My heart twisted further, and I reached out to catch hold of his hand. I understood what he was saying. It wasn’t in his nature to do over-the-top romantic gestures, but material purchases were something he could handle, and it was the only way to show me he cared. My guilt redoubled because no matter what he said, I knew he was tight on cash. Yet, my actions and fixation with Seth were worrying Dante enough that he felt he had to do something. I was driving him to it.

“You’re sweet,” I said. “But don’t worry. It’ll be our secret.”

He brushed his fingers through my hair. “Not that sweet. Look in the bag.”

I did. Underneath the robe, unnoticed by me, was a bottle of bubble bath. I held it up questioningly.

“I thought we could take a bath together.”

I laughed. “That’s almost romantic. You might be closer to moonlit beaches than you think. Although, my bathtub’s kind of small.”

“I know,” he said. “That’s what I meant about it not being very sweet. Mostly I want to see what kind of interesting positions we can cram ourselves into while naked and in a small space.”

“Well, thank God that in a world gone mad, some people never change.”

It turned into a wet, soapy mess, but it was more fun than I expected. No matter what he claimed, the whole feat was semi-romantic. Conversation was easy and light, and we laughed and joked a lot. I almost forgot about Seth—almost. But when things started to get a little hot and heavy, I pulled back. No matter how sexy it was to be wet and naked with someone, it just didn’t feel right if that person wasn’t Seth.

What made me feel worse was that Dante was accommodating about my mood. He figured my lack of desire was part of my stress, and so we eventually left the tub as chastely as we’d entered. We toweled each other off and then curled up on the couch and watched TV together while I tried not to feel too guilty about the purple robe wrapped around me.

I decided the next day to finally add myself back to the bookstore’s work schedule. I only put me down for part-time shifts until the demon business was settled, but at this point, it seemed unlikely I’d be recalled to Canada again. My limbo status couldn’t last forever if I wanted to keep my job; Warren’s leniency would only last so long.