AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“’Entertain her,’ huh? Not playing poker, were they?”
“No,” he said simply. “Why? Are you jealous?”
Below them, Tate’s heartbeat kicked up as he waited for her answer, too.
“No!” Cat looked shocked that he’d even suggest that. Then, her gaze darkened. “Why, are you?”
“Not at all. Just annoyed at Annette’s spite toward you, but that’s been dealt with.”
Cat was appeased enough to start shampooing her hair. “Tate called me a necrophiliac once,” she said as she lathered the thick mass. “I’ll have to return the compliment when I see him.”
Bones heard a low hiss on the floor below them. “You just did, Kitten. He’s listening to us.”
Cat glanced down as if she could glare at Tate through the floor separating them. Then, her gaze shot back up. “You knew he was here last night, didn’t you?”
Bones snorted. “Yes, and you can forget asking why I didn’t tell you. Not for worlds would I have interrupted us. Tate choosing to stay was his own prerogative, but never fear. I forgot about him at once. You demanded all my attention.”
As she did now, with suds sliding over her wet, glistening skin. He wanted to catch them with his hands and then clear them away with his mouth, especially the ones that caught in the dark red curls between her legs…
“I’m going downstairs,” he muttered, forcing himself to look away. “I can’t be so close to you without wanting you, and there isn’t any time.”
With that, he left, smiling at her disappointed sigh.
Later, Kitten. That’s another promise.
41
Rodney made breakfast, adding a special ingredient to the frittata slices that he gave Bones and Annette. Tate ate his only after dissecting it to ensure that it contained nothing more than eggs, potato, onion, bacon, and cheese.
“He wouldn’t waste human blood on you,” Annette said in amusement. “You have enough of your own.”
“Got a little less now,” Tate replied, rubbing his neck. No punctures marks remained. Annette had already healed them.
Cat came downstairs. Tate started to get up since there wasn’t a free chair, but Bones pulled her onto his lap. Then, he slid the plate Rodney had made for her in front of her.
“Eat something, Kitten. Can’t have you getting faint on me because you keep skipping meals.”
“I’m amazed she can walk,” Tate muttered. “You must have given her a gallon of blood to heal her after what I heard.”
“Is that any concern of yours?” Bones said, holding out a hand to forestall Cat’s reply. “At work you have your seniority, luv, but he’s on personal ground, so that hierarchy doesn’t apply. If he provokes me now,I’llhandle it.”
Tate looked startled. Bones stared at him, daring him to continue. Tate would know what it was like to feel his spine break if he said another sneering word about last night.
“I’d keep a lid on it, Tate,” Cat said in a falsely bright tone. “And nice to see you walking without a limp, too, or are you? You’re seated so I can’t tell.”
“You’re the one who said once you go dead, no one’s better in bed,” Tate shot back. “Thought I’d see if you were right.”
Rodney’s laughter pierced the tense moment. “You said that? I love it!”
Itwasamusing, as was her light flush as Bones winked at her. “Happy to represent my kind, Kitten.”
She suddenly seemed very interested in her plate, but then, a grin curled her mouth. Tate’s scowl eased into a smile, too, and they exchanged a glance that reminded Bones that they’d been friends for years, not that he could understand why.
“Christ, Cat, can you imagine Dave looking down on us now?” Tate shook his head while a sudden sheen covered his deep blue gaze. “He probably doesn’t believe his eyes, seeing us eating breakfast with two vampires and a ghoul.”
Tears sparked in Cat’s gaze, too, and Bones remembered her scent embedded in the large pool of blood back at the cave. Dave must have been the bloke that Lazarus killed that day.
“I actually wish we’d had you with us then, deadhead,” Tate said, blinking to clear his gaze. “You could have probably saved Dave with that turbo blood of yours. Cat couldn’t get enough in him even though she squeezed that vamp like a sponge. If you can keep that from happening again, maybe it’s worth having you on the team, even though I can’t stand you.”
