Dead and Dateless (28 page)

“You’re good.”
His deep voice echoed in my head and shattered the illusion.

“Thanks.”
I sent the silent reply and gave him a small smile.

“But not good enough.”
He forced me down a fraction of an inch and wiped the smile off my face.

“Psyching me out won’t work,”
I tossed back at him.
“I want this too much.”

“It could be a trap. Viola is a werewolf. She was in your office when the police showed up the first time. Don’t you think it’s too much of a coincidence?”

“She’s lived next to my family for decades. She wouldn’t do that.”

“How do you know?”

“I’m a vampire.”

“Vampires read humans. Not Others.”

“Maybe I’m different.”

“You’re telling me you can read Others?”

“I’m telling you that I can sense things about them. If they’re creepy, then I get a creepy feeling. If they’re honest, then I get an honest feeling from them. If they’re perverted, then I get a perverted feeling, followed by the urge to wash my hands.”
I thought of Rachel the were-Chihuahua.
“If they eat dog biscuits and play fetch when the moon is full, then I get the urge to scratch them behind the ears.”
I clamped my fingers tighter around his and held on.
“I know Viola and I know she isn’t a part of this.”

At least I was ninety-five percent sure. The other five percent? Undecided. She might, indeed, have something to do with what was happening. At the same time, I’d never been one to play it safe, especially with such slim odds.

Besides, Hermès was calling…

“Please.”
I sent the silent plea.

He stared at me long and hard, a determined look in his eyes. His grip tightened and he started to push—

“Shit.” He released my hand and shook his head. “
Shit.
” He eyed me. “Fine. We’ll go. But we’re going straight there and straight back. No bullshit. Got it?”

“Straight there. Straight back.” I bolted to my feet and grabbed my purse before he changed his mind.

“And I’m not riding in a station wagon. We’ll fly and Lloyd can fend for himself.”

“He’s nervous. He needs me. Besides, he borrowed a minivan from a friend of his.”

“That’s as bad as the station wagon.”

I thought so, too, but I was trying to look on the bright side. “At least it’s blue.”

“And?”

“And blue says male.”

“Black says male.”

“It’s dark blue. That’s sort of male.”

“If you say so.”

“I really could use some positive affirmation right now.”

“They’re werewolves. Once they change, they won’t care if they’re humping a water buffalo.”

“Never mind. So, you know when you said straight there and straight back?” I asked as I opened the front door, Ty on my heels. “I’m sure you didn’t mean
straight
straight. Because there’s straight there. And then there’s
straight
there. I’m sure you were just talking about the regular old straight, which implies a minimum number of mandatory stops at low-risk locations.”

“How minimum?” He followed me out onto the front porch.

“Two. One at my parents and—”

“Goddammit, Lil.” He shook his head and slammed the door behind us. “You’re killing me, you know that?”

“You’re immortal.”

He glared. “Just my rotten luck. Where else?”

I gave him my most charming smile. “The nearest Blockbuster.”

It was eleven o’clock when I hauled Lloyd up the front steps to Viola’s gigantic house and pressed the doorbell. Behind me, the minivan sat idling at the curb. Ty had offered to drop us off down the street to pre serve Lloyd’s image, but I figured if the bald head didn’t hurt—he’d turned out to be allergic to the superglue—nothing would.

High heels clicked across the marble floor and the door swung open. Viola looked as fantabulous as ever with her long dark hair, crimson lipstick, and a matching crimson dress that clung to her curvaceous body. A strange light glittered in her eyes and she seemed much more breathless than usual.

“You’re here,” she declared. “I’ve been worried. We have twenty-seven men inside, but we’re still missing number twenty-eight.”

“Here you go.” I motioned to Lloyd. “Meet your alpha redhead.”

Disbelief lit her dark eyes and a smile curved her full lips. “Dear, I hate to break this to you, but he has no hair.” The smile faded as she studied him even closer. She shook her head. “I’m afraid he just won’t do.”

“What?” Lloyd asked. “Does that mean I don’t get to have sex?”

“Hush,” I muttered before turning a brilliant smile on Viola. “Of course he won’t do. Not like this. But with a little help.”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

I held up a boxed DVD set of
Happy Days.
“The most popular episodes. Your friend can watch these, get a really good fantasy going, and then live out the real thing with Lloyd.”

“One glance will kill the fantasy, dear.”

“That’s why I brought this.” I held up a red handkerchief I’d picked up at Morty’s before climbing into the minivan. “It’s a blindfold.” I handed it to her. “He feels the part, smells the part, and acts the part. What more can you ask for?”

She seemed to weigh my words before she shook her head. “You’ve done a great job, Lil. Truly. The men are superb and you’ve more than earned your initial fee. But this…”

“I almost forgot. Wait here.”

I hightailed it back to the minivan and retrieved the power tool I’d swiped from my father’s garage on the way to Viola’s. “Here,” I told her when I reached the front door again.

She eyed the yellow metal. “What’s this?”

“My father’s new chain saw.”

Her interest sparked. “The one he’s been using on my azalea bushes?” When I nodded, she added, “He’ll just buy another one when he finds this missing.”

“Maybe. Unless he knows you have it. Then he’ll be determined to get it back because, of course, he can’t let you keep it. It’s the principle of the thing, after all.”

“And yet another point of contention.”

“Not if you use it to negotiate something in writing as far as the bushes are concerned. Something that says they lie on your side of the property line.”

“Clever.” She smiled. “I think you may have earned that bonus, after all.”

I
glanced down at the check Viola had given me. Oddly enough, it didn’t fill me with the expected euphoria. I looked across the surrounding treetops toward the scene unfolding in Viola’s backyard.

Ty had disappeared under the pretense of “checking things out,” while I’d been talking to Viola. When he didn’t resurface right away, I’d retreated to the minivan to give the NUNS some privacy and let nature take its course.

After ten minutes of flipping through radio stations, my curiosity, along with a great deal of howling, had lured me up into a tree at the far edge of Viola’s estate. I stood poised on a very slim branch that wouldn’t have supported a cat, much less a full grown woman.

But a vampire…Being fanged and fantabulous definitely had its perks.

A restlessness stirred deep inside and I trembled.

Pathetic. I mean, geez, I should be feeling on top of the world.
Fulfilled.
I’d aced the job for Viola. Ayala was out with Remy at the moment and no doubt loving it since he was a primo catch. Esther wasn’t upset over being trampled. I actually had some solid leads that would surely lead to the real killer and get my head off the chopping block. And I was
this
close to my parents—their estate loomed behind me—and I hadn’t once contemplated impaling myself on the nearest sharp object.

Talk about a moment of triumph.

The moon hung full and ripe in the black velvet sky. The air sizzled with electricity. There was an energy that wafted on the breeze. Awareness washed over me, drenching every nerve as I stared at the scene unfolding.

It was as wild as I’d imagined it would be, as loud, as primitive. I was far enough away that I couldn’t see specifics—although a glare flashed every once in a while like Morse code. I knew Lloyd was alive and well and—if the orgasmic wails that echoed in my ears were any indication—having the time of his life.

Bodies writhed and sweated. Men panted and groaned. Women moaned and howled. My stomach hollowed out. An ache started between my legs (you try watching something like this and not get turned on) and spread north, working its way up. A fullness tugged at my breasts. My nipples went on high alert.

“What’s wrong?” Ty’s deep voice drew my attention.

I turned just as he leapt and landed at the end of my branch. The motion was smooth and easy and he didn’t so much as stir a leaf.

He stepped toward me. “You look sad.”

“I’m not sad.” I glanced back toward the scene and the words spilled out before I could stop them. “It’s called horny.” Why oh why had I said
that
? “There are dozens of people having phenomenal sex and I’m not one of them.”

His warm chuckle slid over my skin and into my ears. My skin tingled and my nerves hummed.

“That’s no one’s fault but yours.” His voice was rich and deep and oh so stirring. “You could be right there with them.”

“With a human male?” I shook my head. “Not my thing. Not that I haven’t tried it, of course. Many times.” Okay, I was exaggerating a little, but I didn’t want Ty to think I wasn’t all that. “But after five hundred years, it gets old.”

“I’m not talking about the alpha males down there.”

My gaze collided with his. “Then what are you talking about?”

You. Me. Us.

The possibilities floated through my head, but he didn’t say anything. He simply stared at me, into me, for a long moment before he asked. “What is it you want, Lil?”

The question stirred a ton of responses, none of which I wanted to acknowledge much less say out loud. I grinned. “Another retainer fee like the one I just collected.”

“I’m not talking about professionally. I’m talking about your personal life. What is it you’re looking for?”

I shrugged. “What every born vampire looks for—an eternity mate.”

“Another born vampire then.”

I nodded. “That’s usually the way it works. Born vamp plus born vamp equals baby vamps.” Which equals a happy, noninterfering mother.

Okay, so we’re talking
my
mother. I’d settle for one out of two.

“And is that so important? Right here? Right now? Is that what you want more than anything else? At
this
moment?”

Ty. That’s what I wanted more than anything else. What I shouldn’t want for a dozen reasons I’d already gone over time and time again, none of which I could actually recall with him standing so close and the air ripe with the sounds of sex.

“We really should go.” Now. Before I stopped thinking about what I should do and simply did what I wanted to do.

I was close. Much too close.

He eyed me for a long moment before his mouth crooked into a grin. An expression that didn’t quite touch the dark, unreadable depths of his bluer-than-blue eyes. “The minivan awaits.”

I couldn’t do the minivan.

Not because it wasn’t macho enough or sporty enough or cool beyond words. The thought of sitting
this
close to Ty for a two-hour drive upstate was more than I could handle at the moment. Besides, Lloyd needed a ride in the morning.

We left the van, morphed into a couple of speedy bats, and made the trip in less than twenty minutes.

Back at the cabin, Ty went to check his e-mail and see if there was anything else on the female werewolf with the restraining order. He was waiting for a last known address and, with any luck, one of his sources had come up with the information. As for me, I glided into the bathroom, straight into an ice cold shower.

I needed to calm down. Then I could face the rest of the evening with him.

But first…I reached for a bottle of Tail and Mane shampoo. Had I sunk to the bottomless pit of hormonal apathy or what? The kicker was, I didn’t so much as shudder as I filled my hand with the white liquid and started lathering it through my hair. It wasn’t my favorite José Eber, but it smelled decent enough and it was all that had been available at
Morty’s.
Even more, it kept me busy and distracted for the next two hours.

After I lathered, I had to rinse. And then I had to condition. And then I had to blow dry. And style. And, well, a really good style didn’t just happen overnight.

By the time I emerged from the bathroom, it was four in the morning. Ty had closed up his computer, killed the lights, and climbed into bed. Moonlight filtered through a break in the curtains and spilled over the bed, illuminating his sleeping form.

Relief washed through me. I so didn’t need him looking at me right now, asking more questions, looking at me, taking up all my space, looking at me.

I bypassed the bed and, to my credit, managed not to stare as I headed for the loft. I crawled into bed, buried myself beneath the sheets and clamped my eyes shut. Now all I had to do was forget about the primitive scene I’d witnessed tonight. You know, the one that kept playing in my head, stirring my body, making my toes curl and my nipples ache?