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Kade sucks in a breath and laughs. “I think you’ve traumatized him.”
“What?” I say, chewing my lip. “Sorry, I just… I’m not good at cooking.”
Gabriel’s expression is priceless—it’s as if I’ve just insulted his ancestors or something.
I arch a brow at Gabriel. “You going to live?”
His lips finally curve into that smile I’ve come to be rather fond of. “I’m going to teach you, because this is simply unacceptable.”
I smile a little, then lift a piece of lasagna to my mouth and chew. “Deal.”
* * *
I’m cleaning up after dinner when Lex slides in behind me, circling his arm around my waist and tugging me back against him.
“Come with me,” he says, his lips brushing the shell of my ear and making me squirm and turn in his grasp.
My eyes flick between his, which are glimmering with what I can only describe as excitement, though there’s underlying darkness in them too. I’ve come to realize that’s just his normal look, though—a little wild. “Where?”
The corner of his mouth kicks up. “My favorite place.”
I arch a brow. “Not really a helpful answer, Lex.”
He leans in, lifting his other hand and using his pinky finger to move a few rogue pieces of hair away from my face. I hold my breath—and his gaze—until he says, “I have an appointment with my tattoo artist. I want you to come.”
A burst of excitement flares in my belly, and I can’t help the smile that forms on my lips. I’m more than happy to get out of this house for a while, and I’ve never been inside a tattoo parlor. “Yeah, okay.”
Before I know what he’s doing, he dips his face and kisses my cheek, then steps back. “Meet me in the garage in half an hour.”
I retreat to my room and change into a warmer shirt, adding a denim jacket, and tug on my Doc Martens. After pulling a comb through my hair, I twist it into a messy bun on the top of my head and grab my phone from the table beside my bed on my way out of the room.
Lex is leaning against the wall beside the garage door when I walk into the living room, and there’s a little bounce in my step as I approach, which he picks up on and grins.
“Remember what I said,” Kade says from the couch, and I turn my head to look at him. I haven’t even noticed him sprawled there on his phone. “If you’re going to get my name in a heart, I want it to be atomically correct.” He’s talking to Lex, who rolls his eyes in response. Kade’s gaze shifts to me. “And what’s our girl getting?”
Our girl.
Those words make my pulse jump, and I shake my head. “I’m just going to watch.”
His eyes sparkle with mischief. “Watching can be fun.”
It’s my turn to roll my eyes as I turn back to Lex, and he opens the garage door, gesturing for me to walk ahead of him. I step into the concrete room and peer around at the collection of high-end cars.
“Pick one,” Lex says, pausing at the wall with a board of key fobs.
I purse my lips, trailing my gaze over the selection before pointing to the sleek black Tesla.
“Good choice.” He grabs a key, and I follow him to the car. He opens the passenger side, and I slide in. Moving too fast for my eyes to track, he gets behind the wheel and starts the engine. The car runs silently as we drive out of the garage, the door opening then closing behind us.
It’s dark and unseasonably chilly outside as we drive toward downtown. The street lights cast a golden glow on the road, and the headlights from cars going the opposite direction make me squint. “Isn’t it kind of late for a tattoo shop to be open?”
Lex flicks the blinker on and switches lanes to pass a car. “My artist, Scarlett, runs her own place and works by appointment only.”
“And she has appointments after ten o’clock at night?” I peer out the window, watching the buildings and trees go by. “Wait.” I turn my head in his direction. “Is she a vampire?”
Lex laughs. “Nah. She’s just a kickass artist who makes her own schedule, which is lucky for me.”
“Does she know about you?”
