“I thought I was dropping obvious hints the last couple of months that I was interested.”
He had. Roger had ignored them. Indulging in his blood had almost felt like a betrayal, except he needed the blood, and Zack had said he didn’t mind who Roger drank from. But taking on another pet was a different matter. Roger shifted his stance, preparing to let Carver down.
“Zack said if I wanted to be yours, I should ask. Since this is your last night in town and etiquette’s important to you, I figured this would be the way to do it,” Carver said.
“Wait, Zacktoldyou to ask me?” Roger said.
“Yeah.”
Roger leaned against one of the tables and folded his arms over his chest. So Zack and Carver had talked about this. Zack knew all the dangers and had told Carver to go ahead anyway. Why had he done such a thing?I’ve been emphasizing that I needed to reenter the GLC in style. He’s been doing the research. Two pets are rather few, and I have no guarantee that I’ll have drinking privileges right away. Kit and Zack won’t be enough for me to keep my strength up. But did Roger want to put Carver in that kind of danger?
“Seamus seems to be accepting of my return, but I may be dead by the weekend,” Roger said seriously.
Carver grinned and padded over to him. “Have a little faith. You’re too hot for him to kill right away.”
“You have no idea the amount of beautiful people he’s murdered.”
“I don’t have a death wish, but you never know what day’s going to be your last.”
“I’d expect you to travel with me tomorrow night.”
“Person I’m renting a room from would love to have it for her granddaughter.”
Roger was struggling to find other complications Carver might turn away from. “Zack is my head pet. You will have to obey him as you would me.”
“You’re both my type,” Carver said with a grin. “He has that kind of intense sexiness that you have to be born with, you know?”
I do. Roger watched Carver carefully as he said the next words. “I won’t promise you a sexual relationship, but I also won’t stop you from sharing your body with whomever you like. I only ask for your blood to remain mine.”
Carver double-blinked. “Wait, really? Why?”
“Because Zack and I are close.”
“Don’t tell me you’re one of those vampires who hate the word ‘boyfriend.’” An iciness morphed Carver’s grin from a sly one to a wary one.
So Carver did have a few morals with which he was willing to judge others. Roger leaned toward him. “I don’t mind the word, but nothing is formal between he and I. I’m not going to declare his feelings for him.”
Carver wrapped Roger’s jacket tighter around him and shivered as the breeze kicked up. “But you don’t want to mess things up between you.”
“And given how the upper echelons of the GLC are expected to behave?—”
“He’s got to be your pet for appearances. Got it.” Carver stepped closer to Roger. “What I’m really hearing is seduce both of you, not just one.”
Roger put his hand on Carver’s chest and pushed him back a step. Another time, he would have taken everything Carver had to offer without consulting anyone. His relationships were always on the verge of breaking for one reason or another.
Or that’s what I’ve told myself. He had never nursed anyone to health the way he’d cared for Zack. While he’d had lovers who were disowned from their families, he’d never been their primary comfort. But Zack was changing every night, and he had a pain in him that Roger wanted to ease. He longed to see Zack’s shy smile more than he wished for another sunrise on an Atlantic wave.
“You are welcome to try,” Roger said, his hand still on Carver’s chest, “but Zack … He has some mental blocks when it comes to passion.”
“You his first boyfriend?”
Roger pulled his hand away and folded his arms over his chest again. “I don’t believe so. He’s comfortable with his sexuality, but the expression of it.”
“Is that why he freezes up whenever I hit on him?” Carver asked.
“He panics when he believes others could be judging his more carnal reactions.”
“Well, now I feel like an ass. I just thought it was ‘oh no, I’m gay and just realizing it’s panic.” Carver moved so that he was at Roger’s side, facing the same direction.
