To Tempt A Tiger(21)

She blinked at the admission. “Before you knew about your sister, you wouldn’t have considered it, would you?”

He didn’t quite meet her gaze when he answered. “I never stopped thinking about you, Rose.” His voice was quiet and deep. “I…I don’t know if I would have tried to get you back before, but I never stopped thinking about you.”

She had to swallow hard around the lump in her throat. She sucked in a shaky breath and tried to ignore the rush of her pulse. “They think I cheated on you, right? Why would you want me back? Why wouldn’t I want you?”

His entire body stilled as she asked her last question and she realized she’d revealed something she hadn’t meant to.

“Could you consider taking me back?” he asked, so quietly she barely heard him.

“That’s not why you’re here.” Hedging and avoidance. She was embarrassed by her own cowardice, but she couldn’t help it. She had no idea how to answer his question. She still wanted to take him to bed, a lot more than she cared to admit. And those glimpses of the life they might have had kept haunting her. But she couldn’t get past four years of pain in a few days.

And that didn’t even take into account the fact that he wasn’t human. That his brothers supposedly wanted her daughter dead. That her daughter’s entire future hung in the balance.

She turned to make his tea. “Are you sure you can’t just teach Zoe how to do that thing you did with her the first day? You’re positive she needs to learn about the other stuff?” She kept her back to him as she asked, but her spine tingled with awareness of him.

“I can’t hide her from my people forever,” he said. “She’ll be safer if she understands everything.”

“I’m not sure how to tell her any of this,” Rose admitted. “She’s still so young.”

“It’s better that way. The young are adaptable. Chances are good she won’t even remember anything before this by the time she grows up.”

Rose wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. “There’s a lot I don’t understand. You have a lot of explaining to do.”

“I know. I will. I think we should start by showing Zoe my other form.”

Rose spun to face him. “Oh no, you can’t show her that. She’ll be terrified.”

“Rose. I’m not going to change in front of her, not yet, but she’ll have to watch me change eventually so she knows it’s possible.”

Everything about that rubbed Rose the wrong way, even as her logical side recognized that he was probably right. “You had to…” She glanced toward the living room, then lowered her voice so much she wasn’t sure even Vlad could hear her. “You had to take your clothes off. That’s not appropriate in front of her.”

“I keep forgetting…” Vlad frowned. “With my people, nudity isn’t really a thing. We barely notice it, especially around family, because we need to be nude to change—unless we want to keep replacing damaged clothing.”

“You didn’t take nudity so lightly with me,” she murmured.

His expression changed again, his eyes darkening as his gaze moved over her body. With just a look, her pulse started pounding and the tingling excitement of lust tightened in her belly.

“With you, no,” he said, his voice rough and even deeper. “That wasn’t something I could take lightly.”

She swallowed hard. “We need to change the subject.”

“Yes.” He pushed away from the counter and edged closer.

The closer he got, the faster her breathing came, until she was practically panting. The part of her brain still functioning reminded her that her daughter was just in the other room. That didn’t seem to slow her pulse or prevent her from staring at his mouth. She watched him lean toward her, lowering his mouth to hers, and was helpless to move away. She didn’t want to stop him. She didn’t want to say no.

She’d never wanted a man to kiss her so much in her life.

His breath was hot against her cheek. She closed her eyes, anticipation making her muscles tighten. She felt the soft brush of his lips, once, twice, and then cold air.

She blinked her eyes open, confusion sparking a hint of anger. Until she heard Zoe’s little voice a split second before she wandered into the kitchen.

“Can I have juice, please?” she asked.

It took Rose several moments to recover her senses. “Of course, baby,” she said, trying to ignore how breathless she sounded. “Give me just a sec then I’ll get you a juice box.”

Zoe grinned and spun around, dancing back toward the living room.