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She giggled. “Um, thatextremelyhot guy is sitting on our sofa, said he had an ‘appointment’ with you this morning.”
She’d even done air quotes for “appointment.” I glanced at my phone. It was 8:10.
“Damn it,” I muttered, nearly falling out of bed. “Mindy, please, please, please ask him to give me ten minutes.”
“Oh, Gen. You take your sweet little ole time,” she said in her best Scarlet O’Hara impersonation. “I’ll be more than delighted to keep the gentleman company.”
She shot me a devious grin before prissing out of the room, still in her pink cotton pajamas and white terry cloth robe, her blonde hair twisted in a neat little bun. I rolled my eyes and scrambled toward the bathroom.
After a two-minute shower, I brushed my teeth and towel-dried my hair, letting damp waves fall loosely. Powdering some concealer under my eyes and on the fading bite mark, I noticed the bite had already nearly healed. Kat was right. We do heal quickly.
Come to think of it, I’d never been one to bruise easily or show injuries, even in my early days of learning karate. I’d always thought it was just good genes and lots of vitamins, but perhaps it was something else in my blood—whatever made me a Vessel.
With that thought, I examined the fast-healing wound across my abdomen. The angry red welt had already thinned to a white line, barely puckered on the smooth skin of my stomach. The stitches hadn’t even fully dissolved, and the wound had nearly healed.
I brushed a little mascara on my lashes and dabbed tinted lip balm on my lips. I’d done my best to cover up the bags under my eyes from tossing and turning long before falling into a fitful sleep. All thanks to Jude’s bit of advice that had me wondering why he seemed to care so much about me, while at the same time rejecting me and finally leaving me in a stupor of sexual frustration.
“Good enough.”
I pulled on black workout pants and a white tank with spaghetti straps, then zipped on my green hoodie. After slipping on my shoes, I headed into the living room to find Jude filling it up with his massive presence. Lounging on the sofa with one arm across the back, the other casually on his thigh, he seemed too big for the room.
“…but it’s really a matter of practice and perseverance.”
“Fascinating. Simply fascinating,” Mindy said in a rapturous tone.
Fascinating? I’ve never heard that word come out of her mouth since I’ve known her, which has been since the sixth grade. I tried not to snort with laughter. She was perched next to him on the sofa in a ball, her chin on her knees, making googly eyes. Much to his credit, he acted quite casually about her overt attentions.
“Oh hey, Gen.” All innocence and bright blue eyes.
“Hey.”
I glanced at Jude, then away. His gaze fixed on me, making me self-conscious, especially after last night.
“What were you two talking about?” I asked, trying to eat up the awkward silence.
“Workouts. I was curious how Jude kept in such great shape,” she replied with a sexy lilt to her words.
Heat crawled up my cheeks, but Mindy kept her sweet smile on like this was a perfectly normal conversation to have. She might’ve well had asked him how he got so hot and what it’s like looking like a sculptured god.
“It was a pleasure to meet you,” said Jude, standing and taking her hand, brushing a kiss along her knuckles. How he made this old-fashioned gesture seem normal, I still didn’t know.
Mindy tittered. Yes. Tittered! Like from a bad movie where stupid girls giggle like melodramatic morons to something the hot guy says. Did she just bat her eyelashes? I was going to kill her.
“Goodbye, Mindy,” I said quickly, shooting her a glare while heading for the door. “Be back this afternoon.”
“Okay. Movie night, tonight, right?”
“Yep. Your choice this time.”
“Bye, Jude,” she crooned sweetly.
I rolled my eyes, following Jude to the curb, where he opened the passenger door of a sleek black Audi.
“New car?” I asked, stepping in.
“It’s Kat’s,” he replied, closing the door without explaining further.
He didn’t need to. I was a big girl and figured it out pretty fast. Sifting and riding the motorcycle required close skin-to-skin contact. He must regret what happened last night, for whatever reason, and planned to prevent a second occurrence. Damn him.
