Chapter 244: Overdrive
"It doesn’t have to happen tonight," he said without turning her way.
Arabella said nothing yet allowed her feet to guide her closer to him. She took her time with every step, the only other sounds accompanying her being the ambient flickering of candle flames, the chipping of wood and the light brushing of fabric against the floor as her dress dragged across every inch she traversed.
The young woman did the same thing he so loved doing to her, standing right behind his frame and giving free reign to the warmth that would wrap around him.
She stood so close, if he so much as leaned half an inch backwards their bodies would have connected.
Soon, his hand stopped working and with it ceased the grating of wood that filled the room.
"I said it last time and I’ll say it again, leave while you still can," he wasn’t whispering per se, but there was none of the sharpness his voice usually donned. His words were just gentle on the ears.
"I don’t want to," was all that she said, her tone calm, but voice little.
"It is the Mirari speaking. Not you," he matched her energy. Calm, steady, but still warm.
At first and in response, her hand rose before resting right on his back. The one breath that had escaped his control gave his state of mind away, but he couldn’t care less at that moment as the vampire was sure that should his clothes be removed, her handprint would have stayed branded into his flesh.
The only thing that surprised him was that no smoke seemed to ascend as her touch burned right through the fabric shielding him as well as the thick and hardened layer of skin of his.