One Lucky Vampire(74)
“You were busy thinking about bouncy bed with Jake and how to avoid it,” he offered helpfully.
“To avoid getting involved with him,” Tomasso added, stepping into view behind his twin.
Nicole flushed and turned sharply away to walk to the refrigerator. “Please stop reading me.”
“It’s hard not to. New life mates are often rather loud with their thoughts,” Dante explained.
“And in other ways,” Tomasso muttered, and Nicole felt her blush deepen as she recalled screaming her head off with pleasure, not once, but three times now. She supposed that explained why her throat was sore.
“My apologies,” she said stiffly as she opened the refrigerator door in search of something to drink. A bare second later though, she frowned and glanced to the men. “What do you mean, Jake isn’t here to be my cook/housekeeper? That’s his job.”
“That’s what you think,” Tomasso said with amusement.
“What do you mean, that’s what I think?” Nicole asked, scowling.
“Well, you think he’s here to be your cook/housekeeper, while he thinks he’s here to be your bodyguard,” Dante said with amusement.
Nicole’s eyes narrowed. “And which is true? Why did Marguerite bring him here?”
“Because you’re his life mate,” Tomasso said as if that should be obvious.
“You’re telling me that Marguerite thought I would be a life mate to Jake and—” Nicole began.
“She knew you would be a life mate to Stephano,” Tomasso corrected.
“Marguerite has a certain gift about such things,” Dante informed her quietly. “She has put together several life mates over the last few years.”
“Well, I’m pretty sure she has it wrong this time. I—” Nicole began but Dante interrupted.
“Please try to remember that we can read your mind and know when you’re lying . . . even to yourself,” he said solemnly.
Nicole slammed the refrigerator door closed with more violence than was necessary and walked over to sit at the table. Propping her elbows on the table, she dropped her face into her hands and scrubbed her eyes almost painfully with the heels of her hands. She did it hard enough that she almost saw stars.
“You know Marguerite is not wrong,” Dante said quietly, settling at the table on one side of her as Tomasso claimed the chair on the other side. “Jake told you that he cannot read or control you and that the lack of those abilities is a sign of a life mate. But that aside, you enjoyed the life-mate shared pleasure, and even if you didn’t know that was another symptom, you knew it was special enough to mean something.”
Nicole grimaced. Yeah, she’d known that was pretty special. Not only had she never experienced anything like it before, she suspected it wasn’t even possible, at least between two mortals. Still, she shook her head. “I—”
“You’re afraid,” Tomasso interrupted before she could spout whatever lie she’d been about to spout to both herself and them.
“Fear is to be expected after what you’ve been through,” Dante said quietly, placing one hand on her arm. “But Jake is not Rodolfo . . . and this is not a normal situation.”
“Maybe, but . . . I don’t want to make another mistake,” she burst out, flopping back in her chair to escape the support he offered with his touch.
“The nanos got it right,” Tomasso said with amusement. “She resists help and support just like Stephano did when he went all Pinocchio on us. They’re alike.”
“Yes, they are,” Dante agreed dryly, but said to Nicole, “If you don’t want to make another mistake, then trust the nanos. They don’t make mistakes. Neither does Marguerite. The couples the nanos put together last. Centuries.”
“Millennia even,” Tomasso put in.
Nicole glanced to him with surprise, but it was Dante who said, “Our grandparents have been together for millennia.”
“Pretty much forever,” Tomasso said dryly. “And they’re still going strong.”
Nicole stared at them uncertainly. “But I hardly know Jake.”
“You haven’t known him long,” Tomasso agreed.
“But we know him,” Dante said quietly. “We’ve known him all his life and he’s a good man.”
“A little stubborn and bullheaded at times,” Tomasso said.
“But he’s always honest,” Dante added.
Tomasso nodded. “He doesn’t drink, or take drugs either.”
“He’s honest and fair,” Dante assured her, and then added, “He’s considerate too. He was always trying to help out with whatever was going on while growing up, whether that was clearing the table after a big family dinner, or reroofing a neighbor’s house.”