Embarrassment started making her feel uncomfortable in her own skin. “First, who said we’re going to go there?”
“I … well, you kind of hinted that you thought I was going to take it there. And we’re bonded, so odds are we’re going there eventually.”
She stared at him, not believing his nerve. Then she felt her face flush like when she’d had her nose buried in his crotch.
He studied her. “If you haven’t gone there yet, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”
“I’m not embarrassed,” she lied, and then she felt pissed that he made her feel that way. “You’re the one who’s dancing around the word ‘sex.’ I’m not a virgin, I just don’t think it’s any of your business.”
“Okay,” he said, now looking uncomfortable. “I was trying to be polite.”
She cut her eyes up to him. “Are you a virgin?”
He laughed.
She wanted to punch him again. Really hard.
“No … I’m not.”
“Then why are you laughing? Is it because you’ve got a ton of notches on your belt and you’re proud of them?”
“No,” he said seriously. And he seemed to grasp for words before he finally said, “I guess I’m a little embarrassed, too. I was trying to deal with this like an adult. But I guess I screwed it up. Give a guy a break.”
“You’ve asked that once. And you never told me what you wanted broken. But I have a few ideas.”
He chuckled. “You aren’t going to make anything easy, are you?”
“If you want easy, you’re climbing down the wrong foxhole.”
“No, you’re the right one, even if you’re difficult.” He took a step closer.
She took a step back, remembering her meeting with Burnett. “I wouldn’t count on it.” Then, realizing how much time had passed, she said, “We should probably get going.”
“I just have to ask one other thing,” he said.
“What?”
“This.” And then she was in his arms. And he was kissing her again. And it felt good. Too good. His palms moved up under her shirt to her back. The sweet touch brought back the memory of his hand on her breast and made her want to say “when.”
Instead, she pulled back and looked up at him. With some effort, she repeated herself. “We should go.”
“Yeah,” he said and then he touched her nose. “Let’s go introduce you to the council. They are in for a treat.”
* * *
Ten minutes later—ten minutes that she’d worked feverishly to come up with different scenarios of how to approach the subject of her uncle—Chase pulled into a Benny’s parking lot.
She stared at the family diner, which was almost like the one her father took them to most Sunday mornings. Or had taken them to … that treat had been dropped since she went to Shadow Falls.
“Are you kidding me?” Della asked.
“What?”
She’d envisioned several different types of meeting places with the Vampire Council, but never a family diner that was mostly a hangout of the over-sixty crowd. “Benny’s? I’m meeting the Vampire Council at a family diner where you can get eggs and raisin toast for a buck ninety-nine?”
“I personally like their pancakes,” Chase said.
She continued to stare. “Really?”
“They’re good pancakes.”
She tightened her eyes at him, knowing he was toying with her.
Chase pushed his glasses up on top of his head. “There’s a room in the back that the restaurant rents out.”
“And they rented it to meet me?” she asked.
He nodded as if he didn’t see her problem. And maybe it was nerves making her see it as a problem, but she couldn’t seem to let it go. “But this isn’t like their office?”
“No,” he said.
“But they have an office?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“So, they don’t trust me enough to bring me there.”
His brow crinkled. “You work for the FRU. Just meeting you is a big step.”
“Burnett took you to the FRU office.”
“That’s different,” he said.
“How?”
“The FRU is listed in the phone book under federal businesses.”
“I see,” she said. “Because the FRU is a legit, aboveboard type of organization, but the Vampire Council isn’t.”
He frowned. “Oh, so the FRU has more merit because they hide themselves as a human organization behind the guise of a government identity?”
“They’re only hiding from the humans. Supernaturals know who they are.”
“But if the Vampire Council hung up a shingle, the FRU would be there to take it down and put them all in prison.”
“Only if they committed crimes,” Della said.
“Right. And being unregistered is a crime.”
Della had debated this in her mind. It wasn’t unlike the debate between socialists and libertarians. One believed in organized government and the other didn’t want government anywhere near their door.
“I’ll admit, I don’t see being unregistered as a crime, but the problem is the majority of criminals and evildoers come from that side. They don’t want to be registered because they know they’re up to no good. And because there aren’t any records, their chances of getting away with it are great.”
“Or they just don’t want someone else poking their noses into their lives. Not everyone who is unregistered is a criminal.”
“I know,” Della said, “but wasn’t it less than thirty years ago that the Vampire Council farmed humans and used them for food?”
“Wasn’t it just a little more than thirty years ago that the FRU allowed the hunting of werewolves?”
“So both organizations have mud on their faces,” Della said, admitting it. “You can’t deny that most all the crimes out there against humans are from those who refuse to be registered. And if any justice is going to be done, we need a way to hold people accountable.”
“Which is why the Vampire Council has their own unit to attempt to deal with rogues.”
“The FRU is trying to get the different species to work together.”
“We aren’t promoting prejudice. We just think that each species should be held accountable for their own.”
“The Vampire Council was actively trying to shut down Shadow Falls,” she accused.