Sunrise at Sunset by Jaz Primo Page B

just watching him sip his tea. It was satisfying simply to sit across the table from him with no impediments to her interest in him. Gone were the premises of the college environment in which she initially sought him. He was hers to focus on entirely. She momentarily paused to consider the possessive nature of her thoughts and found that they suited her.
    “Do you like it?” she asked. “Granted, it’s not coffee, as I originally suggested.”
    “It’s tasty, actually,” he conceded with a hint of surprise. “I don’t drink a lot of coffee anyway.”
    In truth, he didn’t tend to stray too far outside of his comfort zone, even when it came to tea. But that night had a different feel to it; somehow daring, yet surprisingly comforting to him. “Yes,” he added, his mind back on the tea. “It’s light, but there’s a sweet hint of nuts and something buttery.”
    She nodded with a smile while sipping appreciatively from a cup of the same flavor. She relished that vampires could appreciate many beverages and even some foods, though they derived no nutrition from them. In fact, large quantities of human food usually caused her unpleasant digestive effects.
    “What did you want to talk about?” he asked.
    She regarded him for a moment, once again reveling in the intimacy of their conversation. “Anything,” she said simply. “Tell me about yourself.”
    He smiled, not having expected such an open-ended invitation. And yet he frowned ever so slightly as he considered whether it were appropriate to be sitting across the table from her.
    “Am I complicating anything?” she asked in an intentionally vague fashion. While Katrina didn’t want to cause him undue guilt over being here with her, she also didn’t really care what Melanie might think. The more that she learned about Melanie, the less she liked her.
    “Um, not complicated, really,” Caleb offered awkwardly before pausing to collect his thoughts. The truth was that after the conversation with Melanie earlier that evening, he wasn’t at all certain just how much more complicated anything could be between the two of them. Even after six months or more he still wasn’t entirely sure where he and Melanie stood as a couple. Just when he thought he had it figured out, another unexpected event sprang up. Overall, he sometimes felt that he was just “Mister Right Now” when it came to his girlfriend.
    Katrina noted his struggle and patiently waited for him to continue.
    “What I mean is, I want to be here with you,” he said finally with a sheepish smile.
    He’s cute , she mused. Much like when he was a child.
    “I’m glad to hear it,” she answered with an encouraging smile. “Because I want to be here with you, too.”
    They sipped their tea for a moment, silently appreciating each other’s company. Then something that had been on Caleb’s mind since he first saw Katrina in class came to the forefront of his thoughts.
    “Forgive me if this sounds strange,” he tentatively began. “But do we know each other from somewhere? And not from class, of course. What I mean is, have we met somewhere before?”
    Katrina curiously arched one eyebrow at him, and fell silent for a moment. He still doesn’t remember , she confirmed. She was surprised that the little hypnosis trick during his childhood had worked so well. However, he obviously has some orphaned sense of awareness in the back of his mind , she assessed as an afterthought.
    “You’re looking at me like I’m the subject of a study,” he noted with a hint of amusement.
    “Sorry,” she apologized before carefully answering his original question. “I’ve only been in Atlanta for a few months now. I relocated here earlier in the summer.”
    He frowned and nodded. “Oh, I see.”
    Katrina hoped that would be the end of that line of thought for the moment.
    “Well then, what about pastimes? Shopping? Reading?” he politely inquired, but with an immediate sense that it was a horribly generic