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“I haven’t been a vampire for very long, but I’m pretty sure I can’t toss someone like that,” I said, wincing as the wound in my shoulder closed. “I want her tested for steroids.”
“She’s been drinking the blood of older vampires for years. It makes her the equivalent of an East German gymnast, ” Dick called over his shoulder. He glared at Missy. “Trust me, I know.”
This prompted more indignant chatter from Missy. I groaned, clutching Gabriel’s arms. “Gabriel, I don’t want this to be the way you remember me. Just leave now, before I get my ass handed to me by a sorority reject from hell. I ’m sorry I dragged you into my weird, drama-ridden existence. I’m sorry I screwed things up so badly with you and me. I’m sorry I have the emotional maturity of a grapefruit.”
He grinned, his fangs glinting. “You don’t have the emotional maturity of a grapefruit. A tangerine, maybe, but I think you’ve got to work your way up to grapefruit.”
I smacked his chest. “You’re joking. I’m going to be beaten to death with a hot-pink faux-alligator handbag, and you pick now to develop a sense of humor.”
“You’re not going to be beaten to death,” Gabriel said in a bemused, soothing tone. He held his wrist to my lips. “Drink.”
Sensing Gabriel’s maneuver, Dick began arguing in a louder, more demanding tone, casting aspersions on Missy’s character, business acumen, and sexual prowess. She screamed back that she faked something a lot. I didn ’t catch what, but I think I can guess.
“I don’t think now is the time for naughty blood-swapping fun,” I said, shoving Gabriel’s arm away. “Besides…” I jerked my head toward Zeb. “He’s watching.”
Zeb waved my concerns away. His eyes were glued to Dick and Missy baring fangs and snarling insults. “I can’t tear myself away from the most frightening breakup fight I’ve ever seen.”
Gabriel nudged his wrist toward me again. “You’ll absorb some of my strength. It will help you.”
“It’s just that, drinking your blood, it’s kind of what got me into this mess,” I said.
“I didn’t see you complaining when you were dying along the roadside,” he huffed. “Or when we were making love.”
“What?” Zeb shouted.
“Zeb, shut it,” I warned.
Gabriel ran his hands through his hair, making it stand on end in a wild Beethoven that would have been hilarious under different circumstances. “Would you please just accept help from me and stop being so, so—”
“So Jane?” Zeb suggested.
“Zeb!” Gabriel warned.
“OK, you need to back off,” I said, poking Gabriel’s chest. “You’re suffocating me. You never tell me anything unless it’s your ‘listen to Daddy’ voice, which is incredibly annoying in someone you have feelings for. I never know how you feel about me, about anything, except that you like to see me naked, and you have caveman ‘must protect Jane’ impulses. I’m not a mind reader.”
“Technically, you kind of are,” Zeb volunteered.
We both growled at Zeb, our fangs bared.
“Shutting up!” Zeb said, throwing up his hands and backing away.
“I don’t write love poems,” Gabriel said. “I don’t cuddle. I don’t spend hours on the phone, cooing, ‘No, you hang up first.’
I was raised in a time when if you had feelings for a woman, you proposed or you made her your mistress. I think, given the circumstances, you should give me credit for being as evolved as I am.”
Damned if he didn’t have a point. But I would have to hand over my womanhood membership card if I ever admitted it.
“You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you?”
I threw my arms up. “I don’t even know what it is.”
He sighed, a short snort of impatience. “I like you. You’re unpredictable, and you always say what you think, even if it would be better if you didn’t. You get yourself into situations that Moliere couldn’t think of.”
“OK, OK, so you like me.”
“Yes, I think we should see each other on an exclusive basis, ” he said. I stared at him. “I am your sire, and we’ve made love.”
“I’m familiar with your résumé,” I said, shushing him with another furtive look at Zeb. “This is not a good time for this.”
