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I’d also wanted to tumble her back into bed.
I’d actually woken before her, but I hadn’t moved an inch. I’d been way too comfortable where I was. If I hadn’t known that fucking her once more would have given her mixed signals, I would have draped my body over hers and buried my cock inside her. But our day together had reached its end, and the next evening had already began, so I’d kept my hands to myself.
Reuben frowned at me. “It’s not like you to be so tight-lipped. Not that you brag about the women you bed, but you don’t usually give us a death stare for asking questions.”
Well I didn’t usually crave women like they were a fucking drug. “We playing another round or what?”
Harvey leaned forward, all nosiness. “I know you’re not purposely trying to intrigue me, Damien, but the more you avoid talking about her, the more I want to know why.”
Oh for fuck’s sake.
“Same here,” said Chico, his mouth curved. “I’m not getting the sense that she pissed you off or anything, Day.” He studied me for a few moments. “You like this girl, don’t you?”
Perceptive motherfucker. “If you’d rather I dealt out the cards, hand them over.”
“Yeah, you like this girl.” Harvey sank back in his seat. “I gotta wonder why you’re here with us, then, instead of rolling around the sheets with her.”
It wasn’t obvious? “She’s human,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, but if you’re going to struggle to keep away from her, going cold turkey is the worst thing you can do. You’ll just make her forbidden fruit, and that’ll make her even more tempting. And that temptation will be in your face pretty much every night, which’ll make the whole thing even harder.”
The man wasn’t wrong. But I knew better than to touch her again. I instinctively knew I’d never be able to fuck her out of my system. That wouldn’t work with Lexi. The more I touched her, the more I’d want her. “This is one of those situations where keeping your distance is best,” I explained, purposely vague.
“Fair enough,” said Harvey.” But do you think you can?”
“Yes.” Probably.
“That right there was a lie, my friend. Look, I agree it’s best for you not to get seriously involved with her, given she’s human. But here’s the thing. You’re not the only guy who had his eye on Lexi. The others resisted making a move because, like you, they knew she needed time to get used to our kind. I think some also noticed you were clearly into her, and they didn’t want to piss you off so hung back. Once it becomes known that you had your taste of her and you’re done, all those guys will make their own play.”
My gut twisted, and I barely bit back a growl.
“Yeah, I can see you’re not good with that idea. Well, if you’re not sure you could handle seeing her with anyone else so soon, you need to do something about it.” Harvey clicked his fingers. “Ooh, claim her as your vessel.”
My heart leaped. I’d never asked a human to be exclusively mine to feed from, but plenty of other vampires had claimed vessels at one time or another. It wasn’t always sexual. People mostly did it when they didn’t want an impersonal feeding arrangement.
“Then you’d have rights to her,” Harvey went on. “No other guy on the island would dare touch her. And you could walk away when you were ready.”
It was a fucking brilliant idea.
It was also a terrible idea.
Brilliant, because her blood was goddamn addictive, and I was a little too possessive where she was concerned to deal well with other men crowding her.
Terrible, because there was every chance I’d just become more and more territorial of her. That couldn’t end well at all.
“Is she one of the humans who hope to be Turned?” asked Reuben.
I pursed my lips. “I doubt it.” She hadn’t said or done anything to give me the impression that vampirism appealed to her. She hadn’t asked about the transformation, the lifestyle, my gift, or anything else vampire-related. She had asked if some humans became addicted to being fed from, but that didn’t hint at her hoping to be Turned.
“Unless you ask her, you won’t know,” Reuben pointed out.
“She hangs with a vampire,” said Harvey. “She and Maisy are tight. It could be that Lexi so easily befriended her because she wants to be Turned at some point in the future. It might not be the near future. Some humans want to enjoy their ‘best years’ before having their genetic makeup frozen in place.”
Chico nodded, idly shuffling the cards. “You could ask Coach or Jared if Lexi has put in an application to be Turned. They’d tell you.”
I scratched my temple. “I don’t know if—” I cut off as a gust of molecules rushed into the room and then reformed into Stuart. I tensed at the hard look on his face. “What’s wrong?” I asked, unease pricking at me.
