She withdrew her hand, even though her fingers itched to explore his chest, to trace the scars and tattoos. Her fingers curled a little at the thought of delving past the button fly of his jeans to discover the treasures below it.

“I don’t understand you,” she said finally. The words fell into the stillness of the room like rocks.

“No one does.” Pause. “Not even I do.”

“But I want to get to know you.”

He said nothing. The moonlight shone in from the cur tainless window, painting his face and throat in pale silver and bleaching the color from his hair. His eyes were open and his face troubled.

“Will you let me try?” she whispered.

“Let’s just get through tonight. Tomorrow will take care of itself.”

That was not an answer at all.

“Don’t leave tonight, Theo. Stay here with me.”

He didn’t reply, but he did close his eyes. Sarafina took that as acquiescence. Closing her eyes, her mind was a jumble of Theo. What was going on in his head? What drove him to behave this way, waking her up in the middle of the night to touch her like she was his fix? To tell her in a roundabout way that he needed her and at the same time hold her away from him with one hand?

Theo did need her. Sarafina could see that. She needed him, too. With every passing moment he became more intriguing to her, more a person she simply had to get to know.

She just wasn’t sure how to break down his barriers enough to make that happen.

THEO STAYED WITH HER ALL NIGHT. HE WRAPPED himself around her body and saw her through until the morning.

But when she woke, Theo was gone.

She could hear low voices in the living room of the suite, so she rolled off the side of the bed and discovered she was naked.

Oh, yeah. Right. Now she remembered.

The eroticism of her encounter with Theo in the early morning hours came rushing back to meet her. Her knees went weak as her body recalled the broad, hard press of his hand against her inner thigh and the slow stroke of his tongue along her sex.

She sat down on the side of the bed and drew a deep breath before recovering enough to make it into the bathroom for a shower.

When she emerged, she dressed from head to toe in Ralph Lauren—a filmy eggshell blouse, a gorgeous lavender skirt, and designer heels that brought the two colors together. The clothes had again been gifts from the Coven. It was important that Stefan thought she desired the “good” things in life.

As she curled her hair becomingly around her face, she decided that her mind was a little clearer from the hot pound of the water. She touched up her makeup and exited the bedroom.