So did she. “Simon…” What could she say? Her eyes drifted over him. Broad, strong shoulders. Muscled chest. Slim hips. So sexy. So—

Simon.

Vampire. Man.

Hers.

Dee’s breath caught. “You—you came to me because you thought I’d stop Grim.”

A nod.

“But if you just wanted to be free of him, why did you keep putting yourself between me and—” Everything. Everyone. “I can take care of myself, you know. You don’t have to jump in front of me every time things get a little dicey.” A very bad habit he seemed to have there.

He snapped the button on the jeans. Yanked up the zipper. Denied her the too pleasing sight of his still aroused flesh. “I was protecting you because you’re mine to protect.”

Okay, now she was nearly cutting the sheet with her death grip.

His eyes narrowed and he stalked around the edge of the bed. “You want to clear the air about what’s happening here? Okay. Fine.”

Uh, maybe she should yank on some clothes, too. She reached for her shirt. He grabbed her arms and pulled her against him. “This is a fuck-off talk, isn’t it? One dressed up in some kind of nice, polite chitchat.”

His eyes turned to black.

“I never told you to fuck off,” she managed, voice quiet.

“Yet.” His fingers tightened around her. “I protected you because you were mine to protect, got it? I knew I wanted you from the beginning.” He kissed her, hard, deep, and had her nipples tightening, her sex clenching, and her toes curling. Oh, yeah. “Mine,” he gritted again. “I wasn’t going to let anyone—Grim, your demon friend, or even your witch—stand between us.”

No one was between them now. Only the thin sheet.

“The start was screwed-up.” His chin lifted. “I’m not denying that. Yeah, I lied. Yeah, I tricked you. But I’m also the man who was ready to die for you. I’m the—”

“You said you loved me.” She threw out the words.

His eyes glittered down at her.

Dee took a deep breath and tasted him. I’ll fucking love you forever.

Until Simon, no man had ever said that to her and meant it. Sure, guys would claim love all the time if they thought a quick lay was coming.

He licked his lips. “I did.”

“You meant it?” And she meant for her words to come out as a statement, not a question.

His hand rose, the strong fingers curling around her jaw. “I meant it.”

Not a lie. Not some trick to get her help. The pressure on her chest eased and warmth spilled inside her. “I want to hear you say the words again.” Because she could be stubborn, too. Neither one of them was perfect. Far, far from it.

“I. Love. You.” Almost angry.

Her heart slammed into her ribs. Standing so close, having his vamp powers, he had to feel the sudden kick. She swallowed. “Th-that’s good—”

“No, it’s not.” Definitely angry. “It’s shit. It’s me, thinking about you, all the time. Me, wanting you, every damn minute. Me, not being able to even breathe without tasting you.”

“I feel the—”

“I want to make you smile. Want to make you laugh. Because you know what, Dee? You don’t laugh. You don’t. And you should, babe. Cause you’re beautiful when you smile and when you laugh, I bet you’d take my breath away.”

He’d just taken hers.

“I want you naked, yeah. Hell yeah. But I want to hold you in the morning. Want to talk to you in the darkness. I want to look at all the days that are coming and know I’ll be spending them with you. Because if I know that, then forever sure doesn’t seem like such a bad deal.”

Not bad at all.

He glared down at her. “I want all that. I want you. Right now, I’m scared because I think you’re about to tell me to get out because from the moment that I came into your life, I’ve just brought you trouble, while you’ve brought me…everything.”

Oh.

He sucked in a breath, and stepped back, releasing her. “I’m not going to force you to stay with me. I couldn’t, even if you weren’t strong enough to kick my ass.”

Her lips wanted to curl. No, she wanted to laugh. For him.

“You want to walk out that door and go back to the life you had before me, then do it.” Simon moved aside. “But know this—you won’t find another man who loves you like I do. And if you do, I might just have to show up and kick his ass.” He yanked a hand through his hair. “If you wind up with that demon bastard, ah, Dee—just don’t.”

Zane.

“We almost slept together once.” The admission came out, probably at the wrong time. She always said the wrong thing.

His eyes closed in a slow blink and his face hardened.

“We’re friends. Thought maybe we could be more.”

His fangs were coming out. A jealous vampire was a dangerous one.

“But we were better friends than anything else. Zane understood me, the anger and pain inside.” Because he had the same brew stirring in him.

“Why didn’t you sleep with the prick?”

“Because I wanted a friend. Needed one, and I never let my lovers get close.” Not even Tony. “Until you.”

That had his eyes widening. “What are you saying?”

So hard. Dee inhaled and took a risk. About time for one. “I’m saying I didn’t count on falling for you, vampire. I knew you were using me. I thought I’d use you, too.” Brutal truth time. They should have that, now. “I couldn’t hurt you physically. You could handle my strength and my bloodlust and me.”

He just watched her. Dark gaze so steady.

“I never counted on falling for you,” she said again, softer now. “That wasn’t part of my plan.” But she’d gone and fallen anyway. “I taste you, too. I want you, always. I want to protect you. Fight for you. I want you in the dark. Even in the light.” Though it seemed like she’d had little light in her life. Maybe that would change now. Who would have thought? It might have taken becoming a vampire to see the sunlight.

And to see that sometimes, the best things could be hiding in the darkness.

Not just monsters.

Men.

“I don’t want to go back to the way things were before.” Cold. Hollow. Pain shadowing her. “I want to try living this time. Really living, and I don’t want to be alone.”

His lips parted. “Don’t tease, babe, just don’t fuckin—”

“You’re not perfect, Simon Chase. We both know you’re a liar and a dirty fighter.” She smiled now. A big, wide smile. For her. For him. “Good thing for you, I am, too.”

Hope lit his face.

When was the last time she’d felt hope? Right now. “I think I love you, vampire.” Loving what she’d feared most.

Had Catalina seen this one coming?

No, she’d just seen death.

Dee shoved that thought from her mind. The sun would rise in less than an hour’s time. The witch had been wrong.

Life. Love—that was what waited for her. Not death.

Not again.

It was time for her to be happy. With her vampire.

Dee let the sheet fall. “You want forever?”

His gaze slipped over her body. Heated.

“Let’s start with right here, this moment, and we’ll let forever come later.” Right now, she wanted him.

Love.

Scary. But she could handle scary. She’d proven that, and she could handle him.

She lifted her hand and offered her palm. “Stay with me?” Love me?

His fingers curled around hers, warm and strong. “Always.”

She had to blink because her eyes were tearing. Silly. “Kiss me.”

His lips brushed hers. A tender caress. She knew he could be tender, with her.

When the knock came at the door, she didn’t turn from him. Dee pulled him closer.

But Simon tensed against her. His tongue slipped over her lips and his head lifted. “Is that…”

She stared up at him. Dawn hadn’t come.

She knew the instant he caught the scent. The same scent that already filled her nose.

Catalina is wrong. Wrong.

But Simon was already spinning away from her. Grabbing her jeans and a shirt and tossing them to her before he turned to the door, fangs bared.

“Since when does evil knock?” She asked him, only half-kidding because a knot was tightening in her belly. This close. She’d come so close to being happy.

Should have known fate would screw her over again.

Dee pulled the shirt over her head and shimmied into the jeans. “Why aren’t they kicking the door down?” And it was them. She could smell ’em. At least five vampires. Six?

You were surrounded. Catalina’s stupid words wouldn’t stop playing in her mind.

Simon shook his head. “I don’t know.”

Not like vampires were into playing nice.

He grabbed their weapons, tossed her a stake, then reached for the door knob.

“Simon!”

A pause, then he glanced back at her. Dee wet her lips and said, “I really do love you.” That regret wouldn’t be with her, no matter what was waiting out there. She’d tell him how she felt.

Like she hadn’t been able to tell her family.

“Why do I still feel like you’re saying good-bye?” His fingers hesitated over the knob.

Because I could be.

No, no, Catalina was wrong. “Do you think our futures are set? That what witches and demons see, those images are the only future we can have?”

“Hell, no,” Simon said immediately. “I don’t give a shit what they see. I know my future.” His stare could have burned a lesser woman. It just made her blood heat. “I’m looking right at her.” He jerked his thumb toward the door. “Once these assholes out here are gone, I’ll be taking her again, too.”

That sounded like one fine plan. Now if the fear in her belly would just go away.

“Forever, Dee. Forever starts now.”

He yanked open the door.

No one waited outside. Just the odor of the vamps, drifting on the wind. A warning? Had they been trying to scare her?

She stalked to Simon’s side. In the distance, she could just make out the faint pink rays of dawn.

I’m not going to die tonight. “What’s happening?”

Simon crept out of the room. The parking lot waited to the right. It looked deserted.

Like she didn’t know how very deceiving looks could be.

“Grim’s men?” she asked. He’d know. He had a better lock on them than she did. Sure, the link to the master was severed, but there was still a connection between his Taken.

And the guy had grown a whole freaking army.

Will they all come after me? Is this just the beginning?

The men stepped from the waning shadows. Two. Three.

A woman rose from the darkness. Another stalked to her side.

Or is this the end?

A hot wind blew against Dee’s face as she stood in the doorway. These weren’t Born vampires. All were Taken. She was stronger, even if she was newer to the Undead world. She could handle them.

Simon’s shoulder brushed hers. No, they could handle them.

Her fingers tightened around the stake.

Two more vampires appeared.

What the hell was this? Some kind of vamp convention? A human was going to look out one of those dirty windows and see them, and the local deputies would swarm this place.

It wasn’t so easy to keep things quiet when the sirens started blaring.

“You came after the wrong woman,” Dee told them, letting her voice ring out. I was so close to being happy.

Stupid. She couldn’t even have a minute’s worth of happiness. They were always going to hunt her, just as she’d hunted them. Always.

The vampires bowed their heads and turned their hands out, showing her their empty palms. Right, like vamps needed weapons to kill.

“We’re not here to fight you,” one of the women called out, not lifting her head.

“Of course. You’re just here to wish me a good freaking morning.” Hurry up, sun, rise. Stupid prediction.

“Born.”

“Slayed Grim.”

The whispers drifted to her.

Dee inched forward. Simon stayed right beside her.

“Your good old leader Grim deserved the death he got.” Actually, he’d probably deserved a much more painful death, but she didn’t exactly have the do-over option. “He was a sick freak and he needed to be put down.” Probably not what these vamps were looking to hear.

Tough. She wasn’t going to sugarcoat. Her eyes scanned the lot. Okay, that made seven total. She and Simon could take them.

“We’re not here to kill you.” The vampire still didn’t look up. Dee realized the vamps had formed a semicircle around her room. She tensed.

Simon has my back. And he did. He stood with her, strong and steady.

“Good,” she told them, determination firing her blood. “Because I’m not dying today.” No, she wouldn’t. She’d just found something to live for and she wasn’t about to give it up.

Screw off, Catalina.

“Are we?” The quiet question floated in the air.

Her brows snapped together and Dee glanced at Simon. A quick, fast glance.

Surrounded. It hit her then. Vampires surrounded her.

But Simon was one of those vamps, and she trusted him. With her life and her heart.

“Are you going to kill us?” the woman asked, still not looking Dee’s way. Her long blond hair covered her face. Dee stared at her, a chill skating its way down her spine.