The Mech Who Loved Me(35)

"You're right. There can be worse things than vampires. And you, sir," she pointed out, before he could interrupt, "have initiated a rather macabre turn of conversation."

Kincaid scraped his hand over his face, sighing as he rolled onto his side. "Maybe it's macabre, but maybe... it's easy to talk to you about the fears a man has." One blue eye locked on her as he drew his hand away. "You're very easy to talk to, Ava."

She blushed. Nobody said that about her, especially not men. Usually they were searching about them for some means of escaping her. "When I'm not babbling about autopsies or the craving virus, do you mean?" 

"What's wrong with hearing you speak of dismembering cadavers? I think all those others who disdain you simply have weak stomachs." His smile faded. "I didn't realize how long it's been since... I could actually talk to someone."

He didn't look happy about this realization.

"What's wrong?" she whispered. "You sound like that's a horrible thing." Every person needed a friend-someone who could hear their inner thoughts without flinching.

"It's not." He toyed with her blankets again, looking so much younger in this moment. "It just makes me miss my brother. He was the only other person I could speak to like this."

Oh. "He's...?"

"Dead," Kincaid muttered. "His heart gave out on him three years ago, a month before I finally escaped the enclaves. There's irony for you. I never got to see him again. I spent ten years in that hell, and his heart couldn't bloody wait one more damned month."

Ava slid her hand over his, a pulse of sympathy sliding through her, but Kincaid shook it off. "Sorry, luv," he said, shooting her an insincere smile as he sat up. "There's things a man can speak of, but I draw the line at being pitied."

"I wasn't pitying you."

"No?"

"No. I was seeking to... to offer comfort."

This time, the look he gave her was hot and slow. Kincaid finally sighed. "It would be almost too easy."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing." Kincaid rolled onto his knees. "Don't ever change," he murmured in her ear, before pressing a gentle kiss to her cheek. The heat of his breath ghosted across her jaw, and a shiver ran through her.

His face lingered there, and Ava turned wide eyes toward him, holding her breath. It would be terribly easy to remove the distance between them, but she was suddenly shy again.

He backed away, as if he knew precisely what was going through her mind. Ava cleared her throat, feeling awash in an unknown wave of heat. Good lord. He'd barely even brushed his lips against her cheek. Yes, but he's practically naked. And suddenly her mind was taking her down dark avenues she'd never truly explored. "I won't change. I don't think I'd even know how."

"It's part of your charm."

"Charm," she scoffed. "Now I know you're jesting-"

Kincaid captured her jaw, forcing her to meet his suddenly steely gaze. "There can be charm in honesty, Ava. Charm in a woman who is so blatantly unaware of her own enticements. Charm in an innocently curious gaze."

And she was blushing again, for he'd noticed where she was looking. "I'm a scientist. I cannot help feeling curious."

"So I've noticed. But if you were truly scientific, then you'd be more interested in putting a theory into practice."

Those eyes twinkled with mischief. Daring her.

Ava looked down. To the thumb just brushing against the pulse at the inside of her wrist. She swallowed.

"You know what I'm talking about, Ava."

"I thought you refused to have anything to do with virgins." Somehow she managed to meet his gaze, though her cheeks burned. "You told me that once. So how can I consider your proposition to be a serious one?"

"There's a part of me that is reevaluating that rule. Every damned time I look at you, lately. My rules are simple: don't play with virgins. Don't break hearts. Make the rules clear from the start. But-"

"But?" she dared, the sensation in her chest expanding, leaving her slightly dizzy.

"Ava," he warned. "Don't start a game you won't finish. I will play along. To a certain point. But I don't like being trifled with."



       
         
       
        

Ava couldn't help thinking about her earlier realization that although she'd survived and put her life back together, there were quite a few things she hadn't experienced.

A proper kiss, for example.

Her gaze slid to Kincaid's mouth. Paul-her ex-fiancé's-kisses had been dutiful, and she'd seen Perry and Garrett steal enough kisses in the Nighthawks guild to know when she was missing out. Those types of kisses did not seem anything like the chaste caress Paul pressed upon her once upon a time.