the refrigerator and opened it, noting with annoyance she’d used all but the dregs of the mayonnaise and replaced the jar, anyway.
He pulled out a bag of blood and popped it in the microwave. “So, get a good day’s sleep?”
She didn’t look up. “You know I do not sleep more than a few hours at a time.”
“Oh, right.” He snapped his fingers. “It’s a dog thing. So, do you have to circle around three times before you can lie down?”
This time, she gave him a warning glance before word-lessly returning her attention to her book.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt story time.” He set the timer and then turned, leaning back against the counter. “Here’s a funny story. Tell me if you’ve heard it. A building full of vampires gets roasted from the inside out and everyone dies.”
She didn’t look up. “You think I do not care about what has happened to the Movement?”
“You’re right. That is what I think. See, you haven’t shown much love for vampires. None of your kind have. And maybe what I thought was you being brave and stoic was just you…not giving a shit.”
The microwave dinged and he pulled out the pleasantly warm bag. Eschewing a cup, he bit through the plastic and purposely let some blood dribble down his chin, for good measure.
Her nose twitched at the coppery smell. With a noise of disgust, she tossed her sandwich down and slammed her book shut. “You are a pig.”
“And you’re a bitch. Yet here we are.” He drained the bag, though he really hadn’t been hungry to begin with, and tossed it aside. It landed with a wet smack on the floor beside the trash can.
Bella looked as though she might throw up. Nothing would have pleased Max more.
But it wasn’t in the cards. Instead, she stood, tucked her book beneath her arm and headed toward the door. Her hand was on the smooth, painted wood when she whirled to face him. Her stony, cool facade had cracked, her high cheekbones coloring deep red.
“I am sorry you cannot accept my rejection of you for what it is. That is, that you cannot see beyond your pride, to the many reasons we could not be together.” Her voice quivered slightly on the last word. “And I am sorry it taints your view of the situation we are in.”
He chose to ignore that final part. “Oh, please. If you think I’m nursing a broken heart, don’t waste your time feeling sorry for me. It’s Carrie I’m smarting for.”
Bella snorted derisively, than sobered. “What are you talking about?”
“I think you know.” He folded his arms across his chest. “I knew you were going to make a move on him. I had a sick feeling about it when I left you at his place. How could you do it? When you saw how torn up Carrie was, how could you do that?”
“How could I do what?” Bella raised her hands in the classic pose of innocence. “I think you have finally lost your mind, vampire.”
“Stop trying to play dumb! You know exactly what you did. You’ve been fucking Nathan!” Max rounded the island and stepped so near to her he had to ball his hands into fists to keep from touching her. This kind of closeness was dangerous. He could lose his temper and grab her, or lose his willpower and—
No. You went down that road before and it sucked.
“You think I am sleeping with your vampire friend?” She had the nerve to laugh at him, as though the idea was ridiculous. Placing her palms flat on Max’s chest, she gave him a shove. “You dare to accuse me of this when last night I could smell her all over you?”
Ouch. But what he had been doing didn’t matter, Max reminded himself. It was Bella’s immorality they were talking about. “Listen, what Carrie and I do is our business. But you knew how messed up she was when she left Nathan, and you still moved in for the kill. For your information, she was really hurt when she found out about the two of you. She could have slept with me to get her mind off it. But she didn’t.”
“When she found out about us?” Bella snorted again. Max wanted to hit her. “How, exactly, did she find out?”
The uneasy feeling that maybe something was amiss, maybe some critical piece of information had slipped through their keen investigative fingers, crept into the back of his mind. “I don’t know. When she called, I guess.”
Bella only nodded.
In the eerie quiet of the kitchen, even the buzzing of the fluorescent lights could be heard, layered with the drumming of water dribbling into the sink and the ticking of the sleek steel clock on the wall. From the rest of the house, not a sound.
So, where are Nathan and Carrie, genius?
Almost the exact moment he thought it, a smug smile began to grow on Bella’s face. “I am sorry the only outlet for her troubled mind was in clumsy foreplay with an in-adequate partner.”
He threw the rest of her sandwich at the swinging door as she passed through it.
When I opened my eyes to find myself in an empty bed, my fuzzy brain snapped to alert. Okay, it snapped to panic.
You made it all up. It was a dream.
There was no way the day before hadn’t been real. No way I hadn’t spent the last few hours sleeping comfortably in Nathan’s arms.
I’d tossed back the blankets and was about to swing my legs over the side of the bed to begin a frantic search for him when he stepped out of the bathroom, a toothbrush in his mouth and a towel wrapped around his waist. He paused in his brushing long enough to give me a look implying I had lost my mind, then retreated to the bathroom again.
Flopping back on the pillows, I smiled. The curtains were open, the sky had faded to twilight and Nathan had turned on the bedside lamp. The soft, golden light shone through my eyelids when I closed them, and it felt almost like turning my face to the sun. I wondered if I’d ever woken up so happy.
The faucet turned on, as briefly as possible because, as I’d heard many, many times, water conservation is everyone’s responsibility. I slipped out of bed and padded across the thick carpet to the bathroom. Nathan leaned over the sink, spitting toothpaste into the basin.
It’s demented that you find that sexy, I told myself. I yawned and leaned against the door frame. “You know why vampires have to brush their teeth?”
He raised an eyebrow as he wiped his mouth with a hand towel.
“So they don’t get bat breath.”
Drying his hands, he considered me silently for moment. “I’m rescinding my offer of letting you come home.”
I slapped his shoulder. “Listen, don’t be too hard on Max today, okay?”
Nathan looked as crestfallen as a child who’s had his favorite toy taken away. “Why not?”
“Because I have a feeling he’s going to feel pretty foolish about all this. You know, when he finds out.” I shuffled my feet on the carpet.
“Why, because you feel foolish?” He shook his head. “Don’t you have any faith in me? Any trust?”
I raised an eyebrow in answer.
He rolled his eyes. “Fine. I won’t give him a hard time. You women are so picky about these things. And by you women, I mean you and Max.”
“Get out,” I ordered. “I’m going to take a nice, long, water-wasting shower.”
With a grin, he asked, “Will you require assistance with that?”
“You’ve already taken a shower,” I pointed out, gesturing to the towel.
“I’m dirty enough to take two.” He winked.
We’d