“I . . . tried phoning, but no one was answering. I was concerned.”
I ran my fingers through my hair until they got caught on the demon tangle. “Oh, right. Slept in. George,
Amy, and I went out for a few drinks.”
He nodded. “I wanted to stop by. I had to see you to make sure you were all right. And I really want to talk to you.” His gaze moved to my neck and he frowned.
I touched the bite marks. “I want to talk to you, too. About what happened yesterday with Qu . . . well,
you know. I’m glad you’re here . . . even though it would have been nice if I’d heard the phone ring. I could have found something better to wear. I think George has a Depeche Mode shirt I could borrow that is much more stylish.” I smiled.
“You look just fine to me.” His gaze moved up to lock with mine. He reached toward me and ran a warm hand down my bare arm. I took a step closer to him.
My smile widened. “So do you.” I noticed his gaze leave my probably shiny and feather-encrusted face to glance over my shoulder. His eyes narrowed.
“Just the three of you went out last night, you said?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I needed to let go of some pent-up energy. And dancing’s great for that.”
“Dancing,” he repeated. “Is that all?”
“Of course.”And almost getting killed , I thought. But really, that’s a given.
His expression darkened even further and he didn’t meet my eyes again. “Yes, it looks like you had an excellent time, Sarah, relieving your excess energy. I apologize for any intrusion. Should you find the time to speak to me in your very busy schedule, I’ll be at the club all afternoon.”
He turned around and walked away without even looking at me again.
I felt seriously confused. What just happened? What was his problem? Was my morning breath that bad? I breathed against the back of my hand and grimaced.
Yeah. It really was.
But it was the Quinn thing. Must be. He was pissed off. I couldn’t say I blamed him, but why wouldn’t he even let me explain? Just storm off after he’d come all the way over here. It just didn’t make any damn sense.
I closed the door and turned around.
A naked man stood behind me, casually drinking from a coffee mug.
“Hi there,” he said with a smile.
He was about six feet tall, with shaggy black hair, piercing blue eyes, and a lean languid line to his body.
His aforementionednaked body.
When I didn’t say anything due to my jaw being on the floor, he approached me, ignoring my wide eyes and stunned gaze, and . . . enthusiastically licked up the side of my cheek.
I smacked him in the mouth.
He held a hand up to his face. “Hey! What was that for?”
“What was that for?” I sputtered. “Get away from me! Who the hell are you? I’m going to call the police. George! George!”
I heard a bang, and a couple of crashes, before George emerged from his bedroom with a salmon-colored towel wrapped around his waist, gingerly holding his head. “You don’t have to scream.
What is it?” He eyed Mr. Naked. “Um . . . first of all,hello there . And secondly, who the hell are you?”
“It’sme ,” the man replied.
George glanced at me. “Sarah, you naughty little minx. Did you—”
“No!” I looked at the guy again, shielding my view of his nether regions with a strategically placed hand.
“Explain. Right now. Or you’re in big trouble, mister!”
“First of all, don’t freak out,” Mr. Naked said. “It’s me.Barkley .”
“Barkley?” My eyes widened. “The dog?”
“Werewolf,” he corrected, and absently scratched behind his ear.
I gaped at him. “You havegot to be kidding.”
“No, not kidding. Thought I was stuck that way forever . . . but boom, here I am. What do you know?”
“Yeah,” I glanced at George half naked in his towel, then at Barkley, completely naked in his . . . nothing. A vampire and a werewolf.
I shook my head. It was obvious. I was having one of my Anita Blake dreams again.
George pinched me. “Ow!” I frowned, and rubbed my arm. Okay. Not a dream. “This is obviously why
Thierry just took off all pissed off. He thinks I’ve been having hot monkey love in here.”
Barkley took another sip of the coffee. “You know, I’ve always enjoyed the way you scratch my tummy. My tail’s wagging just thinking about it. So I’m game if you are.”
I grimaced. “For the love of God, would you put some clothes on? I am traumatized enough already this week.”
He looked down at himself. “I don’t have any. Besides, nudity is natural. I didn’t wear clothes in my wolf form.”
“That was very different. There was fur involved.” I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Why are you human now when you’ve been stuck as a wolf for so long, anyhow?”
George had gone to fetch another towel, and he handed it silently to Barkley.
“Well . . . actually, I have no damn idea.” He shrugged. “You guys left last night. I ate some of my food.
Drank some water. I was still hungry so I may have eaten one of George’s leather moccasins.”
“My moccasins!” George moaned. “Not the moccasins.”