At Victoria’s whimper, Vail ran his hand down and up her back, gently stroking her shoulders to remind her that he was there. He had sunk his fangs into her skin and taken some of her blood, but he was still the same man who had expressed his love for her, and he wouldn’t hurt her more than he had to in order to tap into the veins in her neck. Before she even gave an explanation, he guessed that her reaction had more to do with the way Spencer had treated her than it did with anything he was doing now. It saddened him to see her reduced to such a pitiable state when his bite had never impacted her like this in the past.

While she struggled to regain her composure, he carried on with drinking the rest of the blood that poured from her punctured flesh, though he paid closer attention to her pulse and respiration to make sure she didn’t lose consciousness. The flow was still steady, so if he didn’t collect it, the viscous liquid would just drip into the bathwater. He disliked the thought of wasting any of it. With each sweep of his tongue, he could feel the strength coursing through his body that only her blood could provide. He had missed the rejuvenation that came with feeding from her, and he continued to do so until the stream began to dry up.

The sound of her voice beckoned his attention, and he pulled back from her neck to lick the dark stains from the edges of his mouth. He had drunk enough to feel satisfied, so he lifted his other hand to clean his jaw off with water. “You have nothing to be sorry for,” he assured her, watching the water tinge pink where her blood mixed with it. “I didn’t know you had a phobia.” He wouldn’t have even considered it, since she had volunteered her neck to him the first time he had fed on her. It surprised him that a woman with a fear of blood would do such a thing, let alone continue to humor him every few days when he came by to pierce her again. She was either foolhardy or brave—or perhaps a little of both.

Fortunately, he had washed away all the remnants of the feed from his face by the time Victoria sought his eyes. Holding her gaze, he pondered her question. “Well, yes,” he admitted honestly. “We don’t drink from each other, since there’s nothing to be gained from it, and I am especially fond of your blood.” Leaning forward, he pressed a kiss to her lips and then pulled back again with a smile. “But I love [i]you[/i], Victoria. Not what I can get out of you. If you could become a vampire, I wouldn’t hesitate to give up making you my prey, because I would get to keep you for a lifetime, and that’s far better.” He rested his hands on her waist below the water and kissed her again to punctuate the statement.

“There’s no reason to concern yourself with that though,” Vail reminded her with a sigh. “It isn’t worth trying when you might lose your life if in the process.”