Cravings Read Free Page B

into Nathaniel, and when I say leaned, I mean it. Like leaned on him, so
that the line of her body touched his shoulder and arm. It was bold and discreet
at the same time. If I hadn't been watching for it, I might not have realized
what she was doing. She spoke quietly to him. He finally shook his head, and she
turned and wove her way through the small tables full of guests. She took the
last empty seat at the long table where the wedding party was trapped. The last
empty chair was beside me. We got to sit down in the order we'd entered. Goody.
    In the middle of the toasts, after Larry's brother had made the groom blush,
but before the parents had had their turn, Jessica leaned over close enough that
her perfume was sweet and a little too much.
    She whispered, "Does Nathaniel really live with you?"
    I'd been afraid the question would be hard. This one was easy. "Yes," I said.
    "I asked if he was your boyfriend, and he said that he slept in your bed. I
thought that was an odd way to answer." She turned her head so I was suddenly
way too close to her face, those wide-searching eyes. I was struck again by how
lovely she was, and felt stupid for not noticing sooner. But I didn't notice
girls, I noticed boys. So sue me, I was heterosexual. It wasn't her beauty that
struck me, but the demand, the intelligence, in her eyes. She searched my face,
and I realized that no matter how pretty she was, she was still a cop, and she
was trying to uncover the lie here. Because she had smelled one.
    She hadn't asked me a question, so I didn't answer. I rarely got in trouble
by keeping my mouth shut.
    She gave a small frown. "Is he your boyfriend? If he is, then I'll leave it
alone. But you could have told me sooner, so I wouldn't have made a fool of
myself."
    I wanted to say, You didn't make a fool of yourself, but I didn't. I was too
busy trying to think of an answer that would be honest, and not get Nathaniel
and me in more trouble. I settled for the evasion he'd used. "Yes, he sleeps in
my bed."
    She gave a small shake of her head, a stubborn look coming over her face.
"That isn't what I asked, Anita. You're lying. You're both lying. I can smell
it." She frowned. "Just tell me the truth. If you have a prior claim, say so,
now."
    I sighed. "Yeah, I have a prior claim, apparently."
    The frown deepened, putting frown lines between the pretty eyes. "Apparently?
What does that mean? Either he's your boyfriend, or he's not."
    "Maybe boyfriend isn't the right word," I said, and tried to think of an
explanation that didn't include the words
pomme de sang
. The police
didn't really know how deeply involved with the monsters I was. They suspected,
but they didn't know. Knowing is different from suspicion. Knowing will hold up
in court; suspicion won't even get you a search warrant.
    "Then what is the right word?" she whispered, but it held an edge of hiss, as
if she were fighting not to yell. "Are you lovers?"
    What was I supposed to say? If I said, yes, Nathaniel would be free of
Jessica's unwanted attentions, but it would also mean that everyone on the St.
Louis police force would know that Nathaniel was my lover. It wasn't my
reputation I was worried about; that was pretty much trashed. A girl can't be
coffin-bait for the Master of the City and be a good girl. Most people feel that
if a woman will do a vampire, she'll do anything. Not true, but there you go.
No, not my reputation at stake, but Nathaniel's. If it got out that he was my
lover, then no other woman would make a play for him. If he didn't want to date
Jessica, fine, but he needed to date someone. Someone besides me. If I wasn't
going to keep Nathaniel forever, like almost death-do-you-part ever, then he
needed a bigger social circle. He needed a real girlfriend.
    So I hesitated, weighing a dozen words, and not finding a single one that
would help the situation. I didn't know how to answer Arnet's question so I used
the old excuse of needing to go