Chapter 17
As Nick’s lips touch mine for the second time, something deep within me stirs and breaks free, and I can’t ignore the truth any longer. Nick isn’t the only one on this couch who’s had feelings for a while. Honestly? I think I’ve been attracted to him since he first walked into Pete’s.
But before now, I just couldn’t own it. I guess Hollywood did such a number on me that I couldn’t see myself as his love interest. I figured that role belonged to someone much hipper, much cooler, much edgier than I am. So I told myself I wasn’t his type. I typecast myself.
I locked my feelings away, just like he must have done. But tonight, here we are, like two actors coming together and tapping into all these unexpressed emotions. Only with us, there’s no acting. What’s happening is 100 percent real.
It’s a lot—almost too much—but I don’t want to miss a thing. So I try to savor each nuance. Like the way his mouth fits so nicely against mine. The way he tastes of beer and spearmint and something else, something that’s uniquely Nick. The way his fingers press against my skin so carefully and deliberately. It’s almost like he’s playing a guitar, trying to coax a kind of music out of me.
My guttural moan isn’t exactly melodious, but it seems to satisfy Nick. He gently pulls back and looks at me, grinning. “Still okay?”
I’m about to say yes. Miraculously, my slayer is still in check. But then I notice that Nick’s vampire fangs have come out of hiding. And my freaking slayer notices it too.
In an instant, red bleeds across my field of vision. Desperate to maintain control, I shake my head.
Getting the message, Nick uses his lightning-quick speed to retreat from the sofa to the kitchen. He also seems to be struggling to regain some kind of control.
“I’m sorry,” says Nick. “I should have warned you. The fangs come out when we’re hungry, when we’re threatened…and when we’re aroused .”
This is news to me—and to my slayer. While we both mull over this latest information, my vision clears and settles back to normal.
Nick is still trying to reel in his fangs. I guess I could take that as a compliment, but I’m way too depressed to be flattered. As “Wonderful Tonight” ends with the guitar practically weeping with emotion, I want to weep too. Me and Nick? It’s just never going to work out.
I start to get up. “I–I should go,” I say.
“No!” says Nick. “No, wait. Please.”
“Why?” I ask. “We obviously can’t do this, no matter how much we want to. With a vampire and a vampire slayer, there’s no such thing as safe sex.”
“Just wait,” he says. His fangs have finally retracted. “We got a little ahead of ourselves. I didn’t have a chance to tell you about my idea.”
Right. Nick said he had a work-around, didn’t he? For our little problem .
“All I’m asking is that you hear me out,” he says. “Okay?”
I frown, thinking about this.
I should go. I mean, why prolong the inevitable? At best, sticking around will only lead to more disappointment and make it even harder to leave later. And at worst? One of us could get hurt, and I don’t mean emotionally.
Nick is a vampire. And I’m a slayer. We’re meant to be enemies, not lovers.
Except Nick is also Nick . And I’m also Carrie . And Nick and Carrie…
With a sigh, I sink back into the couch. “What’s your idea?”
Nick disappears behind the dividing wall by the front door. While he’s gone, I reach for my water and take a big swallow. Then I lean my head back against the sofa cushions, close my eyes, and listen to the music. We’re into track three now, “Lay Down Sally.” I realize that the lyrics are about a man trying to convince a woman to stay and spend the night with him. It could be Nick singing to me. I can’t decide if that’s funny or sad or just a really odd coincidence.
“Carrie?”
Hearing Nick’s voice, I sit up straight and open my eyes. Nick is standing over me, holding out a chain wrapped in some kind of canvas with a combination lock on the end.
“What’s that?” I ask.
“My idea,” he says.
I just look up at him, confused.
“It’s my bike lock,” he explains.
“Okay,” I say. Only his explanation hasn’t really explained anything. I’m even more confused.
“Think about it,” says Nick. “We want to be together, right?”
“Right,” I say. No confusion there.
“But we can’t,” he says. “Because you’re afraid of losing control, right?”
I feel the heat of a blush bloom on my cheeks. “Right.”
“But if we restrain your sword arm with this,” he says, holding up the bike lock, “then even if you lose control, you won’t be able to slay me.”
It takes a few moments before I fully understand what he’s proposing.
“So you want to chain me up while we…uh…”
“Shit,” he says. He runs a hand through his hair and gives me an embarrassed look. “Now you really do think I’m a creeper, don’t you?”
Do I?
Up until now, I haven’t been all that experimental in the bedroom. I’ve only ever slept with Jonathan, and sex between us was always pretty standard, I guess you would say. I mean, we were both young when we got together, and he was only slightly more experienced than I was. The two of us never engaged in any kind of kink. To be honest, I’ve never even fantasized about it.
But right now, looking at Nick holding the chain and lock, I get an ache deep and low inside me. My body feels warm, and my head fills with a whole anthology of steamy scenarios that I would love to act out.
I realize I want this with Nick. I’d want it even if we weren’t paranormal foes. And if it really is a legitimate way for us to get around this supernatural stumbling block in our relationship? All the better.
“I don’t think you’re a creeper,” I say with a grin. “Actually, I think you might have just solved our little problem . Big-time.”