Talon reached for her, but she bypassed his hand. "Sunshine..."
"Don't touch me. I'm mad at you."
"Please don't be mad at me."
She shook her head. "Oh, you're good with those puppy-dog eyes. That deep note in your voice. But I'm too far gone now to care. Just leave."
He winced at the pain in her voice and her command. It cut him all the way to his heart.
In that moment, he realized something. Zarek and Acheron were right. He was scared. Scared of leaving and scared of staying.
The last thing he wanted was to lose Nynia again and yet as he looked at Sunshine, it dawned on him that though she might have his wife's soul, she wasn't his wife.
She was someone else. Someone new and exasperating. Nynia would never have gotten mad at him. Not even when he deserved her anger. She'd always been timid and shy. Not bold and demanding like Sunshine.
If he said to leave a matter alone, Nynia would nod and drop the subject. She would never have kneed a Daimon or fought an alligator.
But even more astounding, he had to admit that he liked the fire in Sunshine. Her ability to stand up to him and the world around her.
"What?" she asked, blinking her eyes as if she couldn't believe what she saw. "You're still here? I thought I gave you an order."
He smiled in spite of himself. "I don't want to leave you, Sunshine. Can't you just accept me as I am?"
Sunshine looked away. "I like what little I know about you, Talon, but the problem is just how little I do know about you. You live in the swamp, seem to have a lot of money and no last name, and you like big, creepy gators and have a guy named Nick who runs errands. That's it. That's the extent of my Talon knowledge and it's a really short list."
She met his gaze. "I refuse to have a relationship with a man who won't even trust me with his basic bio. Now if all you want is to get laid, there's the door. If you really want to stay, then tell me something about yourself. Something meaningful."
"Like what?"
"Tell me the name of your best friend."
"Wulf Tryggvason."
Shocked, she dropped her jaw. "Oh my God, you just answered a question. I think the world may end over it."
"You're not funny. So do I get to stay?"
She pursed her lips as she thought about it for a minute. "Fine, but only because I know you can't get back home before the sun rises."
Determined to keep distance between them until he answered her questions, Sunshine turned around and went to her bedroom. She grabbed a pillow and blanket from her bed, then returned to the living room and handed them to him.
He looked completely dumbfounded as he held her pink quilt and pillow. "What's this?"
"Until you come clean with me, you can take the sofa."
"You're kidding."
"Oh no. Not even a little. I'm not going to let you back into my bed until you let me inside your head."
Talon was completely stupefied as she walked over to the far wall and lowered her blinds.
"I told you about Wulf," he said.
She turned toward him, her look unamused. "You gave me a single name. Oooo. That tells me so much about you, doesn't it? Well, my best friends are Trina Devereaux and Selena Laurens. Now what does that tell you about me? Nada. Zilch. Nothing. It just means I have someone I can call when I get ticked off, and believe me, if it wasn't so late, I'd be dialing one of them like a madwoman."
Talon growled, but it didn't faze her in the least. The woman had entirely too much chutzpah.
"So tell me about Wulf," she said slowly, taking a step toward him. "What does he do for a living? Does he live here in New Orleans? Is he married? How long have you known him?"