"It's very nice, but…" The thought of the few research projects I'd begun with the intent to distribute the information to the vampire community reminded me of our current situation. Without the Movement, there was no communication network among vampires. It wasn't as if my metabolic studies and dissertations on Vampire digestion were publishable in the New England Journal of Medicine. And they certainly weren't going to hit the bestseller fiction lists. "Nathan, I really don't have any reason left to continue my projects."

"Because of the Movement?" He fell silent, running his hand along the edge of a shelf. "That would be a stupid reason to give up all the work you've done."

There was admiration behind his words, and it seemed somehow worth more coming from Km. In my entire career as a human doctor, I'd tried to sustain myself on praise from my professors and bosses, to no avail. Nathan's unspoken praise was like water to a dying plant, and I was strangely moved.

My emotion waned a little as I stared at the place where my bed used to be. "Um… where's the bed?"

"Oh, I put it downstairs, in the back room of the shop." He thumped one of the shelves with his knuckles, as if testing for sturdiness. "Do you like the color? I thought it might be too girlie—"

The back room? The cement-walled, spider-infested utility room with the water heater and a single bulb for illumination? I glared at him. "Well, I definitely prefer it to lime stains from where the pipes drip!"

He frowned in confusion. "What are you talking about? Carrie, I don't want you to sleep down there, I just put your bed in storage."

I threw my hands up in frustration. "Well, what the hell do you expect me to do, sleep on the couch?"

"I expect you to sleep in my bed with me, like a proper girlfriend!" He stared at me, baffled for a moment, then laughed. "Christ, can't we get anything right?"

I stepped up to him and looped my arms around his neck. "We're not so bad at the naked, sweaty part."

He grinned at me, and I was struck all over again by how much taller he was than me. He leaned down to kiss me, breaking his motion to ask, "So, do you like it?"

"I like the office," I admitted. "I like just being home more."

"You're not going to like it tomorrow night," he warned. "Did you see all the books in the living room?"

"I did. I was trying to ignore them."