On a lower shelf, she spied a leather-bound copy of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. She grabbed it, knocking a small wooden box off the shelf and onto the floor in the process. A silver ring rolled out onto the floor.

Holding the book in one hand, she knelt and examined the piece of jewelry. It was a man's ring, heavy and well crafted. A C marked the flat of it in fancy script and arcane symbols ringed the edges. She frowned. C for what? The Coven, maybe? Maybe it was some nifty secret decoder ring that she might eventually also receive. She deposited the ring back into the box and replaced it on the shelf.

After fetching a glass of water from the kitchen and tidying up from breakfast, she curled up on the couch with the book. It engaged her for a while, until weariness took over. Nodding off, she set the book aside and lay down for a nap, her head on one of the fancy throw pillows.

The sound of the door opening woke her. She looked up drowsily at Jack as he dropped a bunch of shopping bags on the coffee table in front of her. He wouldn't even meet her eyes.

Maybe the kiss really had repulsed him and he couldn't bear to look at her now.

Her body still felt the press of him against her. The memory of his warmth, the feeling of his body, had clung to her all afternoon. A lazy, honeyed heat seeped between her thighs when she thought about his mouth on hers. It eclipsed everything, even finding the strangely intimate photos he'd taken of her on the sly.

She was so pathetic.

She sat up and peered into one of the bags, seeing fabric folded in tissue and a tangle of sales tags. "You bought everything new? That must have cost a fortune! I just meant you should go to my apartment and grab some of my stuff!”

"Couldn't do that. Crane is most likely watching your place. He probably doesn't know where you are, and it's better it stays that way.”

Oh. "Probably doesn't know where I am? That's not very comforting. So what did you get?”

Self-consciously, she ran her fingers through her sleep-tangled hair, remembering she wore his clothes and probably looked ridiculous in them. He wasn't answering her, so she glanced up and found him staring down at her. The memory of their kiss seemed to linger in his eyes. Mira saw a flash of sexual heat there, need laid bare, before he looked away.

Her stomach fluttering, and wondering if she'd imagined it, she stopped fussing with her hair and forced herself to lower her gaze and stare at the bags.