he admitted. His lips hovered just barely a breath away from mine.
“I thought you were mad at me.” I really wanted to lean forward, just ever so slightly.
“I am.”
“You’re also trying to use your vamp mojo on me.”
“It doesn’t work on you.”
“Remember that.” My voice was soft, like whipped cream, and at odds with my smug smirk.
We didn’t close our eyes, not even when our lips met. I tingled all the way down to my toes. I wasn’t remotely chilled anymore; in fact, it felt like the longest, most humid day of summer. His skin was cool. I kind of wanted to nip into him like he was ice cream. When his tongue touched mine, my eyelids finally drifted shut. I gave myself to the moment, all but hurled into it. I wanted it to last for the next year and a half at least. I’d never felt like this before.
It could totally become addictive.
Just imagine if we actually liked each other.
CHAPTER 5
Solange
Saturday afternoon
When I woke up, Lucy was muttering to herself. It wasn’t unusual, but there was a particularly strident edge to it, even more than was ordinarily the result of her impatience with our slow Internet connection. The several farms comprising the Drake compound were nearly a thousand acres, some without any power source. Our house was lucky to have satellite service even if it meant our connection suffered when it was a cloudy day somewhere else on the continent.
“Stupid satellite.”
I’d need a calculator to figure out how many times I’d woken up to her yelling at my computer. Patience was not one of Lucy’s finer qualities. I snuggled deeper into the nest of blankets. The sun seemed a little too bright, but I liked the warmth of it on my face. “What time is it?” I yawned.
Lucy flicked me a glance. “Just past two, I think.” She scribbled on a piece of paper. “Nose plugs, definitely need those. And a pocket knife, something really pointy. Ooh!” She interrupted herself excitedly. “A stun gun. Think they sell those on eBay?”
I yawned again, pushed myself up on my elbow. I was more tired than usual but I ignored that. “What on earth are you doing now?” I asked.
“Making a list of supplies,” she answered grimly. “I have no intention of letting that Helios-Ra jerk face use me to get to you again.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
She didn’t look remotely convinced. “Nicholas thinks it’s my fault.”
“Since when do you care what he thinks?”
She paused. “Oh. Good point.” She clicked the mouse. “Hey, look, they do have stun guns. That one has Hello Kitty on it, I think. Maybe not, it’s hard to tell.” Her eyes widened comically. “What are they made out of, solid gold and diamonds? I can’t afford that on my allowance.”
I groaned, letting my head fall back on my pillow. “Lucy, you can’t order one of those. Not exactly subtle.”
She made a face. “I guess.”
“Besides, you know my mom’s probably got one in the storeroom.”
She swiveled on her chair, eyes shining. “Think she’d give me one?”
“After last time? Not a chance.”
“What, come on! That was ages ago.”
“No one’s forgotten what happened when you convinced her to teach you archery.”
“How was I supposed to know I’d have such good aim?”
She’d very nearly skewered Marcus through the heart, which would have killed him, like anyone else. Arrows worked as well as stakes; it didn’t matter what the material was, as long as it was pointy and went right through the heart. It was actually fairly difficult to do: rib cages weren’t easy to pierce. She frowned at me.
“You’re really pale. Are you feeling okay?” she asked.
“God, not you, too.” I pulled the pillow over my face. “I’m fine.”
“You’re crabby.”
“Because you’re bugging me.”
She poked me. “I haven’t even begun to bug you.”
I uncovered one eye. “Go away, Luce. I’m tired.” I tried to make my one exposed eye do that cold flare thing my mom was so good at. Lucy tilted her head.
“You’re getting better at that.”
The one thing about being best friends with someone for so long was that even turning into a vampire didn’t really faze her. Her smile softened. Great. My vampire mojo engendered pity, not fear.
“Go back to sleep,” she said. The light caught the sequins on her velvet scarf, making me blink. “I’ll keep making lists of the painful and very slow ways I can make Kieran suffer.”
Kieran.
I closed my eyes, wondering why it was no effort at all to call up the exact shade of