He'll Be the Death of Me, I Swear

Gentlemen And Their Human Traits

Landyn looked around the room, taking in every little detail, before his eyes returned to me.

"You weren't exaggerating about your mother," he realized. I nodded, sad. He shook his head. "Sorry, I shouldn't have brought that up." He pulled me into his arms and kissed me softly.

"It's okay," I said in a daze after he pulled away. He smirked. "So what do we do now?"

"You could show me around your house," he suggested and I decided to do just that. I grabbed his hand--loving the sensation of his skin--and led him into the kitchen, the only other room on the first floor of my home.

"This is the kitchen and this concludes the tour of floor one," I told him with a laugh. "Our house is a bit small, so all there is to this floor is the kitchen and the living room. The upper level is just two bedrooms and a bathroom."

"So we're not going up there? What if I have to go to the bathroom?" Landyn asked innocently.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt." Instead of me taking him up the stairs, Landyn pulled me behind him. I pointed out my mother's room closest to the stairs and then the bathroom as he dragged me until we got to my room. He pulled me in and I sat on my bed as he walked around my room. The wind blew through my open window and the door slammed shut in the breeze. I jumped to my feet, startled, and felt Landyn's arms around me.

"Landyn?" I choked out.

"The one and only, my love." His lips moved to my neck and deja vu struck me. My dream... I started squirming as he kissed the bend between my neck and shoulder. "Do you know what you do to me? How hard it is to control myself and behave as a human--no, gentleman--should?" he muttered quickly.

"Landyn..." my thoughts were scrambled but I had to keep them together somehow. I had to. I avoided his questions and threw an obvious question together. "Why are we in my room, alone, door shut?"

"I needed to discuss some things with you in private," he said, kissing my jawline. I wasn't used to any of this--especially not the strange feeling in my stomach, but it wasn't a bad one.

"Then maybe we should get down to business." I wasn't so sure that that was what I wanted, but he nodded and pulled himself away from him, sitting down on my bed. I took my spot beside him and urged him to speak.

"Here's the thing: you love your mother and I can make it so cancer won't be the end of her." I stared at him with wide eyes.

"Then come on!" I screamed, suddenly on my feet as I tried to pull him to his. He didn't budge an inch.

"I'm not done. I'll do this, but I want some things in return." I didn't like this one bit. He didn't mean...here and now...did he? "No, not that. But you have to promise me that if I stop the cancer, you will fulfill your end of the bargain."

"Which is?"

"I'll tell you in due time. Do we have a deal?"

I stood tensely before him. He was asking me to sell my soul to him for my mother's life. It seemed like a fair trade, but what if he was lying?

"Don't worry, I'm a man of my word. I will prove she is cancer-free before I request anything on your part."

"When will you cure her?" I asked him, relaxing more as time passed.

"As soon as possible. I could do it now, if you agree to my terms." He stood up before me and I gulped.

"Yes," I choked.

"It's a deal." He crushed his lips to mine and I kissed back, hoping he really could save her

If he couldn't...that was a horrible prank.