“You’re plenty smooth,” she assured him, not at all believing him for a moment. Shannon could have easily juggled more than his fill of women before or after he’d been turned, before he’d even come to live at the mansion, she’d bet. He was good looking, which never hurt to capture interest, but there was something infinitely intriguing about his personality – that quirky charm of his could be irresistible when it was turned full force on you. Eden should know, after all, she’d never intended to actually have feelings for him and now here she was in love with him and far too chicken to open her mouth and actually say the bloody words. She knew she was being a coward, knew it with every fiber of her being, but even that little bit of self-loathing just couldn’t seem to push her into making her confession. She’d been hurt in the past and she’d seen Callum and Juniper torn apart so recently…it just seemed such a big risk to take. She and Shannon had never discussed exclusivity, there had never been any talk of emotions between them; she had no claim to him and he had none for her. What if she said something and ruined it all? What if he didn’t feel the same way, not even slightly? Other than unrequited love, the only more painful thing that could happen to a person was rejection. Eden just wasn’t ready to face that as a possibility, she wasn’t ready to truly lose Shannon so soon after getting him back.
Her second release of the night washed over her so suddenly, so completely, that for a moment or two, Eden swore her vision just completely whited out. Above her, she could feel Shannon’s body start to tense, his rhythm starting to grow more and more erratic as he fought to hang on, fought to make it last. And then he just couldn’t, he had to let go and she stared up at him, watching the shifting emotions in his face before he lowered his head. Had he still be required to breathe, she knew then that she would have heard harsh gasps for oxygen, his lungs would have been burning with the need to fill themselves over and over. Eden stretched out over her sheets, body overheated in that pleasantly well-sexed way, chest heaving softly, limbs buzzing with the aftermath of such a powerful climax. She’d just turned to face Shannon, lips parting to make some sort of comment that was interrupted by him all but jumping from her bed, hurriedly rushing through her bedroom to gather up his clothes. It was hard to deny the sudden sting that shot through her – never before, in any of their encounters with one another, had he ever made it feel as though he just wanted her for sex, just needed a warm body for a few minutes. Even when that was all they’d been to one another, before she’d felt anything more, he’d never made her feel….used. But now, when he couldn’t even look at her, it was difficult for Eden to feel much of anything else. “You have to leave?” she moved to sit up, reaching down to pull her sheet up, to wrap it around herself, “Why? Shannon, you just got here….there are still a few hours until the bloody sun comes up.” And, even when it did, her house had the proper necessities to block out those irritating rays – after all, sometimes having a vampire for a boss could pay off. “Wait,” she reached out to catch his wrist, trying to get him just to look at her, “I thought we were alright, what’s going on? What’s changed?” What had happened in those last few minutes that was suddenly sending him all but running out her door?