a ride, Ginny. I’m a stranger.” He turned to face her over the metal table, looking deeply perturbed. “Do you often give rides to men you don’t have the slightest knowledge about?” “Yes, but they’re usually dead. It’s kind of a given that they’ll accept.

Given your ability to keep your sense of humor under stress, either a war general or a comedian.

She set down her empty beer bottle on the coffee table. “If I’m going to stay here for any length of time, I have to be allowed to roam freely.” “She wants to be a free-range human, prince,” Tucker translated.

Frankly the gold chalices were the most embarrassing part. Show him the rule that said vampires weren’t allowed to shop at Bed Bath & Beyond.

Every time I have it handled, I’m proven painfully wrong. I’d almost fooled myself into believing I was nearly human. Then I meet you, I smell you, and I’m reminded I’m a beast. The man knows he can’t and shouldn’t have you, but the animal refuses to share.

He held up a circular baked good wrapped in plastic. “They make pie crusts out of Nilla Wafers now. Where was this kind of thing when we had a working digestive systems, right?

There are three rules, although breaking one usually means you’ve broken all three.” In her periphery, she could see him count the items off on his fingers. “One, no relationships of any kind with humans. Two, no taking of human life. And three…” Finally, she judged her face had lost enough pinkness to look at him. “Yes?” “No drinking from humans.” He dropped a hand to the perimeter wall, seeming to hold it in a tight grip. “Not directly, at least.” Her mind raced with the unusual knowledge. “What if you used a straw?

Are we just going to pretend he doesn’t have dope-ass abilities now, or…” When he got no response from the passenger, he turned in his seat. “You just staked a billion-year-old vampire like you were spreading mayo on a slice of Wonder Bread. You don’t want to chat about it?

Jonas walked beside her with his hands clasped behind has back, staring straight ahead, occasionally mouthing phrases to himself. I shouldn’t be doing this seemed to be his favorite, with have you gone insanecoming in at a close second. I get one hour. That was her favorite of his mutterings so far. He hadn’t said, “You get one hour.” He’d said, “I get one hour.” And maybe, just maybe, that meant he was enjoying being with her, even if he looked like he was being boiled alive in a pit of hot oil. A girl could dream. “One hour,” she murmured now. “And then I won’t see you again?” Grooves formed between his brows. “Correct.” She ignored the pang in her chest. “This is a unique opportunity then.” He seemed reluctantly intrigued. “How so?” “Since we’re never going to see each other after tonight, we can say the weirdest things on our minds without fear of reliving the embarrassment every time we meet. Maybe I can even pass on the secrets of womankind. Aren’t you curious why women open their mouth when they apply mascara?” “Not until now. Why do they?” “It’s reflexive. When a woman is trying not to blink, the oculomotor nerve is activated, triggering the trigeminal nerve that opens the jaw. Mouth open equals no blinking—and our bodies just do it naturally.” She beamed at him. “Aren’t you glad you came on this walk?

People who are good and kind, inside and out, hold up mirrors to the malevolence around them. I’ve walked this earth for almost ninety years and I’ve never met anyone who exemplifies that truth more fully than you, Ginny. You are good in every sense of the word. And evil hates reminders of what they’re incapable of being.” He kissed her mouth softly. “Let them flail and sputter in their inferiority. You’re a goddess among fruit flies.

Say the first five words that comes to mind when you think about it.” “Damp. Friendly. Fireplaces. Beer. Wool.

You don’t have to fight the battle alone … You don’t have to be alone at all. Give us a chance. I’m acknowledging the risk. I’m taking it.

I’d almost fooled myself into believing I was nearly human. Then I meet you, I smell you, and I’m reminded I’m a beast. The man knows he can’t and shouldn’t have you, but the animal refuses to share.