How could she miss him to the point of pain when he was in the next room?
Pressing a hand to her stuttering heart, Ginny stepped out into the hallway.
The arguing ceased abruptly.
She turned the corner into the kitchen, finding three vampires and one slayer in a state of suspended animation.
Her gaze sought out Jonas immediately. He stood with his palms flat on the kitchen table facing Roksana, agitation lingering on his face. It faded when he saw Ginny. “Good morning,” he rasped, scanning her head to toe, his fingers curling on the table.
“Morning,” she breathed, tingles breaking out along her limbs. There are other people around. Mentally shaking herself, she tucked some hair behind her ear, positive she looked like she’d slept in a bush during a windstorm. “Do you have a mirror, Roksana?”
“I do not,” she said, holding out her phone to Ginny. “Flip my camera.”
“I’ll save you time,” Jonas said in a gruff tone. “You look amazing.”
“Goddamn. Could you two bring it down a notch?” Elias asked, his face buried in the refrigerator. “It’s uncomfortable.”
“Not for me,” Tucker said, leaning back in his chair. “I’ll watch any time. Sign me up.”
Jonas slid him a sideways glance. “Not in your wildest dreams.”
Tucker shrugged. “Worth a shot.”
Ginny held up the reverse camera and winced at her tornado victim appearance, quickly lowering the phone. “What was everyone arguing about before?”
Everyone looked at Jonas.
He pushed away from the table. Started to answer and stopped. “We’ve been discussing how best to proceed safely. Now that you and I are…” He shoved his hands into his pants pockets. “Now that we’re together.” Intense eyes ticked to hers. “Indefinitely.”
Her abdomen squeezed. “You mean, how to proceed safely so we aren’t discovered?”
“Take your seat on the Order and change the laws.” Elias smacked the refrigerator shut, but kept his back turned. “You refuse a position many covet.”
“Clarence will never change the laws,” Jonas intoned. “By trying to convince him to do so for my own gain, I’d only be putting her in jeopardy.”
“I don’t care what you bloodsuckers decide to do,” Roksana sighed. “I’m only here to protect the human.”
Jonas shook his head. “Yes, you did a fine job of that by bringing my mate to a slayer bar. Didn’t you realize how valuable she’d be to them? To draw me out?”
“It’s not something a human could sense,” Roksana seethed. “She was safe.”
“Everyone stop,” Ginny said, going to Jonas and laying a hand on his arm. “There’s no point in fighting about it now. I’m fine.”
Jonas shuddered at her touch. “Ginny…”
“You were chained in a room planning to off yourself,” she said unevenly. “And you have the nerve to shout about me going out for one beer?”
“Ahhh.” Tucker laughed and slapped the table. “Human women don’t lose arguments, man. They have a filing system of shit you did wrong. You better recognize.”
“Is that true?” Jonas asked, amusement softening his expression.
“I don’t know.” Her nose wrinkled. “I’ve never won an argument, because I’ve never been in a relationship.”
“Thank God for that,” he murmured, leaning in to look at her mouth.
She quickly reared back. “I don’t have a toothbrush here,” she blurted, covering her mouth. “That wasn’t me asking for one, either. I know it’s only my second time staying over.”
“And?”
“And…I don’t know.” Heat stole up her neck. “I don’t want you to think I’m presuming anything.”
Jonas glanced over at Roksana. “What am I missing?”
“Don’t ask the slayer,” Elias drawled. “She doesn’t know how normal women think.”
“She’s worried you’ll think she’s a clinger.” Roksana flashed Elias her middle finger. “I usually worry more about the men I date getting clingy. So annoying when that happens.” With a sharp sound of irritation, Elias blurred from the kitchen so fast, it left a smug Roksana’s hair floating in the air. “Touchy touchy.”
“Why wouldn’t I want you to cling to me?” Jonas asked, ignoring the scene. “I expect you to cling, Ginny.”
“It’s just that we haven’t had a conversation about…logistics. When we’ll see each other and where. Are you just going to appear in my bedroom at nighttime? Am I still going to be blindfolded everywhere we go? Am I—”
“She’s feeling insecure, Jonas,” Tucker called. “Fix it.”
“Oh I will,” he said slowly, studying her with harder than usual intensity. “As soon as I figure out the most effective way. Although I’m not sure anything says ‘I’m committed’ more than making a woman one’s sustaining life force.”
“You’re thinking like a vampire,” Tucker said. “She’s a human. She needs human gestures.”
“Hey.” Ginny crossed her arms. “Stop talking about me like I’m not here.”
Jonas’s lips tugged. “Sorry, love. Are you hungry?”
“Yes.” She set her voice to a whisper. “Are you?”
“Always,” he breathed, lids drooping. “I can wait, though.”
“Can you?”
“I’m going to exercise restraint from the beginning.” Jonas circled his thumb in the hollow of her throat. “I will not overwhelm you.”
He turned and zipped to the counter before she could reply, remaining poised with his fists on the counter a moment, before reaching for the carton of eggs on the counter. What would have been her reply? That, oddly, she liked how it felt when he took his fill? That it felt like relief and homecoming, all rolled into one? Did that make her shameful or weird?
Ginny shook herself. “Roksana, can I use your phone to call Larissa? I left my things at the bar.”
Roksana rolled her eyes over Jonas’s growl. “Sure thing, lady.”
She took the phone into the living room and sat down on the couch, keying in the number to the funeral home by memory. Ginny’s stepmother answered on the second ring. “P. Lynn Funeral Home.”
“Larissa. Hi, it’s Ginny.”
“Ginny. Where are you? I came down for a box of tissues because I still feel like shit and there were five messages from a man wanting to schedule his son’s services. I can’t meet with him. I’m like a zombie.”
She held on to her patience. “When does he want to meet?”
“Tonight. Six o’clock. I know your shift doesn’t start until later, but—”
“Oh, Larissa. I would do it, but my dress expo is tonight—”
“Your what?”
Ginny closed her eyes. “Nothing. I’ll just set up late. Can you confirm the appointment and let him know I’ll be there?”
“Yes. Fine.” She sounded like a deflating raft. “Ginny, we have to sell this place, even if we take a loss. This is like the Groundhog Day from hell. I’m not cut out for being surrounded by death and sad people. I swear I think it’s making me ill.”