“Then don’t tell her until it’s done. All we have to do is run home to get the drone and Fallon’s laptop, then we can head up to Napoleon’s, Fallon does her stuff, and we’ll be back in a couple of hours.” Gus stood up and motioned for Fallon to do the same. “Although we will need a car. Got one we can borrow?”

***

A deer in the headlights had nothing on Bennett, and Lisa was having a hard time not allowing her amusement to show. She took a cautious step around the desk and moved the chair out of the way. “Bennett, I haven’t changed. I’m still me. I don’t want to kill, maim, or maul. I don’t want to steal or deceive so I can have treasure chests overflowing with jewels or gold. I don’t want to be the queen of the vampires or…or even rule a coven. I just want to be me…with you.”

“I…I don’t believe you. This isn’t real. This…this isn’t you.”

“Yes, it is,” Lisa said, stomping her foot. “This is the me I couldn’t risk you seeing, the me who’s had a dozen years to hope and to dream, all the while falling more in love with you as each day passed. This is the me who wants to start every day of the rest of her life waking up in your arms, and the me who wants to spend every night for the rest of her life making love with you. This is the me who’s telling you with absolutely no uncertainty that I’m head over heels in love with you, Bennett, and I have been since you stepped off that stupid plane.”

Bennett drew in a breath and shook her head. “And I’m telling you, it’s not real, Lisa. Trust me, it’s not real, and I refuse to allow anything to happen between us because you’re going to regret it. Now, stop all this foolishness and—”

“Oh, God, Ruby was right. This is going to be harder for you to accept than watching me almost die, isn’t it?”

“I would prefer if you didn’t speak with Ruby about me.”

“All things being equal, Bennett, I’d have preferred not knowing you hooked up with her, but it is what it is.”

“And you just proved my point.”

“Which is?”

“That all of this is because of the vampirism,” Bennett said, waving her hands about. “No one in their right mind is going to suddenly profess their undying love for someone knowing full well they were sleeping with someone else twenty-four hours before.”

Lisa winced. “Okay, so I really didn’t need to know the ETA of your last orgasm, but so what? Are you in love with Ruby?”

“What? No, of course not.”