Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Colletion_ Books 6-10 - Laurell K. Hamilton [59]
Jean-Claude eyed the little gun. “Nervous, ma petite?”
“Yes,” I said.
He looked at me, head to one side. “Yes, you are nervous. Why does one human assassin unnerve you so much more than all the preternatural creatures you have faced?”
“Everyone else who’s wanted to kill me, it was personal. I understand personal. Whoever this is wants to kill me because it’s business. Just business.”
“But why is that more frightening to you? You will be just as dead, regardless of your assailant’s motives.”
“Thanks a lot,” I said.
He touched my hand, as it gripped the gun. “I am trying to understand, ma petite, that is all.”
“I don’t know exactly why it bothers me. It just does,” I said. “I like to put a face on my enemies. If someone kills you, it shouldn’t be only for money.”
“So killing for hire offends your moral sensibilities?” he asked. His voice was very bland, too bland, as if he were laughing silently to himself.
“Yes, dammit, it does.”
“Yet you are friends with Edward.”
“I never said I was consistent, Jean-Claude.”
“You are one of the most consistent people I have ever known, ma petite.”
“How consistent can I be if I’m dating two men?”
“Do you think being unable to choose between us makes you frivolous?” He leaned towards me as he said it, hand smoothing up the sleeve of my jacket.
The trouble was I had almost chosen. I almost told him, but I didn’t. First, I wasn’t a hundred percent sure. Second, Jean-Claude had blackmailed me into dating him. Date him or he’d kill Richard. He wanted a chance to woo me away from Richard. Which meant really dating him. As he put it, “If you allow Richard to kiss you, but not me, it is not fair.” Supposedly, if I chose Richard, Jean-Claude would merely step aside. I think he was egotist enough to mean it. The Master of the City couldn’t imagine anyone not being won over, eventually. Not if you had access to his lovely body. He kept offering it. I kept refusing. If I chose Richard over him, would he really bow out gracefully, or would he take us all down in a bloodbath?
I stared into his deep blue eyes and didn’t know. I’d known him for years. Dated him for months. But he was still a mystery to me. I just didn’t know what he would do. I wasn’t willing to push that button, not yet.
“What are you thinking about so seriously, ma petite? Do not say it is the assassin. I would not believe you.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I just shook my head.
His hand slid over my shoulders until I was resting in the curve of his arm. The feel of his body that close to mine made my stomach flutter. He bent forward as if to kiss me, and I stopped him, the back of my left hand against his chest. Since I was now touching bare skin, I wasn’t sure this helped.
“You behaved yourself the entire drive up here. What gives now?” I asked.
“I am trying to comfort you, ma petite.”
“Yeah, right,” I said.
He wrapped his other arm around my waist, turning my upper body against him. The gun was still in my hand, but it began to seem awkward. I wasn’t going to use it on Jean-Claude, and the assassin wasn’t coming through the locked doors. That much violence in a crowd this large with cops directing traffic seemed a little bold even for a professional.
I slid my arm across his back, the gun still in my hand. “If you kiss me, I’ll have to redo my lipstick.”
He leaned his face close enough to kiss, lips so close to mine he could have breathed me in. He whispered just above my mouth. “We mustn’t have that.” He kissed my cheek, running his lips down the edge of my jaw.
I touched his face with the edge of the gun, moving his face where I could see it. His eyes had gone drowning blue. “No necking,” I said. I meant that. I’d only volunteered once for blood