Page 14 of Zombies, Satyrs and Vampires, Oh My!

chapter

six

Vivian

“Oh my hell, that was amazing. Seriously. I thought my body was broken,” I say.

He stares down at me with those electric green eyes. “Broken? No. You are alive and perfect.”

I suck in a breath, because no man has ever called me perfect before. No man has ever looked at me like this. I want to pause the world and just wallow in this feeling for a moment.

My stomach takes that moment to rumble loudly.

He looks down at me, his mouth twitching awkwardly as if he’s sorta forgotten how to smile. I put a hand up to his face, then I press the other half of his mouth up into the grin. “There it is.” I feel the muscles relax under my touch, feel the smile become more natural. “Wow, you’re already handsome, but when you smile, it’s kinda staggering how hot you are.”

“I’m smiling,” he murmurs, a look of awe on his face.

My stomach growls again.

“I should feed you.” He stands, then pulls me to my feet too. He pulls on his boxers and I grab my panties and t-shirt.

“You said you don’t do this,” I say, while I quickly pull on my shirt. “Does that mean you don’t usually hook up with random women who wander through your woods getting attacked by bug men?”

I should probably try harder to play it cool, but this is all so new to me and I’m desperate to know if it feels as life altering to him as it does to me.

He takes my hand and threads our fingers together. “I haven’t touched a woman, like that,” he points to the floor. The scene of our crime, as it were. “Since before. Back when I was human.”

“Oh,” I murmur. So maybe it does.

I’m so blown away by the idea, that it takes me a minute to recognize the underlying sadness in his voice when he says the words when I was human.

He leads me into his kitchen, then lifts me, effortlessly up onto the big island counter.

“You seem pretty human to me,” I say. “You’re very sweet and considerate.”

His gaze falls to his feet, but I swear pink splotches into his cheeks. Is he blushing? He bends and digs through a cabinet. Pans clang as he shifts things around.

“Is an omelet okay with you? I know that’s cliched to make, but I make a pretty good one.”

“You make omelets?” My stomach lurches.

He must hear the trepidation in my voice because he blanches. “Not brain omelets. Egg omelets. I eat real food, too.”

I give him a suspicious side eye. “You eat real food. That doesn’t seem very zombie-esque of you.”

He ducks his head and looks embarrassed. “I do eat brains, but I eat other things as well.”

I nudge my foot against his thigh, hoping he hears the teasing in my voice. “Then I’d love an omelet. No brains in mine, please.”

He eyes me. Then he gives me a crooked grin, he looks boyish and charming. “No brains included, I promise. Just eggs, cheese and veggies.”

“And bacon? Do you have bacon?” I ask.

“Right.” He holds up a finger. “Because bacon is life.”

“Do you believe in soulmates?” I blurt, then I cover my mouth. “You know what, don’t answer that. I don’t even know why I asked that.” I shake my head feeling embarrassed and dumb.

His back is to me while he’s putting the skillet on the stove. And the entire surface is covered in ink.