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She didn’t answer. Just waited in front of her microwave until it chimed. Then, she took the small plastic tray and sat down at her kitchen table.
Bones took the seat opposite her.
“I’m not offering you any,” she finally said, arching a brow at him. “My neck and I already know that you ate.”
“That wasn’t about feeding,” he said, searching her face. Her expression was closed off, but from her scent, she was no longer angry at him. Instead, a hint of restlessness emanated from her, as if she were trying to hold something back that fought to be free.
“Right, that was about you making yourpoint.”
Her emphasis on the last word was either sarcasm or wryness. He couldn’t tell which, and she pretended to be absorbed in her meal, so he couldn’t see her eyes to find out.
“Next time, maybe use something other than my jugular as your Exhibit A?” she went on.
“That wasn’t your jugular.” Memory filled his voice as she finally met his eyes. “That would have made you pass out too quickly, and I wanted you to have time to decide to stop me or not. So, I bit around your jugular. That’s why it took longer, and why I could enjoy slowly drawing your blood into me.”
She didn’t say anything. Just stared at him while the air became charged with that same magnetic pull that Bones had always felt toward her. From the new green glint in her eyes, like emeralds scattered across steel, she felt it, too. She swallowed as if finally remembering that she’d taken a bite before Bones had spoken. Then, she set her fork down.
“So…you’re hell-bent on not going away until this danger with Ian has passed, and you’ve also neutralized whoever’s waving a check around for my corpse, right?”
“That’s right,” Bones replied.
“And you probably followed me earlier when I went into work to see if I’d try to fly the coop?”
Oh, he didn’t thinkshe’dtry that, but the end result would have been the same. “Let’s just say that no plane would have made it off the ground there today.”
“I suppose you followed me to Noah’s, too, and eavesdropped on that?” she asked, her tone now bristly.
She wouldnottry to shame him for the same jealousy she also felt. “I admit my lack of rationality when it comes to you. You saved that man’s life by breaking up with him today because if I’d listened to anything more erotic happening between the two of you, I would have snapped him in half.”
She leaned forward, her gaze turning hard. “Leave Noah alone. He doesn’t believe in vampires, ghouls, or anything more supernatural than Santa Claus, so you’d betternothurt him.”
Oh, he already knew that Noah was oblivious to who Cat was and what she did. It had only taken Bones one minute in Noah’s presence to realize that he was even more of a human teddy bear than Cat’s former college mate, Timmie, had been.
“If I intended to kill Noah, I’d have done it before you ever realized that I was in town. But you can hardly expect me not to feel hostile toward the bloke. Remember your response when I kissed Felicity last night?”
Anger flittered over her face before she could conceal her reaction.
Bones gave her a knowing look.My point exactly.
She leaned back with a sigh. “Fine. We both have feelings for each other, and you think it can work despite my job and my mother’s virulent hatred of vampires. Since you’re refusing to leave anyway because of Ian and the contract out on me…”
She let the sentence dangle meaningfully.
Bones fought a laugh while an instant, heady rush also made him feel like he’d just drunk a large amount of drugged blood. “Are you waving the white flag on your resistance to me?”
Cat let out a huff. “No. I’m saying we take things slow. See if this blows up in our faces. I’mnotsaying I’m going to declare my eternal love while falling back with my legs open.”
Too late for the first one, Bones thought, anticipation sizzling through him.But I can wait a bit for the latter.
“There are other positions,” he noted with a slow smile.
Gooseflesh rippled over her, and her color heightened. Now, she was also thinking about those other positions-and how much she’d enjoyed them.
“Celibate dating. Take it or leave it,” she finally said.
“Done,” Bones replied.
She looked startled, as if she’d expected him to argue or press for better terms when he had no need to. Her passion was as fierce as her bloodlust. If she couldn’t fight it back when she hated him because she hated all vampires, she didn’t stand a chance now that she loved him.
