Elle Jasper: Darklove

I grin, start to rise. “I know.”

“Whoa,” he says, and fastens his hands at my hips. “Where are you going, ma chère ?”

“Well,” I say, and trust me when I say it, it is not easy, “we have to save something sacred for our wedding night.” I leap off him and stand, leaving Eli lying in the sand. “From now until our wedding night, consider yourself celibate.”

Eli’s mouth drops open. It makes his red eyes even more menacing. “What?” He leaps up, grasps my shoulders. “Ri, we’ve had . . . tons of sex!”

I grin. “Yeah, I remember. Every single time. A lot of it nasty.” I rise and brush my lips across his. “And now you’ll have to savor those memories until we’re married.”

“Okay, I changed my mind,” he says. “We don’t have to get married yet.”

I laugh and lace my fingers through his. “Too late. Won’t work.”

Eli’s face draws into a mask of pure agony. He pushes his hands through his tangled wet hair. “Oh, Jesus Christ. I’m going to die.”

I laugh. “You’re not going to die, Eli. Besides,” I say, experiencing a bit of agony myself, “it’ll be worth it. Trust me.”

Eli’s red eye peeks from between his fingers. “That alone makes it worth it.”

I laugh, and my fiancé pulls me into his embrace. He holds me, our bodies still soaked from our swim, and his chin rests on top of my head. “Are we going to be okay, Eli?” I ask. Uncertainty clouds my joy, and a worry starts in the pit of my stomach. “Are you going to be okay?”

“I’ve never felt more alive,” he whispers. “The one thing that was lacking in my detox was you.” He grasps both sides of my face with his hands and stares at me. “I don’t remember much, except the pain. But the one thing I do remember is thinking, What am I missing? Something’s not right, something is supposed to be here, and it’s not .” He smiles, and the moonlight glances off his jaw. He’s so sexy it hurts. “You. I felt empty, dead without you.”

Love and contentment spread through me, and I realize now that, no matter what else happens, we can handle it. We’ll be okay. I frown then, staring up at him. “Swear to God, Eli. If those creepy red eyes of yours aren’t changed back to that engaging cerulean blue by the wedding, you have to get contacts.”

He kisses me then, and I fall into his embrace. After the kiss starts to get heated, I pull back and peck him on the jaw. “Do you remember the first time we were together?”

Eli cocks a dark eyebrow. “ Together together?”

I laugh. “Yes. That.”

He lowers his head and brushes his lips to mine. “Every last detail.”

I breathe him in, and the memory of it rocks me. . . .

The brush of his tongue against mine, his skin, my skin, bare and moving together. His hand caressing every inch of me, his mouth making love to mine. The way he completely filled me, rocked me to my core, and made me all but crawl with need. I couldn’t get enough. . . .

It takes me a few seconds to breathe, and when I do, my eyes flutter open and stare into Eli’s bloodred ones.

A grin lifts his mouth. “Damn, Poe.”

Strangely enough, I feel a blush creep up my neck. “What?”

“I saw that,” he says. “It’s like we . . . watched. Us. Together.”

My eyes widen. “You saw that?”

Eli’s deep laugh cracks the night. “Yeah. I damn sure did.”

My mouth goes dry at the memory. “Maybe we can negotiate the celibacy.”

Lacing his fingers through mine, Eli pulls me to the water. “I don’t think so, Poe. You called it. Now let’s go free up all the folks you mind-whammied.” He kisses me one last time. “We’ve got a wedding to plan.”

Even as we both dive into the chilled Atlantic water, my mind can’t wrap around the fact that Eli is okay, he recognizes me, and we’ll be getting married in a handful of weeks. As we swim together through the darkness, I realize Eli is more than my fiancé. Way more than the best sex I’ve ever had or ever will have.

He’s my other half. My mate.

For as long as I live.

Unorthodox doesn’t even cover it.

And I say this with all the love and affection I have in my heart.

This is one fucked-up life I have.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’m staring out of my balcony, over River Street and at the Savannah River. It’s been weeks since I awoke on the little barrier island with Noah, and then zapped him and, Jesus, even old Preacher Man, into a zombielike state, all so I could get my fiancé alone. Just to see if he’d remember me.

Oh, remember he did.

I almost beat the hell out of him. He wasn’t so gentle with me, either. I kinda dug it, too.

In the distance, the clop-clop of a horse pulling a carriage makes his way through the moss-draped oaks of Savannah’s historic district. The brine off the river is refreshing, slightly pungent. Perfect. The sun is shining. There’s a slight chill in the air. And not a mosquito in sight. How perfect is that?

Today’s April seventh. My wedding day. I can barely wrap my brain around it.

And I’m marrying a two-hundred-plus-year-old vampire.

That’s not as hard to grasp as one might think.

“Oh. My. God!” My door flies open, and my best friend, Nyx, rushes into my apartment. I’ve set the living room up as a getting-ready bridal suite, with a long full-length oak mirror in one corner. I’m standing in front of it now, and Nyx sashays up behind me. She slips her arms around my middle and hugs my bare back.

“You are beautiful, Riley!” she exclaims, looking over my shoulder at my reflection in the mirror. “I’ve missed you so much. I was so scared you wouldn’t come home.”

I smile at Nyxinnia Foster. She and Josie, Eli’s little sister, are my bridesmaids, and we’d gone shopping together. I’d let them choose their dresses, and they’d done a jam-up job.

Fuchsia silk, above the knee, with a haltered top, and a narrow black velvet strip just under the breast. Solid black wedge shoes. Black velvet chokers. Their bouquets are faded green hydrangea and calla lily. Both have their hair down and swept to the side with a black velvet clip. “You look beautiful yourself, Ms. Foster.”

Nyx slips her hand over my shoulder and wiggles her ring finger, where a beautiful platinum engagement ring holds a fairly impressive cluster of sparkling diamonds. She grins. “Not Foster for long,” she sighs. “We’ll actually be sisters, Ri. Isn’t that exciting?”

Eli’s brother, Luc, had asked Nyx to marry him. She’d said yes.

I couldn’t be happier.

I pull her gently to me and kiss her cheek. “Always sisters.”

A tap at the door sounds, and we both jump, then burst into giggles. Phin and Luc both stick their heads in the door. “Everybody decent?”

“Never!” Nyx and I both holler out.

“Yeah, well, that’s a— Whoa.” Phin lets out a low whistle. “Damn.”

I laugh. “Perv.” My gaze moves to Eli’s other brother, Luc.

His eyes are bugged out as he inspects Nyx. “You two are the most gorgeous creatures I’ve ever seen. In. My. Life.” He walks over to Nyx and pulls her into a quick embrace and a kiss, then moves over to me. “Sister, I am speechless,” he says, and studies me. “Eli is going to freak. You’re breathtaking.”

“I hope so,” I say, and I’m surprised to find myself nervous.

“I’m freaking,” Phin says with a grin.

“Bro, watch it—that’s my sister you’re freaking over,” my brother says, entering. His eyes light up when he sees me, and he hurries over to pull me into a gentle hug. “Mom would’ve loved being here, you know? You look amazing. But . . . this feels so weird, Ri,” he says against my hair. “You, getting married? Almost like I’m losing you or something.”