"I mean you look tired," she added quickly, flushing.
Decker grimaced, but nodded and admitted, "I am."
"Well, for heaven's sake, go to sleep then," Dani said, sounding exasperated.
Decker sincerely wished he could. He was exhausted, but shook his head. "I can't."
"Oh right. You have to keep an eye on me," she said with irritation, and then exploded with annoyance. "This is stupid. I'm not going anywhere, I have to wait for my phone. And if you don't sleep now, you'll be useless when Nicholas calls and we have to move."
Decker cleared his throat and said, "Speaking of Nicholas-"
"I don't want to hear it," Dani cut him off sharply, and immediately hurried to the bed to drag the soft wool blanket off it. She then rushed for the door.
"Where are you going?" Decker asked in a hissed whisper as he hurried after her into the hall.
"To sunbathe," Dani hissed back, apparently no more eager than he was to wake Lucian and the others again.
He opened his mouth to argue with her, but then snapped it closed and rushed down the stairs after her. Decker waited until they'd moved into the kitchen before opening his mouth again, but she beat him to it.
"I'm only going to be on the lawn. You can keep an eye on me from the house... or am I not allowed to go outside at all?" Dani added, and paused at the door next to the breakfast nook to turn a glare on him.
Decker hesitated. He didn't want her to feel like a prisoner, and he could keep an eye on her from the house, but he really wanted to talk to her about Nicholas. He knew Dani didn't think she wanted to hear it, but she had to. Lucian was right, it was better if she understood the true situation.
At least, Decker hoped his uncle was right, because he sure as hell didn't know what was best anymore. The problem was he was torn by several different motivations. Part of him wanted to protect Dani from the knowledge he had to impart, and keep her hopes alive by allowing her to count on a man who just might not be that dependable. Another part was irritated as hell that she appeared to trust Nicholas more than she did him. And yet still another part thought it might be best to tell her because, while it would shatter her illusions, it would also prepare her for the worst if it turned out Nicholas wasn't on their side.
Decker was torn from his internal struggle by the sound of the door closing. Glancing up, he saw Dani through the door window, stomping off across the deck toward the grass, dragging the blanket with her. It appeared she'd grown tired of waiting for him to make up his mind and made it for him.
Cursing, he moved to the door, peered out as the sun peeked out from behind a cloud, and then ground his teeth together and pushed the door open to follow her.
"What are you doing out here? You guys are supposed to avoid the sun," was Dani's irritated greeting when he caught up to her halfway down the yard. It was obvious she'd hoped to escape him by coming out here. For some reason that just made him more determined to stick with her.
"We do, but not all the time," Decker said. "Besides, there's plenty of bagged blood in the house."
Dani glared at him, obviously annoyed and then snapped, "Fine," and turned to continue walking.
"Where are we going?" he asked, smiling despite himself. She really was quite adorable when all huffy like this.
"I"-she emphasized the word-"am trying to find a dry spot to lay out the blanket."
Decker's gaze slid over the dew-kissed lawn. While it was hot and muggy out, it was still early and the sun wasn't making a very good showing. Decker smiled as he eyed the clouds overhead. If he wasn't mistaken, they were storm clouds. Mother Nature was on his side, it seemed.
His gaze slid back to Dani. He'd allowed her to rush ahead a couple of feet and now found himself staring at her behind and the backs of her thighs and even her shapely calves as she hurried along. Distracted as he was by the view, Decker was completely unprepared when she stopped abruptly and turned around. He nearly crashed into her before he could stop himself, but managed and-ignoring the scowl she was giving him-lightly asked, "Giving up?"
"Not in this lifetime," Dani assured him, grim-faced as she headed back toward the house. "Just giving the grass more time to dry so I don't ruin the blanket."
Decker nodded, trying not to show his relief. Despite what he'd said, he didn't like being out in the sun. The damage would be minimal for her and simply add to the aging process over time, which wasn't the case for him. His skin was a little more sensitive due to lack of exposure, and would take on more damage because of that. Decker was old enough to have been trained from birth to avoid such an occurrence. More sun meant more blood needed, which meant more risk of discovery.
Despite the fact that they now used bagged blood from blood banks, they still tried not to use any more blood than necessary. The mortal blood banks were often notoriously short on supplies, and the blood banks the immortals ran were really no different. Wasting blood made him feel guilty and uncomfortable, Decker acknowledged to himself as he followed Dani back to the house.
He'd thought she intended to return inside, but learned his mistake when she laid the blanket over the railing surrounding the deck and then turned to the left and began to walk away.
Grimacing, Decker quickly followed. "Where are we going now?"
"To explore," she muttered, and then asked, "Where are we anyway?"
Dani glanced over her shoulder as she asked the question, catching, him eyeing her behind and legs again. Decker raised his eyes, but shrugged unrepentantly. He was a man, and if the woman was going to charge ahead of him, he was going to be looking at her butt. There wasn't much else to look at out here.
"Just outside Toronto," he said, answering her question.