Hunter had chosen to rest outside, like some dog in the yard. He’d taken a large hunk of the meat and claimed to like sleeping under the stars.
Not that there were any stars…
“Come here.” Kase’s voice was soft in the darkness, and close enough I jumped.
How he could move so quickly, I didn’t understand. He’d managed to shift around so he crouched just above where I lay.
I pressed my palm against the cave floor and pushed myself up. With the fire gone, I struggled to see Kase, so I glared in his direction best I could. “Sorry, but that doesn’t work.”
“What doesn’t work? You need sleep, and you won’t get any tossing and turning like that.”
“You think this is my first time dealing with men? Let me guess, I’ll sleep so much better all curled up beside you. And I’ll sleep better without any pants. In fact, a few orgasms will put me right out.” I made sure my voice sounded as insulting as I meant it to be.
Which was stupid, because no matter how much I disliked him at the moment, a few orgasms would help me sleep.
Just not from him. Not that he’d proven himself capable of delivering them anyway. His only attempt had been pathetic.
He sighed before sitting on the ground, his back to the wall. He removed his jacket and balled it up in his lap. “I’m not offering orgasms, Ava, and since my body doesn’t run warm, there isn’t a reason to curl up beside me, naked or not. However, I am, at the very least, useful as furniture.”
I wanted to argue that I was sleeping just fine, but the ache in my shoulder called me a liar. Still, the thought of touching him made me wonder how stupid one person could be.
His entire reaction to me was bad enough—I wasn’t sure I’d ever live down him spitting out my blood as if it were tainted—but the idea that he’d been lying to me was what really stuck.
He’d hired Grant to spy on me, to go behind my back and figure out what I was. He’d even said the entire thing had been for the coven, not him. How on earth could I just forget that?
Still, his lap was as good as anyone else’s, and I was tired. I slid up, wincing when it aggravated my shoulder.
He set a strong hand on my back, helping me to adjust, until I was on my side, my head pillowed on his lap, his jacket creating more cushion and a useful barrier between me and any erecting that might happen.
Not that that seemed a problem with him.
When he ran his fingers through my hair, I swatted him away. “Knock that off.”
He let out a soft sound, all annoyance. “I’m trying to help.”
“I didn’t ask for help, did I?”
“You haven’t ever asked, and yet here I’ve been, doing it anyway. I am in hell, literally, for you.”
I sighed, having nothing to say back to that. When I closed my eyes, he dragged his fingers through my hair again, and this time I let him. Just because I was mad at him didn’t mean I had to forgo the nice sensation, did it?
It wasn’t like he was getting anything out of it. Might as well enjoy it while it lasted. I doubted many nice things happened in hell.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he said, voice low as if we could have a private conversation in such a small space, surrounded by others. “I hired Grant before I knew much about you.”
“But even after you got to know me, you didn’t feel the need to mention it? To call him off?”
“I knew you wouldn’t be happy about me invading your privacy like that, and as I spent more time with you, I found out you hold grudges. It seemed a pointless argument to risk, since if you never found out, you would have never been angry.”
I shifted and accidently elbowed him in the crotch.
He let out a rush of air—it seemed not everywhere on a vampire was impervious to harm—before groaning. “I have learned my lesson, Ava. I do not intend to lie to you again.”
“And so I’m supposed to be okay with it? What was this all? What was it when you tried to feed from me? Just more research for the coven? At least that explains why you couldn’t keep it up.”
“No. It wasn’t ever for the coven.”
“That was what you told Grant.”
“Because I prefer not to expose potential weaknesses.”
“So I’m a weakness now?” I went to rise, because his lap was not worth me getting any more hurt than I already was.
He set a hand on my shoulder and pressed me back down, reminding me just how strong he was. “Stop it, Ava. Stop fighting with me long enough to listen. I have thought about you since I first saw you in that shop, and that obsession hasn’t ended. When I asked around and found out what little I could, it still wasn’t enough. So, yes, when given the chance, I hired Grant to discover more about you—not for the coven and not for Colter, but for myself. You can be angry with me for as long as you’d like for that invasion of privacy, for the lies, but do not mistake it for something it wasn’t. I hired you for the job with Olin because you could do it, I wanted to feed from you because I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I want you because I have since I first saw you. Besides, you shouldn’t be so angry with me when Grant found nothing useful out.”
“Maybe that’s why he got kicked out of the guild, because he’s a terrible mage.”
A snort from the doorway said Grant was listening, but I pretended it was a random sound so I didn’t have to think about our audience.
Kase went back to the gentle stroking of his fingers through my hair,
