His eyes went sheepish. “I went to high school in the Hollows. You don’t think I got through that without being bitten at least once?”

My brow rose at his almost guilty look. “You have a vamp bite? Where?”

He wouldn’t meet my eyes. “It was a summer fling. And she wasn’t dead so I didn’t contract the vamp virus. There wasn’t much saliva in it to begin with, so it stays pretty quiet unless I get in a situation where there are a lot of vampire pheromones. It’s a trap. You know that, don’t you?”

I slumped back into him, nodding. Nick was safe. His scar was old and made by a living vampire barely out of adolescence. Mine was new and laced with so much neurotoxin that Piscary could set it into play with just the weight of his eyes. Nick went still, and I wondered if his scar had flamed to life when he’d walked into the church. It might explain why he had said nothing and simply watched. How good had his scar felt? I wondered, unable to blame him.

“Where is it?” I asked slowly. “Your vamp scar?”

Nick jiggled me farther up onto his lap. “Never mind that—witch,” he said playfully.

I suddenly became very aware of him pressing up against me, his arms draped around me to keep me from falling off. I glanced at the clock. I had to go to my mom’s and get my old ley line stuff before I could do my homework. If I didn’t do it tonight, it wouldn’t get done. My gaze tilted to Nick’s, and he smiled. He knew why I was looking at the clock.

“Is this it?” I asked. Shifting on his lap, I pulled the collar of his shirt aside to show a faint white scar on his upper shoulder from a deep scratch.

He grinned. “I don’t know.”

“Mmmm,” I said. “Bet I could tell.” As he laced his hands to cradle me about the hips, I undid the top button of his shirt. The angle was awkward, and I shifted to straddle his lap, my knees to either side of him. His hands moved to hold me a trifle lower, and arching my eyebrows at our new position, I leaned closer. My fingers went behind his neck and I nuzzled aside his collar to set my lips against the scar, leaving it with an audible pop.

Nick took a noisy breath, shifting under me into more of a slouch so he wouldn’t have to hold me from falling. “That’s not it,” he said. His hand went to my back, tracing a trail down my spine, bumping as he found the waistband of my sweats.