“That recap is not going to happen at a children’s carnival,” I told her.
“I knew it!” Kerrianne crowed as I shushed her. “He couldn’t have a mouth like that and not know what to do with it.”
“You are not an emotionally well woman.”
“Fine,” she groaned. “At least, tell me why you’re not speaking to Finn at the moment.”
“He told me some things about why he turned me, and it was . . . upsetting,” I said carefully. “I don’t want to like him. But he has just enough charm to make him dangerous. I get all confused, and I forget who I’m dealing with.”
“You are the master of vague. Tomorrow evening, after we have washed the caramel from our kids’ hair, you and I are going to sit down with a bottle of that vampire wine, and you’re going to spill your guts.”
I gave her a dutiful curtsy. “Yes, ma’am.”
“For right now, I have to keep my daughter from conspiring with your boys to cheat at ring toss.”
“How do you cheat at ring toss?” I asked.
Kerrianne shrugged. “They have a system.”
When the last wad of cotton candy had melted into sugar goo on the last child’s cheeks and the last raffle prize had been given away, the parents of Half-Moon Hollow could not have disappeared faster if they were paid magicians. A few intrepid fathers stuck around long enough to pack up the booths and shut down the PA system, but other than that, the random debris, the game pieces and leftover prizes, and the litter were my problem—well, mine and Wade’s.
“I’ll take the huge-ass mess on the left, you take the huge-ass mess on the right,” he told me.
“You volunteered us for this, you lunatic!”
“I assumed it would be more packin’ up teddy bears and cleanin’ up smashed pumpkins. Givin’ us enough time to roll around on those hay bales back there.”
“Well, that’s what happens when you assume.” I laughed, giving him a smacking kiss. He caught me around the waist and held me there, sliding his hands up my back until they were cupping my jaw. As usual, I felt everything in Wade’s kiss. There was no artifice or holding back, just playful warmth and affection and this thing he did with his tongue that made my toes curl. Wade was laying it all on the line for me . . . and I was giving him a big whopping lie by omission.
Reluctantly, I pulled away from him, swiping my tongue over my lip. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
Wade kissed the curve of my chin, the bristles of his whiskers tickling my sensitive skin. “What’s that?”
“I’ve been seeing my sire.” I closed my eyes, wincing, as if he were going to detonate at the news. When he said nothing, I opened one eye and checked to make sure he was still there.
“OK,” he said, nodding.
“I mean, I was seeing him, as in more than a mentoring relationship, though thanks to some pretty disturbing revelations on his part, that’s pretty much over, because I think I would want to hit him in the face with a folding chair if I saw him again. I haven’t slept with him, though there have been some very intense dreams—never mind. The important thing is that I need to be honest with you about it.”
“OK.”
“Please stop saying OK!”
“Well, what am I supposed to say?” he asked, laughing.
“Tell me I’m a cheater who cheats! A woman of loose character! A betrayer of trust!” I cried.
“Libby, honey, have I asked you for a commitment?” he asked. “Have I given you my fraternity pin and asked you to go steady?”
“If you have a fraternity pin, I will never trust my judgment of people again,” I told him. When he gave me a pointed look, I sighed. “You said you were going to ask me to be your girl, but no.”
“OK, then, so we’re not exactly committed yet. You haven’t broken any sort of promise to me. Of course, once we are, I’d expect you to be faithful, just like I will be to you. But I know how important sires are to vampires. Hell, Jane married hers. I’d rather you figure out now whether you want to be with him than a couple of years from now. And once you figure out how you feel about those upsetting revelations and the fact that he’ll never be as good in bed as I am, you and I will ride off into the sunset.”
I snorted. I needed him to make a joke like that at this very moment. I needed to laugh, because otherwise, I was going to cry. “So you’re going to see other people?”
“Well, I’ll put it this way. I haven’t dated more than once or twice since Harley was born. I doubt that’s going to change now.”