Wes seemed a little surprised that I wasn’t fawning all over him, but he didn’t argue. His pants and briefs came off next, and he grabbed a hold of my hips, tilting me so that I sat on the edge of the counter, with my body at an angle and my head and shoulders against the mirror. The counter and his height lined up perfectly, and a moment later, he was in me, neither rough nor gentle, just somewhere in the middle. It was a little boring, actually, like he couldn’t quite make up his mind and take a stand.

But as he gripped my ankles and held my legs up, the pace steadily increased, and I saw sweat break out along his brow. The life energy seeping into me was moderate, just like everything else about this tryst, but compared to Dante, it was fairly significant. That energy made up for the rest of it, and when he came with a primal sort of grunt, that burst of life coursed into me in its entirety. Like fine tendrils of light, it raced through my body, reinvigorating me and making me strong.

He staggered back, and I hopped down off the counter to quickly put my clothes back on. “Wow,” he gasped. “That was—”

“Do not say worth the money,” I warned. “Particularly since you didn’t pay.”

He shut up, and I smiled. With a quick kiss on the cheek, I moved over to the door. “Thanks,” I said. “It was fun.”

He fumbled for his underwear. “You want to go out sometime?”

“Nope.”

I left him to get dressed, discreetly closing the door behind me and remembering to take my drink with me. No one was upstairs, so our encounter had gone unnoticed—or so I thought. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I nearly walked right into Seth.

“Oh my God,” he said, giving me a once over. “You really did it?”

“Did what?” I asked in a saccharine voice.

“You know what. You’ve got that—that glow. That, and you’re missing a button.”

I glanced down at the guilty gap in the blouse and shape-shifted it to its former state. “There. Good as new.”

He shook his head, keeping his voice low so we wouldn’t be overheard. “I didn’t really believe you’d do it. I saw you walk off with him and thought, ‘No, she wouldn’t. Not here.’ So I came over and—”

“You what? Came to stop me?” I couldn’t help an incredulous laugh. “Seth, what I do or don’t do is none of your business.”

“What about Dante? You just cheated on him.”

“I cheat on all my boyfriends. Did you forget? It’s what I do.”

“You didn’t need the energy fix. I could tell.”

“Yeah, but I wanted the energy fix. What are you, jealous?”

“What happened to you?” he demanded, evading my question. “How did you change so much? You’re better than this.”

“I’ve always been like this. You were just too starstruck to notice.”