Silence

We don’t have to go back to my place, Angel. I can take you home, if that’s what you want. Or, if you decide you want to sleep at my place, on opposite sides of my bedroom with a Do Not Cross line drawn down the middle, I’ll do it. I won’t like it, but I’ll do it.”

Patch leaned on the banister, dressed in a tailored black suit and silver tie. I gave him a flirty smile. He held out his arm and escorted me to the door. He smelled warm and earthy, like sun-baked sand. Unable to control myself, I grabbed his jacket lapels and hauled him into a kiss. “I could get you to smile like that, and without sales tax.” I whirled around to find the real Patch standing in the fitting room behind me.

Patch made a low, questioning sound. “Not bad?” I bent my head toward his. “Practice makes perfect.”

aback by a compelling and forceful sense of undue familiarity. “Soap, shampoo, hot water,” I added, almost as an afterthought. “Naked. I know the drill,” Jev said,

love you.” His voice was straightforward, affectionate. “You make me remember who I used to be. You make me want to be that man again. Right now, holding you, I feel like we have a shot at beating all odds and making it together. I’m yours, if you’ll have me.”

There’s only one thing I know for certain anymore.” He turned, his eyes a clear black. “That I would do anything for you, even if it means going against my instincts or my very nature. I would lay down everything I possess, even my soul, for you. If that isn’t love, it’s the best I have

I wanted you to remember me the way I couldn’t stop thinking about you.

“You’ll never hear me admit this again, so listen up. You look good, Grey. On a scale from one to ten, you’re definitely in the top half.”

No, hear me out. The long answer to that question is that everything about me has changed since meeting you. What I wanted five months ago is different from what I want today. Did I want a human body? Yes, very much. Is it my top priority now? No.” He looked at me with serious eyes. “I gave up something I wanted for something I need. And I need you, Angel. More than I think you’ll ever know. You’re immortal now. And so am I. That’s something

This isn’t your fight, Patch,” I said quietly.
His eyes burned with an intensity I’d never seen before. “You’re mine, Angel, and don’t you forget it. Your fights are my fights. What if something had happened today? It was bad enough when I thought your ghost was haunting me; I don’t think I could handle the real thing