Rare Find by Dale Mayer Read Free Book Online Page B

meal." Delight curled her insides. "And you've made one of my favorites."
     
    The smile fell off his face as he studied her. Cautiously, he asked, "Really? Not your grandfather? Father? Fiancé?"
     
    "My grandfather hated cooking. As soon as I was old enough, I took over the chore. Dennis, my father, never lived here with me."
     
    Waving a ladle at her, he asked quietly, "And the fiancé?"
     
    She wrinkled her nose and walked slowly toward him. "He'd never be caught in a kitchen."
     
    "Well, I have no such issue." He shrugged those wide shoulders. "I love to cook."
     
    Damn. She could get used to that. Her good mood restored, she said, "Perfect. 'Cause I'm starved."
     
    "Good. 'Cause it's ready." He smiled and motioned to the table. "I wasn't sure if it was safe to leave Tripod here – nice name by the way – around the food."
     
    "He's got great manners." She let Ronin lead her to the table and hold out her chair. "But I wouldn't trust him too far."
     
    "That's what I thought." He quickly served up dinner under Tripod's eagle eye and carried the plates to the table. "What I don't have is a bottle of wine to go with this."
     
    She laughed. "As much as I'd love a glass, I don't think there is a bottle in the house."
     
    "I'll take care of that when I head out tomorrow."
     
    Her hand dropped, her fork clattering to the plate. "Tomorrow?"
     
    He cocked an eyebrow. "Yes. I have a few things to check on. I'll grab a bottle or two on my way home."
     
    She flushed, and in a strangled voice, said, "Home?"
     
    "Yep." He casually scooped up a forkful of spaghetti. "I'm not leaving you alone until this is over." And he popped the food in his mouth.
     
    Over? She very carefully put her fork down and stared at him in shock. "Why?"
     
    It was his turn to stare at her. "Because you were attacked?"
     
    Cautiously, she asked, "You understand in what way I was attacked, right?"
     
    He nodded and twisted up another fork of pasta. "Yep. Somewhat. At least what I got from what Stefan, Shay and my brother told me."
     
    "And you think...you can help if I'm attacked again?" She didn't want to insult him, but just what was he thinking?
     
    At the disbelief in her voice, he very carefully replaced his fork. "I know that I'm not like you and I probably can't do much to ward off a psychic attacker, but I can get help."
     
    She stared down at her plate. "I know you believe that, but you might not even know that an attack is happening. It's not as if I'm screaming out loud."
     
    He frowned. "Then maybe I'm going to have to sleep in the same room as you. Surely, I'd know then?"
     
    She snorted. "Wait until you're invited."
     
    "And how long will that take?" He grinned at her narrow-eyed look. "Hey, it was worth asking. And I've been patient."
     
    She rolled her eyes at him. Inside, she felt the warmth uncurl in her belly. Like they'd gotten that far yet. Her grandfather's death had pushed that step back slightly. "I like sleeping alone."
     
    Both eyebrows flew up. "And here I thought for sure you slept with Tripod." Tripod, hearing his name, gave a small yelp.
     
    She reached out a hand. Tripod shuffled right up to her plate and sniffed. Tabitha tapped his nose to make him back up. "If you can call that sharing. Tripod is a bed hog. Besides, lots of nights I sleep with another male."
     
    The smile slid off Ronin's face.
     
    Good.
     
    Then Tango roared.
     
    ***
     
    "Jesus. What the hell is that?" Ronin half jumped out of his chair and leaned forward to look out the window.
     
    "Ha. It's my cat. That's Tango."
     
    He shot her a disbelieving look, catching the amused glitter in her light-green eyes. "There is no way a cat makes that kind of sound."
     
    Tango roared again. This time though there was something off. Tabitha went to the living room and pushed some kind of button. Ronin followed more slowly and watched as the whole wall retracted.
     
    What the hell kind of wall was that? And damn if she didn't have some kind