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at it for a moment and then let it go. I wrapped my fleece blanket around myself and lay down on the bed with my head near the foot where Oliver was sitting. I stuck one arm out from under my blanket and gently ran my fingers through the back of his soft brown wavy curls. He reached up and took my hand, kissed the top of it and let it go. I returned my fingers to his curls and took turns focusing on him and then the TV. His attention was on his laptop, the light tapping sound of the keys barely detectible as his fingers sped across them. I couldn’t see the screen from my position on the bed, nor did I have any interest at that point in what was on it. He’d look up at the TV occasionally and laugh, sometimes a good solid laugh, but mostly just small chuckles. My fingers started to slow in his hair and my eyelids began to grow heavy until darkness and deep sleep consumed me.
     

Chapter 5 - Grocery Shopping with a Vampire
     
    I’d slept a deep, peaceful, undisturbed sleep. No lingering feelings of being chased and no faint screams ringing in the back of my mind. I felt fully rested and in need of another shower and some food. Real food, not that weird crap in the kitchen.
     
    I lay there for a moment staring at the ceiling, trying to will myself to get out of bed. I had clearly been moved. I was no longer at the foot of the bed. My head now rested on the pillows. I was warm and cozy, tucked under the flannel sheets and comforter with my fleece blanket separating me from them.
     
    I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and began taking in the room. I was alone, the door was closed, the lights were off but small streams of sunlight were peeking in through the slats of the closed blinds. I also discovered, as I lay there staring around the room, that my rational senses seemed to be back online and working at maximum capacity. What the hell was I thinking? Was I seriously going to bond myself to a vampire ? Lose more than just my innocence to him? Why did this matter now? Was it really my rational side talking here, or my irrational side? Maybe I’m just hungry. It was too late for regret. Was this regret…? I tried to distract my now absurd thoughts by focusing on the details of Oliver’s room. The walls were a tan color, like most of the house. White wood-like blinds with fat slats. No curtains, nothing on the walls. I mean, really. Do I really have a clue about this world I’ve stepped into? I shoved that thought aside with the rest of the lingering thoughts that I intended to ponder someday. Yeah right. I focused on the room again, my heart thumping a little harder. All the furniture––headboard, tall dresser and a desk––was oak with a thick layer of gloss making it all very shiny. A small TV sat atop his dresser and a black leather computer chair sat at the desk under the window. Everything was clean and tidy. Nothing like the way I lived. My heart felt like it kicked me in the chest as a sudden panic hit me. A thought that, for some reason, had never crossed my mind but it should have–I won’t age but I could still die, right? What good would that do? Always worried he might accidentally hurt me or kill me? Or someone else might do me harm. Would I want him to change me? Could he? I felt my chest tighten and after a few deep, steady breaths and a mental pep-talk I climbed out of bed.
     
    I guess the positive note here was that a panic attack about being taken from him was a sure sign I did want to be with him...bonded with him. I felt that familiar flutter in my stomach at the thought of it. I found my cell phone charging on the desk. It was just before ten in the morning. My phone had been silenced and I had several text messages. Most from Kiera about Carter and a few voicemails about the same. Something about not being able to recall exactly what had happened or how she got home. A text from Zoey that simply read, “Let me know if you need anything.” And one voicemail from Lilly. “Where are you?