“I’ll get you a shower,” he said as I looked behind me to my amulets, pants, and one sock strewn on the floor. “And then we’ll open all the windows and air the church out. I’ll help you finish making your fudge, too. That will help.”

“It’s brownies.”

“Even better. That uses the oven.” He hesitated before my bathroom door, and feeling cared for and wanted in his arms, I pushed it open with my foot. The man was strong. I’d give him that. This was as satisfying as the sex. Well, almost.

“You have scented candles, don’t you?” he asked as I flicked on the light with my toe.

“I have two X-chromosomes,” I said dryly as he set me atop the washer and pulled off my last sock. “I have a candle or two.” He was going to help me into the shower? How sweet.

“Good. I’ll get one going in the sanctuary. Tell Ivy you put it there in the window for Jenks, and you can keep it going until sunup.”

A whisper of unease pulled me straight, and my motions grew slow as I pulled my sweater over my head and dropped it onto the washer. “Ivy?” I questioned.

Kisten leaned against the wall and took off his boots. “You don’t mind telling her?”

His boot thumped into the far wall, and my face went cold. Ivy. Scented candles. Airing out the church. Making brownies to scent the air. Washing his scent off me. Swell.

Smiling his bad-boy smile, Kisten padded to me in his socks and open jeans. His wide hand cupped my jaw and he leaned close. “I don’t mind if she knows,” he said, and I didn’t move, enjoying the warmth. “She’s going to find out eventually. But I’d break it to her gently if I were you, not dump it on her.” He gave me a soft kiss on the corner of my mouth. His hand trailed reluctantly from me as he backed up and opened the door to the shower.

Crap, I’d forgotten about Ivy. “Yeah,” I said distantly, recalling her jealousy, her dislike of surprises, and how badly she reacted to both. “You think she’s going to be upset?”

Kisten turned, his shirt off and water beading on his hand from feeling the temperature. “Upset? She’s going to be as jealous as a green apple that you and I have a physical way to express our relationship and she doesn’t.”

Frustration filled me. “Damn it, Kisten. I’m not going to let her bite me so she knows I like her. Sex and blood. Blood and sex. It’s the same thing, and I can’t do that with Ivy. I’m not wired that way!”

He shook his head, a sad smile on him. “You can’t say blood and sex are the same thing. You’ve never given blood to another. You have nothing to base your view on.”

I frowned. “Every time a vamp puts his eyes on me looking for a snack, it feels sexual.”