He could think of much more interesting ways to pass the time than by reading or surfing the 'Net. For example, he could walk over there right now and charm her right out of those silly sweatpants. He could ease them down her legs, pull her sweatshirt off, and spread her smooth thighs. He could bury his head between her legs and spend hours there. Gods, he bet she was so sweet and hot down there, a pleasure against his tongue. He wanted to lick her swollen, creamy sex until Mira begged to feel his cock.

Jack would wager any amount of money that she'd never experienced a man going down on her in the right way. Never experienced a man who did it slow and knew where to touch a woman. He ached to show her, ached to make her come that way, against his lips, tongue, and fingers. He wanted to hear the sounds she made, wanted to taste her, wanted to feel her sex pulse around his tongue when she finally climaxed.

"Jack?”

He blinked and focused on her face, coming out of his vivid daydream.

She frowned at him. "Are you all right? You were staring at me.”

He relaxed his hold on the glass, realizing he'd been gripping near hard enough to shatter it. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine," he growled.

A hurt look passed over her face, making him feel guilty for his gruff tone. "Sorry," she replied. "Just asking. How's your hand?”

He glanced at his palm. The burn had healed to a neat pink slash across his skin. "Almost gone.”

She nodded, closed the book, and slid it onto the table.

"Finished already?”

"Yes." She sighed. "I need to get out of this place, Jack. If the Duskoff don't kill me in their circle, boredom will. Can't we get out a little, just, I don't know, let me go to the grocery with you or something? Anything?”

"It's got to be this way. We stay here until we get word from Thomas that it's safe to get you to the Coven. The plan was to take you there immediately, but when you hit your head I had to bring you here.”

She nodded. "How is Thomas Monahan making sure it's safe to move? What's the Coven doing to help that happen?”

"The Coven is watching the Duskoff, monitoring their activities, but the Duskoff are watching us too. We're safe within these walls and we can't move until we get say-so.”

"The Duskoff are watching." She shivered and rested her head on a throw pillow, staring at him with her wide dark eyes. "Great.”

Gods, she looked so fragile, so breakable. He knew she was a strong woman mentally, but physically ... "Have you been practicing with your magick?”

"I've been practicing a lot. I'm getting good. I've got lots more control now.”

He nodded. "It's probably time to go a little further. You need to learn some basic defensive magick.”