"Uh-hum!"

The sound of a throat being conspicuously (and loudly) cleared had Erik and me jumping away from each other like we'd been electrocuted. I watched Erik's eyes widen as he looked up and behind me, and then saw his smile, which made him totally look like a little boy caught with his hand in a cookie jar (apparently my cookie jar).

"Sorry, Professor Blake. We thought we were alone."

Chapter Six

Oh. My. God. I wanted to die. I wanted to die and turn to dust and have the breeze blow me anywhere just as long as it was away. Instead I turned around. Sure enough, Loren Blake, Vampyre Poet Laureate and the Best-Looking Male in the Known Universe, was standing there with a smile on his classically handsome face.

"Oh, uh, hi," I stuttered, and because that didn't sound stupid enough I blurted, "You're in Europe."

"I was. Just got back this evening."

"So how was Europe?" Calm and collected, Erik draped an arm nonchalantly around my shoulders. Loren's smile got wider and he looked from Erik to me. "Not as friendly as it is here." Erik, who seemed to be having fun, laughed softly. "Well, it's not where you go, it's who you know." Loren lifted one perfect brow. "Obviously."

"It's Zoey's birthday. We were just doing the birthday kiss thing," Erik said. "You know Z and I are going out."

I looked from Erik to Loren. Testosterone was practically visible in the air between them. Jeesh, they were acting totally guy-like. Especially Erik. I swear I wouldn't have been surprised if he knocked me over the head and started dragging me around by my hair. Which was not an attractive mental image.

"Yes, I heard that you two were dating," Loren said. His smile looked weird-kinda sarcastic so that it was almost a sneer. Then he pointed at my lip. "You have a little blood there, Zoey. Might want to clean that up." My face flamed. "Oh, and happy birthday." He turned down the sidewalk and headed to the section of the school that housed the professors' private rooms.

"I don't know how that could have been more embarrassing," I said after licking the blood from my lip and straightening my sweater.

Erik shrugged and grinned.

I smacked him across the chest before reaching down for my plant and my book. "I don't know why you think this is funny," I said as I started to march away toward the dorm. Naturally, he followed me.

"We were just kissing, Z."

"You were kissing. I was sucking your blood." I looked sideways at him. "Oh, and there's that little your-hand-up-my-shirt detail. Better not forget that."

He took the lavender plant from me and grabbed my hand. "I won't forget that, Z." I didn't have a hand free to smack him again with, so I settled for a glare. "It's embarrassing. I can not believe Loren saw us."

"It was just Blake, and he's not even a full professor."

"It's embarrassing," I repeated, wishing my face would cool off. I also wished I could suck some more of Erik's blood, but I was not going to mention that.

"I'm not embarrassed. I'm glad he saw us," Erik said smugly.

"You're glad? Since when has public making-out become a turn-on for you?" Great. Erik was a kinky freak boy and I was just now finding out.

"Public making-out isn't a turn-on, but I'm still glad Blake saw us." All the fun had gone out of Erik's voice, and his smile had turned grim. "I don't like the way he looks at you." My stomach lurched. "What do you mean? How does he look at me?"

"Like you're not a student and he's not a teacher." He paused. "So you haven't noticed?"

"Erik, I think you're crazy." I carefully didn't answer the question. "Loren doesn't look at me like anything." My heart was thumping like it would beat its way out of my chest. Hell yes, I'd noticed how Loren looked at me! Way noticed it. I'd even talked to Stevie Rae about it. But with all that had happened lately, plus Loren being gone for almost a month, I'd just about convinced myself that I'd imagined most of what happened between us.

"You call him Loren," Erik said.

"Yeah, like you said, he's not a real professor."

"I don't call him Loren."

"Erik, he helped me do research for the new rules for the Dark Daughters." That was more of an exaggeration than an outright lie. I'd been researching. Loren had been there. We'd talked about it. Then he touched my face. Definitely not thinking about that, I hurried on, "Plus, he's asked me about my tattoos." And he had. Under the full moon I'd bared most of my back so that he could see them ... and touch them ... and let them inspire his poetry. I jerked my mind away from that line of thinking, too, and finished with, "So I kinda know him."