“Very ambitious for a man who carries his cash in the heel of his boot.”

“Using your supersonic speed to spy on me?”

“Hardly. I have good hearing, and can hear the paper crackling in the sole.” Daegan met his gaze. “For that matter, when you"re in her shower by yourself, I can hear you jerking off. Your body aching for both the softness of a female body and the hardness of a male one. There"s no reason to tear yourself in two, Gideon. We are both here.”

“I"m only going to say this once,” Gideon ground out, and he was pleased he sounded reasonably steady and menacing. “The pheromones you two put out are making me temporarily insane. It"s not my thing. Not now, not ever. Like the blood-drinking thing. So get over yourself. Are you going to do this dinner thing or not?” The flash in Daegan"s eyes had Gideon tensing, knowing he"d pushed a little far. He was afraid that Daegan would try to prove him wrong. Other parts of him hoped he would. He hated those parts, enough that he"d consider amputating them if he didn"t like using them for Anwyn so much.

“We will,” Daegan said at last, with that steady, dark-eyed look that saw so much more than it should. “You should go tell her. Give her back her smile.” Gideon gave a curt nod, moved a couple of steps into the room, on surer ground. “I"ll be your chauffeur, since you"re looking at all the clothes I own.”

“Then we"ll find you some. James is close to your shoulder size and build, and he has a tuxedo for special events at the club. I"m sure Anwyn can convince him to part with it for one night, as long as you don"t spill anything on it.” As Gideon began to protest, the vampire shook his head, his voice firm. “I believe your judgment on Anwyn is sound. If this is something she needs, then we do it together. Otherwise, I will not consent to it.”

“Consent? You think I came in here asking your permission?”

“Whether you did or not, you require it.”

Gideon tightened his jaw. “Fine. I have one more thing to talk about; then I"ll go.”

“I"m all ears.” Daegan"s gaze gleamed, a reminder of what he"d just revealed about his hearing. Gideon forced himself not to grind his teeth.

“You"re all bullshit, far as I"m concerned. You remember that night, a long time ago, when you told me to fire the crossbow at you?”

“I remember.”

“You were showing off.”

“Some, perhaps.” Daegan shrugged, all unapologetic arrogance. “But I wanted to take care of any illusions that you could hurt me.”

“Everybody can be hurt. Toe-to-toe, Hercules might not be able to stand up to you, but if someone plans carefully enough, a ten-year-old kid could. So when you get sent off on these assignments that take you away from her, don"t get too confident, all right?” Daegan considered him. “You are concerned for me.”

“You mean a lot to Anwyn. And I"ve taken down too many cocky vampires.” A shiver of air, and Daegan was no longer at the closet. Gideon knew the male was at his back now, no more than an inch between them, but he chose not to turn, keeping his tone dismissive, with an effort. “That doesn"t prove anything. As I said, planning.”

“I think I mean something to you, vampire hunter.” Daegan touched his arm, fingers curling over Gideon"s biceps. Gideon shrugged him off, sliding away, except Daegan was now in front of him, arm braced, effectively caging him between the wall and the door. He stared into the vampire"s dark eyes, tried not to get absorbed in the set of the firm mouth.

“Stop fucking with me,” he snapped.

“Your concern is misplaced. I will be fine.”

“Fine. When you get staked, I"ll say I told you so.” Gideon pushed off the wall and shoved at Daegan"s arm, intending to leave the room.

Before he could complete the motion, Daegan had pushed him back against the door, Gideon"s weight making it close with a resounding thud. The vampire had his hand beneath his throat, eyes and mouth so close to Gideon"s that he couldn"t think, though he automatically tried to break the hold, with no luck. Even when a run-of-the-mill vampire had a grip, a person was pretty much caught. With a vamp like Daegan, there was no “pretty much” to it.

“You have said I do not always have the attitude of a vampire. It doesn"t mean I"m not one.

As much as I respect your abilities, Gideon, I only take human defiance for so long.

Particularly when your defiance is a poorly disguised mating challenge.”

“Fuck off,” Gideon managed through gritted teeth, but groaned as Daegan put his knee against his stiff cock, rubbed with devilish knowledge over his balls. But the harder thing to resist was the mouth that brushed over his.

“Kiss me back, Gideon. Devour my mouth the way you"ve been devouring me with your eyes ever since I returned. Show me your hunger. Show me how much you missed me.” It surged forth like fire, so that he almost knocked Daegan back a step. Gripping the collar of Daegan"s shirt, Gideon slammed against his mouth, so violently that the vampire"s fang cut his lip. Daegan"s tongue curled around the blood, then met Gideon"s, sliding, teasing, thrusting, a hard, openmouthed struggle and dance together. Daegan held him against the door, wouldn"t let him move or take it any further than that kiss. His arousal built, his cock cramped in his jeans, and Gideon ached shamefully as his mind shot right to a moment that had happened before the vampire had left. Daegan and Anwyn holding him between them, Anwyn kissing him, Daegan"s hand over his, on Gideon"s cock, the two of them making him helpless to their desires . . .

Shame couldn"t hold a candle to the explosive power of that memory. Gideon put everything into that kiss, his frustration and rage, his lust and need. He wanted to touch, but the only thing Daegan allowed was the hands on his shirt collar, clutching hard. The vampire gripped his head, his fingers in Gideon"s hair, body pressed up against his, so Gideon could feel his hard cock pressed just to the right of his. He could rub against it if he could just move. “Let me move, damn you,” he muttered against Daegan"s mouth.

“No,” came the maddening reply. “Put it all into the kiss, Gideon. Think about my tongue here, then think about it teasing your ass, getting you wet for me, then thrusting my cock in hard, making you groan. You crave the feel of it as you sink into Anwyn"s slick heat. You need more than even an incomparable Mistress like Anwyn. You need a Mistress and a Master to be complete.”

“No. No.” But he couldn"t stop kissing him, telling him with his lashing tongue and scraping teeth what he needed so badly.

“You know what Anwyn is doing?” Daegan whispered it, drawing back. “She has sensed our passion. She"s leaning on the other side of this door, touching her neck, her breasts, sliding her hand down to stroke her pussy, her legs opening up, her beautiful ass braced on the door, just below where yours is.”

Gideon sought her, and her mind opened like an orchid, rare, exotic, irresistible. He saw it, felt her desire flood his mind. Daegan shut up then, putting his full effort into the kiss, taking it over. Gideon was helpless to do anything but go along for the ride. Then Daegan went for an even more devastating tactic.

He slowed their movements, so their tongues were doing a slow, twisting, stroking fuck together. A thrust and dragging retreat by that agile, moist muscle, a nuzzle of the lips, a tease of a sharp fang. Like the turning of eddies in a lazy pond, beneath bright sunshine. Then, at

long last, when Gideon was lying against the door, both more aroused and more lethargic than he"d ever been, Daegan pulled back a few inches, stared into his eyes silently as Anwyn"s erratic breaths, her cries, filled their ears. She brought herself to completion, knowing they were listening, their bodies taut and hard against each other.

“Go see James about that tux,” Daegan murmured at last. He pushed away from Gideon, gave him an even look. “And next time, vampire hunter, knock before you come into my room.

You need my permission to enter, or I"ll finish what I started here, to remind you of your manners.”

Gideon thought about blowing the whole thing off, disappearing until it was over. But he couldn"t ignore how Anwyn"s face had brightened like a new sun at the idea of an evening out.

Or how she"d just as quickly needed absolute reassurance that they were both attending and everything would be fine. He couldn"t ignore the obvious fact she was rebuilding her confidence on the basis of a tripod. Not a seesaw, with Daegan alone on one end. It made Gideon want to believe, too much, that he was a vital, irreplaceable corner of it.

It was getting harder to convince himself that he was merely a temp, and even harder to accept that whatever the hell he"d become, he wanted it to stay that way forever. Had it been only a month? Or had it started with that one night where he and Jacob had shared Lyssa, under her command, and every step since then had been a journey to Anwyn? And Daegan.

The hell with it. Here he was. He"d been relieved by James"s unperturbed acceptance of the request for his tux as something perfectly normal. Now he stood, dressed up in a monkey suit, waiting in the living room. It occurred to him that he didn"t really have his own room. When Anwyn didn"t want him in her bed, he slept on the couch.

It didn"t matter. He didn"t need a damn bed.

No, you don’t. You belong to me, Gideon. I don’t want you to have your own room until you accept that. My bed is your bed, when I give you permission to use it.

An unexpected, silky threat and promise in her mind-voice, one that unfurled heat in his lower belly and an even stronger reaction in his chest. He, a person who"d resisted and scorned any form of authority all his life, reacted with hot need and deep pleasure every time she exerted a claim on him. It was too fucked-up.

He cleared his throat. Shouldn’t you be putting on makeup and curling your hair, doing girly stuff?

I consider doing you girly stuff. Her sexy laugh, but then she put that curtain back in place again.