“Why?” He laid her on the bed and stood. “Do you think you have the power to stop me?”

He advanced with the predatory grace I remembered. The languid movements that had made me weak-kneed with desire and terror alternately. Even without his vampire charisma, he seemed dangerous.

“You have to sleep sometime.” The way he said it, as a casual comment and not a threat, made it all the more frightening. “When you do, I’ll toss you out into the hot sand and watch you burn, the way you watched me burn.”

I wanted to swallow, to soothe my suddenly dry throat, but I didn’t want him to take it for a sign of weakness. So I spoke with a voice like a pack-a-day smoker. “And how did I watch you burn?”

“Without remorse.” It didn’t take him any time to answer. “With pleasure.”

He turned away again, went to the dresser and pulled out clothes. The act shocked me. I’d grown so used to his nakedness, I hadn’t truly seen it until now.

I waited until he had some pants on to respond. “That’s not how I remember it.”

He snorted. “I’m so concerned with how you remember it. Do please write it down, so I can read it should I ever find I care.”

“Whether or not you care, you can’t accuse me of being heartless.” Shocking wetness stung my eyes, and I blinked it away. The thought that I was about to say things I wished so many times I could have said to him before lent an air of importance to the moment. It dried my words up, and I floundered to think of what I should say. “I wanted to save you so many times.”

His back went rigid, and though he didn’t face me, I saw his jaw tighten in profile. “Oh?”

“I wanted you to be a better person. I thought if I could see just a little of the good in you…” I shook my head. “But I never did. You never showed me an ounce of the good in you. If you had, I could have loved you.”

He looked at the ceiling, his head limp on his neck as if in defeat. Then he rounded on me with frightening speed, catching me off guard and pushing my back to the wall.

His grip on my shoulders was painful, but I didn’t struggle. He leaned close to my face, so close it was hard to focus on his furious eyes. “I was supposed to show you the good in me? I was supposed to make you love me?”

My breath exploded when he shoved me into the wall. He pointed to the corpse on the bed, stabbing the air forcefully as though he could wound it. “She loved me. She loved me! So maybe the problem didn’t lie with me.”