“Don’t let her push you around. She’s all bark and no bite,” he puffed, pushing an absurd amount of weight.

I eyed the bathroom door. “She bites, Jared. She’d chew me up and spit me out.”

“She can’t hurt you. She just loves to see you squirm,” he chuckled.

“I thought you said you weren’t like the Archs, that you could hurt humans if necessary?” I looked back at him, trying to concentrate on the subject at hand instead of his perfect form.

“She could, but she won’t. Claire knows better than anyone what you mean to me. Besides the fact that she would have to come to blows with me to even come close to you—and she would never cross that line—she wouldn’t make me choose between you and my family. She’s just rattling your cage,” he said, repositioning himself on the bench.

“I wouldn’t let you choose between me and your family,” I murmured, knowing he would hear.

“Nina,” he said in that familiar frustrated tone, “you’re not listening to me. She knows how I feel about you, so you can stop worrying about Claire.”

I raised an eyebrow. “She might know how you feel about me, but one of these days she might over look it.”

“You’re the love of my life, Nina. There’s no overlooking that.” Jared spoke the words casually, but my legs disappeared. I had to steady myself against the counter to keep from hitting the floor.

“You okay?” he asked, continuing his workout.

“Me? Er…yeah. I’m just fine. Perfectly fine. Why?” I sighed at my utter failure to fool him. Jared simply smiled with a knowing look, never slowing his repetitions.

Claire emerged from the bathroom in a hooded sweatshirt and sweat pants, her hair pulled back into a wiry bun. She looked like a seventeen year old girl, for once. She fell into the couch, feet hanging over the arm, flipping through channels of the flat screen.

Once the dishes were finished I lingered in the kitchen, wiping down the counters over and over again. I decided to take my suitcase upstairs to organize my things as best I could, hanging my clothes in Jared’s closet and finding a place for my shampoo and toothbrush. It was fun playing house for the week, but it only took so long.

I stood in the middle of the room, feeling lost. Jared was still deep in his workout, and with Claire on the couch I saw no point in enticing him upstairs. I decided to try Jared’s incredible tub to pass the time.