“Did you like that, sweetheart?”
Clearly, he wasn’t going to do me the favor of not calling me endearments.
I decided to let this go and nodded. I mean, the answer was obvious.
“Good,” he murmured as his arms grew tighter.
It occurred to me my body was exposed and I didn’t like it much about a nanosecond before he rolled me to my back, yanking the covers over the both of us.
He put his head in his hand, his elbow in the pillow and shifted his weight so it was resting against my side but he tangled his heavy legs with mine. I looked up at him as his other hand came up, fingers curling around my neck, thumb stroking against the now numb wound.
“What would you like to do today?” he asked quietly.
His eyes were both languid and alert, as if he liked what just happened but he needed to be prepared for whatever happened next. I thought this was strange but I was focused on his question.
Lucien was asking me what I wanted to do that day? Was this another test?
Clearly, I’d passed the last one but I didn’t want to try my luck. I’d always been terrible with tests.
“I’m not sure,” I answered. “What are my choices?”
His response was immediate. “Anything you want as long as it includes me.”
No man would do anything a woman wanted. He might say he would then you’d somehow end up drinking beer, eating hot wings and watching a game at a bar where the waitresses wore short-shorts and skintight tank tops.
“Um…” I thought about it, my eyes sliding to the side. I felt his body start moving so my eyes slid back to see he was silently laughing, his lips tilted up in an attractive smile. “What’s funny?” I asked quietly.
He shook his head, didn’t answer and still grinning, he repeated, “What do you want to do today?”
“I don’t know,” I answered.
“What’s the first thing that comes to mind?”
“Um…”
“Leah, think. The first thing.”
“Um…”
His voice dipped low, sultry and amused, an effective combination. “It isn’t hard, sweetheart.”
“Books,” I blurted and he blinked slowly.
“Books?”
“Yes, books,” I replied. “My stuff isn’t here yet and without a telephone or internet or a house to clean or a car and with Edwina gone, there wasn’t much to do yesterday. I don’t like TV, nothing’s ever on and whenever I sit in front of one I start eating like my stomach’s a bottomless pit so I need to go buy some books.”
His face changed. The amusement fled, it went blank and I wondered if this was an overshare. His eyes shifted away and stared unfocused at my pillow. This would have been all right except I saw close up a muscle jump in his cheek.
I didn’t think this was good.
I had momentarily forgotten that men, on the whole, weren’t really fond of shopping, even for books. Big, bad, male vamps were probably seriously not fond of shopping.
“We don’t have to buy books,” I went on hurriedly and his eyes sliced to mine, no longer blank but now broody and intense. Regardless I sallied forth, “We could –”
He cut me off and freaked me out by saying, “I’m sorry, Leah.”
Now, hang on a second.
Lucien was sorry? And he admitted it?
It was my turn to blink.
Then I asked, “What?”
His face dropped closer and his voice dipped lower when he repeated, “I’m sorry.”
I felt my heart start racing and Lucien did too or he heard it because his fingers tensed on my neck.
“You’re sorry about what?” I whispered, finding I was having trouble breathing and finding this was because I wanted to hear what he said next.
“I’m sorry I left you with nothing to do yesterday. I was so angry, I didn’t f**king think.”
I didn’t know what I expected to hear or wanted to hear but whatever it was, that wasn’t it.
Still, I said, “That’s okay.”
His head bent and he touched his lips to mine briefly before he lifted it again.
“We’ll get you some books,” he said softly.
I nodded.
“And I’ll see that the broadband is activated tomorrow.”
I nodded again.
“And, if you promise you won’t attempt to drive to Panama, I’ll give you the keys to the Cayenne.”
Boy, I must have passed the second test too.
“I promise I won’t drive to Panama,” I whispered.
The broody intensity went out of his eyes and he said, “Good.”
“I couldn’t anyway, I don’t have my wallet,” I told him. His eyes went broody intense again. “Or,” I went on quickly, “a map to Panama.” He stared at me and I continued, “Can you actually drive to Panama?”
He studied me a moment, his face softened and his lips twitched.
Okay then. Crisis averted.
Thank God.
“I’d rather you not find out,” he said.
“I don’t really think I want to,” I shared. “Panama isn’t one of my preferred on the run from a vamp locations.”
The lip twitch happened again and his hand shifted from my throat to my cheek then his fingers slid into the hair at the side of my head.
He cocked his head deeper into his hand and asked, “What is?”
“What is what?”
“Your preferred on the run from a vamp location.”
My eyes moved to his na**d shoulder (this was a mistake, by the way, he had a nice shoulder but I had to power through it), “I don’t think it’s a good idea to tell you that.”
His body moved when his head jerked back and he let out a shout of laughter. Half a second later, his arms were tight around me and he was hugging me again, his face stuffed in my neck.
“Probably not,” he said against my neck, his voice still shaking with hilarity.
It was time for this to end. I could easily find things to put in my Why I Might Like Lucien Small Fireproof Safe when he was like this.
For instance, how good it made me feel when I made him laugh.
And that, I hated to admit it but it was undeniable, I liked it when he hugged me. He gave good hugs, tight and warm and with him being so big, I felt snugly and cozy and safe.
“I think I’m hungry,” I told his ear and his head went back.
His eyes were still amused when he looked at me and that look had to go in my little safe as well.
He brushed my mouth with his, pulled back less than an inch and rested his forehead against mine.