Page 14 of Fangs and Fudge

“Quite eagerly, too,” Cross added as if he wasn’t turning my world upside down with his current level of attention. “Nearly sprinted from the house.”

I cleared my throat and tried to focus. “Good. It’d be better if you didn’t cross paths.” Then, I groaned when I realized I’d have to de-vampire the house again.

“We need to find you a place to live,” I said.

“I was just going to suggest that,” he said. “There’d be no interference from the mutts that keep lingering here, then.”

“They aren’t interfering with anything. They’re trying to keep us safe.”

I carefully dislodged Cross’ touch and set his hand on my blanket with a pat.

He smirked.

Before I could leave the bed, he caught my wrist and leaned forward to kiss my forehead. The same spot he’d kissed the day before when I met him by my car. The same spot Shepard had kissed.

“Better,” he said.

Rather than asking what he meant and possibly hearing something I wasn’t ready to hear, I got out of bed and grabbed shorts and one of my favorite print shirts.

“Cupcakes are muffins that believe in miracles,” Cross read the shirt over my shoulder.

His lips were precariously close to my neck, making me want to shiver. But not in a bad way. I trusted Cross and considered him a friend. A really good-looking friend who I’d seen shirtless in the shower.

As soon as I had the thought, my mind shied away from it, and I focused instead on how I hadn’t really been keeping up on my end of the deal to help him in today’s world. He had the money and the clothes, but he really needed a place to stay.

If he continued showing up here, I’d never get rid of Anchor, and I’d have to deal with Vena and her V.

“Start thinking about where you’d like to live,” I said. “We’ll start looking at options today. I don’t have to be at work until later this afternoon.”

I hurried to the bathroom and locked the door. Not that locking things seemed to matter when it came to Cross. The man could get into any place he wanted to, and with the way my thoughts had wanted to veer, I was afraid the next place might be my pants.

Think about cupcakes, I said as I scoured my teeth and ran a brush through my blonde hair.

It didn’t work.

The cut on my cheek, which I’d earned by falling into Cross’ cave almost a week ago, was almost healed. The one on my hand that I’d gotten while at Juicy’s three days ago looked just as old, thanks to Cross’ help. And the one on my arm from the morning before looked the same.

I could remember the feel of his lips on my skin. The light suction as he drank from me.

Three times now. What did that mean? Was that why I liked him?

“What’s taking so long?” Vena asked as she knocked on the door. “And why was I greeted by a vampire on our couch instead of my plaything?”

Dressed, I opened the door.

“First, Anchor isn’t a toy. And second, he fled at dawn because of your jacked-up hormones.”

“You’re a bit cranky this morning. Is the Crimson Tide coming in?”

“No. This has nothing to do with that and everything to do with you teasing Anchor until he had to run away.”

Vena slipped her arms around me, hugging me like she would a teddy bear. “But if he hadn’t run, he would have met Cross, right? See how good I am? I’ll make breakfast. How’s that?”

“Bad. I don’t want burnt food.”

“I only burn things because I start thinking about something else. I promise I’ll stay focused.”

“How about if I make breakfast, and you help Cross find a few homes we can look at today?”

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