Aidan laughed, rolling them onto their sides.
Settling her head on the pillow beside his, Dana smiled as she tried to catch her breath.
His own smile tender, Aidan brushed her tangled hair back from her face and pressed a lingering kiss to her lips. “I love you.”
Her heart skipped a beat.
“You don’t have to say it back,” he said softly. “I just wanted you to know. Because I do. I love you, Dana.”
She touched a hand to his stubbled cheek. “I love you, too.”
A shiver shook her as her passion-warmed skin began to cool beneath the gentle breeze of the air conditioner.
Aidan released her long enough to draw the sheet up over them both, then slid his arms around her beneath it. “I’m sorry our courtship was interrupted. I’m sorry I couldn’t spend months wooing you as an ordinary man.”
Amusement sifted through her. “But you aren’t an ordinary man, Aidan. Even if you hadn’t been born a gifted one, you still wouldn’t have been an ordinary man.”
Silence enfolded them.
Dana would’ve thought sleep would claim her pretty quickly after their fabulous lovemaking. But it didn’t.
Aidan arched a brow.
She grinned. “I don’t know about you, but I’m wide-awake now.”
He laughed. “Me, too.”
“Do you want to watch a movie or something?”
“As much as I would love to…,” he murmured with regret.
Her smile faded. “What?”
“With vampire numbers increasing the way they are, I don’t feel right about not hunting tonight.”
She frowned. “I thought Seth told you to take the night off.”
“He only said that as a kindness. He’s trying to limit your exposure to the harsher aspects of our reality. But vampires are amassing again, which means they’re preying upon more humans every night.”
Sitting up, Dana tucked the sheet beneath her arms. “And you don’t like the idea of staying home and watching a movie when you could be out there, protecting innocents.”
“Yes,” he reluctantly confessed. He said it as though he expected it to upset her.
“That’s a good thing, Aidan,” she said. “A noble thing. Why do you look so grim?”
“Because if I hunt tonight, you’ll have to accompany me.”
She had thought as much. “And?” Did he think she would hinder him in some way?
He sat up, the sheet falling to his lap and leaving his muscled chest bare. “Ethan and Heather would accompany us, so we’d have safety in numbers.”
She had assumed that as well. “What aren’t you saying?”
He ran his fingers through his mussed hair. “Knowing I hunt vampires and seeing me hunt vampires are two very different things.”
And he looked as though he thought the latter would drive her away from him. “I’ve seen you kill vampires before,” she reminded him. “You killed one right in front of me at my place.”
“That was different,” he said with a shake of his head. “They attacked us. You haven’t seen me hunt and kill vampires who haven’t attacked us.”
She studied him. “And you think I’ll leave you once I do.”
“I hope like hell you won’t,” he admitted. “But you do have choice, Dana. And I love you enough to want you to know everything about my life before you make that choice.”
Taking his hand, she raised it to her lips and pressed a kiss to his knuckles. “Which just makes me love you even more.”
An amber glow entered his eyes. “I don’t like the idea of exposing you to more violence after you’ve seen so much in the past couple of nights.”
“But more humans may die if you don’t hunt tonight,” she finished for him.
“Yes.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “Are you up for it? Will you go hunting with me?”
She smiled. “Yes.”
He brought her palm to his lips for a kiss. “Is there anything you won’t do for me?” he whispered.
Schooling her features into a somber mask, she nodded. “Yes.”
His brow furrowed.
Leaning in close, Dana held his worried gaze. “I will never,” she intoned, “wear thong underwear for you.”
He laughed, his eyes sparkling with amusement. “I’d rather you not wear any at all,” he said with a wink. Tossing back the sheet, he rose. “Let’s take a quick shower, then I’ll let Ethan and Heather know our plans and find you some hunting clothes.”
Had Dana not been so deliciously sated, she would’ve wanted to spend more time in the shower with Aidan. She had learned yesterday that one of the perks of Aidan’s being immortal was that he didn’t need to recharge after having an orgasm. He could go again immediately and have as many orgasms as she did.
Dana had also learned, much to Aidan’s amusement, that multiple orgasms left her too tired to move. So they rushed through their shower and donned hunting togs.
Heather’s clothes ended up fitting Dana just fine, though the boots were a little snug. Judging by the faint glow in Aidan’s eyes, he liked seeing her in the black cargo pants, long-sleeved black shirt, and boots.
Ethan, Heather, Brodie, and Ed all smiled when she and Aidan joined them in the living room.
Brodie crossed to Dana. “I don’t know how much you know about Seconds, but our job is to arm and protect the immortals we serve. In this instance, that job extends to protecting you, so if you don’t mind?” He held up a shoulder holster and weapons.
“Oh.” She had thought she would just be observing. “Okay.” While she held out her arms, Brodie fitted her for a shoulder holster he packed with 9mms.
Aidan’s brows drew down as he watched them.
“Is he not supposed to arm me?” she asked. “You look a little pissed.”
Heather laughed. “He just doesn’t like Brodie touching you.”
When Aidan didn’t dispute it, Dana smiled at him. “It’s not like he’s trying to feel me up or anything.”
Aidan’s frown deepened. “He’d lose a hand if he did.”
His Second laughed, unperturbed by the threat.
When Brodie reached both arms around Dana to secure a belt with a thigh holster around her waist, Aidan strode forward and elbowed him aside. “Let me do that,” he grumbled, taking the belt.
Brodie stepped back with a good-natured grin. “Yes, sir.”
Dana watched Aidan as he buckled the belt around her waist, then knelt and went to work, tying the bottom of the holster around her thigh.
He was jealous and didn’t like that he was jealous. Dana didn’t need be telepathic to glean that or to suspect that that was why he wouldn’t meet her eyes.
When at last he did, she grinned. “You are too adorable.”
His soft lips turned up in a sheepish smile. “Sorry about that. Jealousy is new to me. I vow I’ll work on it.”
Dana combed her fingers through his soft, thick, wavy hair. “I don’t mind. I think it’s cute.”
Tucking a tranquilizer gun into the thigh holster, Aidan started to fill her pockets with extra ammo and darts.