Awkward

Rose sat on her bed filled with guilt and panic. Not only her actions, but also Caleb's words continued to run through her mind. She couldn't understand why she had reacted the way she had. There was no logical explanation for her response to him.

Caleb insisted her reaction to him was due to hidden feelings she had towards him, but she refused to believe that. Yes, Caleb was a woman's dream come true, a real-life Alpha vampire who ruled the city and very possibly the world. He had money and power and his devilish good looks were unmatched by anyone she'd ever met before.

But she already had her dream guy. She was in love with Jack, so there was no reason for her to react to Caleb. There had to be another explanation for her reaction earlier. She needed to find a way to rationalize the events or she was going to go mad.

Her cheeks burned as his words rang through her mind. He wanted to do more to her. Of course he did, he was a beast! He was a vampire so of course he had thought about things like that. Although, the more she thought about it, the more she couldn't help but wonder about what kind of things he had already imagined. How far had he gone already?

A knock at the door made her jerk in panic. Her cheeks burned hotter as guilt and shame ran through her realizing where her thoughts had been going. Her heart pounded in her chest as she looked towards the door. "C-come in," she said, voice trembling nervously.

"It's just me ma'am."

Rose sighed in relief hearing Barbara's voice. She smiled as she watched the woman walk in the door with a tray in her hands.

"I'm here to bring you some tea," she said with a smile as she made her way towards the bed.

Rose frowned. "That's very kind of you. Thank you," she said, taking the cup of tea in her hand. She took a sip and let the chamomile run down her throat. Warmth ran through her and she slowly felt more relaxed. She took another sip and smiled.

"Master sent it," Barbara said, smiling as she watched Rose calm down.

Rose froze with the teacup in her hand. She looked up at the woman and frowned. "Why did he send tea?"

"I'm not sure," Barbara responded. She too had been a little surprised by her master's request.

Her eyes narrowed as she thought about his reasons. Was he mocking her because of what had happened earlier? Did he really think he had riled her up so much she needed tea to calm down? She scoffed and put the teacup back on the tray. "I'm done thank you."

Barbara smiled, but said nothing about the unfinished tea. "If you need anything else please let me know miss," she said as she turned around to leave.

Rose watched the woman leave, mind whirling with emotions as she thought about Caleb's actions. Was she reading too much into it? No. She had been here for days and this was the first time he had sent her tea. He was mocking her. He had to be. Her eyes narrowed further, emotions running out of control as anger began to replace any guilt.

The morning slowly passed by and she sighed when her stomach began to grumble. She had skipped lunch, being too embarrassed and scared to meet him, but she was human, she needed food to live. Her pride wasn't going to feed her. Reluctantly she walked out of her room and began to walk towards the dining room.

"You finally came out," Caleb said with a smile as he met her in the hallway. He stood by the stairs; hands in his pockets, watching as she came closer to him.

Her back stiffened when she heard his voice. She cleared her throat and tried to smile as she stopped and looked up at him. "I got hungry."

He nodded. "Of course," he said as he inspected her from top to bottom. "If you had come down for lunch, that would have never happened." His smile grew wider as he watched her smile nervously.

She chuckled dryly. "I had some things to think about. I wanted to be alone." Alone so I could wallow in guilt and self-pity, she thought to herself.

His eyebrows lifted. "May I ask what you were thinking about?" His smile turned into a crooked grin as he watched her cheeks turn red.

"I know you don't want me to sleep alone, so I've decided to sleep with Barbara. You can rest peacefully at night knowing I won't be alone, and I can sleep peacefully… not sleeping with you," she said, her eyes narrowing at him.

He chuckled at her words. "No."

She sighed and her eyes narrowed at him. "What is it with you and-"

"You already know the situation. The only person I trust with your safety is myself."

She looked away from him, irritated. "So, who's supposed to keep me safe from you?" she asked, through clenched teeth.

He leaned over until his mouth was almost touching her ear. "No one," he whispered.

She shivered as his breath tickled her ear and quickly pulled away from him, gulping. "You… stop doing that!" she demanded as she rubbed her ear.

He chuckled, amused by her reaction to him. "Doing what?"

"Stop trying to make me nervous Caleb! I know you're doing it on purpose!"

The corner of his lips lifted into a mischievous grin. "I make you nervous?"

She stared blankly at him as she considered his question, mesmerized by his smile. Her cheeks burned hotter and she felt her heart racing quicker. "Um… no… you don't," she said.

"Of course I do," he said as he leaned into her close enough to have their breaths mingling together. He kept his hands in his pockets to keep himself from touching her. He watched her gulp nervously, and it only made him want to tease her more. "Now that you've realized you have feelings for me it's only natural for you to be nervous around me," he whispered as he looked into her eyes.

Her eyes widened with his words and she felt a shiver ran down her body. She quickly stepped back and looked around, making sure no one had heard his words. "What are you saying in public?" she hissed. "I told you that whatever happened didn't work! Your vampire thing is obviously broken!"

He chuckled at her reaction and closed the gap she had made between them once again.

Rose swallowed nervously as she felt his eyes watching her, as if wanting to catch every tiny detail. Her cheeks turned hotter. She knew he wanted to counter her words, to say she was lying. Was she lying? Did she have feelings for this devil after only knowing him for a few days? Impossible.

Caleb smiled as he watched her mind running wildly.

"Please stop saying embarrassing things that aren't true." She turned around and quickly walked down the stairs towards the dinning room, not bothering to wait for him.

He continued to watch as she ran away from him, knowing he was finally getting to her. He had been worried and a little scared that she was going to shut him out after what happened earlier, but her reaction to him now was only giving him hope and encouraging him to continue getting closer to her. With a bright smile, he followed her towards the dinning room.

From the moment she sat down to eat, she could feel his eyes on her, making her nerves stand on edge. Her hands were beginning to sweat and her heart was beating furiously, making her cheeks burn with embarrassment.

Caleb smiled knowing how nervous she was. Her cheeks were red and her heart was racing, but she still refused to look at him. It was very amusing. "Have you done what I asked?" he asked as he turned to look at Katherine.

Katherine nodded and looked up at him. "Yes, they're moving things right now. After dinner everything will be in your room."

"Perfect," Caleb said, pleased.

Rose frowned. They were talking about her things, not that she had much to begin with. When she had moved in, she hadn't brought much with her, hoping that luck would be on her side and she wouldn't have to live here long. She didn't want to stay in the same room with him. Especially after what happened earlier. Was there really no way out of it?

Caleb watched as her eyebrows kept furrowing further as time passed. He was aware how much she hated the idea of staying with him, but he wasn't going to let this go. He wanted to be with her day and night, not only to protect her, an excuse he had used to move her to his room, but to get closer to her and speed things up between them. He was determined to have her fall in love with him no matter what it took.