Free Last Kiss by Dominique Adair

shrugged. “I am what I am.”
    “So modest.” He lifted her hand and raised it to his lips. “Will you sit for me?”
    She hesitated.
    “Please?” He kissed her palm.
    “Someday.”
    He nodded. “Fair enough. Now I have another question for you.” He slid his fingers around her slim wrist, marveling in the delicacy of the bones beneath her skin.
    “I might have an answer for you.” She purred as he pressed a kiss to the inside of her wrist, her pulse fluttered beneath his mouth.
    “What do you think of vampires?”
    “Do you mean theatrical vampires or literature vampires?”
    “Neither. I mean the real thing.”
    “Vampires don’t exist.”
    “Says who?”
    She shook her head. “It’s physiologically impossible to survive on blood alone. It can’t be done.”
    “If you’re human, it can’t be done. But what if a human was changed on a molecular level? Their metabolism is frozen in time with their digestive system. All they need is a dose of fresh blood, say once a week, to keep their other systems functioning normally.”
    “I think you should become a writer as you have quite an imagination.” Her tone was dry.
    “I’m serious here.”
    “So am I.”
    “Would it be so bad, being a vampire?”
    Her eyes narrowed, her hand tensing beneath his. “Do you believe you’re a vampire?”
    He saw the doubt in her eyes. She wasn’t ready for the truth yet and, if he uttered the one word that would set him free, he would lose her.
    “I’m open to the possibility of vampires is all I’m trying to say,” he said. “There is a lot in this world that we can’t even begin to explain.”
    “You’re right about that.” The suspicion faded from her eyes.
    He pressed another kiss to her wrist and she sighed. “Do you believe in destiny?” he asked.
    “Hmm, destiny as in people being destined to be something or a predetermined course of events?”
    “Yes, to both.”
    “Well, I guess so. But I also believe that people can alter their own destiny by their actions, or non-action.”
    He nodded and twined his fingers through hers, his gaze lifting to meet hers. “What about reincarnation?”
    She frowned, small wrinkles distorted her brow and he wanted to kiss them away. “I like the idea of it. I mean, we live our mortal lives and, when we die, we can do it all over again. That next time around, hopefully, we don’t make the same mistakes though.”
    “Can you imagine us doing this over and over again?”
    “I think we already did.” She wiggled her brows.
    “That’s not quite what I meant,” he chuckled.
    Her expression turned surprised, then thoughtful. “Do you think we’ve been here before?”
    “Can’t you feel it?’ He untwined their fingers to lay her hand over his heart, his hand covering hers. With his free hand, he covered her heart, the beat familiar against his palm. “Your heart knows mine as well as mine knows yours.”
    She covered his hand with her free one and her eyes widened. “Oh my,” she breathed. “They beat in rhythm. How is that possible?”
    “We’ve been here before. On a physical level, you don’t remember, but your heart does, as does your soul.”
    Her expression was doubtful. “Do you really think we’ve been here before?”
    “I have no doubt in my mind that we have been here many times before.”
    For a few seconds she was silent and he could almost hear the wheels turning in her head. “Do you think…?” Her expression turned sad. “Did we ever get it right?”
    He pressed a kiss to her palm. “I think we got it right every time. How could this be wrong?” He watched her eyes fill with tears. Alarmed, he pulled her into his arms. “Why are you crying?”
    “If only it were true,” she sniffed. “It’s a beautiful thought.”
    He hugged her. “Who said it wasn’t true?”
    “Imagine an eternity of this.” She slid her arms around him and squeezed.
    He smiled into her hair. He didn’t have to imagine it, he’d lived brief