The thought made her grimace. It was one thing to have sexual fantasies and dreams about a man when he didn’t know, and quite another for him to know exactly what you wanted to do to him behind closed doors . . . and what a screamer you were.
“You can do this,” Beth muttered under her breath. “You can’t waste your time worrying about a man who thinks himself better than everyone else. Just deal with him until tomorrow and then you’ll fly home and not have to deal with him anymore.”
Shoulders straight, she dragged the door open and marched out of her room.
Much to Beth’s relief, there was no one in the hall, and she made it to the bathroom without encountering anyone. She continued the inner lecture as she relieved herself, washed her hands and face, and then brushed her teeth and hair. Once she didn’t have anything else to do, she forced herself to continue on to the kitchen.
Beth heard the murmur of male voices before she reached the kitchen door and braced herself for what was to come, but it wasn’t as hard as she’d expected it to be. She supposed, in a way, while everything had changed, nothing had changed at all. She’d always been attracted to Scotty, and she’d always known he hated her or at least looked down on her. The only added factor here was that he was aware of the wild sexual fantasies she had about him. Oh well. He appeared to enjoy them too, so he couldn’t point fingers, Beth told herself firmly and entered as Donny said, “You’re kidding me. You’re a lawyer?”
“For fifty years,” Matias said with a nod as Beth strode to the coffee machine.
“Why are you in university, then?” Donny asked with confusion.
Matias shrugged. “I got bored and thought I would try something else.”
“What are you taking?” Donny asked.
“Right now I am taking general courses so I can see what interests me most.”
“Man,” Donny muttered. “I thought you were like twenty or something.”
“Seventy-five,” Matias corrected him.
“Matias, where do you keep your cups?” Beth asked before Donny could speak again. The coffee machine was the good old-fashioned drip kind, where a whole pot was made and not a cup, and the carafe was nearly full. Matias was the only one with coffee, Donny had a glass of water in front of him and there was an empty blood bag in front of Scotty.
“In the cupboard above the coffeepot,” Matias said helpfully.
“Thanks.” She opened the cupboard door, picked one of the dozen or so cups and poured coffee into it with a little sigh.
“Thank God you’re up,” Donny said into the silence. “We have to go out for breakfast, and then we have to go grocery shopping if we want lunch and supper.”
“There’s plenty of food here,” Beth said lightly as she stirred sugar into her drink. “Make toast, or a sandwich or something.”
“I can’t. There’s no bread,” Donny said, scowling at Matias. “All that meat and cheese and not a lick of bread in this place.”
“Tina forgot to get it when she picked up the groceries for me,” her cousin said with a shrug, and then pursed his lips and added thoughtfully, “Although she may not have forgotten. She is on that no-carb diet. Avoiding the bread might have been deliberate.”
“Tina?” Beth asked with a smile. “I thought you were mad about Justine.”
“Sí, but Justine does not like to shop, and Tina does. She is very sweet.”
“Uh-huh,” Beth said and then asked idly, “Who does your laundry?”
“Nicole. She is very handy with the iron.”
“Housecleaning?”
“Michele.” He grinned widely. “She wears a French maid outfit when she does it. Afterward, I reward her well.”
“I’ll bet,” Beth said dryly and shook her head. “Good to know you haven’t changed and still keep a harem of willing women around.”
“I must. I am God’s gift to women,” Matias reminded her, even managing to keep a straight face as he did.
Chuckling, Beth scooped up her cup and took a sip before asking, “Does Mortimer know you have mortal women running around the Enforcer house and doing your chores for you?”
“No. He has never asked so I have never told,” he said with a shrug and then eyed her warily. “You think he would not like it?”
“I think he would definitely not like it,” she assured him. “There’s too much risk one of them could see or hear something they shouldn’t.”
“I never let the girls come when there are Enforcers here,” Matias assured her. “They just help me take care of things when I am the only one present.”
“Hmm,” Beth said dubiously.
Matias eyed her with dissatisfaction and then asked, “Are you going to tell him?”
Beth considered the matter briefly and then shrugged. “If he doesn’t ask, I won’t tell.” Matias was just relaxing when she added, “But if he does ask, I will.”
Matias grimaced, but before he could protest or respond, Donny complained, “Beth, I’m starved.”
Turning her attention to the younger immortal, she raised her eyebrows. “Well, you didn’t have to wait for me. Why didn’t you go grab yourself some breakfast while I was sleeping?”
“I couldn’t leave the house,” he protested as if shocked she’d suggest it. “You were attacked last night. Someone is out to get you.”
“Oh yeah,” Beth muttered into her cup. She supposed she should have expected that Scotty would insist all three men stay to guard her, but she’d been so distracted by everything else, she’d kind of forgotten about that incident in the alley. Besides, she didn’t know why the man would bother. He didn’t want her, so why worry about her well-being?
Not wanting to get caught up in that painful inner conversation again, Beth sighed and pushed the question away. Lifting her head, she raised an eyebrow in Matias’s direction. “You don’t happen to have travel mugs?”
“Sí.” Grinning, he stood and moved to a cupboard at the opposite end of the room. There were half a dozen or so cups in the cupboard. He picked a red one that reminded her of her poor destroyed shoes and carried it to her, murmuring, “It seems we will have company for that breakfast I offered to take you out for.”
Beth shrugged as she turned to pour her coffee into the travel mug. “Such is life, cousin.”
“Sí,” he murmured.
Beth quickly rinsed the cup she’d used, snapped the lid on the travel mug and turned back to start across the kitchen. “Come on, boys. It seems breakfast and shopping are on the agenda before anything else today.”
“Mortimer called while you were getting ready,” Scotty announced, and Beth froze and closed her eyes on a curse.
“I forgot to call him and report on what happened with Kira before we went out last night,” she realized out loud.
“Aye,” Scotty agreed. “But I would no’ feel bad. I forgot about it too. I fear Donny’s reaction to caffeine made us all forget. I explained as much to Mortimer and filled him in.”
Sighing, Beth forced herself to turn and nod at him. “Thank you.”
“Me pleasure,” he said, offering her a smile.
Beth bit her lip, and then asked, “How did he take the news that Kira was returning to Toronto with us?”
“He was no’ pleased at first, but in the end said it was better than her committing suicide by Council order and starting an international immortal war,” Scotty said dryly and then added, “O’ course, once I mentioned that she was trained in weapons and martial arts, he warmed to the idea. He’s hoping she will no’ need much training at all ere he puts her in the field.”
Beth snorted. “He already has trainees and volunteers on the job. He won’t make her train. He’ll just place her with a seasoned hunter and let them train her on the job.”
“Maybe not,” Scotty said. “After all, she is the daughter of Athanasios Sarka. He’ll take care that she is no’ hurt on the job.”
“Hmm, you’re probably right,” she said thoughtfully.