Kissing Sin (Riley Jenson Guardian 2)

"Yes." He hesitated. "You were right. I should have taken sustenance far sooner."

I yawned, then asked, "So why didn't you?"

"Because it was the sweetness of your blood I desired. I didn't want other women."

I stirred and looked up at him. "You couldn't get it up?"

He grinned. "Oh, I could. I just didn't want to."

"That's stupid."

"Yes. Particularly seeing I'm old enough to know better." He slipped his hands under my butt, and lifted me off him. At least his touch had lost its cold edge. "You need to eat something, and regain strength."

"I need to sleep."

"That's only because I took so much blood. You must eat something rich in iron."

"You have a handy hamburger lying about this fancy crate?"

"As a matter of fact, yes I do." He did up his pants and rose. "This fancy crate has seen a lot of seductions over the years, and I've learned to cater for my meals." He Hashed me a smile over his shoulder that had my depleted blood stirring. "Hope you don't mind your burger microwaved."

"Not in the least." I forced myself upright, and shuffled to the toilet to clean up. The teeth marks in my neck were little more than pink dots. By the time we arrived at the function, they'd be gone. One good thing about a vampire bite - the evidence of it didn't hang around all that long. Unless, of course, you had multiple bites, which took a little longer to fade.

The rich smell of meat began to fill the air, and my stomach rumbled as I walked over to the microwave.

"Your burger, madam," he said, handing me the plate.

"Yum." I parked on a sofa and dove in. As far as microwaved burgers went, it was pretty damn good.

Quinn poured himself a bourbon, and sat down on the seat opposite. Maybe he figured it was safer keeping a little distance between us. Though if he thought I'd jump his bones again he was in for a disappointment. I couldn't afford to lose any more blood tonight.

"So," I said, licking the ketchup off my fingers. "Where do we go from here?"

His dark gaze followed my actions almost hungrily.

Obviously, his appetite was nowhere near sated, but given I could no longer sense it, it had dipped below danger point.

"We are in much the same quandary as we were before," he said.

"Why?"

"I don't want to share you, Riley."

Don't, not won't. That was a more-than-hopeful sign. "Then let's throw a few more facts into the mix. I live in Melbourne. You live in Sydney. That means it's not going to be possible for us to see each other every night, if only because you have a business to run."

"True."

"I have no intentions of moving to Sydney. Do you intend to move Evensong Air's headquarters to Melbourne?"

"At the moment, no."

"So, you're telling me you won't share, but you probably won't be able to get down here more than two or three times a week."

"Possibly. But lots of relationships work fine like that."

"Human relationships, yes. As I keep reminding you, I'm a werewolf, with werewolf needs."

He raised an eyebrow. "Even a werewolf doesn't need to have sex every night. I know that for a fact."