“They were a laugh riot.”

She grinned and scratched Bruno behind his ears. “So what are your plans for the rest of the day?”

“I have to work this afternoon. Grade some papers.”

She groaned, knowing hers would be among them. “Give me an A plus, would ya? I could use one.”

“I told you I’m grading you the hardest.”

“Hmmm. What can I do…to change your mind?”

His lips curved and he pretended to think hard for a minute. “I’ll take sex.”

“Sex for an A plus?”

“No. I’ll just take sex.”

Kristi made a strangled sound. “I’m not that easy, Professor McKnight. You might want to call Mai Kwan. She was all about you this morning. I think she’s got a crush.”

“A ‘crush,’” he repeated thoughtfully. “How about you…Student Bentz?”

“Nah.”

“You’re a bad liar. You’ve got a major crush on me.”

“A complete fabrication.”

He grinned like a dope and she had to look away, her heart tripping over itself with stupid joy. All too fast she knew she was falling in love with Jay, something she’d sworn to herself she would never do. And damn it, he knew it. She saw it in the smug smile that settled over his sexy, in-serious-need-of-a-shave jaw. Damn him to hell and back.

Adjusting the wipers to a quicker pace, he said, “So, I thought I’d work from your place.”

Kristi smiled faintly. The thought of being cooped up with him for the rest of the afternoon with rain beating on the eaves, maybe a fire in the grate, sounded like heaven. She needed a break, needed to quit thinking about missing girls and vampires and vials of blood. “Sounds good.”

“Yeah, I think I’ll look very studious, very professor-ish on camera.”

“On camera?”

“Yeah, film,” he said enigmatically, obviously enjoying her consternation as he turned a corner and the apartment house came into view.

“You want me to, what? Take a movie of you? I don’t have a video camera and even if I did, I really don’t have time—”

“Not you.”

“What’re you talking about?”

The truck bumped its way into the parking lot and Jay pulled into an open space by her car, then cut the engine. “You’ll see,” he said, and suddenly there wasn’t a trace of laughter in his eyes. “Come on up.”

“I’m getting a bad feeling about this.”

“You should. But whatever you do, just act natural when we’re inside, don’t ask any questions.” He handed her the sack of food as she opened her door and Bruno hopped to the ground. “Take this. I’ll get the bike.”

“What’s going on?”

“Nothin’ good.”