Her feelings for Amelia were growing more intense every day, but because of that her body was demanding her lover’s body more and more too. She couldn’t not touch Amelia, but at the same time it was painful not to taste her blood. Every time Byron kissed her neck, she heard her lover’s strong steady pulse pounding in her ears, daring her, challenging her to take the blood, but she had to resist, had to keep strong.

“Are you all right, sweetheart? You seem miles away,” Amelia said.

Byron quickly pulled herself together. “Of course.” She pointed up the walkway. “Look, our guest is here.”

“Who?”

“Come and I’ll introduce you.”

Amelia held Byron’s hand tightly as they walked up the walkway. There was a beautiful young woman with wavy shoulder-length blond hair, dressed in cute designer jeans and a tight little string top, wearing designer sunglasses. As they got closer the woman took them off to reveal the same dark eyes as Byron’s. She pushed her glasses on top of her head, and looked over Amelia thoroughly, before breaking into a big smile.

“Introduce us, Byron,” the woman said.

Amelia was nervous. This woman was very familiar with Byron and completely gorgeous—fashion model gorgeous.

“Amelia Honey, this is my sister, Serenity Debrek. Sera, this is my”—Byron looked at Amelia and hesitated for a second before saying—“my girlfriend.”

Amelia’s heart soared. This was Byron’s sister, and she was introducing her as her girlfriend. She did take this relationship seriously.

She was surprised by Sera throwing her arms around her.

“I’m so happy to meet the woman who inspired my sister to have a relationship,” Sera said.

“It’s nice to meet you too. I’ve been really looking forward to meeting Byron’s family.”

Sera took her hand and pulled her over to the table. “Come and tell me everything about yourself and, Byron, crack open the bubbly. This is a celebration.”

Byron smiled at her sister and shook her head. “Everything is a celebration with you.”

Amelia was delighted with Byron’s sister so far. First impressions were that she was open, lively, and full of fun. This was going to be interesting.

They enjoyed a wonderful lunch where Amelia chatted incessantly with Sera while Byron sat back, apparently content to let them get to know each other. Later in the afternoon Byron went to attend to business while Sera took Amelia for a walk.

They walked along the beach wall until they came to the stairs. “Let’s get sand between our toes, shall we?”

“Yes, that would be fun,” Amelia said.

Sera looked behind her to the tall, dark-haired man following them at a distance. “We’re going onto the beach, Henri. You stay here—we’ll be fine as we are.”

Henri looked as though he was going to protest but then nodded, and stopped where he was.

“Is he your guard?” Amelia asked.

Sera kicked off her shoes, and jumped down onto the sand. “Yes, he’s my Alexis, unfortunately.”

Amelia didn’t jump. She carefully walked down the four steps to the beach. “Why unfortunately?”