feeling nothing but soft unblemished skin. She thought she’d been so slick making Kane think she was under his thrall… the joke had been on her. Still, he’d told her not to remember seeing Misery… yet she did remember. Slowly raising the same fingers, she touched her lips wishing she could remember exactly what Kane had done to her.
Maybe she’d been under his thrall the whole time but for some reason only remembered part of it. He’d said that he’d been watching over her… following her. Tabatha felt the small hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and the room seemed to shrink.
Removing her fingers from her lips she whispered, “Kane, are you here?”
Kane gripped the door frame to keep from moving toward her but no power on earth could keep him from answering, “Yes.”
His voice was haunted, making Tabatha spin around searching for him. She was caught between disappointment and fear when she didn’t see him standing right behind her. “Am I so wicked that you have to hide from me?” her breathing was coming a little faster and she silently wondered if this was the equivalent of playing with fire.
Kane let the darkness disperse from around him and watched as her gaze landed on him. “Maybe I am the wicked one.”
Tabatha swallowed. He did look slightly wicked silhouetted in her bedroom doorway… she’d admit that. “Maybe you wouldn’t feel so wicked if you had knocked on the front door,” she offered, wondering just how long he’d been inside her apartment. Feeling a slight weakness in her knees, she turned and forced herself to calmly walk to the sofa and sit down.
“Would you have invited me in?” Kane asked curiously as he moved into the room. He noticed the way she turned around and pulled her feet up onto the sofa, tucking them close to her as she leaned back against the pillowed armrest.
“I’m not sure,” Tabatha answered. “Is this the first time you’ve been here?”
“No,” Kane didn’t bother lying to her. Why lie when he could just make her forget he’d even been here?
“Then I am inviting you in. Have a seat,” she pointed toward the other in of the sofa. If he was here to hurt her, then he’d already have done it… right? She watched the way he kept his movements slow as he did as she asked. It was a lie… she’d seen the speed at which he moved when he wanted to. He was being careful not to frighten her and that made her even more nervous.
Kane cocked an eyebrow, “Is this how you treat all of your stalkers?” he asked in all seriousness. “Invite them in for tea and crumpets?”
Tabatha shook her head, “I don’t drink tea and I hate crumpets. A cup of coffee and a bagel will do just fine.”
Kane smiled wanly at her. “How do you know I won’t hurt you?”
“If you were going to hurt me, you would have by now,” Tabatha answered, voicing the thought she’d had just moments before. On second thought she quickly added, “Despite the fact that I tend to get injured whenever you’re in the same vicinity.”
Kane inwardly winced at that and finally took the place she’d indicated at the other end of the sofa, turning to face her and leaning against the opposite armrest. He brought his right leg up, bending it at the knee and sat in a half Indian style with one arm folded over his stomach.
“So tell me love, why did you invite me in?” Kane asked.
“Why are you here?” Tabatha sidestepped the question.
Kane smirked, “You do know that it’s bad manners to answer a question with a question.”
Tabatha was momentarily taken aback by the way the smirk changed the contours of his face slightly, making him appear just as dangerous and seductive as she believed him to be.
“That may be true,” Tabatha said thoughtfully. “But I’m the one you’ve been following and I want to know why.”
Kane shrugged, “Because I want to.”
Tabatha glared at him, “Because you want to?”
Kane tilted his head to the side. “Why does a vampire do anything?”
Tabatha opened her mouth, closed it, and then opened it again not able to articulate an answer.
“Because they want to,” Kane answered for her.
Tabatha sighed, “Look, if you don’t want to tell me the truth then I can’t make you. But, if we’re going to be friends, we need to exchange at least one truth about each other.”
Kane’s eyebrows rose and he actually smiled, “Ah, so we’re going to play truth or dare now?”
Tabatha blushed remembering the few times she’d played the game while in high school… talk about embarrassing situations. “Without the dare and you will answer first.” she whispered.
Kane nodded, “All right. Since I’m the stalker, we will play by your rules.”
Tabatha felt a thrill run through her at his easy admittance that he was indeed stalking her. “Why does Kriss not like you? He won’t give me a reason why.”
“Because you don’t belong to him,” Kane answered a little too quickly.
“What kind of answer is that?” Tabatha demanded.
“Your turn,” Kane pointed out.
Tabatha grumbled, “Fine,” then she tensed not knowing what to expect.
“Do you like dogs?”
Tabatha blinked. That question was about the furthest thing from what she’d been expected. She relaxed then smiled fondly, “I love them. When I was little we had a little Yorkie puppy but he ran away. I never really got over it… I still miss him sometimes.”
Kane returned her smile with a slow smile of his own as their eyes locked, “You must meet my Yorkie sometime then… his name is Scrappy.”
Tabatha got cold chills through her body and literally jumped out of her seat when the phone rang. Getting up, she rushed to the phone to pick it up hoping it was Kriss calling in. Picking it up, she turned around to look at Kane but he was gone without a trace of him ever being there.
She did a quick search of her bedroom, only to find nothing. With a sigh, Tabatha pressed the phone against her ear, “hello?” she cringed when she heard Jason’s voice.
“What happened to you? You just disappear and don’t call me to let me know why?” Jason paced back and forth. “Damn it Tabby, You had me worried sick.”
Tabatha smiled into the receiver. Somehow being yelled at by Jason made her feel a little more normal. She quickly did the math in her head as she started explaining what happened without giving him a single detail about anything that had to do with the paranormal.
Kane moved the limbs of the bush over a fraction as he watched Tabatha relax for the first time since Trevor had dropped her off. His lips hinted at a smile as he listened to her tell the truth to whoever was on the phone and lie like crazy at the same time. His smile faded and his expression turned longing. What he would give to
