Jane nodded, not understanding why he was telling her this.
“This apartment is actually located over a nightclub. The nightclub that Rhys and I own. And at night, we are usually down in the club. It is popular—and without Rhys to help me, I’m going to be very busy. I won’t be able to watch him and run the club. So that’s where you come in. Is it possible that you could stay and take care of Rhys?”
Jane’s eyes widened. He wanted her to stay here—with them. With Rhys.
“Is—isn’t there someone else you could get?” She couldn’t take care of Rhys. She could barely look him in the eyes after this morning, much less watch his every move. Besides, there was something absurd about the idea of her watching a man like Rhys anyway. He was too potent, too powerful.
“Well, the thing is, he still believes he’s engaged to you,” Sebastian told her. “So you would be the perfect one to be with him. He wouldn’t question it.”
That did make sense, but why would Rhys continue to believe they had a relationship? She supposed it could be because he woke up with her spread-eagle in his bed. She was probably lucky he had assumed they had a relationship. He could have decided she was a prostitute or something.
“I—I don’t know.” She pulled her hand out of his hold. She didn’t know these men. She couldn’t very well move in with two strangers.
“I really need your help,” Sebastian told her.
“How am I supposed to stop him from leaving the apartment if he really wants to?” Why was she asking this? Why was she even considering staying?
Sebastian’s lips curled at one corner. “I think you can control him quite easily. He’s fascinated with you.”
His words didn’t lessen the tightness in her chest. Although they did make her skin tingle again.
She was losing it.
“And I’d pay you, of course,” he added. “You said you were in a hotel, right? The room here would be free.”
She looked around. She did need a place to stay until she could get her finances in order. She had her few traveler’s checks, but she wasn’t sure those would last her until her new bank card and credit cards were sent. This might not be a bad solution until she could find an apartment and a steady job.
She glanced at Sebastian, who watched her intently.
Still, she didn’t know these men. They could be serial killers for all she knew. Weirder things had happened—most of them to her in the past two days.
No, Sebastian and Rhys didn’t look like homicidal maniacs. Of course, she’d already proven she wasn’t the best judge of character.
“And,” Sebastian added, pointedly, “Rhys was there for you when you needed him.”
He had her there. Rhys had saved her life. Did serial killers bother to save a person just to kill them later? She wasn’t sure, but she decided it was unlikely. Plus, something inside her did trust Rhys.
She hesitated a moment longer, then said softly, “All right.”
Smug satisfaction filled Sebastian at his well-executed lie. He hadn’t even felt remorse at her pained look when he’d thrown out his ace in the hole, Rhys saving her. Okay, maybe he felt a twinge of guilt, but it was worth it. Rhys needed this woman.
And, man, did she ever want Rhys. He’d felt flashes of overwhelming desire throughout their conversation. All he had to do was mention Rhys’s name, and she exuded longing. Damn, he wished he had a sweet thing like her lusting for him. Oh, wait, he did. Lots, actually.
But he didn’t get too long to bask in his success.
Jane straightened in her chair and said in a firm voice, “I will stay—but only a week. That should give you time to find someone else to watch Rhys, should he need it. And that will give me time to find my own place.”
A week? Sebastian frowned. Rhys needed more than a week to get this woman to fall for him. He breathed in with frustration, ready to argue, when he smelled again the lust that was permeating the apartment. Damn, a week just might be plenty of time. If they needed more, he’d worry about it later. Right now, she was staying. Good enough. And she would keep Rhys in the apartment. Sebastian needed that time to figure out who had attacked Rhys and why. Rhys, in his confused state, would be an easy mark if the attacker had been after him specifically. It was best to keep him here—safe.
“A week is great.”
She nodded, obviously relieved he hadn’t pushed for longer.
But now Sebastian had the peculiarities of being a vampire to deal with. Being a vampire was easy. Being a vampire who didn’t know he’s a vampire; that might be tricky. Rhys could end his existence with one short stroll in the sunshine. Or if his hunger wasn’t appeased regularly, Jane could die from one overzealous chomp.
“Watching Rhys should be quite easy,” he said, contradicting his thoughts, but he didn’t want to scare her away. “There are really only three things you need to be careful about.”
Jane listened, her green eyes wide.
“He has an allergy to the sun, so he cannot go out in the direct sunlight, which generally isn’t a problem. Since we work nights, his sleep schedule usually keeps him out of the sun anyway.” All of that was basically true.
“Can he go out on overcast days?”
“Yes. But only totally overcast. Sun is poison to him.”
She nodded.
“Also, Rhys has a lot of weird food allergies, so he generally sticks to a high protein drink.”
“He doesn’t eat?” She looked dubious.
“He does, but only rare meat. Very rare. He’s doing this weird, Atkins type thing, too. It seems to keep the whole allergy thing under control.” He threw up his hands as though the whole concept was strange to him, too. “I don’t even ask.”
“But will he remember that?”
“I don’t know, but I think we better continue it. He’s lived on this stuff so long—I wouldn’t want to screw up his digestive system or something.”
She nodded, but the slight wrinkling of her nose stated she still found the idea odd.
“And—and this was exactly what the physician told me—we must humor Rhys for the time being. That is important. Otherwise we could fracture his memories, again the doctor’s words, and his real memories might be lost permanently.”
Jane looked stricken.
God, he was good.
She still appeared apprehensive, but she said, “Okay.”
“Great. So let’s discuss money. How is fifteen hundred dollars?”
Sebastian didn’t think it could be possible, but her eyes widened more. “That—that’s too much.”
Sebastian shrugged. “I love my brother. And I want to see him happy.”
“I can’t take that kind of money. That is…It’s too much.”
Sebastian smiled, impressed by her shocked reluctance. He’d thrown out a large sum, assuming the amount would definitely clinch the deal, but obviously he hadn’t needed to. Jane was too ethical to accept it comfortably.
“If I didn’t want to pay it, I wouldn’t.”
She hesitated again, but after a moment, she offered her hand to him. “Okay.”
He smiled. Did he mention he was good?
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