Page 71 of The Incubus and the Bodyguard

Her fork groaned as it bent in her grip.

Yuliy looked fairly impressed at the feat.

“You made a terrible mess of that,” Lena told Delphine bluntly.

Yuliy looked up from the twisted cutlery. “To be fair, Vlad’s equally at fault. He was never good at talking about his feelings.”

“Remember that time he had that crush on that little girl in kindergarten?” Gustav mused.

Lena grimaced. “You mean when he put a toad in her bag and mud in her lunch box and then was upset when she told the teacher and got him in trouble?”

A reminiscent smile curved Yuliy’s mouth. “He cried for a whole day after he got his heart broken.” He chuckled. “He was a cute little devil.”

Delphine’s mouth pressed to a thin line. “You guys are not helping.”

The drive back to Vlad’s apartment was a tense affair.

Delphine glanced at the incubus where he sat in the passenger seat, his cold profile gilded by the morning light. Tarang was curled up asleep in the back, having evidently decided that matters of the human heart were far too exhausting to contemplate on a full stomach.

She broke the silence first.

“Look, I apologize. I shouldn’t have said what I said back there.”

“Which part?” His pupils flashed crimson as he looked at her.

Now that his powers had fully returned, she could feel a subtle heat emanating from him. One that made her skin tingle and her pulse quicken.

Serena had told her super soldiers were immune to magic, including Vlad’s incubus charm. Which meant what she was feeling was one hundred percent her own emotion.

Her fingers tightened on the steering wheel of the Range Rover.

Delphine Dubois, you need to grow a pair.

She took a deep breath. “I like you.”

The confession made Vlad freeze. He blinked, like he couldn’t believe what she’d just said.

“What?” he breathed.

“I said I like you,” she ground out.

He hesitated. “You mean, like…a friend?”

Delphine scowled. “Friends do not do what I did to you three nights ago. Four times.”

Color stained Vlad’s cheekbones. His expression turned serious. “I like you too.”

Delphine’s heart clenched. “You mean that?”

“Pull over.”

She blinked. “What?”

“Pull over, Delphine.” His eyes flared scarlet, his tone dropping to an octave that made her shiver.

Delphine swallowed, checked the mirrors, and pulled into a service lane.

She’d barely engaged the handbrake when Vlad undid his seat belt, leaned over the center console, and clasped her face.

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