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crazed with lust. I’d had far too many inappropriate thoughts about him already.
    He managed to back me against the kitchen island, a smile playing on his lips as his gaze sparkled with a mixture of humor and desire. Oh. My.
    I needed to retrieve control of the situation. “I’ll drop you off at the Old Sass Café while I attend to my own breakfast.”
    “And what do you eat?” His gaze suggested he had a menu in mind, though I doubted it consisted of the carotid artery.
    “I’m a vampire. I drink blood.”
    “Huh. Not sure how I feel about you gnawing necks. Especially another guy’s.” He stood mere inches from me. He wore his hair short on the sides, and spiked on the top. It was almost militaristic, but the look fit him perfectly. He was too sexy. I felt my pulse stutter, which was ridiculous because I had no pulse.
    “We hardly know each other,” I said. “So, your opinion about my dining options is irrelevant.” His gaze darkened even more, and he leaned forward. I licked my lips. I liked the way he was looking at me, and I liked the way I felt. In this moment, I was the only woman in the world; and this man, this gorgeous man, wanted only me. So, as Tez had asked earlier, I decided to talk pretty to him. “Yes. Your opinion simply doesn’t count. Neither does your inexplicable ire about the gender of my donors.”
    “Jesus. That vocabulary of yours makes me hot.” His gaze went unnaturally still—a rather eerie reminder of how his jaguar self looked right before it pounced. “But that snotty tone of yours is what really gets me hard.”
    My stomach dropped to my toes, and I swear I could feel the pounding of my undead heart. It was nonsense, of course, but I almost felt alive around Tez. He didn’t appear to care very much about manners or politically correct behavior. Of course, the citizens of Broken Heart weren’t the type to beat around the bush. I’d grown to like the direct way most people talked to each other; it was far better than dancing around expected behaviors in polite company. It seemed that Tez would fit in just fine in our little town. Tez’s particular brand of directness was… well, rather a turn-on (there, I said it). I swallowed the knot—or was that my heart?—in my throat. “You’re very earthy.”
    He grinned again, but the gesture was more a feral parting of his lips, and a show of a lot of white teeth. Yet another predatory move that unnerved me. I wasn’t used to such intense attention, especially not from a man. “Say that thing about gusta-whatever.”
    I couldn’t resist playing the game, even if I wasn’t sure about the rules. I looked at him through my lashes. “You mean… gustatory pleasures?”
    He leaned down and sucked on my lower lip. I was stunned by his action, and found myself too flabbergasted to protest such an intimate gesture. He swept a thumb over my swollen lip. “You taste like cinnamon.”
    “It’s my gloss.” Oh, excellent comeback, Elizabeth. I stifled a groan of embarrassment. Obviously I was ill-prepared for flirting. I needed one of those “For Dummies” guides—then again, I didn’t think there was a book available that would teach me how to deal with Tez.
    “Hmm. I like it.” He leaned in to smell my hair. “You gonna introduce me to your meal?”
    His closeness discombobulated me. He was doing it on purpose, to keep me off guard. “What would be the point?”
    “To see if he’s better looking than me.”
    Hah. An opening I could use.
    “He’s utterly gorgeous,” I said with a dreamy sigh. Well! Maybe I could play the coquette. “Sometimes, I sit on his lap, wrap my arms around those big, broad shoulders, and just… lick.” I looked at Tez, and smiled. “We should go now, so I can suck on his delicious neck.”
    “I might have to kill this guy,” said Tez, his eyes glinting with humor. He leaned down and tugged my earlobe between his teeth. I felt his tongue trace the inner shell of my ear, which made me