His lips twitched with amusement. “I’m not needy.”
“So needy. And jealous. And possessive. But just for the record, I’m not giving Gideon anything other than my time.”
“You kissed him.”
“It was nothing. Seriously.” I cleared my throat. “So what would you like me to do about
Veronique wanting to become the Red Devil’s lover? Seriously. She’s so into the guy that a little drool messed up her Chanel lip gloss when she was talking about him. It was kind of sad.”
“Are you trying to change the subject?”
“Yes, I am. Now, Veronique and the Red Devil. Your thoughts?”
He raised a dark eyebrow. “I’m afraid having an affair with my estranged wife is not something that interests me.”
“Come on, now. The woman is beautiful. She’s powerful and savvy and you guys have a lot of history together.”
“This is all very true.”
I cringed. If Thierry and Veronique were Internet dating, they’d definitely be matched up together. Me? I’d be put with the guy who still lived with his parents and enjoyed an unhealthy relationship with video games.
“Then what’s the problem?”
He sighed. “You’re serious about this?”
“No. Forget it. I really don’t want to know.”
He shook his head. “You asked and I’ll answer. Why wouldn’t I embrace the chance to be with Veronique again? Being that she’s so—as you believe—perfect?”
“Did I say that?”
“Numerous times.”
“Okay, then why? Why would you put up with everything we’ve been through?
Everything we’re probably going to go through, when the simple, perfect choice has been right in front of you all along?”
“Why would you choose to be with me when you’re obviously better matched with
Quinn?” he countered.
I blinked at that. “Well, I’m not in love with him, for one thing. Also, Quinn’s engaged to a really scary blond chick now. I probably wouldn’t touch him with a ten-foot pole even if
I wanted to.”
His expression darkened significantly. “Except for kissing him in public earlier today. And admittedly kissing Gideon as well and not wanting it to be a topic of conversation between us.”
I swallowed hard. “Gideon showed what kind of person he was tonight when he slit two hunters’ throats and nearly killed you.”
Thierry sat up, swung his legs over the side of my bed, and proceeded to get dressed without another word.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“In twenty-four hours you’re supposed to sire Gideon. Now that I know that your blood is as powerful as he believes it to be, I’m very worried what this will mean.”
“So I sire him and he leaves us alone. That was the original plan, wasn’t it?”
He shook his head, his brow deeply creased with worry. “You don’t know what the implications could be when someone like him is given the power and strength equivalent of a master vampire.”
He was right, of course. I let out a shaky breath. “I know, this is bad. I’m sorry.”
“Please don’t apologize.” He slid into his black jacket. “And if you really want to know how I could possibly choose you over such a perfect woman as Veronique—just know that such perfection is highly overrated.”
He slid his hand into his jacket pocket and pulled something out. Something small that sat easily in his palm. “Know that I carry this with me every day with the hope that I’ll earn the right to be able to give it to you again.”
It was a ring studded with diamonds around its circumference. An eternity band. He’d given it to me a couple of weeks ago and I’d given it back to him when I’d been forced to break things off with him. While it wasn’t an engagement ring—hard to be engaged to somebody who was already married—it symbolized Thierry’s wanting to have me in his life.
My heart swelled to the size of a hot-air balloon. “Can I have it back now?”
He closed his hand and shook his head. “I’m going to hold on to it for safekeeping.”
“You carry that with you everywhere?”
He nodded.
A smile began to spread across my face. “You are such a romantic.”
I gathered the sheets around me and kneeled on the side of the bed. He sat down on the edge and touched my face, stroking the hair out of my eyes and tucking it behind my ears.
“I love that you saw through my disguises to who I truly am.” His voice was thick.
“Bad disguise. Really flimsy.” I smiled as he brushed his mouth against mine. “But I love you anyhow.”
He raised an amused eyebrow. “Now, I must go. Before tomorrow night I have to figure out how best to deal with Gideon without jeopardizing the safety of anyone.”
His words worked like a splash of cold water in my face. “Oh, my God. I can’t believe I forgot!”
“Forgot what?”
“I wanted to grab Gideon’s BlackBerry tonight in his hotel room, but it totally fell through,” I said, choosing to limit the details, including being pressed up against the wall by the BlackBerry owner in question as my inner nightwalker rubbed against Gideon like a cat. “I’d hoped it would show me who his contacts were—the men he’s assigned to do his dirty work. If I could get that we’d definitely have an advantage.”
“But you weren’t able to get it?”
“Not then. But in the alley when I was…” I chewed my bottom lip as I flashbacked to what happened earlier. “… doing my Gideon Chase taste test I managed to grab it.”
“You did?”