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“Yes,” he said, “it does.” I could feel him growing larger against my body.

I laughed and rolled over on my back. “Why, Mr. Zeeman, you seem happy to see me.”

He leaned in for a kiss. “Always.”

The kiss grew, becoming more. I moved my body against his and had one leg wrapped around his buttocks when he scooted back, going onto his knees.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. We’d already established last night, after it would have been too late, that I was on the pill. He’d been nicely horrified when he thought of it. Since werewolves can’t get or carry disease, once the pregnancy issue was addressed, you were safe. Which also explained why I wasn’t worried about licking blood off of the lycanthropes last night. Gross, but not dangerous.

“I can’t,” Richard said.

I looked down the length of his body. “Oh, I’d say you’re ready.”

He blushed for me. “You saw me last night, Anita. One day closer to the full moon, my control will be worse, not better.”

I lay back on the bed. “Oh.” I was disappointed. Minutes before, I’d been worried that we’d given in to our lust, and now I was sad that we couldn’t do it again. Trust me to be logical about my men.

“I’m glad you’re disappointed, too,” he said. “For a minute there, I thought you were going to get up out of bed, say it had all been a terrible mistake, and go back to Jean-Claude.”

I covered my eyes with my hands, then made myself look at Richard while I said it. He sat there looking too scrumptious for words, but I couldn’t let it slide. If he was thinking this meant I’d dump Jean-Claude, I couldn’t let it slide. But I wanted to. “What do you think last night meant, Richard?”

The smile faded around the edges but didn’t disappear completely. “It meant something to me, Anita. I thought it meant something to you.”

“It did. It does. But . . .”

“But what about Jean-Claude.” Richard said it softly, but it had to be said by someone.

I nodded, hugging the sheet to my chest. “Yeah.”

“Can you go back to just dating him after last night?”

I sat up and reached for his hand. He gave it to me. “I’ve missed you so much, Richard. The sex is nice, but . . .”

He raised eyebrows. “Nice, just nice?”

I smiled. “It was wonderful and you know it. And you know that’s not what I meant.”

He nodded, hair swinging into his eyes. He brushed it back. “I know. I’ve missed you, too. I’m lost on weekends without you.”

I pressed his hand to my cheek. “Me, too.”

He sighed. “So you’re going to be with us both?”

I let his hand fall to my lap, still holding it. “You’d go along with that?”

“Maybe.” He leaned in and kissed my forehead, ever so gently. “Notice I didn’t ask you to give him up and just date me.”

I touched his face. “I know, and I’m both relieved and surprised. Thank you for not asking.”

He pulled back enough to see my face clearly. He looked very serious. “You don’t like ultimatums, Anita. If I push you, I’ll lose.”

“Why do you want to win, Richard? Why don’t you just dump me?”

He smiled. “Now she gives me the choice.”

“I’ve given you the choice before,” I said. “I mean, I know why Jean-Claude puts up with me. I help his power base. You’d be better off if you picked out a nice, safe werewolf for your lupa. I hurt your power base.”

“I’m in love with you,” he said simply.

“Why do I feel like apologizing for that?” I asked.

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about why I couldn’t hate you. Why I couldn’t let you go.”

“And?” I had pulled the sheets around me like a nest so I wouldn’t be naked. If somewhere in this conversation he did dump me, I didn’t want to be naked. Silly but true.

Naked didn’t seem to bother Richard. Frankly, it was distracting to me. “I need a human girlfriend. I need someone who isn’t a monster.”

“A lot of humans would be happy to be your snuggle bunny, Richard.”

“I found that out,” he said, “but I didn’t have sex with any of them.”

“Why not?”

“Farther away from the full moon I have better control. The eyes don’t go, let alone the hands. I can