Heart of Stone - Book 2: Hearts Collide

Stone had learned to forgive others from Amora at a very young and tender age, but it was through Adelaide that he learned to forgive himself.

Aubree sounded like Adelaide right there, and he chided himself for comparing her but he couldn’t help it. Only Adelaide would say something like that. Only Adelaide could bring him to his knees and worship the ground she walked on.

At that moment, he could have sworn that it was her standing before him—like she did that day in 1848 when he came home with blood on his hands.

Blood that belonged to neither him nor vampire.

Stone and Aubree’s date was starting off on the wrong foot and he didn’t like it. He wanted to hear her laughter, see her smiling and enjoy herself in the one place in the city that reminded him of her. More importantly, he wanted to set her spirit free from the cage she held it in the last few weeks.

Pulling away from her warm embrace, he gazed down at her like the beautiful rose she was. “Let us continue. We haven’t arrived at our destination yet.” He reached for the pink helmet and set it on her head.

Relief washed over her. “Oh good. You had me worried there. I couldn’t figure out why you would take me to a church.”

He smirked. “We’re almost there and I want you to be in good spirits when you see where we’re going. It wouldn’t be the same if you were upset.”

A faint blush tinted her cheeks as she nodded. Tilting his head to catch the breeze, he could already smell the fresh water of the tree-lined lake. He hoped she would like it.

Pulling his own helmet on, he climbed on the bike in front of her and started it up. Returning to West 50th Street, they passed by the public school next to the church. Its field and playgrounds were quiet and empty as classes had already begun for the day. Soon, they pulled up to the traffic lights at the corner of West 50th Street and West Minnehaha Parkway with Lynnhurst Park on the corner. The ballpark fields were quiet but two small toddlers played in the playground while their mothers watched nearby. West Minnehaha Parkway was lined with trees. The buds from weeks ago had all opened up in a lush canopy of green leaves overhead.

Aubree wasn’t the only one who didn’t want to ride the motorcycle at high speeds on a busy highway, but Stone as well. Even with earplugs to dull the roar of the motorcycle’s engine, the added hum of traffic wasn’t as pleasant as driving down quiet backroads.

Here, under the trees, is where he felt his heart soar as the wind tugged against him.

As the lake came into view, he slowed down and called over his shoulder. “Aubree, look over my shoulder.”

She straightened, her hand gripping his shoulder, and a little muffled gasp greeted his ears. “There’s a lake in the middle of the city?”

He smirked as they pulled up to a stop sign in front of the lake. “Of course. What would Minneapolis be without a few lakes? Minnesota is the land of ten thousand lakes, after all. I had hoped this would be a surprise. This is Lake Harriet.”

He made a right onto East Lake Harriet Parkway, where the tree-lined street along the lake would take them north to the gardens. Aubree nestled herself against his back as she watched them pass by the lake with all of the lush vegetation all around them.

Part of the Minneapolis Chain of Lakes, Lake Harriet was about three hundred acres in size and surrounded by parkland. A bird sanctuary occupied the north end of the lake with a bandshell on its west end and two gardens on its east.

He took her to the gardens first. When he made a right turn onto Roseway Road, he told Aubree to look on her right. On the left were trees concealing the parking lot and across from that was the rose garden. Rows and rows of rose bushes were lined up before a round fountain.

She was silent but the increased pitter-patter of her heart was loud and clear.

Smiling, he pulled the motorcycle into the parking lot. There were only a few cars parked, which meant he could get all the privacy he wanted with Aubree in the gardens.

He could smell the garden a half-mile back. When he climbed off the bike and took both of their helmets off, he grinned down at Aubree as she hopped off the bike.

“You brought me to a garden?” she asked as he took her hand and laced her fingers with his.

“Yes. Do you smell them?”

Her lovely hazel eyes closed as she inhaled the fragrance on in the air before her eyes fluttered open. “Yeah.”

He leaned down and nuzzled the top of her head with his nose. “This is how you smell to me, only your rose scent is mixed with vanilla. It doesn’t matter where I am, when you are with me, I am surrounded by my own personal rose garden.”

Her grin was infectious as she wound her arms around his neck and tilted her gaze up to meet his. “Is that so?”

Playfulness tugged on the corners of her eyes and lips. He couldn’t help but mirror it. “Indeed, it's true.”

“Well, you,” she emphasized, “smell like the earth.” Warmth flourished in her cheeks as she tucked her chin closer to her chest and looked down. “Which is fitting, I guess. Roses need soil to grow.”

Smiling at the analogy, he tucked a few loose strands of hair behind her ears, lifted her off of the bike, and held her against his chest. Kissing the top of her head, he asked the Goddess what he did to deserve this—this second chance. He would cherish these moments before she learned the truth of his past. Would she still want him then, knowing that he’d killed more than vampires over the course of his life?

She would find out eventually. Secrets had a way of wriggling up from the darkest depths and breaking through the barriers that kept them locked away.

He hoped she’d be ready to accept them when they did.