He didn’t try to argue with her. He figured it would be useless anyway. “Ganymede will already be collecting plants from the guests’ rooms. He’ll be able to do it without disturbing anyone. I’ll have a cot brought down to the greenhouse while you’re gathering your stuff together.”

Pulling out his cell, he ordered the cot along with pillows and bedding while she pulled what she’d need from her closet and then went into the bathroom. Torture was listening to her shower run while resisting the need to climb in with her.

He was vampire. Which meant that not only did he have preternatural speed and enhanced senses, but also a sex drive that in the right situation could be obsessive. It was getting to that stage with Cinn.

Dacian wanted to slide his hands over her bared body, slick from the warm water sluicing over her smooth skin. Then he’d slowly lick a trail…He shook his head. Stop it. Somewhere along the way he’d almost forgotten about Taurin and the danger from Stephan.

His torture ended when she finally emerged from the shower. Her face was scrubbed clean and she wore baggy jeans and a bulky sweatshirt. She had fuzzy slippers. And still he thought she was the sexiest thing he’d seen in centuries.

She seemed to feel a need to fill up the silence. “I didn’t want to leave the room in my nightgown, but I have to be comfortable when I sleep.

He allowed his gaze to drop to those slippers again. They fascinated him. He knew he was smiling.

“They say sleep to me, okay?” She sounded defensive.

He held up his hands. “Hey, I don’t care what you wear on your feet.”

She wasn’t appeased. “I can’t get to sleep if I’m not wearing something I associate with bedtime. It’s just a habit.”

Dacian knew he shouldn’t say it, but he did. “Do you have to wear something you associate with sex when you make love?”

If he’d expected her to flush and get all embarrassed, he would’ve been disappointed.

Cinn met his gaze directly. “That would be tough to do. I don’t wear anything when I make love. How about you?” She looked as though she expected an answer.

“You’re right. It’s best with nothing at all.” The mental image almost tipped him over the edge of his personal control.

She looked away from him then, as she headed for the door. He caught up with her and they took the elevator down to the hotel lobby in silence.

As the door opened and they started to walk out, another woman stepped in. She slammed into Dacian.

The woman’s eyes widened as she stared at him. Slowly, she backed out of the elevator, never taking her gaze from him. “Dacian.” That one word was whispered on a soft sigh of emotion.