She followed his rigid form inside. “I didn’t mean to upset you, Cortez.”

He gave a bitter laugh. “I’m not upset.”

“You don’t look happy.”

“You’ve provided me with yet another new experience. I never imagined anyone would feel obligated to stay here with me.” He actually looked thunderstruck. “Most would lie, cheat, and steal to be the object of my affection.”

“That’s not it at all. I love it here, with you. I’m just going a little...stir crazy, I suppose. I’m not used to being so far from home. Or civilization. I kind of need to be around people. Around a crowd.” She stopped before she revealed too much more.

“Oh, and I’m boring you?” He chuckled softly, as though laughing at himself. His temper wasn’t mollified.

“That’s not it at all. I just feel so isolated.”

“Are you afraid of me?”

She shook her head. “Cortez, no.”

As if her words were a challenge, he crossed to her with inhuman speed, looming over her, his voice booming, “DO NOT LIE TO ME.”

She stumbled back, nearly losing her footing, but she managed to keep her balance while her lungs seized in terror. He watched her as if he were gauging her every reaction. Counting her every harried heartbeat.

Catching her breath, she planted her feet. “Anyone would be afraid when you behave like that!”

He backed away as if her response wasn’t what he’d expected. “’Course. Forgive me. Just getting a measure?”

“Of what.”

“The difference between truth and lie.”

“And what have you deduced? That you can successfully frighten me? Well congratulations. A vampire scared a human. Bravo.”

He stared at her, still cool and aloof. “Merely that your body was telling me the truth just now. Something I suspect your mouth doesn’t always do.”

She swallowed, her heart beating fast for an entirely different reason now.

His eyes narrowed on her.

“My body told you I got startled. That’s all.”

“That’s all you think I learned just then?”

She tried to look uninterested.

“You were startled, yes, but you weren’t sweating. Not like you are now after I suggested you don’t always offer me the truth. Your eyes didn’t dart as if trying to hide something, like they did just now.

“I’m not hiding anything.”

“Did you know there’s a subtle, almost unavoidable rise in the voice when a lie is told? At least for humans. Difficult to perceive when you’re not listening for it.”

Something in her stomach squirmed uncomfortably. “Fine. I’m a little afraid of you. Are you happy? I’m a human alone on an island with a vampire. Is it really that much of a surprise? I have no idea how long you were planning to keep me here, and no indication that I had the option to leave. You sent the boat away and it freaked me out.”

He seemed to digest that for a moment. “That makes sense. I wish you would have said something. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”

“Okay.”

When she thought the argument was at an end, he moved on to another topic. “What’s all this talk of needing to be around people and crowds? Most people can’t wait to get away from the city. It seems like you’re still angling to perform at my club?”

“I...” she couldn’t exactly deny it. Not with his lie detector senses on high alert. She merely shrugged.

“Is that why you tried to force yourself to stay with me?” He shook his head. “I wish I could say I’m surprised.”

She sighed, frustrated. “Obviously I would love a job, but that’s not why—”

“What other reason could there be? You want something from me. Like all the rest. You drop hints at every opportunity. On the boat, the beach, in bed. Suggesting I let you use my sanctuary as your own personal stage so you can indulge your ridiculous fantasies of fame.”

“Ridiculous?” Now he was out of line.

“Even after I told you I don’t mix business and pleasure. Ever. Do you really imagine I don’t follow my own rules? Or is it that you think you’re the exception?” He gave her a honey please look and she felt the sting deep in her chest.

“First off, if I did have fantasies of fame, they would be far from ridiculous, and far grander than a two-bit vampire-run club in Riverstone. I sing like I made a deal with the goddamned devil, not that you’d ever bothered to give me a chance to prove it before you slithered your way into my panties—”

“Slithered?”

“—taking the option away from me. Second, one little fling and I’m forever banned from Ever Nights as if I’ve been tainted? That hardly seems fair. Banned from a job that could save....” she trailed off, reluctant to admit how deep in the hole she and Cole were.

He held out his arms. “No. Please, continue. Save you from what? Am I to be held responsible for everyone in your situation then?”

“What do you mean my situation?”

“Do you have any idea how many wannabe starlets I encounter? Who proposition me in hopes of getting something out of it? And I stick to my rules because I’m sick of it. Not to mention most of them have petty minds to go along with their worthless dreams.” He eyed her as if trying to decide whether she fit into that category.

Through gritted teeth, she muttered, “I am not a wannabe.”

“They all say that, sweetheart.”

“Or petty.”

He went quiet.

She crossed to him and stabbed her finger in his chest. “Or worthless!”

He blinked, losing a bit of his fire. “I didn’t mean that you are.”

“And you know nothing of my dreams,” she hissed.

“I know that for someone who entertains as well as you claim to, I’d expect you to be able to afford better than a one room flat in the ghetto.”

Dick! “Oh, sure, I could afford a better place if I was willing to shake my ass right out of my clothes like some of the other women in town.”

He crossed his arms and snorted. “Isn’t that what you did for me last night?”

Rendered speechless by the most potent, purified rage that had ever poisoned her blood, she could only stare at him, aghast.

Dropping his arms, he turned sheepish and scrapped his hand down the back of his neck. “Look, I—”

“You know what? Don’t worry about it. Working for you is looking less and less appealing by the second. In fact, doing anything with you is looking less and less appealing.”

He held his hands out to her in a placating manner. “Naia—”

She cut him off with a sharp look. “Save it. We’re done here.”

Hurt and outraged, she stormed out of the room and down the hallway, past the kitchen where he’d made her dinner and beyond the bedroom where he’d made her scream his name again and again, not stopping till she found herself sequestered on a balcony on the eastern wing of the house, as far from Cortez as the building would allow. There, she fumed and watched the sky dance for her watery eyes as it darkened with the setting sun, clouds rolling in, bringing with them distant flashes of lightning, all the while trying desperately to convince herself that her soul wasn’t flayed raw and ripped to shreds by the shards of her breaking heart.