THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

him, and oh, Lord, this ache was going to kill him. “About earlier … I’m so sorry.”
    “It’s my fault.” The words were muffled against his chest. “If I hadn’t crawled into your bed…”
    “Then we wouldn’t have made love. True. But that’s not what I’m sorry about.”
    This time when she tried to pull back, he let her. “Then what are you sorry about?”
    God, even this close to tears, her eyes were beautiful. Like amethysts. “I’m sorry I didn’t appreciate it was for real. If I’d known it was real and not part of the dream state…”
    “Again, my fault.”
    “No one’s fault. You couldn’t have known. But don’t distract me. What I’m trying to say is that if I’d known it would be our only time, I would have done things differently.”
    She laughed, and he felt the vibration against his chest. “I don’t know about that. Certainly, you won’t get any complaints from me. It was … amazing.”
    “It was sex.”
    “I noticed.”
    “It would have been different, if I’d known.”
    She leaned back. “Different how?”
    He shrugged. “Just different. I’d have taken my time, savored it. And I’d have been less ruthlessly…”
    “Carnal?” Her lips curved in a smile. “Please don’t apologize for that. If I left you thinking that I found it anything less than thrilling, then obviously I have to work on my signals.”
    He brushed a strand of silken hair back behind her ear, and watched as her eyes sobered. “I would have made love to you,” he said.
    Her swift inhalation drew his attention back to her parted lips. The need in his veins swelled again, but he clamped down on it immediately, praying that it didn’t show on his face. “I’d have shown you tenderness, and I would have used all the skill and patience I possess to draw the same kind of tenderness from you. I’d have fed like a bee on the nectar of your sweet cries.”
    She swayed toward him. “Delano, I—”
    “Hush.” He pulled her against his chest again, pressing her head to his heart. “I just wanted you to know.”
    The sound of a key turning in the lock had them springing apart like guilty children.
    Delano stood. “That will be Eli.”
    “Oh, good.” She came to her feet. “I don’t believe I’ve thanked him properly for that carriage ride.”
    Poor Eli. “Take it easy on the guy, would you? Remember, we need him.”
    “Yeah, yeah. And he was just following orders. I got that.”
    “In here, Eli,” he called, knowing Eli would head straight for the lab.
    Eli changed his course and came into the living room. “Delano? Is something wrong?” Eli’s gaze strayed to Ainsley’s face, then back to meet Delano’s eyes again. “I thought you’d be downstairs, hard at work.”
    “We’ve just been talking to Ainsley’s friend Lucy Michaels. It took some convincing, but she’s agreed to accept our security. She’s even offered to meet with your people, if that will make it easier.”
    “Excellent. I’ve got some local talent on her right now, but I’d like to send two of our own guys, a mixed team, to oversee things.”
    “Do it.”
    “A mixed team?” said Ainsley.
    Eli answered. “A regular for daytime service and a vamp for nighttime.”
    “What about the clinic?”
    “I put the word out.”
    Ainsley eyes flew to Delano’s. “What’s going on with the clinic?”
    “We’re suspending it for now. No sense making ourselves an easy target.”
    “Janecek knows where it is?”
    “I expect that’s how he found us.”
    She blinked. “You think he followed us here from the clinic?”
    “No. Eli says you weren’t tailed, and I have absolute faith in his judgment. But the mere fact of the clinic’s activity would have confirmed our presence here in the city. After that, Janecek was bound to find this place sooner or later. Which is why you’re moving out tonight.”
    “Moving out? But I thought it was safe here. I mean, you said the security—”
    “With the addition of the vampire eyes for the nightshift, I would say our security is just about as good as we can make it,” he agreed. “Damn near unbreachable. But Janecek knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that you’re here. Why stay when I can lay on just as much security someplace else, while regaining the advantage of a secret location?”
    “We’re making the move tonight?”
    “Yes, tonight. I charged Eli with the task of finding you a safe house, and since he’s back, I am assuming he was