A Quick Bite(87)

"Uh-uh," she said, reaching out until one hand brushed against his lower leg. "If I have to keep my blindfold on, you have to keep your hands to yourself," she announced, and began to follow his leg upward until she found his erection.

"Oh that's not fai--" Greg broke off on a hiss as she leaned forward and look him in her mouth.

Chapter 20

"So you never told me... What happened?"

Lissianna glanced up blankly as Deb walked into her office and plopped into the seat in front of her desk. "What happened with what?"

"What happened with what?" Debbie repeated dryly. "When I left my house Monday afternoon you were settling in for the night. When I returned Tuesday morning after work, the house was cleaner than when I'd left, there was a big bouquet of roses on the kitchen table with a 'Thank you!' card, and you were nowhere in sight. You could have left a note telling me what had happened you know."

"I'm sorry," Lissianna murmured. Thomas had told her that Mirabeau had mentioned the mess Greg had said the house was in when he'd left Debbie's place. Apparently, she'd told Lucian, and he'd immediately made a call to take care of it. It seemed whoever he'd sent over to Debbie's house to handle the matter had done a thorough job of cleaning up. Lissianna wasn't surprised: her uncle would accept no less. The flowers startled her though, no one had mentioned those to her.

"I'm sorry," she repeated. "I should have thought about a note."

"Yes, you should have," Debbie said with a laugh. "Especially since you didn't show up for work yesterday night and your mother called in sick for you. The curiosity has been killing me for two days now." She blew out an exasperated breath. "So? Tell me. I take it you and your mother have sorted everything out? Does that mean she's accepted Greg then?"

"Yes, she has," Lissianna murmured with a small smile. Everyone had accepted Greg. After spending the day alternately making love and napping, the two of them had woken up in the late afternoon to find her bed surrounded by her cousins and Mirabeau.

"Still in bed?" Thomas had asked with amusement, as Lissianna had blinked at them. "I am so glad you got at least a little rest today. I feared you'd work Greg to death while the rest of us tried to sleep."

"Tried to sleep?" Greg had asked, stifling a yawn as he shifted from the spoon position they'd been sleeping in and rolled onto his back under the blanket.

"Yes, well it was difficult," Thomas had informed them. "I kept hearing shouts and screams from this room."

He'd paused then to watch with interest as Lissianna blushed bright red, before commenting, "I figured it must be those pesky nightmares that they say accompany the turning."

"Yes, Greg had nightmares," Lissianna had said, grabbing onto the excuse gratefully.

"Hmm, that's what I thought," Thomas had murmured.

"Then I realized that you were screaming, too, Lissi." He'd arched an eyebrow, then his face was split by a wide grin, and he'd exclaimed, "You two are noisy in bed. I've heard less racket from a cat in heat and her mate."

Groaning as her cousins all broke into laughter, Lis-sianna had buried her face in her pillow as Greg had tried to break up the party by announcing that he was getting up and unless they all wanted an eyeful, they'd best leave.

Jeanne Louise, Mirabeau, Elspeth, and the twins hadn't seemed to mind the idea of a free show, but Marguerite had shown up at that point to check on Greg. After giving him the once-over, she'd pronounced him hale and healthy and shooed everyone out of the room so that he and Lissianna could get up.

The rest of the evening had been spent in the usual chaotic family atmosphere, with everyone happy and talkative and telling Greg all the things they thought he should know now that he was one of them.

Lissianna had been sorry when she'd realized it was time to get ready for work and had briefly envied her cousins Thomas and Jeanne Louise for not having to work that week. The two of them were both employed by her brother at Argeneau Enterprises, but had been given the week off at Marguerite's insistence so that they could help entertain Elspeth and the twins during their visit. Lissianna didn't have the sort of job where she could just take a week off without notice. The people at the shelter depended on her.

Greg had seemed equally disappointed that she had to work and had accompanied Lissianna to her room to "help" her shower and change. His efforts had slowed her down considerably, and she might have been late for work if Thomas hadn't come knocking to remind her of the time and offer to drive her.

Crawling out of bed, her hair still damp, Lissianna had thrown her clothes on and charged downstairs with Greg on her heels. He'd accompanied them into town, given her a kiss good-bye before she jumped out of the Jeep, then the men had driven off, headed for Greg's place to collect more clothes to take back to her mother's home. It had been agreed that he should stay there until he'd adjusted to all the changes he would be going through, and Lissianna was guessing that he was probably knee deep in cousins right that moment, getting a crash course in being a vampire.

"Earth to Lissi. Earth to Lissi," Debbie repeated and Lissianna blinked as the other woman's hand passed in front of her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she murmured as she was pulled back from her thoughts. "I was just thinking."

"Thinking?" Debbie arched an eyebrow. "Honey, share some of those thoughts with me, cause I want to feel whatever made you smile the way you did."

Lissianna blushed at her teasing and wrinkled her nose, then said, "I really am sorry I didn't leave a note, Deb. It was good of you to help as you did."

"No problem," she said easily. "I'll even forgive you completely if you'll just tell me what happened''

Lissianna hesitated, then said, "Well, Greg got ahold of my cousin Thomas, and he and a friend named Mirabeau cleared everything up." That was about as close to the truth as she could get, she decided. "Mom is happy, I'm happy..." Lissianna shrugged. "Everything is working out great."

Debbie stared at her face, examining her expression minutely, then said, "You don't sound completely sure."