The Vampire's Sweet Secret

Chapter 9: So Wrong But So Right

-Ava-

I knew I should walk out of here. No, I should reject her and run to another city, never looking back. It would be better for both of us if I cut our connection and disappeared. I only brought trouble, and I was pregnant too. How could Everly still want me when I was carrying another man’s child? How could she look at me like I was the only person pretty much existing on this earth when I was no one? I was nothing, and still, she kept coming closer and closer.

“Stop,” I whispered and placed a hand on her shoulder, pushing her back. She looked confused at me, maybe a little hurt as well. “Workplace. Remember?”

That made her smile.

“Right. Workplace,” she murmured and moved back a little. “Does that mean I will see you Monday?”

I was not sure what to answer. I mean, my head screamed at me that this was a bad idea, but the way Everly looked at me… I had never been looked at like that before, and it sounded like she truly wanted me to come to work on Monday.

I bit my lower lip, an inner battle transpiring inside me. Everly watched the action very intensely though, and when I let it pop free, her eyes somehow seemed to darken. It made me gulped because it was like I was being devoured by her gaze.

“I-I don’t think I should,” I stammered.

“Give me a reason not to,” she coaxed. But she was focused on my lips, so it felt like she was asking for another reason why she shouldn’t lean closer and... kiss me? Did I want her to? I looked at her mouth, realizing I did want her to. I wanted her to kiss me, but she couldn’t and she shouldn’t.

“And being mates isn’t good enough,” she said.

“I-I’m pregnant,” I whispered.

“I know, sweetheart,” she replied, and the way she called me sweetheart almost made me whimper. No one had ever spoken to me like that, and I realized how hungry I was for someone to treat me like this, like they actually wanted me. “We will figure it out.”

“It’s wrong of me to even think we could work,” I sighed.

“Why?”

“Because I carry someone else’s child.”

“But the father is dead, correct?” she asked.

I nodded, but I felt guilty for lying.

“Then what is the problem?” she inquired.

“I can’t just ask you to be a parent to this child, and if we try to figure out if we can work together, then you might become one.”

“That’s a lot of ifs,” she chuckled.

“Miss Colt,” I began.

“Everly,” she corrected, but I shook my head. I couldn’t really call her that. It felt too intimate.

“I can’t ask you of this,” I said.

“You’re not asking me for anything. I have wanted my mate for a long time, and now she literally strode into my office. How is that not fate?” she asked.

“I…”

“You were meant to come here, and I was meant to find you. You being pregnant changes nothing,” she assured me.

“How can it not change anything?” I questioned.

“Because we are mates, and mates take care of each other,” she reminded me.

It was strange to hear. Zachery and I might not have been true mates, but we were still mates. But he had never taken care of me, and therefore I could barely understand the words she was speaking.

“It’s not your child,” I whispered.

“It could be.”

I looked at her with huge eyes, so surprised to hear this. Would she really do it? If we found a way to make it work, then could she truly accept the child too? I had not even accepted I was pregnant yet and Everly was already ready to commit fully to it.

I simply admired this woman more than I could say. Sadly, there was something I couldn’t forget. The real reason why I couldn’t stay was because of Zachery. I could not risk him finding me and hurting Everly because she was my mate.

“It’s too much, and I am not worth it,” I whispered.

“How can you say that?” Everly questioned.

“Look at me, and then look at you.” My words might be a way to repel her, but I still meant them. I still found myself ugly and useless, just like Zachery had called me.

“I see two women,” she began. “Who are very attractive to each other.”

“Miss Colt—"

“Everly. We are mates,” she reminded me.

“I am nothing.”

“You are beautiful,” she asserted and reached out and stroked my cheek.

The touch sent an electric shock through us both, and we gasped at the same time.

“You can’t tell me you feel nothing,” Everly whispered.

“No, I am not saying I don’t feel anything. I am saying it is wrong.”

“How can anything so right, be wrong?” she asked.

“Because I am not the one for you.”

“Who is then?” she inquired.

“Someone more beautiful and stronger and perfect.”

“No one is perfect,” she pointed out.

“You are,” I whispered.

Everly seemed shocked by my words, but I meant them. She was perfect. Just the way she carried herself made people turn their heads to look at her one more time. It was not right that she had ended up having me as her mate.

“Sweet Calliope, I am far from perfect,” she told me.

“I can’t see in what ways you are not,” I admitted.

“A perfect woman wouldn’t be undressing you in her mind right now and would have given you the space you so clearly need.”

I swallowed hard, getting turned on as she told me what she was imagining.

“I think you might be picture something better in your head,” I sighed.

“No, but I would love to prove you wrong,” she suggested and smiled smugly.

“Um, workplace.”

“Then come over to my place,” she insisted.

“What?”

“You heard me.”

I shook my head.

“I-I am sorry, Miss Colt, but I simply cannot,” I stammered. “I cannot take the job and I cannot continue this…” I waved a hand between us, and Everly sighed, clearly a little disappointed, but then she grabbed the hand that was still moving between us. She moved it to her lips and kissed it. I shrieked and pulled it away, but not because it had felt bad. It had felt good, and Everly continued to smile.

“See? I am not perfect. I can barely listen to my own rules,” she pointed out, the tone in her voice indicating she felt ashamed of herself. “You are driving me crazy already, Calliope. I know my offer might have been a little too much. I am sorry, but I don’t want you to stop coming to work here.”

“Why?” I inquired.

“As I said, I would very much like to get to know you more. I want to learn about who you are,” she admitted. “Is that so bad?”

I didn’t think so, but I could not involve her in my mess. “But—"

“No buts,” she cut in. “Just come to work on Monday and let’s try it out.”

“Try it out?”

“Nothing is set in stone. We can just stop if it doesn’t work, or if we can’t maintain a professional environment,” she pointed out.

Nothing was set in stone, I thought.

Oh please, let’s stay. Just a little longer! Even my wolf wanted to give it a shot. Should I?

“What do you say, Miss Grey?” Everly asked.