Anita has really changed him, in some ways for the better and some for the worse. This is one of the ways it's worse; Jean-Claude is now overly sensitive about things he wouldn't have thought twice about in the past. But then, he doesn't normally try to develop longer-term relationships with humans, and he'd perhaps taken Anita's objections as indicative of a broader mortal hang-up. She's not likely to be pleased about this encounter, either, but Jean-Claude is not willing to twist himself into knots indulging her. This is her problem, and he'll solve it his way.

Especially as it seems Jonathan is rather more interested than he'd given credit for. That quashes his reservations. Jean-Claude offers out a hand from across the table, the lace of his wide cuffs spilling around his fingers, eyes gleaming a dark night blue. "Very well, mon égaré, I will not insult you by questioning you further. Take my hand, and you will feel it."

There is a piece of information Jean-Claude is extremely careful with, and no one outside his close circle knows: that Jean-Claude ends up as much in the thrall of the ardeur as anyone he's with. It's a powerful urge when it's unaddressed, but once it identifies a partner through physical contact, it's overwhelming, a hot surge that makes anything and everything absolutely irresistible. And it is power. Jean-Claude does feed this way, so it is more than pure lust; as they indulge it, it will raise power, echoing through them in a positive feedback loop with the sexual desire.