Terry smiled good-naturedly. “Well, that’s his loss because dinner smells great. More for us.” He swung Kendall around and kissed his other daughters before going upstairs to check on Andrea. I felt a lump form in my throat as I watched him go. He put on such a good face for the kids, but I knew this had to be tearing his heart apart. My own petty concerns seemed exactly that: petty. Small. Inconsequential.
Nonetheless, news of the transfer weighed on my mind throughout dinner. I’d wanted to wait until Seth and I were alone at his place, but my face must have betrayed my feelings.
“Hey,” he said gently, slipping an arm around me. The family was gathered in the living room, starting a movie, while Seth and I stood in the doorway to the kitchen. “Everything okay?” I hesitated, unsure about bringing it up here. Sensing that, he pulled me into the privacy of the kitchen. “Thetis, talk to me.”
“I got some bad news today,” I began. I tried to think of a clever or funny way to lead into it, but nothing came. So, I just blurted it all out, explaining the inarguable nature of transfers and the details of mine.
“Las Vegas,” he said flatly. He looked as though he’d been slapped. “You’re moving to Las Vegas.”
“Not for a month,” I said, clasping his hands. “And believe me, I don’t want to. God, Seth. I still can’t believe it. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
“Hey, don’t apologize. Not for this.” He drew me near, the kindness and compassion on his face nearly making me cry. “This isn’t your fault. You have nothing to be sorry about.”
I shook my head. “I know, but . . . it’s just so crazy. I thought this was it. Our chance to be together. And now I don’t know what to do. I can’t ask you to . . .”
“Ask me to what?”
I leaned my head against his chest. “Come with me.”
He was quiet for a few moments. “Would they let me? I always thought . . . I mean, whenever you’ve talked about your past, it always sounded like you reinvented yourself. New name, new appearance. I thought you had to leave your past life behind.”
“I have, but that was always just my choice. For you . . . I mean, of course I wouldn’t do that. I’d stay Georgina Kincaid, just as you know her. But you can’t leave them.” I gestured to the living room. “It’s not worth it.”
Seth moved his hands to my head, tilting my face up so I could look him in the eye. “Georgina,” he said softly. “I love you. You’re worth it. You’re everything to me. I’d follow you to the ends of the earth. And beyond.”
“That doesn’t make sense.” I smiled sadly. “And I’m not everything. You love them too. And you’d hate yourself for running off with me while they need you so much.”
“So, what? You’ve made my choice for me?” he asked. There was a playful note to his voice, despite the deadly seriousness of the topic. “Are we breaking up?”
“No! Of course not. I just . . . I just want you to know that I don’t expect you to come with me. Do I want to be with you? Yes, of course. But I love your family, Seth. I love all of them. My happiness . . .” It was strange, speaking those words. My happiness. For so long, I’d been miserable. Happiness wasn’t even a concept I’d imagined for myself in ages. “My happiness isn’t worth theirs.”
He leaned down and brushed his lips against mine. “What about mine?”
I stared in astonishment. “Are you saying you’d abandon them and run off to Las Vegas?”
“No,” he said firmly. “I would never abandon them. But there must be some middle ground here. Some way that doesn’t involve sacrificing us or them. We just have to figure it out. What we have is too important. Don’t give up on us yet, okay?”
I hugged him, losing myself in the sweetness of his warmth and scent. My heart had lightened a little at his words, but I still didn’t want to get my hopes up. There was too much at stake, still too much that could go wrong.
“I love you,” I told him.
“I love you too.” He squeezed me tight and then kissed me again before pulling apart. “Now. Let’s go watch that movie and pretend to be social so that we can leave early.”
“Why?”
“Because if you’re going to Vegas this weekend, then I want to get you home and get some quality time in tonight.”
I grinned and put my arm around him. “Does ‘quality time’ mean what I think it does?”
“Yes,” he said, as we walked back to the living room. “Yes, it does.”
“Well, then, you know that’s against the rules.”
“Rules that you made up,” he pointed out.
“Rules that are for your own good,” I corrected. “It’s not time yet. Remember, we have to ration ourselves.”
It was part of the conditions of us getting back together. Keeping strictly platonic before had strained us, so this time, I’d agreed that some sex was okay . . . even though I cringed at the thought of how each act, no matter how small, would take away some of his life. Seth had told me he didn’t care, that he’d take any risk to be with me. I was still cautious, and he’d yielded to me to set the schedule for our rationed sex life. I still wasn’t entirely sure what constituted proper rationing in this situation, but something in my head said we should have sex only every few months. I hadn’t told Seth that, though. It had been one month since the last—and only—time we’d had sex since getting back together as a mortal and a succubus, and I knew he was getting restless. It was especially difficult for him because although he respected me, he also didn’t think such caution was needed when he was the one who faced the dangers—dangers he swore he didn’t mind.
“Not tonight,” I continued.
“It’s practically a special occasion, though,” he told me. “A big send-off.”
“Hey, I didn’t say we couldn’t do anything,” I replied. “Just not as much as you’d like to do.” One thing we’d inherited from our chaste days was a set of several creative workarounds, mostly involving doing unto ourselves what we couldn’t do unto each other. “The question is, is there going to be a problem with your houseguests?”
“Not if we’re quiet,” Seth said. After a moment, he shrugged. “Scratch that. I don’t care. Let them hear.”
I scoffed. “Oh, yeah. So that your mom can come break down your door with her baseball bat.”
“Don’t worry,” he said, kissing my cheek. “She’s no match for you and that dictionary.”
Chapter 6
Fortunately, no dictionaries or bats ever came into play, and Seth and I spent a pleasant night together. He sent me off that weekend in a good mood, and during the time I was with him, it was easy to believe this might all end well. Once I began the tedious parts of travel by myself, the doubts began to set in.
The ride to the airport, security, safety instructions . . . all little things in and of themselves, but each one began to weigh on me. I just couldn’t see Seth moving to Las Vegas—not anytime soon, at least. That left long-distance dating, and it was hard to imagine us going through a trip like this every . . . hell, I didn’t know how often. And that was another problem. What exactly did long-distance dating mean? Visits every week? Every month? Too-frequent visits meant the irritation of travel. Too few put us in danger of out-of-sight, out-of-mind complications.
So, naturally, I was all worked up by the time my flight landed in Las Vegas. And strangely, I took comfort remembering Jerome’s words, of all things. If Seth and I had survived the huge problem of immortal–mortal dating, then really, what was a two-hour plane ride compared to that?
We could make this work. We had to.
“There she is!”
A familiar, booming voice startled me as I was waiting at the baggage claim. I spun around and found myself looking up at the tanned good looks of Luis, Archdemon of Las Vegas. I let him wrap me up in a giant hug, something he managed with remarkable delicacy, considering what a bear of a man he was.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, once those muscled arms had released me. Realization hit me. “You’re not here to pick me up, are you? I mean, don’t you have people who have people to do that kind of thing?”