TWENTY-SIX
Cuddled in a warm blanket in front of the bedroom fireplace, Avery breathed out a contented sigh. Jae had brought in finger-sized chunks of steak and some other dishes from dinner and they ate together on the white fuzzy rug. Stuffed, she wiggled against him to get as close as she could.
“Tell me something about yourself, Jae,” she said. “Something cool.”
He laughed. “If you want something cool, you’re outta luck. I’ve had a rather boring life. I’ve always been a workaholic, seldom taking any time off.”
“Have you met any famous people?” she asked.
“Now that, I have,” he said. “Ever hear the name Tesla?”
“You mean the electric car company?” she said. “I love their new model out. It looks hot.”
Jae laughed. “Well, I guess Nikola did give his name to the company. But I’m talking about the man, himself.”
She shook her head. “Never heard of him. What did he do?”
“He is the forerunner to all the wireless gadgets we have today. He did extensive research in energy and frequency. He was a genius. Blew my mind several times. I thought he was a quack at some of his ideas. But just about every one of them has been brought to life, years later.”
“Wow,” she said. “In the library, I saw one of those old timey photos of you and a group of people dressed in clothes from the 1800s and stuff. Where did you have that taken? I have one with my friends we took in Gatlinburg when sightseeing Blue Ridge.”
He was quiet for a minute. She asked, “Don’t you remember? It couldn’t have been that long ago. You look exactly like you do now.”
At that, he laughed. “Oh, I remember having it taken. I was just thinking how to tell you about it.”
She rolled to face him. “What do you mean? Where was it taken?”
“On the deck of the Titanic.”
Whoa, she heard that wrong. “I’m sorry, where?”
Jae laughed. “The Titanic.”
“But it, it—a long time ago—” she stuttered out. How old was this guy? He was a dragon, but how long did they live?
He snuggled tightly around her. “Just so you know, I’m really, really old. We live thousands of years. Some of the elders were literally older than dirt.”
“How many of you were on board the Titanic? It sank on its first run, didn’t it?” she asked.
“It did, unfortunately. I’d invested a lot of money in the project. We dragons wanted a better option to get between Europe and the States without having to fly the whole way. This ship was the perfect solution.”
“Until it sank,” she added. “Was it just like in the movie with DiCaprio?”
“I never watched it. I’ve discovered Hollywood cares little about how events actually took place and more about how dramatic they can make it seem to sell tickets.”
“Oh,” she said with a teasing smile, “so the Heart of the Ocean diamond necklace wasn’t on board and lost to the seas forever?”
He chuckled. “No, but the Love of the Sea diamond necklace was on board.”
Her breath caught. “Are you teasing me? Was there really something that precious on the ship?”
“Indeed, there was,” Jae said. “An older English gentleman by the name of Henry Morley purchased it from me. When I sold it to him, I had no idea he would be on the ship’s maiden voyage with me. You can imagine my amazement when I saw the necklace around the neck of a twenty-year-old in the dining hall.”
“He married someone half his age?” Avery asked.
Jae shrugged. “Who are we to put an age on love, my dear? Should I remind you that you are a really small fraction of my age?”
“Wow,” she exclaimed. “I knew you were a lot older than me, you just don’t seem like it. You look my age.” A thought dawned on her. If Jae was virtually immortal, then what would happen when she died in fifty or sixty years? He’d go on and eventually forget about her.
He pulled her chin around to face him. “Hey, what’s wrong? You’re almost…heartbroken.”
She tried to hide her face, but he wouldn’t let her. “I was just thinking, when I die, will you eventually forget about me?” Tears filled her eyes. God, she hated being emotional and sounding whiny, but her heart hurt at the thought of not being with him.
Jae seemed to have frozen in his spot. She felt him trying to shut down his feelings so she wouldn’t be able to tell what the answer would be with her abilities.
“I don’t want to talk about me any longer,” he stated. “Let’s talk about you.” That was all the answer she needed. Being human, she would die and he would go on to find someone else to love. He hugged her tightly. “I get to ask questions of you now.”
She gave him a partial smile. “Okay, ask away. What do you want to know?” He could smell her despair. She needed to get over it and live in the here and now and love him with all she had in this lifetime.
“Let’s see,” he started, “I want to know normal guy things. Like what’s your favorite position? Do you like to be on top? Have you read the Kama Sutra? I read the cliff notes and have the illustrated version.” His brows raised and his smile turned hungry.
Avery’s face heated and she laughed. “Oh my god. I’m not answering that.” She wiggled her ass against his pelvis. “You have to find out on your own.”
Jae threw the blanket over their heads. “Gladly.”