Succubs on Top Page 0,51

were fighting all the time. "And that's all it is, huh? Just good old-fashioned American work ethic?"

"Yes," he said stiffly. "There's nothing wrong with that."

We locked matching Hunter gazes, and I tried to let him know with my eyes that I knew there was more than he was telling me. He stared stonily back, refusing to open up. At last, I shook my head, not wanting to be drawn into any more fighting.

"Mind if I use your hot tub?" I asked instead.

He gestured toward the back patio. "Sure. Have the run of the house. Use me and go."

"You're being childish."

Not answering, he went off to watch TV.

I let myself out through the patio and flipped open the hot tub's lid. Hot steam poured out, and I sighed with pleasure. It felt downright decadent after being out in the cold all day. Glancing around, I took in the vine-covered privacy trellises. There were three of them with a person-sized gap between each one. Dusk was rapidly giving way to darkness, and I felt pretty obscured from the neighbors.

I stripped off my clothes and tentatively put a foot in the tub. Hot. Very hot. I yanked it out, then waited a minute before trying again. Slowly, I eased the rest of me in, bit by bit. When I was finally submerged from the neck down, I exhaled happily and leaned my head back against the edge. Fantastic. I kicked on the bubbles and closed my eyes. Suddenly, I found myself able to forget it all. Doug. The guy from the club. Dana. Seth.

Well, maybe not Seth entirely. But I could forget the bad things, at least.

When my hair had curled from the steam and sweat was rolling down my forehead, I stood up and sat on the tub's edge, letting the air dry me off. A lot of people don't understand outdoor hot tubs, but I preferred them to indoor ones. Nothing can match that temperature change.

Once cooled, I sat back in the water, ready to repeat the process. I could have done this all night and been perfectly happy.

I'd only been back in the water a few minutes when I heard a twig snap from somewhere nearby. It was like a bad-horror-movie cliché, butterrifying nonetheless. I shot out of the water, splashing everywhere, scrambling over the side as I heard a rustle of leaves and brush.

"Bastien!" I yelled, running back into the house.

He tore into the room, face pale and alarmed. "What's the matter?"

I backed away from the patio, pointing. "There's someone out there. "

Nothing could really hurt me, of course, but being immortal does not relieve a person of instinctual fear and caution. There'd be time to feel embarrassed about girly behavior later.

His eyes cut to the patio, and he moved outdoors without any hesitation to look around. My knight. I waited in the kitchen, dripping water onto the wood floor, my heart still thumping. He returned a few minutes later and shook his head.

"There's nothing out there. You imagined it."

"No. It was there. I heard it."

"Then it was an animal." He suddenly smirked. "Or maybe Reese getting a thrill."

When I didn't laugh at the joke, he approached and pulled me to him, unconcerned about getting his clothes wet. My body trembled against his.

"It's all right," he murmured. "You're okay. You're safe."

He pulled off his blazer and wrapped it around me. It was too big, but it felt wonderful. I huddled against him, still too fazed to shape-shift some more substantial clothing on.

"Come on, Fleur .You know I'm here. You know I won't let anything happen to you."

The animosity we'd built from our fight went away, and suddenly we were back to normal again. He took me upstairs to his bedroom, still keeping his arm around me. I shape-shifted dry as we walked and turned back into my Georgina self. Changing into his usual shape as well, he pulled me down to the bed with him so my head rested on his chest.

A lot of immortals don't understand the way incubi and succubi relate to each other. We tend to touch a lot, in ways that are small but still intimate by most standards. I'd been accused many times of being sexually involved with Bastien - or someone else - over the years. Yet the truth was that in all of our time together, he and I had never actually had anything romantic happen. We were close, physically and emotionally, but that came from friendship, nothing more.

Because honestly, when