Bennett’s eyes became glassy as she gazed at Lisa. “This can’t be real, Lisa,” she whispered. “This…this can’t be real.”

“But it is, and it has nothing to do with me becoming a vampire, Bennett. I wasn’t a vampire when you stepped off that plane twelve years ago. I wasn’t a vampire when I stayed late at the gallery just to see your face. And I certainly wasn’t a vampire when I chose to live like a flipping nun for the past twelve years because thinking about being with anyone else was impossible…and it still is. Bennett, this isn’t about me becoming a vampire. It’s about me being a woman in love with a woman, and I’ll be in love with her until the last grain of sand has left the Sahara. It’s just that simple.”

Other than that one scant smile, Bennett’s expression had remained blank. Frozen by Lisa’s words, suddenly drawing a breath was proving difficult, and when Bennett finally pulled one in, it was ragged.

For over a hundred years, she had barred her heart, praying love would never find its way in or its way out, except love always finds a way…and it had. It had slipped through those bars when Bennett met Lisa, and over the years, like a flower emerging from a crack in the asphalt, it had thrived.

She had tried to put distance between them, and hiding behind professional boundaries, Bennett turned down more dinner invitations than she’d ever accepted. Holidays had to be spent alone or with Gus and his family, for it was the only way she could get through those days. And when all else failed, when that damn flower refused to die, Bennett tried to poison it with Ruby. But the truth can’t be poisoned, and the truth was Bennett cherished Lisa more than life itself.

From what Lisa had said, Bennett’s looks of interest over the past several years weren’t as covert as she had hoped, but Lisa couldn’t hear the heated blood rushing through Bennett’s veins or the way her heart raced whenever they were close. Those could be easily concealed from a mortal, except Lisa was no longer a mortal, and Bennett’s heart began to pound when she saw Lisa’s all-to-knowing smile.

Bennett had no way to hide her true feelings any longer. She had no way to conceal the longing, the lust...the love. It was there. It was there in every breath she took and in every beat of her heart, and it tinted every glimpse and every gaze.

“Do you love me?” Lisa said, closing the distance between them. “Or have I read this all wrong?”

Bennett drew in a stuttered breath. “You…you are far too intelligent for your own good.”

“Better get used to it,” Lisa said, beaming.