Page 40 of Night's Reckoning
She didn’t often lose control. Not anymore. She’d felt like an animal after the cave-in, which was not a memory she enjoyed. She was angry that he remembered her weakness.
As for what he’d told her before she left, his words were seared in her mind.
“Tell me this has nothing to do with me. Look me in the eye and tell me this has nothing to do with you and me and what happened in that cave and what’s been happening for months—for years—now between us.”
He’d called her a liar when she told the truth. Losing control in the cave was one thing. What had been growing between them was entirely different. Tenzin didn’t know what he wanted from her, which left her out of sorts, because she’d always known what Ben wanted.
He wanted respect. He wanted to be rich as well, but he mostly wanted respect.
When had it started to change? When hadhestarted to change? Ben wanted different things now.
It was so… irritatingly human. Ben really needed to become a vampire. It was past time. The sentimental attachment to mortality no longer served him.
Cheng had remained at Ben and Fabia’s end of the table after servants brought platters of food and silently departed. He mostly paid attention to Fabia, leaving Ben to shoot Tenzin unspoken questions with his eyes.
This guy?Ben glanced at Cheng.Really?
Tenzin shrugged. She trusted Cheng in most things. When it came to dealing honestly with her in business, she trusted him implicitly. Cheng was too afraid of her to cheat.
Ben looked irritated. Did he think she and Cheng had become lovers again? Was he…jealous?
Perhaps he was jealous.
“We’re not having sex,” Tenzin said from across the room. “If that’s what you’ve been thinking.”
Ben nearly spit out the water he’d been drinking. Cheng looked over his shoulder, his eyes narrowed. Fabia let out a laugh, then clapped a hand over her mouth.
“Thank you for the clarification,” Cheng said. “Did you mean with me or him?”
Tenzin frowned. “Both. Or neither. I’ll include Fabia in that too. I’m not having sex with any of you.”
Ben wiped his mouth. “Good to know we’re all clear on that.”
“Thanks, Tenzin,” Fabia said. “I’ll try not to be too disappointed.”
“Good.”
Ben rose and walked over to Tenzin, leaving his plate of food half-eaten. “Can I talk to you outside please?” He paused by the table, grabbed her hand, and nearly dragged her onto the balcony.
Tenzin let him. He clearly needed some air.
There was a wide terrace that overlooked the skyscrapers of the Pudong. Black glass doors slid open with the touch of a button.
Ben walked to the far end of the balcony and dropped her hand to run agitated fingers through his hair. “What the hell, Tenzin?”
“I don’t understand why you’re irritated. I thought you might have imagined that Cheng and I—”
“Maybe.” His eyes narrowed. “Maybe I thought that.”
“So.” She spread her hands out. “Now you know we are not. You have no reason to be jealous.”
“I wasn’t jealous of Cheng.” Ben spat out the words.
Tenzin narrowed her eyes and noticed the flush in Ben’s cheeks. “I think you were.”
“I’m not.” He crossed his arms. “I’m not jealous of him. That’s ridiculous. I don’t want his life. I have no interest in being some… modern pirate businessman with hundreds of servants and—”
“I assumed you were jealous of Cheng because he and I were once lovers and you and I are not.” She frowned. “I didn’t think it was those other things.”
