“I’m… I’ll splash some cold water on my face and be out of your hair,” Shi muttered, crawling off of the couch. “I can’t believe this happened again.”
“Don’t be silly.” I stood and chased after them. “Let me get you a towel so you can shower. If you want to make it up to us, I’m sure James would love some help with breakfast.”
In my bathroom, I grabbed a couple of towels and started the water. Shi offered me a grateful smile. “I’m not intruding?”
“Not at all. Besides, I think he’ll enjoy having someone who can do more than scramble an egg.”
“He trusts you with a whisk?”
My head tilted. “You’re supposed to use a whisk?”
When Shi finally cracked a smile, I left them alone to shower while I rejoined James in the kitchen. He was oddly quiet. His usual music wasn’t playing, and he barely looked over his shoulder. Pulling a move right out of his playbook, I sidled up behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist. “You’re still beating yourself up for saving their life, aren’t you?”
He blew out an exasperated breath, dropping his head against my shoulder. “I don’t know how not to.”
“As I said last night: If you were human, and someone needed mouth-to-mouth, would you feel the same way?”
“I don’t know. I’m not human, and that wasn’t mouth-to-mouth.”
“Technically—”
“Ryder.”
“Sorry. But you saved their life, James. No one knows what would have happened if you hadn’t been there.”
James handed a cup of coffee over his shoulder, which I graciously sipped on while I waited for my turn in the shower. Finally, he said, “I need to tell them, don’t I?”
“They weren’t breathing, baby. Something tells me they didn’t intend to drink themself to death, and that they’d begrateful for what you did. I don’t think this is the sticky situation you think it is.”
“It is if I have feelings for them.” James’s voice was low, as if Shiloh might possibly hear him across the house and under the running water. “I saw an opportunity to kiss them and I didn’t think. I just acted. I took advantage of the situation. Of them.”
“And you accuse me of overthinking,” I said. James sighed and leaned against the sink, crossing his arms. I brushed a tender kiss across his lips. “If it bothers you that much, then talk to them about it.”
James didn’t respond, but he offered me a grateful smile. My bedroom door opened, and Shi crept down the hallway. Sheepishly, they poked their head into the kitchen, damp curls hanging in their face. “What are the chances of me escaping without questions?”
“Much higher than escaping without being fed,” James offered. “It’s one of my rules.”
Shiloh emerged into the room, their grin widening into a full smile. “Ryder said something about you accepting help from someone useful in the kitchen.”
I backed out of the kitchen, relieved to see that James was slightly more relaxed than he’d been earlier.
While I waited on my shower to warm up, I inspected James’s mark in the mirror. I squinted, trying to see the venom beneath my skin like James said he did. Thin blue lines spread out from his bite like a spiderweb. The spot was hot to the touch, just like my whole body had been the night before, and it throbbed beneath my fingertips. It was almost like the venom was trying its best to work, but it just… wasn’t. How had no one said anything about it? I furrowed my eyebrows. Michael had barely glanced at it last night.
Shaking my head to clear my swirling concerns, I showered and brushed my teeth, making sure to throw on something thatcovered that nasty mark before returning to the kitchen. James and Shi sat at the table. Shi was laughing at something James was saying, scratching Carlos behind the ear with one hand.
“You can stop talking about me now,” I chided, accepting the fresh coffee James slid my way—with my left hand.
“Holy shit!” Shi exclaimed, reaching across the table to snatch my hand so violently that liquid sloshed over the edges of the mug and splattered to the table. “Is this what I think it is?”
“Depends on what you think it is.”
“Don’t tease them, love,” James scolded, peering up at me with sparkling brown eyes. “They’re hungover.”
“Did you… Are you two—” Shi’s gaze snapped back to the band on James’s hand that they’d apparently missed until now, then settled their attention on me. “Explain.”
James spoke instead, drying my hand before bringing the ring to his lips. “I asked Ryder to marry me last night.”
“Umm,” I objected. No way was he stealing my story. “Only afterIaskedhimlast week,” I clarified.
