I cleared my throat. It was loud in the relative quietness of the car. "Um...Teren..."
"Yeah," he replied, his voice slightly husky.
The alluring sound made my pulse quicken, but I forced my head back to my troubling thoughts. "What was that at the restaurant?"
With a serious expression Teren met and held my eyes. "Well..." he looked back to the road, "sometimes, when a man and a woman really love each other, there is just no other way to express it but physically. And sometimes, the overwhelming desire to be together, takes a person over in the oddest places, and you simply cease to care where you are or who's around." He looked back at me with a wry grin on his lips. "Sometimes urges just need to be filled." His voice when he said that almost made me grab the wheel and make him pull over...but we weren't on the same page.
"I'm not talking about the sex...jackass." I rolled my eyes while he chuckled, clearly enjoying teasing me. "I'm talking about dinner, when you were staring at me like I was a lamb chop...remember?"
He grinned and looked over to me again. "Oh...don't sell yourself short." His eyes roamed up and down my body, making me feel hot all over. "You're filet mignon, at the very least," he whispered.
Again, I ignored his attempt to deter me with his evocative talk. "Will you be serious for a moment and answer me?"
He sighed, and with genuine sincerity on his face, he looked over and whispered, "I don't know, Emma." His eyes went back to the road. "Food has been..." he grimaced, "...losing its appeal to me." He shook his head. "I was eating that steak and thinking about how, if we were at my parents' place, I could have a glass of blood with it." Just his eyes flicked over to mine. "Then I heard your heartbeat and I saw the vein in your neck quiver." His eyes went down to that vein in my neck, as he continued in a husky voice. "I started imagining that sweet warmth filling my mouth, rolling over my tongue, coursing down my throat. I pictured my lips on your skin, the groan you would make in my ear." His eyes raised to meet mine. "I just couldn't care about the steak after that."
Well, holy hell. I didn't care about the steak after that little description. I leaned over and started sucking on his earlobe. His mouth fell open in a heavy exhale. "Take me home, Teren...quickly," I whispered. His foot slammed down on the accelerator.
***
"Teren, I'm not so sure about this..."
Teren paused in picking up our tent, leaving it on his half circle drive for the moment. "It's just camping, Emma. It will be fine, really." He effortlessly lifted the tent up with one hand and shoved the heavy bag into his trunk, like it weighed no more than a pillow.
I scowled at the display. "You can't do stuff like that around them."
He rolled his eyes. "I know that, Emma. I have been doing this for twenty-five years, you know." He indicated the bags and coolers around our feet. "I just don't want to be late, and we've got a lot to pack."
"Teren..." My tone indicated that I wasn't done disagreeing with him yet. He frowned at me as he picked up a full cooler and breezily put it in the car. "He suspects. How are you going to hide your eyes?" I asked.
Teren gave me a blank look, then laughed. "Is that what you're worried about? My eyes?" He continued laughing while I scowled again. It really wasn't that funny...or preposterous. Ben had seen them glow before, and if he saw them this weekend on our little camping excursion, well, who knows what he'd think?
Still laughing, Teren said, "Trust me, Emma, he's already written that off to a weird angle, or a flash of stray light...or a brain aneurism." He looked over at me with a wide grin. "He's not suspecting what you think he is. It's not like I was staring deep into his eyes, trying to seduce him or anything," he quipped.
I twisted my lips at that comment. "Well, even if it was for just a second, he still saw it, and you said it was hard to hide in the countryside-"
He cut me off by walking over and squatting to look me in the eye. "I was playing with you, Emma. Okay? It will be fine."
He kissed me on the cheek as I bit my lip. "But...how are you going to hide it?"
He sighed. "During the day, it obviously won't be a problem." I already knew that, so I waited for him to continue with an impatient expression. "I will be in front of the fire before it gets dark. I will stay within the firelight until you and I retire for the evening." He playfully grabbed me and pulled me tight to his body. "And then, I'll glow all night long for you in our tent. Perfectly alone and perfectly safe...okay?"
I tried to find the flaw in that to argue with, but his lips were on mine then, and my argument drifted off my tongue when his brushed against mine. Darn capable kisser.
Finally, he pulled away from me. "Stop stressing, okay." He continued packing our car while I kept on stressing...in my head.
I imagined all the ways this weekend could go wrong. I imagined the innocent, from Ben seeing him lift our impossibly heavy bag one-handed, to the not-so-innocent: Ben walking in on Teren caving to one of his new, primal urges, and sucking my other leg dry. Both seemed equally possible and equally horrific. But I was still coming. I wasn't about to let my vampire go off to possibly expose himself without me.
Teren finished loading up his Prius, while I watched and worried. Spike, maybe sensing my unease, or maybe just being excited for a road trip, was bounding between Teren and me, circling my legs and licking Teren's arms. After Teren was done loading up our stuff, his fishing pole shoved in last, he bent down and rumpled the fur around his pup's ears.
"Sorry, pal...you can't come this time." I cocked my head and wondered why, while Teren gave his dog kisses on the nose. Looking over, Teren seemed to understand my curious face. "The park only has certain areas you can take dogs, and we'll all probably go fishing so..." he shrugged and stood up, "he'll have to stay home this trip." He ruffled Spike's head one last time, before grabbing his collar. "I don't think Tracey was too thrilled about a dog coming, anyway. I think she's scared of dogs." He threw me one last lopsided grin before walking his Collie around his house, to the large indoor/outdoor kennel that he'd built in the backyard for his beloved pooch.
I chuckled internally at that comment. Tracey was scared of Spike? Teren was ten times more dangerous than that mellow canine. Of course, Tracey didn't realize that, thank God. Teren came back a few moments later without Spike, and I pictured his furry dog finding the fresh rawhide that Teren had left for him, circling a few times on his cozy doggie bed, and burrowing deep into the plush blankets for a long day of bone gnawing-doggie Heaven.
Teren gave me a peck on the cheek, and then we hopped into his car and started the near four hour drive to Yosemite National Park. Teren called Ben on the way over, to let them know we were headed out. It was early Saturday morning and our hope was to be there before noon. I sipped the espresso Teren had made for us while he calmly chatted with Ben for a few more minutes.
My stomach was an anxious mess as I thought over Teren's firelight plan. I started at the feeling of his hand dropping to my knee. "You're worrying."
I looked over to see his lips curved in an amused smile. "One of us should be, Teren. Sometimes, I think you're too casual with your secret."
He frowned. "What would you have me do? Never leave my house? Stay hidden away from the world, so that I never experience any of it?" His eyes drifted back to the road, while his hand went back to the steering wheel. "You're starting to sound like my parents." He shook his head, a little irritated. "I don't want to be scared of what I am...of who might find out. I don't want to spend every day, locked up on a ranch with people just like me." His eyes shifted back to mine. "I want to live, Emma. I want to experience everything this life has to offer. I don't want to hide." His hand reached out and he stroked my cheek. "How else would I have met a fascinating, beautiful woman who irritates and enriches me?"
I grinned and rolled my eyes. I supposed he did have a point. You couldn't really live, if you were always being super cautious. Sometimes risks were warranted. I just wasn't entirely convinced that "camping" was a necessary risk. I forced it to the back of my head. It was Teren's secret. If he was comfortable with this level of exposure, then I guess I would have to be, too. Because really, the last thing I ever wanted to hear him utter again was that I was sounding like his parents.
I sank back into the seat and enjoyed the beauty of the California countryside as it flew by me. Teren squeezed my knee again, turned up the radio, and relaxed back into his seat as well. This weekend would be fine. This weekend would be fun...even if I had to choose to believe that.
We chatted about his work on the way. His newest assignment of, "The Best Bike Trails in the City, That You Don't Know About", was turning into one of his favorite pieces. We chatted about my work and how Clarice had me prep a tax file for Jon Voight, and I briefly got to see the actor in the hall before he disappeared into Mr. Peterson's office. I told Teren that I'd practically met Brad Pitt, and he looked at me with a peculiar expression. Smiling with enthusiasm, I explained that since he was Angelina Jolie's father and she was with Brad Pitt, then I'd just successfully placed myself in "Six Degrees of Separation" with Brad. Yeah, he rolled his eyes at that too.
We were talking about what kinds of fish Teren was hoping to catch on the trip, and he assured me that he'd only use his pole to catch them, when we turned a corner through the scenic sequoias and the focal point of Yosemite Valley came into view. Half Dome peak was one of the most recognizable peaks in the world. It could be seen from nearly everywhere in the valley. It looked like Paul Bunyan had walked right up to the mountain and swung his axe, cleaving the top of it in two. Then Mr. Bunyan had strode off with half the tip and left behind a perfect, well, half dome. It was a breathtaking sight.
A little surprised at how quickly we'd made the long drive, and wondering how fast Teren had pushed his little Prius, I looked around at the thick, green blanket of trees lapping up to the majestic gray peaks that were formed into unique shapes and sizes through eons of erosion and glacial carving. The passage of time deep within the layers of those rocks, made this twenty-five-year-old human girl feel very mortal and insignificant. The entire valley imbued a sense of permanence that was difficult to grasp. Being in this place made you believe that we were all pebbles in a much bigger pond. A pond with infinite edges that we would never fully see or understand...nor were we meant to.
Entering the valley, we drove past what looked like a perfect rectangle of granite, reaching as high as it could towards the Heavens. This particular formation was known as El Capitan, and it was a stopping point for rock climbers from around the world. As we drove miles below it, I imagined I could see tiny humans dangling from seemingly too-thin ropes as they scurried over the dusty surface.
Teren glanced up with me. "Rock climbing might be fun one day," he casually said.
I looked back at him with an Are you serious? face. "After you're all super-healy, you can go up there, but you couldn't pay me to go with you. I'd rather not break every bone in my body...thanks."