to leave, you leave. And you do not follow me again.”
Her eyes said Or what? but she didn’t say it out loud. “I will agree to that if you agree that we will work openly and honestly as partners for this job. No vendettas. No resentments. No hidden agendas. I know you have anger toward me, but I do not want Chloe and Gavin caught in the middle of our quarrels.”
“Absolutely.” I want to throw you against the wall behind the bar. And maybe fuck you on the ceiling. “This is business.” He sipped his whiskey. “Nothing personal.”
“Agreed.”
“If the four of us are going to work together, you need to fly with us on the plane. We don’t have time to wait for you in every country.”
Tenzin nodded. “That is fine.”
Ben almost spit out his whiskey. Fine? Just like that? He’d had to threaten bodily harm to get her into a truck once! According to his uncle, she’d once punched a hole in the side of his carriage with her bare fists because it felt a little bit stuffy. She was agreeing to fly with them on the plane?
“Okay.” He blinked. “Good.”
“I know Gavin wants to stay with Chloe,” Tenzin said, “but part of his passage through our world is that he is seen as a neutral party. If you’d be willing, I think it would be better if he and Chloe stay at his club in Monaco while we fly to meet Juvan and his brothers. It will only take an hour and a half to fly.”
Ben jotted down some notes just to keep himself from staring at her. “Okay. That’s a solid idea, and I can’t imagine either one of them will have any objection to it. We can fill Chloe in on the Corsican meeting when we get back.” Ben hadn’t known Gavin had a place in Monaco, but it didn’t surprise him. “How’s the garden?”
She was silent until he looked up.
“The garden in New York?” he asked. “How is it?”
“Thriving. The glass house is finished, and the heating system is operational. I bought birds.”
“Chloe told me. Sadia loves them.”
Tenzin smiled. “She visited last summer.”
“She told me. My little sister is kind of your superfan, you know.”
“The feeling is mutual. She’s an excellent child.”
Ben couldn’t take his eyes off her. Did you have children? He knew nothing about her human life, and seeing her uncovered a relentless curiosity. “Do you remember much about your human life?”
She froze. “Why do you ask?”
Make it about me. “I find myself wondering whether my memories of Sadia—from when she was very young—will stay with me.”
“Ah.” Her gaze relaxed a little. “Yes. I believe you will remember. Sometimes memories will escape you, but they always find you again.”
Yes, he was a little bit afraid of that.
“So.” He cleared his throat and finished his whiskey. “We’ll leave tomorrow night, and we both feel comfortable with the business parameters of this job?”
“Yes.” Her smile was polite. So damn polite he wanted to scream.
“Good.” He held his hand out. “We agree. One last job and then… good luck to you.”
“And good luck to you too.” Tenzin stretched her hand across the table and Ben took it. Their hands met calmly while their amnis twisted and arrowed straight to Ben’s groin. Twin desires nearly drowned him—his for her and hers for him—and his fangs lengthened and his cock swelled hard as a rock.
Ben dropped Tenzin’s hand and reached for his notebook, forcing his aching fangs back into his jaw. “Why don’t you brief me about the Corsicans? You said one was named Juvan and he has brothers? Is Juvan in charge?”
She raised one eyebrow, and Ben read the entire conversation in her eyes.
So we are ignoring this?
Yes. We’re ignoring it.
Didn’t you say we should not avoid those things between us?
That was before. We’re ignoring them now.
“The Corsicans” —Tenzin’s smile was amused— “are very entertaining.”
“Entertaining in a really murdery, violent way?”
“Yes.” Her eyes lit up. “But they enjoy karaoke as well.”
13
Ben had been faced with a lot of unexpected twists and turns in his life, but seeing a stocky Corsican earth vampire absolutely killing it on a karaoke cover of “Born to Run” was definitely not on his bingo card for the year.
He leaned over to Tenzin. “You said they like karaoke, but I had no idea.”
“Yes, they are very competitive.”
This wasn’t your drunken sorority-party version of the sing-along. It was more along the lines of a singing competition, and participants were not making fools of themselves.
If