Embraced By Darkness (Riley Jenson Guardian 5)

My eyebrows went up again at the censure in his voice. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"That means, you claim to care about the man, you say you want a long-term relationship with him, and yet he's never first in your thoughts." He tilted his head and studied me for a minute. "Tell me, if it had been Quinn with you last night, would you have taken so long to ask?"

If it had been Quinn with me, I wouldn't have been alone on that roof and probably wouldn't have been shot. But Quinn and I were history, no matter how much my heart, ached at the thought of him.

But then, how much of what I felt for Quinn was real, and how much of it was vampire-implanted suggestion? I never would know, and in the end, that was a relationship killer more than anything else he had done.

"Kellen and I haven't known each other that long."

"You've known him about the same length of time as you've known Quinn."

"But Quinn was actively discouraging my interest in Kellen. It's only these past few weeks that we've really played it basically one-on-one."

"Basically is not wholly."

"There speaks the man who has spent half his life avoiding a commitment to the man he professes to love."

"And you've spent half your life nagging me about. It's payback time, sister dearest."

I grinned and shoved another chocolate into my mouth. "So," I said, around the gooey peppermint mess, "when do I get out of this joint?"

He glanced at his watch. "The doctor was supposed to be here an hour ago to give you a checkup. If you pass that, you can leave."

Meaning I'd better not mention the lingering lightheadedness, or I'd be stuck here another night with the antiseptic reek and the ghosts.

"Why don't you go see what's keeping him? Otherwise, I'm just going to check myself out."

"You can try." He rose and gave me a somewhat cheeky grin. "I am, however, bigger than you and I will drag you back to this bed if I have to."

"Yeah, right." I waved a hand at the doorway. "Just go find that doctor."

He headed out. Five seconds later, Kellen came in, bearing the biggest bunch of flowers I'd ever seen. Pleasure shot through me.

"Hey," I said, by way of greeting. "No one's ever brought me flowers in the hospital before."

"You almost didn't get them now," he said, with a sexy grin that had my hormones hopping in delight. "Except the flower seller practically accosted me and accused me of not caring."

"Guerrilla tactics for flower sellers? Man, things must be tough in that business."

"Well, there weren't many men getting by her without buying some flowers, let me tell you."

He placed the flowers on the bedside table, then sat down on the edge of the bed and caught my hand in his. His fingers were as warm as his smile, and yet he seemed tense. Maybe he hated hospitals just as much as I did.

"So," he said, "how are you feeling?"

"Fine." I shrugged. "Better when I get out of this place."

"So no aftereffects of being shot by silver?"

"No." I hesitated. "But it wasn't the first time I've been shot with silver, and probably won't be the last."

"No, I guess not."

I frowned at the edge in his voice. "What's wrong?"

His gaze searched mine for a minute, his green eyes curiously flat. "You don't know?"

"Know what?"