Free Alone by Erin R Flynn

UPS, but then it went off again. I sighed as I got up to open it. When I did, I blinked at Conall standing there with a bag of sandwiches.
    “What time is it?”
    “After six,” he hedged, studying me. “You didn’t answer you phone all day. I got worried.”
    “Sorry, I was distracted,” I muttered and walked back up the stairs. I headed into my office, saved what I was working on before turning around and going into the front room. I plopped on the floor and continued on the mugs.
    “Nina, have you been doing this all day?”
    “Couldn’t sleep. I wrote too.”
    “Have you eaten?”
    I glanced at my glass, wincing when I saw my melted protein shake still full and untouched. “No.”
    He knelt down next to me and put his hand over mine. “Please talk to me. Is this still about yesterday? I thought we were okay now? Are you upset with me still?”
    “No, not upset with you,” I whispered, lowering my head.
    “Then what is it?”
    “I like you now,” I admitted with a half shrug.
    “And that’s a bad thing?” he chuckled, setting down the bag and sitting next to me.
    I shook my head and closed my eyes. “No, but I also don’t want you to know that I’m a freak either and you will after we discuss what you want us to.”
    “Oh, Nina,” he sighed, hugging me to him. “You’re different , special. I like that. I’m a thousand-year-old vampire . I promise I won’t throw stones. I will find your quirks endearing.”
    “Like that I spaz out about having a conversation, don’t sleep, do all this crazy nervous work, forget to eat , don’t hear my phone, and go space cadet?” I shot right back, gesturing around the room.
    “Yes.” Conall kissed my cheek, holding his lips there longer than normal. “Yes, like that. I just wish I came here sooner so I could have eased your worry. Now, let’s get something in you because I don’t like my woman unattended to.”
    “Okay.” I pouted as he helped me up, feeling like a complete mental case. He pulled out a chair for me at the kitchen table and placed a sandwich in front of me before getting me a Sprite from the fridge, knowing my stomach would be a mess from not eating all day. I couldn’t help but smile, he was truly considerate like that when he was paying attention.
    Then he sat down in the seat next to me and opened up the pop for me, waiting until I took my first bite of food before he spoke. “Now, tell me your biggest concern and we will work from there.”
    “I am a huge pain in the ass to travel with,” I blurted after a moment. “I hate road trips. Being trapped in a car drives me insane and I’m a total bitch. I end up chain-smoking which pisses off anyone I’m with. I can’t let anyone else drive or I have panic attacks that they’re going to drive us off the road or something and into a ditch. Heaven forbid there are mountains, then I’m a complete mess. I’m afraid of heights—more the ravines and we’ll go into one.”
    “There’s always flying.”
    “I’m too fat for plane seats,” I argued.
    “Not anymore,” he reminded me.
    I rolled my eyes as I drank my pop. “ You’re too fat for plane seats. They’re small.”
    “Not on my plane.”
    I blinked at him a moment, slowly setting my pop down. “You own a plane.”
    “I own a plane,” he echoed, smiling widely. “A very nice jet with big, comfy seats, and a flight crew that is at my beck and call so no driving unless you want to. We can rent a car in any city we’re in and you can always drive. I hate driving in America most times to be honest. And city driving infuriates me.”
    “I love city driving,” I hedged, staring at him and losing some of the tension in my shoulders. “I grew up in Chicago. That’s how I learned to drive.”
    “Then that works out. So we use my plane and you drive. I will navigate, as they say.”
    “Um, okay.”
    “What else?”
    “I don’t like strangers touching me. It’s weird.”
    “I will be your bodyguard. I assume