After his excursion to see the witch and then Drake, Gabriel had spoken to the editor of the SF Vampire Chronicle and made sure Zane would receive a list of all male vampires in San Francisco.

Now Gabriel stood in the kitchen, gulping down an extra bottle of blood. He would have to feed Maya soon. She hadn’t said anything about being hungry; in fact, she’d practically avoided him ever since he’d returned.

He wondered whether she’d been mad at him when she’d realized he’d taken advantage of her. Unfortunately, he couldn’t know for sure whether she liked him or not, or whether her arousal had been a mere byproduct of the feeding.

Damn, he could still taste her, even now after close to twenty-four hours.

“Hey, what’s going on?” a familiar male voice came from the kitchen door.

Gabriel spun around. He should have heard Ricky come in, but obviously his thoughts were just too far away. Even though Ricky had probably used his key to open the front door, Gabriel should have at least heard the opening and closing of it, or Ricky’s footsteps. What kind of bodyguard was he turning into?

“Didn’t expect you here,” Gabriel answered. Shouldn’t Ricky be at some den of iniquity drowning his sorrows about the breakup of his last relationship?

Ricky shrugged. His red hair and freckles seemed to glow. “I just get too bored when I don’t do anything. Heard you might need some help with protecting a new vampire. Thought I’d pitch in.”

Gabriel nodded. He needed all the help he could get. With Thomas busy helping Drake look into Maya’s medical history (a task he was currently performing in Samson’s study), and Zane still out on the reconnaissance mission Gabriel had sent him on, nobody else was available to investigate other aspects of the attack.

“Actually, since Zane is digging through the underbelly of society to get any info on the rogue, I could do with an extra man.”

Ricky grinned. “Guess Zane volunteered for his favorite job again: beating people up. Doesn’t leave the rest of us any of the fun stuff, hey?”

Gabriel only frowned. “In this case, I don’t mind who he beats up as long as he comes up with results.”

“Knowing Zane, he will. So, do you need any help? Need an extra hand guarding the house?”

“No. I’d rather you investigate for me. She knew her attacker and—”

“Well, then I guess you’ve got it under control.” Ricky interrupted and leaned casually against the kitchen island. “Just a matter of finding where the guy is hiding then.”

Gabriel rubbed his neck. “It’s not quite that easy, I’m afraid. He wiped her memory.”

“Bummer, but that’s to be expected, right?” Ricky replied. “So, what now? How’re you gonna find him? What do you want me to look into?”

Gabriel knew there was one avenue he hadn’t had a chance to explore. While the rogue had wiped Maya’s memory clear of him, he couldn’t have wiped everybody else’s, especially if he didn’t know who else knew about him.

“Let’s talk to Maya. I think she can help us with this.” He opened the door to the hallway.

“But didn’t you just say he wiped her memory?” Ricky asked.

“That’s right. But I’m betting only hers.” He stuck his head out into the hallway. “Maya, can you come down please?” He knew she would hear him—whether she complied was another matter.

When he heard her footsteps on the landing upstairs, he knew he’d have to face her, but he couldn’t pretend that nothing had happened between them.

When Maya reached the foot of the stairs and turned toward him, Gabriel’s breath caught in his chest. His heart pounded against his ribs as if it wanted to reach for her. God, was he in deep shit—there was no way he’d be able to stay away from her for long. She was like a magnet, and he a mere iron nail without an ounce of resistance.

He looked at her face and caught her lower her eyelids as if to avoid his gaze.

“Maya,” he said in a low voice, not wanting anybody to overhear him. What he had to say to her was private. “We need to talk about what happened earlier.”

***

Maya took a deep breath. She wasn’t ready to talk to him yet. When he’d hightailed it out of the study with a look of panic on his face, she’d felt more embarrassed in her life than ever before. She’d been ready to fuck him right there on the couch in the study. She’d been ready to devour him not giving a second thought to what he might think about her. But now, what he thought mattered to her. Did he think her easy?