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«I thought you wanted to be Anita's pomme ,» Nathaniel said.
Graham looked a little startled, as if he'd said more than he'd meant to say. «If Anita would feed the ardeur off me, just once, I might never look at another woman, but until she does…«He let the sentence fade, but it summed up why Graham was not a strong contender for me. He didn't really want me, he wanted the ardeur . If any of the other female vamps from London had held the ardeur , he'd have chased them instead of me, or as well as me. Not very flattering — to him, or to me.
«Until I do, you're keeping your options open,» I said.
He shrugged. «I gave all my options up for Meng Die, and she kept Clay and Requiem on her string. I shared her with Clay in a way I've never shared anyone.» He looked sad for a moment, then it passed. I wasn't sure if it passed because his sorrow was that shallow, or he had pushed it away. «Anita isn't going to give up all of you guys for me. Why should I give up everyone else just for a chance to be in her bed? I mean, just for a chance, not even the certainty of it.»
«I didn't ask Requiem to sacrifice his libido to me.»
«You never ask anyone to give up other people for you, but if they don't, you don't sleep with them,» Graham said.
And that was a little closer to the truth than I wanted to hear. I hadn't asked Requiem to give up Meng Die, but the fact that he was fucking her had been a point against him. Why? One, because I simply did not like her. Two, Graham was right, I didn't share my men. Not with other women. The fact that I then expected them to share me with about half a dozen other men, well… Not fair. Not fair at all.