The Mech Who Loved Me(88)

Ava cleared her throat. "Can someone pass the jam?"

Kincaid plucked up the small pot of strawberry jam. "What do you say?"

"Please," she added, then met his eyes, and knew he wasn't talking about jam. Everything inside her flushed with heat. Damn him.

"I like hearing that word on your lips," he said, and the inside joke made her squirm. He slid the little pot across the table toward her, as if he knew it was her favorite. "Sleep well?" he asked, sitting back in his chair and watching her with an entirely amused expression.

You know the answer to that, you devil. After all, he'd been there when she woke up, his body still curled around hers and his fingers toying with her nipple, until he slowly worked them down her abdomen, sinking them inside her and bringing her to another obliteration of the senses. He probably still had her teeth marks on his shoulder, where she'd bitten him to stifle her cries.

"Yes." Ava blushed, and swallowed far too much of her tea in a move that left her sputtering.

Skirts swished and then Gemma was there, elegant in green ruffles as she circled the table. "Feeling better?" Gemma murmured, leaning over her to press a kiss to her cheek.

It was almost exactly the same thing he'd asked her last night, after he'd... he'd....

"Much better," she croaked, her throat still convulsing with the need to cough.

And the bloody bastard simply watched her with amused blue eyes as Gemma patted her on the back and made cooing sounds of concern.

"Where's Malloryn?" Gemma asked, circling the table.

"Rotting in hell for all I care," came a mutter from Isabella.

Ava blinked, and so did Gemma, but the baroness merely pasted a smile on her face, lifting her teacup in both hands with dainty precision. She was usually cool and commanding, but watching the man she loved marry another woman had to be difficult for her.

Or perhaps Ava had missed some argument between them.

"So," said the baroness, pretending she'd never spoken. "Malloryn tells me we've had our first official sighting of the dhampir." 

Everyone was suddenly all attention.

Kincaid scowled. "One of them tried to kill Ava yesterday." He swiftly filled the baroness and Jack in on events. Gemma already knew, as she'd been to see Ava the night before, and she simply stirred blood into her tea, her eyes shuttered.

"I survived," Ava pointed out.

"But it was close," Kincaid said, and when he looked into her eyes he was no longer smiling.

Gemma cleared her throat. "What did Malloryn do with the body?"

"Which.... The dhampir who attacked me?"

Gemma nodded.

"He sent it to the guild," Kincaid replied. "I didn't think Ava would want to be the one who performed that particular autopsy, and Malloryn agreed."

That was thoughtful. "Did you tell Dr. Gibson about Black Vein?"

Kincaid scraped his hand over his newly shaven jaw. "I think Malloryn did. He needed to know what he's looking at."

Silence settled over the room. Ava buttered her toast, though a sudden flash of heat went through her as she added jam. She wanted blood. Not toast. Her fingers curled over the knife.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Gemma murmured, and Ava looked up to find the other woman watching her with narrowed eyes over the rim of a teacup.

"Of course," Ava stammered. "I just think I need a little more rest."

Scraping away from the table, she made her goodbyes, and fled.



* * *

A hand shoved him in the chest as he turned the corner on his way up to Ava's room, and then Gemma was there, slamming him back against the wall.

Kincaid let her, holding his hands up in surrender. Their gazes locked, and he saw the fury in her eyes. "Problem?"

Gemma's lips thinned. "Any reason Ava's unable to so much as look at you without blushing this morning?"

Kincaid said nothing.

Gemma growled, turning away with a filthy curse. She shot him a dark look. "You promised-"

"I didn't promise anything. And I tried to stay away from her," he snapped, shoving away from the wall. "It just happened."

"It just happened?" she mocked. "Christ, don't pretend you don't know exactly what you're doing when it comes to chasing skirt."

"Ava's different." When Gemma shot him another glare, he held his hands up to placate her. "Nothing happened. Nothing... permanent."

"And is it going to stay that way?"

He said nothing.

"Jesus, Kincaid. She's a bloody virgin-"

"She's tired of being one. She wants to know what passion feels like, and we've reached an agreement."

"An affair? You're going to seduce her and then …  what? She's not the usual sort of woman you toy with, Kincaid. Ava's vulnerable. She's too kind, too sweet, too-"