He blinked, sure he must be imagining her. It had been almost three weeks. He’d given up on the idea of seeing her ever again. But there she was.
Her gaze met his and even through in the hazy, dimly lit bar, he could see how amazingly blue her eyes were. Her hair was loose, framing her face in waves of golden honey.
He didn’t realize he was walking down from the stage and going to her until he was only a foot away. Close enough to touch. To kiss.
“Hi,” was all he could think to say. His brain mush.
“Hi,” she said back.
“I—I’ve . . .”
What the hell did he say? He didn’t know. He considered himself a pretty clever, articulate guy, but nothing came to him. Nothing that would be good enough to make her stay.
“So rumor has it you’re a vampire. Is that true, or are you and your friends all nuts?”
He stared at her, then cleared his throat nervously. Neither answer was a good one. Neither answer was going to get her to stay. But he wasn’t going to lie to her. Not like the other men she’d been with.
“I’m a vampire.”
She nodded, not looking particularly surprised. Nor did she look like she planned to run.
“I thought that was probably the case.”
Wow, she was taking this way too well.
“So why aren’t you running in terror?”
She tilted her head, considering his question. “Because I’ve had time to think about it. And because you said I could trust you. And because I figured if you really wanted to hurt me, you had ample opportunity, both the night we blacked out and the night after.”
“True.”
She nodded, and he was afraid this was all she’d come for, to validate the truth, and he couldn’t let her leave.
“I’ve—I’ve missed you.” Okay, that sounded kind of lame, but it was out and he wasn’t stopping. He wasn’t giving her the opportunity to leave. Not yet. “I’ve thought about you every day—well, you know, every night. I’ve wanted to try to contact you.”
“But you did contact me,” she said, and reached into the purse and pulled out an envelope. He knew exactly what it was. He’d sent her an anonymous letter with cash in it. Because he knew she needed help with her business. Because he knew she wouldn’t accept his help unless she didn’t know it was from him.
But she did know.
“You figured out where I lived,” she said. “You could have come to see me anytime, yet you didn’t. Why?”
“Because I didn’t want to scare you,” he said simply.
She nodded again, and then to his utter shock, she stepped forward and kissed him. He wanted to pull her against him, he wanted to deepen the kiss and let her see all his longing for her. But he didn’t dare.
“I’ve missed you, too,” she said against his lips.
“Even though I’m a monster,” he whispered.
She smiled up at him, shaking her head. “You are not a monster. You are the only man I’ve ever known that I could trust one hundred percent.”
“How do you know that?” he asked, even though it was absolutely true.
“Because you believed me. You protected me.” She lifted the envelope again. “You wanted to help me. You let me go because you knew I had to figure all this out. And most of all, because when I look in your eyes, I can see you love me.”
He groaned. “God, I do. I love you.”
He pulled her against him and kissed her hard this time. “Is it possible to love someone this much after just one night?”
She grinned up at him. “I don’t know, you tell me. You’ve lived a lot longer than I have.”
“All I know is in all those years, I’ve never felt this way about anyone.”
“And I know I don’t have as many years as you, but I’ve never felt this way about anyone either.”
They gazed at each other a moment longer, then kissed like they were the only ones in the room. But alas they weren’t, and soon Drake felt a thump on his back.
“Hey, it looks like we won’t be forced to be ancient bachelors together after all, huh?” Johnny grinned at Drake, fresh off the plane from Paris. He loosely held Lizette’s hand, happy to be back in his adopted hometown even if it was only for a week to pack up his apartment.
“Thank God for that,” Drake said, smiling as he stuck out his hand to shake it. “Welcome home, bro.”
“At least it didn’t take a wake this time to spawn true love,” Stella said joining them, giving her brother a pointed look.
“Well, it kind of did,” Johnny said, giving Lizette an affectionate smile. She was wearing her hair down loose and he thought she was the most gorgeous woman on earth. “My fake death made this all happen.”
“Don’t say that with such pride,” Lizette said in admonishment, laughing. “It was still a terrible thing to do.”
“Yeah, that was like so rude,” Saxon said appearing in the group. “Unlike my wedding, which was beautiful.”
Yep. Saxon was still smoking the wacky weed if he thought that debacle could be classified as beautiful. But, Johnny couldn’t argue that it had played a role in bringing him and Lizette, and certainly Drake and Josie Lynn, together.
The ever-sweet Katie said, “Maybe it was just meant to be.” She leaned into Cort’s side, smiling up at him. He kissed her.
“I think you are all wrong,” said Benny, twirling his drumsticks like he was an overenthusiastic majorette. “I think it takes blacking out and getting one helluva hangover.”
None of them could argue that.
Praise for
“Outrageously funny and romantic.”
—
“There is a lot of humor in this romance, and that is where the writers truly shine.
—
“A new, hilarious romance version of
—
Praise for the novels of USA Today bestselling author
ERIN MCCARTHY
