Mrs. Wozniak’s eyes bounced between us, but she didn’t look surprised. “Of course. But please, call me April.”
“Is this your childhood bedroom?” I asked Ruby in amusement a little while later.
It was a good sized room with a desk and chair, an entire shelf full of sports trophies, and a full bed covered with stuffed animals and frilly throw pillows. Through the window I could see the lake that bordered the property, the water shining in the moonlight.
It wasn’t a bad idea to come here. The property was relatively secluded, surrounded by tall concrete walls on three sides and the private lake on the other. The entire place boasted a state ofthe art alarm system and security cameras courtesy of Wanda and her team.
“Yeah. You could have had one of the fancy guest rooms, but you said you wanted to stay with me.” Ruby picked up a stuffed bear. “And Teddy.”
“You named your teddy bear Teddy?” I asked incredulously. “Did you not have any imagination as a child?”
Ruby rolled her eyes and whipped the bear at my head. I easily dodged it, stalking closer until I could band my arms around her waist.
“Thanks for protecting me tonight,” she said softly, her eyes tender. “Won’t you need to take some blood now?”
I’d explained to her once that shifting back and forth between human and vampire form put a stress on the body that was managed with an extra dose or two of blood.
“Yeah, the team will have put some in my go bag,” I explained, pointing at the small tote that Angie had given me.
I knew without looking that it contained a change of clothes, a couple of vials of shelf-stable blood, some energy bars, a universal charger, and toiletries. We all kept several of these kits in our vehicles for emergencies.
“You’d better take it then,” she said lightly.
She’d gotten used to seeing me drink blood over the last few weeks. It still grossed her out, mostly because she was squeamish about blood in general, but at least she didn’t pass out anymore.
“I’ll take a shot while you clean up,” I said.
“Okay.”
She headed into the en suite bathroom, returning ten minutes later with her hair down, her face scrubbed clean, and wearing a pair of pajamas with rubber ducks on them. I couldn’t help laughing.
I could count on one hand the number of times I’d laughed in the last year, or any year in recent memory, but with Ruby, I found myself smiling like a fool several times a day.
“Cute jammies.”
“How about you get naked and let me show you how hot it was to watch you punch that giant Romanian in the face?”
I cocked my head in surprise. “I thought you didn’t like violence?”
“Turns out I like it if someone’s trying to kill me. Or you.”
That guy wouldn’t have killed me, although we were pretty evenly matched. My father’s unexpected intercession helped meget the upper hand. Given how rude he was when I talked to him about the Romanian blood oath, I was shocked that he’d deigned to help me out. Who knew that my father had any paternal feelings for me?
Ruby stepped closer, her expression tender, and lifted one hand to cup my cheek. I loved it when she did that, the touch felt so intimate.
“I’m glad you weren’t hurt,” she said. “When I saw that guy’s hands on your throat, I felt so helpless. And regretful.”
“Regretful?” I asked.
She took a long, shaky breath. “If he’d killed you, I would have spent the rest of my life regretting not asking you to bite me and make me your mate officially.”
I felt my eyes widen. “You’re ready?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I mean, if you still are?”
“I’ve been ready since the first day we met,” I said firmly.
“You didn’t say anything since that first time we talked about being mates,” she said quietly. “I thought maybe you’d changed your mind?”
