“Okay,” I said, nodding, bracing myself. “Open the door.”
I held my breath—only to blow it out in surprised laughter a moment later when he opened the closet door and I saw what was inside.
“Frederick,” I breathed, incredulous.
“I know,” he agreed.
“Why are there so many pineapples in here?”
“Not just pineapples.”
He pushed the pineapples—there had to be at least a dozen of them—over to one side of the shelf they rested on. Behind them were rows of persimmons, kumquats, and other brightly colored fruits I didn’t even recognize.
“Some vampires have impressive abilities like turning wine into blood, or being able to fly, or turning back time,” he continued ruefully. “Unfortunately, all I can do is somewhat involuntarily conjure fruit when I’m nervous.”
I reached inside the closet and picked up a small, rather squashy thing that looked like a pear but smelled like an orange. “This is what you’ve been hiding in here all this time?”
“Yes,” he said. “You can eat it, in case you were wondering.”
“I can?”
He nodded. “It should be perfectly edible. Every week I bring whatever I’ve conjured to a local food pantry. Or else gift them to you.”
I thought back to the basket of kumquats he gave me the day I moved in. The bowl of various citrus fruits he kept on the kitchen counter.
“Oh,” I said.
“My rate of production has skyrocketed since you moved in. I seem to be nervous all the time, these days.”
The idea I made him nervous was hard to believe, but I decided to let it go.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this?” His eyes widened, and I quickly added, “Not that it’s a huge deal, your not telling me. I’m just curious.”
“It’s one of the most ridiculous vampire powers in recorded history. And a pointless one, given that vampires cannot eat fruit.” He rubbed at the back of his neck, averting his eyes. “By the time you knew what I really was, I wanted you to think I was impressive. Not just some clueless accidental kumquat conjurer.”
A rush of warmth went through me. “You wanted to impress me?”
He nodded. “I still do.”
I couldn’t make sense of this. He wanted to impress me? Frederick was a three-hundred-and-twenty-year-old immortal. I was just . . . me.
I leaned back against the wall behind me for support. “But . . . why? I’m nobody.”
His eyes snapped to mine, his gaze so intense it was like looking directly into the sun. “How can you say such a thing?”
My eyes fell to my shoes. “Because it’s true.”
All at once he was pressing me up against the wall, forearms bracketing my head, his gaze furious. His face was mere inches from mine. “I have never heard something less true in my life.”
“But—”
He cut me off with his lips, kissing me with a ferocity I hadn’t seen from him before. I parted my lips reflexively and he wasted no time, tongue plunging into my mouth as though he’d never be able to get enough of my taste. He kissed me like his life depended on it, like a man possessed, and I was helpless to do anything but kiss him back, wrapping my arms around him, nearly swooning at the feeling of every part of his long, hard body pressing needfully against mine.
“You. Are. Amazing,” he murmured, each word punctuated with hard, feverish kisses to my lips, my jaw, my throat. I melted against him, feeling in danger at any moment of slipping down the wall at my back and falling into a puddle on the floor.
“Frederick,” I breathed. His hands roamed my body possessively, leaving behind trails of heat despite the chill of his touch. I felt fever-bright and lighter than air.
But he wasn’t finished. “You are kind, and generous,” he continued. “Even after you found out what I was you didn’t abandon me, because you knew I needed your help. In all my years I have never met anyone more committed to remaining true to who they are than you are.” He pulled back, looking directly into my eyes. The heated look he gave me could have melted an iceberg. “Do you have any idea how precious that is, Cassie? How rare?”
His eyes were dark, incandescent pools, pleading with me to understand.
But I didn’t.
“No,” I said. “I don’t think there’s anything particularly special about me at all.”
His jaw clenched. “Then please,” he began, his voice hoarse and dripping with promise, “please allow me to show you how wrong you are.”