That led to other thoughts. No red cape to go with these musings. He wasn’t human anymore, and no matter how well he could mimic human responses, sometimes he had to let the vampire out. That part of him grew more restless by the hour.

He was a sensual being, and Cinn triggered every sexual fantasy he’d ever had. And every one of them involved burying himself deep inside her at the same time he tasted the life force pulsing just beneath her smooth skin. He felt the slide of his fangs just imagining it.

But would she ever accept that part of him? For the first time in six hundred years, he wanted a woman enough to deny his need to feed during sex. He raked his fingers through his hair. Damn, this was getting serious.

After what seemed like hours, she finally finished with her plants and returned to him. “I’ve put Eva behind the weed warriors. No one will get past them to touch her.”

She bit her lip in concentration and when she released it, the damp sheen almost made him groan. Then he realized she was still talking about her plants.

“I’ll have to tell whoever’s guarding the greenhouse when I’m not here to make sure no one goes near the weed warriors. I don’t need the kind of publicity I’d get from someone claiming a pitcher plant chomped on them.”

“What about tonight?”

She looked uncertain. “I want to sleep here, but what about you? What will you do, just sit around, watching me sleep?”

“I can think of worse ways to spend a night.” Spending the night on the cot with you would be even better. Not a good idea. Too open. People who slept in glass houses shouldn’t make love on a cot. Or on a table in the middle of the freaking greenhouse, dumbass. But at the time it’d seemed the right thing to do. He smiled.

“Then I think I’ll lie down and get some sleep right now. When I wake up I’ll have someone go with me while I take a shower and change clothes.”

Jealousy rocked him. He hadn’t seen it coming, and he didn’t know what to do with it. Someone had to guard her, and he wouldn’t be available. Then he remembered. “It’ll probably be Sparkle. Didn’t she say she’d made an early hair appointment for you guys?”

Cinn groaned and collapsed onto the cot. “No, no, no. I don’t want to spend the morning getting stuff done to me. I have to figure out how to reverse whatever Eva did.”

Now that Dacian knew it wouldn’t be Bain or Edge guarding Cinn while she took her shower, he could joke about it. “Look on the bright side. At least Wade won’t follow you there with another fishy gift.”