Page 78

Cassian watches me with his dark cat eyes and knowing smile, looking tired. “It’s shocking that vampires can be brutal, isn’t it?”

“How late were you up last night?” I ask, turning back to my computer.

“Late.”

“Did you and Sophia make up?”

“You almost sound like you’re shipping me with a criminal, Pip.”

Ignoring the nickname, I grin. “I love that you know what that means.”

“I don’t know what to do with her,” he says heavily. “She’s my responsibility, but she’s impossible.”

“Healing sick people isn’t exactly wicked, Cassian.”

“You can’t save every injured baby bird who falls out of their nest. There comes a point when you must let nature take its course.”

“How long were you two together?”

“Four years before I turned her. Then only about a year after that.”

“That’s not very long in vampire time.”

“It is when her name is engraved in my heart.”

“Cassian, that’s actually sort of sweet.”

“Like a fiery, scorching, indigestion-causing brand.”

“Less sweet.”

He smiles. “How about you and I ditch all this and run away to Fiji? I have a place there, you know.”

“Tempting, but I actually want to talk to you about that business deal you wanted to make.”

Cassian perks up, letting the chair drop onto all four legs. “I’m listening.”

Nervous, I tell him what I’m picturing—what I’d like my business to become. He nods, at least pretending to be interested.

“I have no idea how much all that would cost,” I admit when I’m done. “I don’t even know where to start. But what do you think?”

“I think it’s worth moving forward to the next step.”

“Really?” I sigh, relieved. Then my smile fizzles. “And what is the next step, exactly?”

“I want you to start looking at land—get an idea of how much it might cost, since that will be a significant investment. I know several people in construction. I’ll talk to them and see if they can give me a few ballpark figures and some time estimates. We’ll know more when we have some solid numbers. Let’s plan to meet about this again next month.”

“Really? You’re going to think about it?”

“I don’t see why I wouldn’t.”

“It’s going to cost a lot of money.”

“I could buy you all of Glenwood Springs if you wanted.” He tilts his head slightly. “Do you want that instead?”

“Uh, no,” I say, slightly disconcerted. “But thank you for humoring me. Even if this doesn’t go anywhere, I appreciate you not patting me on the head and sending me on my way.”

“Who did that?”