“I swear to you, if you don’t stop moving around…”

“I’m not moving,” he insisted, shifting in his chair.

“You did it again, damn it!”

“I didn’t!”

“Oh, screw it already!” I tossed the charcoal aside and got up to stretch. “This is a waste of time. You’ve got the jitters today or something. What’s with you?”

“Sorry if I’m not in the mood to play statue today,” he grumbled as he got up and stretched his long legs before pacing the length of the loft I used as studio space.

“Maybe it’s time for me to find a new model,” I muttered.

“Maybe it is. Why don’t you ask Troy to do it for you?” he asked, referring to Isobel’s Nightwarden.

I raised an eyebrow. “Hmm. Not a bad idea. He’s an excellent physical specimen. The perfect artist’s model.”

Vale’s deep-throated growl reverberated through the room. “Watch it.”

“You suggested it. I wonder how much he’d be willing to take off for me…”

“I’m serious.”

“It was your idea! And it was a good one.” I burst out laughing as he tackled me to the floor. “Okay, okay! I give up!”

He pinned me by my wrists and smiled in triumph. “You won’t ask Mr. Adonis to take it all off for you?”

“I won’t ask Troy to pose for me. I won’t, I promise.”

He attacked my neck, kissing and nipping as I giggled helplessly.

“Hey, it’s not like you model naked, anyway.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want you turning any artistic corners,” he snorted, moving further south with his kisses.

I closed my eyes and let him light me up from the inside out, the way he had been doing for the eight months we had been living together in Isobel’s barn. More like a guest house, and roughly ten times the size of my old apartment. At least.

It gave us plenty of room for ourselves and lots of privacy when it mattered. We tended to keep to ourselves, in case the neighbors got curious. Not that her neighbors lived close enough to care, but we didn’t want to take chances.

All the more reason for us to spend time the way we were just then—working, playing, loving each other.

* * *

Later, as I pulled my clothes back on, I giggled softly. “We have a habit of doing that.”

“What? Having sex?” he laughed as he zipped his jeans.

“No. I mean, yes. But getting carried away at random times. That’s what I meant.” I stayed on the floor, propped up on my elbows. “Will it always be this way, do you think?”

“I hope so, or else the rest of eternity will get pretty damn boring,” he chuckled, running his hands through his hair to settle it down. When he saw my frown, he grew serious. “This is something you’re really worried about, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know. I guess so. I mean, you’ve been a vampire for hundreds of years. The concept of eternity is a lot fresher for me than it is for you.” I would be twenty-six forever. Forever and ever. I would see the world change drastically while I never changed at all. If I slept anymore, it would keep me up at night.

He knelt next to me. “I can’t see myself ever getting tired of you, or of us. If that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I do worry about it. That I’ll bore you or annoy you after long enough.”

“Are you kidding? I learn something new about you every day. Sometimes, I wish you weren’t so damn interesting and a little more boring.”

“And you’re the one who likes to keep moving! Isobel’s going to have to start paying you for all the work you’ve done around the farm.”

“It’s the least I can do,” he reminded me, as he always did. “Meanwhile, you’re always working on something new. Putting together new shows at new galleries. Meeting buyers.”

“Ugh. Having to put in contacts,” I muttered, shivering.

I hated wearing the lenses that made my eyes look human again.

“It’s not a bad trade-off when you’re earning so much money for your work,” he reminded me. “Pretty soon, you’ll want to leave the farm, and we’ll end up running around all over the world when you’re a famous artist. Maybe you’ll get tired of me when that time comes.”

“Never. Not ever, ever.” I sat up, taking his hands. “I mean it. Nothing means anything without you. I wouldn’t want to be popular or successful if I didn’t have you to share it with.”

“You’re sure about that?”

“I’m sure.”

“Absolutely?”

“Uh, yes. Why are you being so weird?”

He withdrew one of his hands and reached into the pocket of his jeans. “You wanted to know why I was so fidgety earlier,” he murmured, looking down.

“Yes…” I looked down in time to see him pull out a diamond ring. My mouth fell open.

“This is why. I didn’t know how you would react to this. And this is why I want to be sure you’re in this forever, because I know I am.”

I pulled my eyes from the ring—it was so big! So sparkly!—and looked at him. I couldn’t have loved him more if I tried.

“I’m in it for the long haul,” I whispered before tears choked me.

He slid the ring on my finger, and something seemed to slide into place when the band slid home.

The one missing piece in my life. I had a career, a mother who supported and encouraged me, and a love stronger than death itself. A love that had not just saved my life. It had given me life. It continued to give me life every day.

I held his face in my hands and kissed his forehead, nose, cheeks. “I love you,” I whispered before each kiss, like a mantra. I love you, I love you, I love you.

I was more than happy to keep it that way for the rest of my life—no matter how long it lasted.