He wouldn’t look at me while he opened the cream cheese and spread a thick layer over the toast. "It’s sort of a blackish brownish color. Why? Is that a problem?" Dropping my hands to his waist, I turned him around. Pinning him to the counter, I leaned until our hips touched. "God, no. I just wondered." i said. "Oh." His hands went about my waist, and clearly relieved he inhaled slowly, seeming to take in my soul with him. A spark of desire jumped from him to me, going right to my core to catch my breath. I knew he was scenting me, reading in the slight tension of my body pressing into him my willingness to turn our embrace into something more. I knew our natural scents mixing was a potent blood aphrodisiac. I also knew Ashley would kill him if he broke my skin even by accident. But this was all old news, and I’d be a fool if I didn’t admit that part of Aiden’s allure was the mix of deep intimacy he offered along with the potential danger of him losing control and biting me.Yeah, I wa a stupid, trusting girl, but it made for great sex. And Aiden is very careful, I thought, pulling coyly  away at the low growl rumbling up through him. He wouldn’t have come over if he wasn’t sure of his control, and I knew he teased himself with my off-limits blood as much as i tested my will against the supposedly better-than-sex carnal exctasy that a vampire bite could bring. "i see you’re making friends with your neighbors," he said and I eased from him to reopen the window and wash my hands off. If I didn’t stop, Ashley would sense it and be out here glowering like a shunned lover. We were roomates and business partner, that’s all, but she made no attempt to hide that she wanted more. She had asked me once to be her scion, which was sort of a number-one helper and wielder of vampire power when the vamp in question was limited by sunlight. She wasn’t dead yet and didn’t need a scion, but Ashley was a planner.

The position was an honor, but I didn’t want it, even though, as a witch I couldn’t be turned vampire. It involved an exchange of blood to cement ties, which was why I had flatly refused her the first time she had asked, but after meeting her old high school roommate, I thought she was after more than that. Aiden could seperate the drive for blood from the desire for sex, but Ashley couldn’t, and the sensations a bloodlusting vamp pulled from me were too much like sexual hunger for me to think otherwise. Ashley’s offer that I become her scion was also an offer to be her lover, and as much as I cared for her, i couldn’t bring myself to see her like that. I turned off the tap and dried my hands on the dish towel, frowning at the butterfly wings drifting  closer to the garden. "You could have helped me out there," I said sourly.  "Me?" Green eyes glinting in amusement, he set the orange juice on the counter and shut the fridge. "Spencer, honey, I love you and all but what do you think I could have done?" Tossing the dish towel to the counter, I turned my back on him, crossing my arms while I gazed out at the catiously approaching wings. He was right but that didn’t mean I had to like it. I was lucky Matalina had showed up, and I wondered again what she wanted. A warm breath touched my shoulder and i jerked, realizing Aiden had snuck up on me, unheard with his vamp-soft steps. "I would have come out if you needed it," he said, his rumbling voice going right into me. "But they were only garden fairies." "Yeah," I said with a sigh. "i suppose." Turning, my eyes went over his shoulder to the three books behind me. "Are those for me?" I asked wanting to change the subject.