Gaslight (Crossbreed #4)(11)
“Do you still do that trick where you wrap your thighs around a man’s head? Where can I sign up?” When he gripped the small push dagger on my belt, I seized his wrist.
“Don’t you trust me?” he asked with a wolfish grin.
I pushed him away with one finger. “Maybe too much.”
He pinched the front of my sweatshirt and frowned. “Why do you insist on wearing these infernal sweaters? I much prefer you in those tight little shirts.”
“It’s winter. Besides, I don’t need Claude smelling your arousal every time my nipples get hard.”
He straightened his back and cocked his head to the side. “You’re implying I have no self-control?”
“Why are we in here?” I snapped my knees together when he stepped back. “If anything’s going to happen between us, it’s not going to happen in your lair of iniquity. I bet the assprints on this counter are polished to a shine. I’m not judging you for it, but I’m not one of those girls.”
“Clearly. All the men you’ve seduced are dead.” He strode toward the back of a leather couch and leaned against it, arms folded.
Had Christian changed during our time apart? His hair was a little wilder, his onyx eyes more intense. Or maybe there was something else lurking beneath his inscrutable gaze.
“There’s no privacy in the mansion,” he argued. “Where would you have us be intimate? Behind a shrub at the base of a hill? Or perhaps in the parking garage on top of Shepherd’s Jeep?”
Then it dawned on me. Christian didn’t share his heart or emotions with anyone. He shared his body. And our unique circumstance denied him of that physical contact. I also craved touch, but I’d deprived myself of it for so long that I no longer considered it a necessity in life.
“Did Viktor’s assignment keep you occupied?” I asked. “A month is a long time to be away from home.”
His lips twitched. “Is that jealousy I detect?”
I crossed my feet at the ankles. “There’s no reason why we should lie to each other.”
He inclined his head. “I have no desire to be with other women.”
I hopped off the bar and strode forward. “Is that the truth? Don’t mistake me for a sensitive girl.”
His black eyes flashed up to mine. “Aye.”
“You talk funny,” I said, a smile hovering on my lips. “Like a pirate.”
“I was born two centuries ago on a small farm in Ireland. I can testify that even they don’t sound the same as they did a hundred years ago.”
“So get with the times.”
“I’ve made a lot of adjustments to speak with a modern tongue considering my world travels, but I make no apologies for not incorporating words like ‘hashtag’ and ‘dope’ into my vocabulary.”
“Nobody uses dope anymore.”
“Imagine that. You see how fast language changes?”
I hooked my fingers around the belt loops in his pants and gave them a tug. I’d missed him. His smell, his crooked smile, the whiskers that grew down his neck—even his raggedy old lace-up boots.
He brushed his finger down my cheek. “I still haven’t decided if I like the blue eye better or the brown.”
“Does one have to be better than the other?”
A look of regret crossed his expression. “You’ve had plenty of time to think about our situation. It’s not too late to change your mind. I won’t scrub your memory unless you give me permission.”
I locked eyes with him. “Just because I’m not tackling you on that sofa doesn’t mean I’ve changed my mind. Have you?”
“I can’t erase how I feel, but perhaps we’ve made foolish choices.”
“If you scrub my memory just to save face, I’ll find out. And I’ll hunt you down if you run. I’ve been through a lot of shit. There’s nothing you could do to me that hasn’t already been done. Life already broke my heart.”
He abruptly curved his hand around my nape and kissed my forehead. There was more passion and meaning in that kiss than all the others he’d given. It claimed me like no words ever could.
“Are you still vexed that Viktor didn’t let you come with me?” he asked, referring to his trip.
“We’re partners. He sent you off to another continent without backup. How do you think I feel about it?”
Christian lowered his arms and sighed. “Europe is the old country, and they can smell new blood. I was tracking down one of Viktor’s informants, and that meant going through some of my old contacts. Bringing you along would have raised suspicion, and I’d already invited enough of it.”
“Why couldn’t you just call this guy or send him an email?”
“He went missing. Completely off the grid.”
I folded my arms. “So? What good is an informant who lives across the ocean? How often do we go on trips to Paris or Greece?”
“For immortals and semi-immortals, it becomes an infinitely small world. You run into the same people, but you also learn valuable information along the way. Think of how much knowledge you’re privy to by the connections you’ve made and the case files you’ve reviewed.” Christian stepped away. “Besides, Viktor knew him from long ago, and he’s not the sort of man who goes missing.”