Must Love Fangs

it down to brush against the nape of my neck. “Like you normally wear it.”

I pulled away, feeling a little self-conscious and flustered. He thought my hair was sexy and wild? “When do I ever wear my hair up?”

“When you’re working.”

I thought for a moment. I sometimes twisted my hair and shoved a pencil through it while I was working. He thought that was sexy? Even stranger, he remembered that I did that?

Josh moved past me and began to rake through the hangers.

I remained behind him, fingering my hair thoughtfully.

He eventually pulled out a sweater I hated; the tags still dangled from the sleeve. It was a long, navy blue tunic with a wide belt. It was meant to be worn with leggings and a big necklace. The problem was I had no leggings. He pulled the belt off the sweater and held it out to me. “Here. Put this on.”

“I’m going to return that—”

He yanked the tags off and dropped it in my hands. “Put it on.”

“I can’t wear this,” I told him. “I didn’t realize when I’d bought it that it’s off the shoulder, and I don’t have a strapless bra.”

Josh’s eyes gleamed intensely, and for a moment he looked just like the cat he was. “So go braless.”

“I don’t have any leggings to go with it.”

“You don’t need leggings. Wear it as a dress.”

I sighed and took it from him, heading back to the closet to change. I pulled off the other outfit, then hesitated. Braless in front of a big, delicious man suddenly seemed like a big deal, and I remembered how his eyes had gleamed at the thought. My skin prickled in awareness, and I knew that he was standing outside the closet, waiting for me to emerge, my breasts loose and my legs bare.

Sexy and wild, like you normally wear it. And he’d touched my hair.

A flush rose over my body and I had to fight it down, force my breathing to calm. I was just worked up because I had a man in my bedroom, nothing more. Josh simply wanted to help me find a vampire to date.

I stripped out of my bra and tugged the dark sweater over my head, noticing that it seemed to cling to my curves as it slithered over me. The open neckline was asymmetrical and hung over one shoulder, exposing it and an expanse of my neck. Smart. I knew before I even stepped out of the closet that this was a good idea.

When I stepped out of the closet, his eyes had that catlike gleam again that made me want to shiver. He gave me another long, sweeping look that made my skin prickle. “Much better,” he said, his voice husky.

My skin prickled in response and I felt my nipples grow hard. I crossed my arms over my chest, hoping he wouldn’t notice.

He didn’t. He was too busy pacing around me, and I got the weird sensation that he was embracing his predator side. Had I . . . brought that out in him?

Behind me, Josh leaned close, and I stiffened. I thought he was going to sniff me, oddly enough. But he only grabbed a handful of my thick, curly hair. “Up,” he said softly. “It’s gorgeous up. Do you have a clip?”

“On the nightstand,” I told him, flustered at the compliment to my hair.

Two seconds later, he had the clip in hand and was pushing it into the knot of hair at the back of my head. I could practically feel his breath on my neck, and I shivered.

“You have a great neck for vampires,” he said softly and ran a finger down the back of my neck. “Nice and long and white.”

“Gee, thanks,” I told him, willing my body not to tremble. He was incredibly aware of my appearance, and I was growing all too aware of his presence, which I liked too much. His attention made my stomach flutter. “Do I pass muster?”

“I’m not sure,” he said after a long moment, and I glanced over my bare shoulder at him. He rubbed his jaw thoughtfully, then looked at my behind. “Are you wearing granny panties?”

I gasped. “You do not ask a girl about her panties!”

“Granny panties,” he said, “are toxic to sexiness. Both for you and for him. If you have a thong, wear one. It’ll make you move sensually and make you more aware of what you’re wearing underneath and how it feels. Go for something sexy in the fabric,” he said, and my nipples went tight again at his husky, sensual tone.

“Sexy fabric?” I repeated, almost hypnotized by the sound of his voice. It was like something one would say to a lover.

“Mmm,” he said in agreement. “Something that will tease and tickle at your skin. Lace . . . satin . . . something like that. You know why?”

“No,” I said softly, my breasts aching and tight. “Why?”

He swatted my ass. “Badonkadonk.”

Tabarnak. I was going to kill him with my own two hands. I pushed him away. “You are a jackass. Get out of my bedroom.”

He grinned, all boyish charm again. “Not until you promise to wear that on your next date. Braless. You’ve got mighty pretty breasts.”

I clutched the sweater neck tight. “Get. Out.”

“Promise.”

“Fine,” I said. “I promise. Now get out so I can change back.”

He did, grinning at me the whole time.

When I emerged a few minutes later, my hair was down again and I was wearing my ugliest, most worn- out pajamas. And a bra. Sending a very clear message seemed like a good idea.

Josh said nothing, but his eyebrow went up and that smile curved his mouth again. “Nice pajamas.”

“Thank you,” I said frostily.

He said nothing else about it, then leaned over my dining room table and casually turned a puzzle piece, trying to fit it into the half-finished locked-together pieces on the table. “I see you’re into puzzles. This one’s a hard one.”

“I like them hard.”

He glanced back at me and gave me a knowing grin.

I sighed. “Do you make everything innuendo?”

“Yes,” he said firmly. “It’s more fun that way. So why puzzles?”

“I do them when I can’t sleep.” I’d started that five-thousand-piece puzzle last night, and it was nearly done.

“Do you do a lot of them?”

I thought of my closet full of boxes of completed puzzles. “Now and then. So was there anything else you wanted, or are you done tormenting me?”

Josh shook his head. “It’s not torment, my beautiful Marie. It’s assistance. You’re looking at this all wrong. Don’t think of it as suffering. Think of me as your sherpa of sexy.”

Did that make me Mount Everest? Some unattainable peak he felt the need to climb?

Now I was making everything innuendo. I forced myself to focus. “What now, then, oh sherpa?”

His face lit up with enthusiasm. “Now we go through the database and I give you the dirt on all the vampires.”

Oooh, now we were getting to the good stuff! I grabbed my laptop off my desk and went to the couch, setting the laptop on the low table.

Josh slid onto the couch next to me, his thigh rubbing against mine. On purpose? Either way, I was hyperaware of it, even if he wasn’t. Maybe he was totally casual with his personal space, too, and I wasn’t used to it.

Or he just thought I was scowly and aloof, and this was all in my head.

I pulled up the Midnight Liaisons website.

• • •

Two hours later, we were down to only a few options. We’d made notecards on each of the available vampires in the database and arranged them on the table to get a better look. Then, one by one, Josh had plucked the cards off the table, whittling down my options.

This one was cruel to his last girlfriend. This one was a bit of a playboy. This one was newly turned and