I smiled a touch wider, removed my hand from under his, and ran it back up his chest. I brought it up to his cheek and pressed my body along the length of his. "You're so easy."
Smiling, he kissed me. The kiss deepened and his hand around my shoulder ran up my neck. A wide variety of erotic options flipped through my head-every place on my body that I suddenly wanted him to touch me, sliding my leg over his and straddling him, hearing every delightful noise that action would elicit from him, running my hands back through his hair and pulling him even tighter, into a scorching kiss. But the image of Mom and Ashley sitting on their couch, waiting for us to make an appearance that would never happen, if what we were doing kept progressing, doused my body with cold water. I couldn't do that to them. They were looking forward to tonight, and Teren and I would have plenty of time, on another occasion, to lose ourselves in each other.
I broke off from our intense kiss, and was surprised to see that we'd both gotten more carried away than I'd realized; we were both nearly panting. I almost reconsidered with the look on his face...but I pushed him back when his lips went for mine again. "We do need to get going..."
He tried for my lips once more, obviously not caring. "Teren...Ash is waiting..."
He pulled back, then sighed. "Fine. Aren't I supposed to be mad at you anyway?"
I grinned, stood, and held out my hand to help him up. "You know you can never stay mad at me for long." I tilted my head and gave him my best innocent look.
Shaking his head, Teren let me help him up. "Let's go get your mom and Ashley and watch a little baseball, so I can stop thinking about your bare legs wrapped all the way around my waist, while I bite you in a spot that only your skimpiest bikini will hide." His voice was low and silky smooth.
I gaped at him with my mouth wide open while he grabbed his phone and his wallet. Trying to remember why we had to leave, I stood there like that for several achingly long seconds. Eventually, it took Teren laughing, grabbing my hand, and pulling me out the door with him to remember. That's right...baseball. It had never sounded more boring in all my life, and I loved baseball.
Teren eyed me pensively throughout the game, and I had the feeling that he was dwelling on this upcoming weekend with his parents. Really, he seemed more nervous about seeing them now than I had been about meeting them for the first time. I wasn't sure why that was. Surely now that we were trying for a child, he had less to worry about from his family?
Our seats for the game were right along first base in the front row. I could practically see the beads of sweat on the back of the first-basemen's neck, and I had a super close-up view of those incredible pants baseball players wore-truly, those pants were the real reason why a large portion of women even bothered to watch the game. My sister and I were sharing a plate of nachos, while Teren and my mom each had a hot dog. Teren and I sipped our ridiculously expensive beers as the sun sank below the stadium, casting a pinkish glow over the sky. The air was cool, but not cold. The whoosh of the ball met with a resounding crack of the bat, and the cheesy let's-get-the-crowd-riled-up music, blasted out of the speakers spaced around the park. It was the perfect night for baseball.
Teren was still eyeing me speculatively, when an Arizona Diamondback at the plate, ripped a low-lying foul ball. I had two seconds to realize that no one was going to be able to catch it, and it was coming straight for us. My mom and Ashley noticed as well, and I heard them gasp and shift away in their seats. Teren was still staring at me though, and unfortunately, he was the one that was sitting on the edge of our row, right where the ball was zipping along at what felt like the speed of light. He either noticed my eyes widening or heard the collective gasp of the crowd, or quite possibly, his super accurate hearing heard the crack and calculated the destination of the ball without ever looking, but his head snapped around at the same time that his hand snapped up. But not in front of his face-in front of mine. His fingers curled around the ball, just as I realized that my poor vision hadn't seen its trajectory clearly enough. He had never been the one in danger; my fragile head had been about to be the recipient all along.
We stared at each other in absolute shock. Warm gratitude flooded my body, but it was instantly drenched with ice-cold panic. My boyfriend had just reached up and snatched a baseball-traveling quite possibly over a hundred miles an hour-out of the air, with one quick glance, barehanded, like it was no more of an effort than plucking a falling maple leaf. To me, it was a neon sign flashing above his head that he wasn't entirely human. I wanted to glance around the stadium and search for stake wielding lunatics, but my eyes were glued on his.
Eventually, and in actuality it had only been maybe five seconds at most, he doubled over in his chair and clutched his hand, letting the ball roll onto his lap. I sympathetically laid an arm over his shoulder and took a chance at looking over the crowd. Several people around us were eyeing him with either an awed face or a Man that must have hurt face, but no one was giving us the He's a vampire, circle and stake him look.
I rubbed his back and whispered in his ear, "Are you okay?"
Groaning and rubbing out his hand, he mumbled, "Yeah, I'm fine." He kept up his exaggerated pained noises for a couple more seconds, and then straightened and held his hand up to the crowd. There was some applause near us and then everyone relaxed again, seeing that he was okay. My mom and Ashley gushed at what an incredible sight that had been, and my mom remarked that she'd never seen someone move that fast. Ashley winked at her comment and reached over me to squeeze his knee. Teren nodded and smiled at the both of them, and then looked at me and let out a soft sigh.
"That was too close," he whispered, as he kissed me.
"You shouldn't have done that." I said it no more than a faint breeze over my lips, knowing he would hear it.
He leaned in to whisper in my ear, since I didn't have his perceptibility. "I couldn't just let it hit you."
I looked over at him and sternly said, "Don't expose yourself for me."
He frowned and leaned into my ear again. "I would stake myself to protect you, and there is nothing you can say to make that truth go away, so will you please stop being all noble and self-sacrificing and just thank me already."
I blinked and pulled away to see him grinning a crooked smile at me. I laughed and then leaned in to kiss the hand that had saved me from a world of pain. "Thank you. Did that hurt?"
He shook his hand out a little and flexed it. "It didn't feel good. Nothing is broken, but I'm going to have a pretty decent bruise tomorrow." He showed me the edge of his palm, where it was redder than the rest. I wondered for a second if he could smell the blood pooling under his skin. I kissed his injured palm, then leaned back into his shoulder. Still smiling, he twirled his hard-won ball over and over in his other hand.
"I'll thank you properly later," I murmured. I felt him chuckle and kiss my head and we watched the rest of the game, from our almost too-close seats, in relative peace and quiet.
We ducked out after the game. A few people did stop him to pat him on the back and tell him what an amazing catch that was. Thankfully, the cameras hadn't been fast enough to record him casually reaching up to snag a ball from in front of my face, or we would have been enduring replay after replay of the event on ESPN. As it was, all they had was a shot of him clutching his hand and then showing it to the crowd. They only played the clip twice and, although it was pretty impressive that someone had caught a ball barehanded like that, he looked completely normal and human in the clip, so we watched it with easy grins on our faces. Well, his grin was easy...mine was a little lusty. My vampire looked damn good onscreen. After watching his victorious television debut, we picked up where we left off before leaving for the game, and I thoroughly thanked him for his superhuman abilities.
Teren seemed in a more upbeat mood when he picked me up the next night to head over to his parents' place. I supposed he'd had a great afternoon, telling his co-workers about his impressive catch. Mike especially, since he would have been the one sitting in that seat last night if he had gone to the game. I wondered how Teren had modified the story to make it seem more human. Turned the straight-line fowl into a lofty pop fly maybe? I'd have to ask him in case anyone asked me. Interesting, how dating a vampire had taught me to corroborate stories.
He walked through my front door and kissed me, then reached down to pick up my full bags. I had debated having him pack again, since he was so good at it, but after deciding that I could be self-sufficient, I had packed it myself. I was a little surprised that he wanted to head up on a Friday night. With all his hemming and hawing, I thought for sure he'd at least postpone it until Saturday afternoon. But he had an exciting story to tell, and he was looking forward to getting up there now. On the drive over, he started talking about the game, and how eager he was to tell his dad about the catch and show him the deepening bruise on his palm. He'd even brought the ball to give to him. I smiled at the very human response of wanting to make your parent proud of your abilities, even if you were genetically enhanced.
We bounced down their super-long driveway and I inhaled a deep breath as the mansion that was the Adams Ranch came into view. It was spectacular. My human mind had dulled the memory of it, and now my brain was being scorched by its perfect beauty. The late rays of the sun cast a red glow on the already red tiles, making them gleam like bright red drops of blood. The stark whiteness of the stucco walls further emphasized the crimson roof, and I almost expected that roof to start dripping like a fresh wound. I couldn't help but think how fitting the style of the home was for a group of vampires, what with the bone white and blood red coloring. I swallowed as I remembered that this group of vampires weren't entirely innocent, and weren't entirely giant kitty cats, like Jack had assured me they were. I placed a hand on my stomach. They would never hurt me. I had something they wanted-a willing uterus. And I had something even more important than that to assure my safety...Teren's heart. That was most definitely sacred to them.
Teren put the car in park beside the zippy looking sports car, which had to be Halina's. I could easily picture her in a skintight dress, flying down a pitch-black highway with her wild black hair streaming behind her. Of course, I then had to picture her speeding into the city, to pick up a cute boy or two... Not relevant, I reminded myself. I wasn't going to think about that right now.
My eyes shifted to the meticulously inlaid rocks that formed a perfect line, just below midpoint, all the way along the home. As Teren walked around to my door, I marveled at how perfectly each rock had been chosen and twisted into place, so that it seamlessly created a natural looking wall. I laughed to myself. A wall of stone to protect the vampires sleeping inside...just like a real medieval castle. I was smiling at that thought as Teren pulled me from my seat. His eyes were softly glowing in the darkness of the parking area, in the cleanness of the non-light polluted country air, but I didn't feel the pull that I had felt the last time we were here. I kissed his cheek and clutched his hand, turning away from those engaging eyes. I was willing to follow him anywhere...no creepy, hypnotic light needed.