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I sock him in the stomach and pull out of his arms with an involuntary laugh. “It’s not funny.”
He fights, and fails, to hide his smile. “You’re right. It’s not.”
“Jackass,” I murmur, unable to squelch my own grin.
He steps toward me, leaning down to give me a kiss, and I let him. Then he pulls back and searches my gaze.
“How are you feeling, physically? Did you get enough to eat? No more hunger pains?”
I take a mental inventory of my body and realize I feel completely sated. Strong. Ready for anything.
“I feel good,” I say, and Jesse’s grin returns.
“That’s great,” he says. “You shouldn’t need to eat again for a few days, so we have some time to figure out how to stop the…uh…extra reward you gave Meredith from happening again.”
“You really are a jackass sometimes, you know that?” I growl, and he chuckles, pulling me back into his arms.
“Good thing you love me, huh?” he murmurs into my hair.
“You’re lucky I do,” I grumble back, nuzzling against his chest.
“Oh, I know exactly how lucky I am,” he says in all seriousness. “And I’m never going to forget it.”
3
THAT’S A LOT OF IFS
When I finally recover from the embarrassment of unintentionally satisfying my blood donor––I may never be able to look Meredith in the eye again––Jesse and I head downstairs to meet with Steph and her aunt. Bernadette asked us to meet them, and I know she’s been looking into my heritage, so I’m eager to hear what she has to say.
When we get to the parlor as Bernadette requested, she’s not there. But Steph is, and she’s not alone. Erik is with her, looking distinctly uncomfortable as Steph runs a fingertip down his chest. I pull Jesse to a stop just outside the door and watch them for a moment, and Erik’s spine stiffens.
He knows we’re here. Steph does not.
“Come on, big guy. Aren’t you attracted to me? Even the tiniest little bit?”
One corner of my mouth lifts into a smirk. Of course, he’s attracted to Steph. She’s fucking gorgeous, with that long chestnut hair, dove-gray eyes, and curves in all the right places.
“I will not disrespect my king by trifling with his mate’s closest friend,” Erik replies as he takes a small step back, his voice gruff.
“Please. Trifle away,” she says, her tone husky as she steps forward to close the distance between them once again.
I can’t stop the laugh that bubbles up my throat. Erik’s posture grows even stiffer, if that’s possible, and Steph bends at the waist to peer around him, shooting me a saucy wink.
“I’ll wear him down, eventually,” she tells me like Erik’s not still standing between us.
I walk into the room, pulling Jesse by the hand as I shake my head.
“I never doubted it.” Erik turns, and I meet his ice blue gaze. “For the record, I have zero issues with you and Steph starting something up, trifling or otherwise. She’s a big girl, and she knows what she wants. And when she sets her mind to something…you might as well surrender now, big guy.”
I release Jesse’s hand to pat Erik on the shoulder as I move around him to hug Steph. I hear Erik whisper an apology to Jesse, who in turn tells him he should listen to his queen. A shiver runs down my spine at the term, but it’s not a bad shiver.
No, hearing Jesse call me that with such possessiveness makes me want to drag him back upstairs and make him say it again and again while I ride him.
I shake my head, silently cursing myself for being such a sex addict when there are big, important things happening this morning. As if the thought conjured her, Bernadette glides into the room. Erik moves across the space in a blink, putting as much distance between him and Steph as possible, and I narrow my eyes at him.
I think he’s far more worried about Bernadette’s reaction to a possible dalliance with Steph than he is with mine. She is, after all, the only person here who grew up in a coven knowing she was a witch from birth. She was indoctrinated with a hatred for vampires, while Steph and I only found out very recently about our own witchy ancestry. I write vampire romance novels, for God’s sake. And I’m mated to the vampire king. Erik had to know I wouldn’t have a problem with him forming an attachment to Steph.
But Bernadette is a completely different story.
