Excerpt
"Will you let me take you away for the new year, Mairin?" Mathias asked as we made our way out to the parking. The bell had just rung, putting an end to the last day of school before Christmas break began. I wanted to rush out of the building to escape the inevitable, "Have a nice break," and "Merry Christmas" conversations, but Mathias was moving disturbingly slow. His question brought our progress to a standstill as I stared at him, stunned. This was the first time he'd ever suggested we go anywhere together outside of Highland Home or East Hampton. I certainly wasn't going to count that ill-fated trip to England as a vacation, so what was he up to?
"Just the two of us, or are you planning on dragging my entire family along as chaperones?" I asked. For over a year, I had felt as though I'd slipped back in time to the 19th century. Mathias was annoyingly old fashioned when it came to private time for the two of us. He saw it as an affront to his status as a gentleman if there weren't others in the room with us at all times. The fact that my friends and the family members who knew Mathias was a vampire insisted on watching our every move made Mathias' preferences for chaperones easy to maintain. I, on the other hand, hated the lack of alone time or intimacy forced upon me by my boyfriend's antiquated ideas on dating and the over-protective nature of my family.
"If your mother and Tawnya will permit it, I would like it to be just the two of us," he said. The tiny, shy smile I loved best lifted the corners of his lips and I felt myself twirling down into a beautiful fantasy of alone time and no chaperones and maybe a little less refined behavior on his part. As the fantasy got into full swing, I shook myself. No matter if we could go away together or not, what I wanted from Mathias he would never give me.