"Did you get all of your homework done?" Georgie asked slyly, bouncing on her toes at the foot of the stairs.
"You know, you could enjoy the fact that I have homework a little less," I responded, taking the stairs two at a time.
"It's a cool, breezy fall evening, ripe with potential prey, and you spent your night at a bookstore, typing an essay on the economics of preindustrial England and its impact on literary culture. No, I don't know if I could enjoy that more," Georgie tossed back as I cleared the landing.
"Keep it up, and I'll tell Jane what happened to the creepy china shepherdess in the parlor," I whispered, just loudly enough for Georgie to hear.
Her jaw dropped. "That was an accident! Well, not so much an accident as a happy coincidence, but- You promised you wouldn't tell!"
"Did I?" I whispered.
"Georgie, please stop teasing Meagan and set the table," Gabriel called from the kitchen.
Georgie pointed an imperious finger at me. "This isn't over!"
Laughing, I hustled into my room. Jane and Gabriel had clearly sunk a lot of money into renovating their upstairs bathrooms, putting luxurious showers even in the guest bath. I turned on the overhead rain shower and combined it with the body jets, sighing as the hot water washed over my skin. This was definitely superior to the communal showers back at the dorm.
I reached for my loofah and the body wash that Iris had mixed up for me, a soothing blend of jasmine and cassis meant to calm my nerves. She'd made something for Ben, too, but he was sticking to some body gel he liked because the commercials made him laugh. I flipped the cap of Ben's bottle and sniffed. It wasn't quite his scent, but it held a little bit of him, and I inhaled deeply.
Yeah, I had it bad for this guy.
This was embarrassing.
I stepped out of the shower and slipped into my fluffy blue terry robe; the first adjustment one made to dorm living was never going to bathe without outerwear. Outside, tires crunched over the gravel driveway. Downstairs, I could hear Gabriel on the phone, speaking German with someone. Georgie was taking advantage of her limited video-game time. I opened the door a bit to let the steam vent from the room.
"I'm just going to run upstairs," Ben called.
I chewed on my lip, considering my reflection, and then dropped the robe.
I walked out of the bathroom with just a towel wrapped around my chest, steam billowing around me like something out of a 1980s rock video.
Ben had a carry-out blood cup in his hands and was sipping the dregs through a straw. He dropped it onto the floor, making the tiniest splash on the hardwood.
"Hey, are you just getting back from work?" I asked brightly, adjusting my towel.
He cleared his throat. "Uh, yeah."
"Long day?" I leaned against the doorframe and tilted my head, drawing attention to the long line of my neck. Because apparently, I was sort of mean to boys who liked me and spent weeks jerking my emotional chains about it.
"Mmmm-hmm," he mumbled.
"Well, dinner will be ready in a few. I'll see you downstairs," I said, passing by him.
///
And just by the way his mouth hung open, I could tell that the steam that followed me down the hall carried the floral sweetness of my body wash and my own natural aroma, the scent of his sire.
"Did you find a way for us to spend unsupervised time together yet?" I asked.
He shook his head, and a series of nonsensical clicks and syllables came tumbling out of his mouth.
I sighed and shrugged my shoulders, feeling the towel slip just a bit. "That's too bad."
Glancing over my shoulder, I caught sight of Ben's face, which would have been the perfect gif for "mental grabby paws." I smiled sweetly and closed my bedroom door with a snap behind me. I covered my face with my hands, laughing silently.
That was the most evil thing I'd done since becoming a vampire. It wasn't much on the grand scale of undead evil, but it was mine, and I would claim it. I pressed an ear to the door, hoping to hear if Ben had any sort of response.
"Oh, you want to play naked. I can play naked," he grumbled.
I laughed even harder, pressing my fist into my mouth.
I heard Ben's shoes drop to the floor, as if he was stripping out in the hallway to prove his point. I was rolling.
And then I heard Gabriel's voice. "I don't want you to play naked. I would like you to put more clothes on, for the sake of my own well-being. Now. Put several more layers of clothing on now. Right now."
"Uh, we don't have to tell Jane about this, right?" Ben asked after a long pause.