“You’d be thinking right.” His expression was severe but amusement crinkled the corners of his blue eyes. “I would love nothing more than to be with you physically, but we cannot afford the distraction given the Raziq, your father, and Hunter all want to assure your allegiance is to them alone.”
“Yeah, but none of them can get into our home. Not with my father’s wards in place.”
“The wards will not stop Ania, and your father is as capable of enforcing his will on them as the Raziq. And Hunter will have many contract killers who are not vampires she could call on.”
I poked his chest with a stiffened finger. “You, reaper, are such a spoilsport.”
He caught my hand, raised it to his lips, and kissed it. “Trust me, if we survive all this, I intend to make love to you so often and so well that you will beg me to stop.”
I laughed and stepped close enough that my breasts were pressed against his chest. “I’m part werewolf, remember. You could be waiting a long time for me to beg off.”
“I should hope so.” He kissed me, long and slow, before finally adding, “In the meantime, you should rest.”
I sighed again. “I guess if you’re going to insist —”
“And I am.”
“Then you’d better escort me to bed, James.”
He did. And, frustratingly, did nothing more than that.
The first thing I did when I woke was ring Mike at his office. It was eight thirty, so I had no doubt he’d be there by now.
“Good morning, Risa.” The voice was plummy and feminine, and belonged to his secretary, Beatrice. “You’re calling early – hope there’s not a problem.”
“There’s not.” The vid-phone was turned off on her end, so I couldn’t see what color her hair was this month. But the last time I’d been at the office it had been pale purple, and the month before that a vibrant red. Despite her age, she loved hair color variety as much as I loved Coke and cake. “Mike left me a message to give him a call ASAP. Is he around?”
“Just a moment, and I’ll put you through.”
There was a click, a brief moment of silence, then Mike’s aristocratic features came on-screen. I didn’t actually know how old Mike was – he didn’t look old, and yet he didn’t seem young, either. His hair was black but cut short, the dark curls clinging close to his head like a helmet. His eyes – a clear, striking gray – seemed to hold eons of knowledge behind them. Given Mom had once commented that he had a genius-level IQ, I guess that was to be expected.
“Risa,” he said, his voice low and pleasant, “thank you for ringing back so promptly.”
“I thought I’d better. It sounded urgent.”
“Not so much urgent, more a warning.”
I raised my eyebrows. “About what?”
“About the tax department’s crackdown on small businesses. I just wanted to make sure you have all receipts in order, just in case RYT’s is in line to be audited.”
“Aside from the last couple of weeks, yes.” And he knew that, so why ring me? It wasn’t like the possibility of being audited was new, but as far as I knew, businesses like our café were generally only targeted when certain flags were thrown up. “Have they contacted us?”
“No, I just wanted to ensure everything was in order on the off chance we were.”
I frowned. I wasn’t sure why, but something just didn’t feel right. “Mike, is everything okay?”
One dark eyebrow rose. It made his nose look overly large. “Yes, of course it is. Why?”
“You just seem… out of sorts.” I cleared my throat. “And then there’s the dinner invitation, which basically came out of nowhere.”
“Not really. Your mother and I —”
“I’m not Mom,” I reminded him gently. “I can’t give you what she gave you.”
Something close to horror flitted across his face. “Good god, you don’t think I want to —”
“No,” I cut in hastily. “I don’t. But I do think that perhaps you’re missing her, and I’m the next best thing to being with her.”