“Oh, joy.”
Vincent laughed and barely managed to stop himself from patting her on the ass as he walked past her and into the cantina.
LANA STARED OUT her window as they zoomed down the dark highway once more, but she wasn’t looking at the scenery. She was studying Vincent’s profile as it was reflected in her window. And she was remembering the masculine beauty of his naked body, his fully aroused naked body, if she wasn’t mistaken. It was possible that he hadn’t been fully aroused, since he’d been asleep. But he’d been more than erect enough to remind her that it had been too long since she’d had a lover, erect enough to make her wonder what it would be like to have sex with a vampire. They were said to be terrific lovers. Maybe it was all those years of practice. She couldn’t imagine the biting part was much fun, although none of the women Vincent had disappeared with last night had seemed to mind. And Marisol was clearly a fan.
“I could have slept in the SUV if you’d needed privacy, you know,” she said, admitting to herself that she was probing.
Vincent shot her a puzzled frown. “Why would I need you to do that?”
“I know that when you feed, it involves sex. If you’d wanted the room to yourself, I’d have understood.”
“I don’t sleep with the women I feed from.”
Lana snorted in polite disbelief. “Right. That’s why you sleep naked.” Damn. That was the wrong thing to say.
Vincent grinned. “Were you ogling me, Ms. Arnold?”
“I didn’t need to ogle with you prancing around the way you do.”
“I don’t prance.”
“The hell you don’t.”
“Well, regardless, I don’t sleep with my partners. Ever.”
She frowned. “Why not?”
“It’s a matter of security. You saw what it’s like. I’m totally out of it. In fact, you could have made me your plaything while I slept, and I’d never have known.”
“In your dreams, vampire.”
“Hmm, maybe. You did admit you were ogling.”
“I admitted no such thing. Besides, if you’re so vulnerable, why would you allow me in the room with you?”
Vincent shrugged. “Because Raphael trusts you.”
“Raphael doesn’t even know me. The job came from Cynthia Leighton.”
“Trust me, querida, Leighton and Raphael are one and the same. You’re here because Raphael wants you here.”
“He’s not a god, you know.”
“No, not a god. But he is one scary vampire.”
Lana studied him in the glow of the dash lights, then turned away to stare at the darkness outside the front window. She wasn’t sure she liked the idea of being manipulated by anyone like that, especially not an über powerful vampire whose abilities she couldn’t hope to comprehend.
“You owe me an answer,” she said, abruptly tired of contemplating things she didn’t understand.
“An answer to what?” he asked absently.
She turned to face him. “I asked how and when you became a vampire and you promised you’d finish the story tonight.”
He slanted his gaze in her direction, holding it long enough that she grew a little nervous. They were going close to 100 miles an hour. Granted, they seemed to be the only vehicle on the road, but still.
“All right,” he said abruptly and faced forward once more. “Where did we leave off?”
“You and your brother had just been attacked. You’d been shot.”