“You remembered,” he said quietly.Lowering the bow, Scarlet kept her eyes on him. “I remembered.”

“He looked at her with his green don't-lie-to-me-woman eyes and Scarlet dropped her guilty gaze to the mahogany desktop, searching around until she found a paperweight shaped like a pyramid to stare at.”

“Tristan followed so close behind her she could feel his hot breath on the back of her neck. Again.“Ten foot rule,” called Nate. “Bite me!” Tristan hollered back, more hot breath caressing her skin with his words. A wonderful shiver ran through her body. Damn him and his beautiful mouth and hot breath and his leather-smelling shirt. She assumed he was headed to his own room in the basement, but when she walked into the guest bedroom, he followed her inside. She turned around to tell him to leave her alone, but his bright green eyes derailed her words. He was so pretty… No! No. He was not pretty. He was in danger of dying. Focus on the danger, Scarlet. She glared at him. “What are you doing?” “I’m sleeping with you.” Was he insane? She lifted a brow. “I thought you were mad at me.” “I’m concerned. Not mad.” “Huh. Well either way you’re not sleeping with me.” “Yes, I am.” He was insane. “No,” Scarlet repeated. “You’re not. You could die, Tristan. We can’t touch and we certainly can’t…sleep together.” She felt her face flush. A look of amusement crossed his face. “I meant sleep, Scar.” “Oh. Well.” She cleared her throat. “I don’t want to wake up next to a corpse, so, like…scram.”

“Do you think it’s weird to kiss someone you barely know?” No, it’s perfectly normal and gives us a fantastic excuse to make out. Kiss me!“Totally weird,” she said, immediately wanting to slap herself. He nodded slowly. “Me too.” Scarlet’s heart sank a little. Gabriel flashed his dimples. “I guess now I’ve got a good reason to get to know you, don’t I?”Scarlet narrowed her eyes. “Who said I’d let you kiss me even if you got to know me?”He nodded his head with a smile. “Challenge accepted.”

“So," Nate attempted conversation for the third time. He seemed to be in a better mood lately. "Do you guys maybe want to talk about how every uncomfortable this is?" He smiled tightly, looking first at Tristan, then at Scarlet. "Because I don't know about you, but I feel awkward. Let's hash it out, shall we? Tristan," Nate said brightly. "We'll start with you. How are you feeling?""Annoyed.""I like your honesty and openness." Nate turned to Scarlet. "What about you? How are you feeling?""Tired," she said. "Nine in the morning is too early for needles."Tristan said, "Maybe if you hadn't stayed out so late, you wouldn't be so tired."Scarlet said, "Look who's decided to speak again. Suddenly the silent and dark Tristan has an opinion on my life.""Oh, I have many opinions.""See?" Nate said, his smile tighter than before. "Isn't all this openness refreshing?”

“You'd think I wouldn't even have to say that, but seeing as you two were halfway to Babytown when I walked in here-""Just shut up and go pack," Tristan said."Ooh, feisty." Nate shook his head at Scarlet. "Tristan doesn't like it when I talk about you guys having sex.""Neither do I. Geez." Scarelt was blushing as she shooed Nate from the room.Nate exited and Tristan and Scarlet spent the next half hour lacing arrowed in blood and not making eye contact.”

“So, tell me about yourself, Scarlet.” Gabriel said. “I already know about your love for coffee and sleeping in - which makes you awesome, by the way - but what else?”