He isn’t in his office, so I wander off trying to find him. I pause in the corridor and close my eyes. I try to bring up a mental map of the building as it makes sense to me that the blueprints must be here in the archives somewhere that is now stored in my head. I concentrate and I see it. I also see where everyone is in the building. That is a handy tool. Luckily for Eloise, she is nowhere near my sire. Impressed with myself, I make my way to the library where I expect to find Gregor. It is a lovely room. I haven’t been in here before having never been permitted. Loving books as much as I do, I take a moment to take it all in. The indices are all in my magickly enhanced brain, so I know exactly where everything is.
“This is my favorite room,” Gregor says from behind me.
“It is quite impressive,” I say turning around with a smile. Inwardly I am chopping his head off.
“Do you have all of this stored in your memory?” he asks curiously.
I nod. “Yes. It’s quite the stash.”
He chuckles. “Yes, I suppose it is. Did you come looking for something in particular?”
“You,” I say quietly, touching his arm gently.
“Oh? And what, pray tell, can I do for you?”
“I can’t stop thinking about yesterday,” I murmur, dropping my eyes to his mouth, then moving them back up to his piercing, pale blue eyes. His own eyes drop to my show of flesh. He reaches out to touch me in between my breasts.
“Neither can I,” he breathes, moving his vile self closer. Leaning down, he lifts my chin up, tilting my lips to his mouth. He drops his head lower and asks, “What changed your mind?”
“We are working together now, it’s time we all got along.”
He smiles and whispers, “I have wanted you from the minute I laid eyes on you. I apologize for my behavior towards you when I first met you. It wasn’t my finest hour.” He trails his hands up my arms and walks us back to the stacks, pressing me up against the books. “Am I forgiven?”
Not on your life, I scream at him silently.
“I’m sure you can make it up to me somehow.”
He smiles. “I would like that.” He bends down, touching his lips to mine softly. He grabs my chin and pushes his tongue further into my mouth. I stifle the urge to be sick and kiss him back, wishing I hadn’t been so rude to CK that he decided to abandon me in my hour of need. At that point, I finally feel the familiar tingle up my neck.
“Room for one more?” he asks sardonically. Gregor cautiously pulls away. I resist the urge to wipe my mouth on my hand.
“Constantine,” he says, annoyed to have been interrupted. “Liv and I were just settling some past business.”
“Anything I should know about?” he asks me.
I shake my head. “We are fine.” I push off from the stacks, forcing Gregor to step back. I sidle over to my sire, knowing by his demeanor that he is not amused with me. I whisper in his ear, even though I know Gregor can hear, “I want you. Is there someplace we can go?”
Smirking, he looks at me. “I’m sure we can find a place.” Looking at Gregor, he says, “Excuse us.” He pulls me away, with Gregor looking jealously on.
As soon as we are out of the library though, he pulls his hand from mine. “Nicely done. You have him almost eating out of your hand.” He turns to walk away.
“Stop calling it ‘fucking,’” I blurt out.
He stops dead in his tracks.
I put my hand up to my mouth, which has suddenly gone dry.
He turns back around slowly. “What would you like me to call it?” he asks, glowering at me.
I stalk past him, back to my office. He follows, as I have ignored him and that gets his knickers in a twist.
Slamming the door closed behind him, he warns, “Aefre.”
“Don’t call it ‘fucking.’ Not all the time. That’s not what we do all the time. Or is that how you see it?”
“You even have to ask me that?”
“Apparently, yes.”