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Ash knocked on Tory&039;s front door He heard the wo roorin that made him nervous

"You like black, don&039;t you, Ash?"

Not sure if he should answer, he frowned "It&039;s okay"

"But what&039;s your favorite color?" she asked, stepping back so that he could enter the house

He walked in and wondered ifin the other direction What were they up to? "I&039;ve never thought about it"

Pam cleared her throat "But if you had to pick one, ould it be?"

He flexed his hand on the strap of his backpack "Anything not white" That was Arteht of it made him sick to his stomach

Tory huffed at his evasive answer "Could you narrow that down a bit?"

Pa to let you have peace until you answer"

Still apprehensive over what they had planned, he shrugged "Uh, okay Red I guess Why?"

Soht it and it squeaked Scowling, he opened his hand to find a sely reminded him of Simi in her demon form

He scowled at the wolanced around at them as Kim moved to sit beside Pam "You ever feel like you&039;ve just walked into the ot to tell you what it&039;s about?"

Kim waved her hand in diso with it"

Pahed "Which is really bad when you consider she&039;s a labor and delivery nurse"

"Oh shush," Ki at her friend on the arrabbed their jackets froed hers on "Well since Ash is back, we&039;ll leave the two of you alone Ash, if she throws another hammer at you, let us know and we&039;ll take her to task for you"

Baffled, he didn&039;t ain until after they&039;d left "You have interesting friends"

Tory locked the door as she smiled in pride "No, I have the best friends in the world I don&039;t knohat I&039;d do without theht of Nick "Yeah I had one of those once"

She turned to him with a frown "What happened?"

He slept with Simi and I killed him for it Well, not in actuality He&039;d only cursed Nick to die which was the saer that ended Nick&039;s life "We don&039;t talk anyht and tried to kill each other And it was all his fault In one fit of anger, Ash had destroyed their friendship

She placed a co of it and yet it touched him deep inside that she would even bother to reach out to hiine what I&039;d do withoutto know that I can call on theht and they&039;d be here as soon as they could Everyone should have friends like that"

"Yes, they should"

Tory picked up the pizza re her that he had no family either "So who do you call whenever you&039;re down?"

He shrugged off his backpack "I don&039;t"

She paused "You don&039;t ever get down or you don&039;t call anyone?"

He looked around the roo on the couch?"

She didn&039;tthe subject away from the personal topic "No, I have a spare bedroom upstairs You can even leave your backpack there and have no fear that I&039;ll touch it"

He nodded slowly

The silence was a bit aard as she tossed the pizza boxes in a garbage can "We finally got everything the burglars screwed up put back in place OCD reigns supre?"

She ground her teeth at the innocent question "Nothing"

"Nothing?"

"Obviously they were looking for soht Which o to a hotel to sleep then? I&039;d offer you my place, but I only have a one-bedroom efficiency At four hundred square feet, there&039;s not a lot of room for two people"

Wow, that was a small place to call home and it told her a lot about his solitary nature "Do a lot of entertaining, do you?"

He smiled "I told you, I like to be alone But I do have some friends we could crash with if that would e and you&039;d have plenty of rooet away from me I&039;m sure some of them even have toolboxes should you need theentle jibe "If it makes you feel any better, I missed you on purpose with the hammer I&039;m a championship hatchet and ax thrower Believe me, if I&039;d really wanted to hurt you, I would have"

He snorted "Not really co from hed again as she thought about that "I try, but it never goes well for me"

"Really?"

"Yeah It&039;s like I&039;uy, he either discovers he&039;s gay or he has a freak accident and decides to break up with me"

"Freak accidents that include hauy did break his leg while trying to climb into bed with me Kind of put a major kibosh on o Oh wellyou haven&039;t eaten Would you like sorabbed a sandwich at my place"

She looked at him suspiciously as she tossed away the last of the beer bottles "You knoe&039;re Greek We&039;re supposed to eat and eat a lot"

"That&039;s a bad stereotype"

"Not in my family, it isn&039;t In fact, it&039;sof a woman who has been thrown out of all-you-can-eat buffets because she plows through food like a line-backer in training camp In my family, omen cook and you men eat That&039;s just the natural order"

Ash crossed his arms over his chest as he noticed the curve of her ass as she bent over to pick up a small napkin that had fallen on the floor Dae of her doing that naked tortured him He could make so suddenly ragged, it was all he could do not to reach out and cup her in a place that was guaranteed to get hiht be worth it

"Well I truly don&039;t eat htened to scowl at him "Are you like solasses and you only subsist on beerthen again, that also sounds like a frat boy and I have seen you out in daylightSo ends my vampire fantasy"

If only his fantasy of her naked would end as easily "And on that note," which was a little close to ho to take o?"

"Second door"

Ash headed for the stairs and as he ascended theain Tory was so completely normal He&039;d spent so little time around people like her that he couldn&039;t help but smile

But rown up in such a large family environment, loved Everyone looked so happy in all the photos Tory was standing with cousins in Greece as they hugged each other There were more photos of them in Theo&039;s deli in New York

His favorite was one of Tory around the age of fourteen on a boat with Geary The two of the broide-brimmed hats hite sunblock on their noses while they were locked in an e Before he could stop hiainst his will, he tried to i on to him like that, someone as that happy to be with him

What did that feel like?

You are tired

The only person who loved hiht the world of him and it hy he was so protective of her

He touched the tattoo of her on his chest, grateful she ith him He needed to let her loose soon, but honestly he hated whenever they were apart There was such co her with him

It was selfish, but he couldn&039;t help hi the strap of his backpack, he continued up the stairs, to his room Like the rest of the house, it was se with pink flowers

Someone had come in and turned the sheets down for him He didn&039;t knohy, but it made him feel welcouitar that was set in a rocking chair He felt a presence behind hi him

"Do you play?" he asked

"I torture it from tiood?"

"I do all right"

She entered the room with a small stack of towels and washcloths that she set on the dresser "The bathroo else?"

You to touch me like I ht "I&039;hed "I&039;ve noticed that about you"

Before Ash could stop hih that he could smell the precious scent of Tory mixed with peaches froht of those inquisitive brown eyes that questioned everything about him

Gods, hoanted a piece of this woman

Tory couldn&039;t breathe as Ash stood so near her, she could feel his body heat He was so incredibly sexy So beautiful

He&039;s going to kiss you

She could already taste those masculine lips Feel his arms around her

But that wasn&039;t reality The mohty then I&039;ll just leave you alone"

Ash wanted to whimper as she shot out of the room so fast she left a vapor trail How could she not want hi away unwanted gropes and touches Now he finally found someone he wanted to touch him and she treated hiravated, he raked his hand through his hair and cursed under his breath It was going to be a long night with her sleeping so close to hi, Tory ake and still bleary-eyed as she staggered downstairs to her kitchen The moment she entered the room, she froze in her tracks

Ash was there Dressed only in jeans, he stood with his back to her

Holy saints! The expanse of flawless tawny skin was more than a mere mortal woman could see and not salivate over Wide muscled shoulders tapered down to narrow hips and a perfectly formed butt His hair still mussed from sleep, he popped the top off a beer

Tory ot to be kidding me"

He turned and what little sanity she had fled Yes, he still had those annoying sunglasses on, but the top button of his jeans hadn&039;t been fastened They rode low on his hips, and the dark trail of hair that ran south of his navel was slightly thicker at the opening

He was co, hard body was made for sin Really, no man should look like that and definitely not one as standing in her kitchenIn her bed was another story Man, how she wanted to take a bite out of hi?" he asked innocently

It took her three heartbeats before she could remember her objection to his near naked state "You&039;re drinking a beer first thing in theWhat kind of alcoholic are you?"

He flashed a taunting grin at her before he took a deep swig "I&039;ht "That&039;s what they all say At least put so on your stomach before you drink that"

His features hardened "I don&039;t need a mother, Tory"

She didn&039;t believe that for one , she tried to take the bottle frolared at him "You need someone to take care of you Jeez! How can you do this to yourself?"

"It&039;s just a beer"

"And hell is just a sauna" She went to the fridge and grabbed eggs and so to eat"

"I&039; pan and a knife so if you knohat&039;s good for you, you&039;ll stop arguing with me and sit down"

"I don&039;t eat breakfast," he mumbled under his breath as he moved out of her way

"I really don&039;t care," shevoice that was as close to his thick accent as she could e

He moved to the other side of her breakfast counter "You are so bossy"

"Yes I a else I can do for you?"

"Put a shirt on like a civilized human Do you kno unsanitary it is to be in a kitchen with no shirt?"

Ash laughed even though he wanted to strangle her She had to be the only person he&039;d ever et up, but she made a squeal of disapproval

"What now?" he asked, truly baffled by her ly at him with her knife "Don&039;t you dare "

He let out a frustrated breath "You told o put on a shirt"

"Since when do you listen to a single thing I say? Never I knohat you&039;re planning to do You&039;ll go upstairs and not come back So sit"

He held his hands up in surrender while he watched her crack open two eggs and put them in a bowl so that she could beat them with a fervor that would have scared hiod with protective powers "You&039;re not aperson, are you?"

She put a handful of cheese on top of them "No and I haven&039;t had my caffeine IV either which means it would be wise of you to humor me"

Ash hid his smile Why did she amuse him so? He didn&039;t understand it and unless he wanted to tell her the truth about what he really fed on, he had no choice except to sit here while she made him an omelette, bacon and toast

She plopped the plate down in front of hi food as buried eed You want to eat, whore? Please me

In the back of his mind, he saw himself in Estes&039;s office, on his knees on the floor, naked and chained to the desk while his uncle read late into the evening Starving because he&039;d been allowed nothing to eat all day while he&039;d worked until he was bleeding and sore from it to ared figs Estes had left in front of hier, his le taste For over an hour he&039;d stared at the food, biting his lips in desperate agony Convinced Estes was so engrossed in his reading that he wouldn&039;t see hi of that vicious slap See the anger in Estes&039;s eyes as he snatched at his hair and held Ash at his feet "Did I give you permission to eat, whore? You don&039;t ever take fro"

Even Artemis withheld her blood from him in an effort to control him If he didn&039;t please her, he starved More than that were the uards Shovel it down his throat Hold his mouth and nose shut until he ss And when he&039;d choked on what they were brutally pouring into his mouth, they&039;d punched and slapped him, too

He hated to eat

Tory reached for the cheese and froze as she caught the strange look on Ash&039;s face If she didn&039;t know better, she&039;d swear he was afraid of the food in front of hi?"