“Really? It feels like a couple of weeks.”
“Awww…”
He slanted his mouth over hers and lowered his lips for a warm kiss. When he pulled back, he whispered, “I love you.”
She smiled, but still didn’t know what to say, knowing he was keeping a secret. “We need to resolve this, if for no other reason than to feel comfortable saying it back…or not.”
He pulled her into his arms and held her. “It’s enough to know you want to.”
“Are you two at it again?”
Morgaine came up behind them, and Roz hadn’t even heard her approach.I guess that’s how distracted I am when this man kisses me.
“Hi, Morgaine.” Konrad stepped away.
Morgaine folded her arms. “I hardly recognized you without your hair. If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought Roz was kissing another guy.”
“Ha. She’d better not.”
That was a little presumptuous.
“I just meant that you’d break my heart.”
Oh, you heard that?
“Yup.” Konrad faced Morgaine. “I understand you’re going out for some pampering?”
He may have been changing the subject, but the girls had to get going anyway. She could talk to him about it later. It seemed like they hada lotto talk about later.
“Yes, I made an appointment at a beauty school. It’s cheaper, since the students get a chance to practice on real volunteers.”
“In other words, you’re guinea pigs?” Konrad scrunched his eyes shut. “Sorry. That didn’t come out right.”
Roz and Morgaine laughed.
“Don’t worry.” Roz patted his arm. “I knew what you meant. It’ll be okay, though. Their instructors are right there, so they can’t screw up. Besides, I can’t look much worse.”
“Hey, cut that out. You’re always beautiful.”
“You don’t have to pretend. I know I’m a little bedraggled. Nathan told me I looked like I’d been hit by a truck.”
“Sounds like something he’d say. What’s going on? Bad day at the courtroom?”
“Yeah, but I’d rather just put that behind me and get to my massage.”
“If all you wanted was a massage…”
Roz held up her hand. “Too much information! Quick, let’s go, Morgaine, before he says something I’ll regret.”
***
Later that evening, Konrad lay in bed reading. He was using his clip-on reading light so his apartment would appear dark. He hated to deceive Roz and avoid her, but he still didn’t know how to tell her what she deserved to know.She’s dating a werewolf.
He hoped she’d still be dating him after he dropped his bombshell, but something else had him worried. What if she didn’t believe him? How could he prove it to her?
She had laughed at the possibility of vampires and werewolves.But legends don’t evolve out of nothing.
He could shift, but that would scare her to death. Hell, it scared him the first several times he witnessed it. Maybe he could demonstrate his super-human strength. But what if she didn’t know werewolves had that kind of strength? She might only think he was freakishly strong, andthatwould reopen the memory of his arrest. If he was capable of, say, lifting his upright piano by himself, perhaps she’d realize he could also lift a freezer.
