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hours.  But dawn is coming, and I want to have time to love you right.”
    She exhaled a shaky breath and said, “We’re virtually strangers, but I feel like I’ve known you forever.  I would let you do all those things because I feel like we’ve been together for ages, not that we just met a few days ago.”
    He pulled her closer, lifting her off the ground easily, and turned, setting her on the bed.  The fur under her hands felt real, and she brushed her fingertips across it while he straightened and stood before her.  “I want to be romantic for you, but I don’t know how.  In my time, a date was something you ate, not something you did.”
    She grinned.  “I like being the first, but I’ll point out that we work all night and you sleep during the day so I don’t know when we’d go out.”
    He paused for a long moment and said, “I didn’t ask you.  I should ask you.”
    “Ask me what?”
    “Ask you to be mine.”  He dropped to his knees in a heartbeat and grasped her hand with his large one.  “Will you be my beloved mate, Arissa?  Let me make you like me and stay with me forever?  I vow to be ever at your side, to protect you from harm, and take care of you for all eternity.”
    She stared into his eyes and was overwhelmed by the sincerity she saw in the depths.  Here was a man who could snap her in half with two fingers or do anything he wanted to with her because he was so much stronger than she was, and he was asking her to be his.  Aside from the overwhelming attraction coursing through her, she found herself liking him and wanting to be with him.
    “I’ll be yours, Brone.”
    He pulled her from the bed onto his lap and kissed her tenderly. 
     
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 8
     
     
     
    Brone had not brought someone into his chamber to sleep before.  In his early days, he had taken women wherever he felt like it, but he had always reserved his bedroom for his own personal use.  Having Arissa not only in the chamber, but also in his bed and his arms was a first for him.  Another of many firsts he had experienced since he saw her outside of the witch store.  Her weight was slight against him, a warmth that he had not experienced before but he wanted to enjoy every day.
    He’d planned to spend the hour before sunrise talking to her, but instead they’d kissed.  For so long that he felt as though he knew every inch of her sweet mouth by memory.  All her things were in her chamber, so when the time drew close to dawn, he sent her into the bathroom to clean up and gave her one of his shirts to wear to bed.  After stripping, he climbed into bed and waited for her to join him.  She had not wasted a moment after she came out of the bathroom and slid under the covers with him, drawing close.  Her hand rested on his bare chest over his heart and one of her legs was resting over top of his.
    Closing his eyes with an inaudible sigh, he felt the tug of the day as the sun began to rise.  He hadn’t seen a sunrise in so long, but he was always aware of it.  The rise and fall of the sun was something that all vampires felt to the core of their beings.  New vampires could not control their attention to the sun and went to sleep immediately.  Older vampires could stay up longer or awaken at any point, so although the myths surrounding their people said that they “died” each night at dawn, they were very aware, basically just sleeping.
    She had pointed out earlier that they didn’t have much time to date because of their work schedules, but he wanted her to know that she was more important to him than work.  He would find a way to carve time out just for them during the night hours so he could show her how important she was.
    Because truly, there was no one more important to him in the world than the beautiful redhead in his arms. 
     
    * * * * *
     
    As the sun set and the night fell, Arissa turned over in Brone’s arms and looked at him.  Her hair was mussed and her