After that, I pulled out a puzzle and arranged it on the table so it looked as if I was still working on it. Josh returned to the apartment and held up his shirts. “Where do you want these?”
I stuffed them behind the couch, then threw a blanket on the love seat in a messy pile. There. I surveyed my handiwork and turned to Josh. “Does this room look lived-in?”
He grinned back at me. “Perfect.”
I flopped down on the couch, suddenly too tired to do anything else.
“Why don’t you rest? I’ll go make the kitchen look a bit more lived in and make myself a snack.”
As he left, I noticed he had one of my sleep tees tucked under his arm. What did he want with that? Interesting.
Before I could ask, there was a knock at the door and then the doorbell, just in case we hadn’t heard them the first time.
“They’re here,” I called to Josh, dragging myself off the couch. I peeped through the peephole and grimaced at Posey’s bright pink outfit.
I quelled my nervous breathing. With Josh here, there were bound to be questions. This would be the first date I’d ever introduced to my dad . . . and we weren’t even dating. Josh was just a friend helping me out. My real date wouldn’t rise until after dark, because he was undead.
That thought disturbed me.
I swung the door open and smiled brightly. “Hi, Dad, Posey.”
“Marie-Pierre!” my father said. He leaned in to give me a kiss, then stepped into the apartment. “Baby, you’re not going to believe what we got you in Vegas.”
“Oh, I’ll believe it,” I said dryly and welcomed Posey in with an awkward hug. “Hi, Posey.”
“Hello, Marie-Pierre,” she cooed in a thick south Texas accent. The way she said my full name with her drawl made it sound
My father beamed. “Isn’t she thoughtful?”
Oh, yes. Telling me that I looked like hell was so thoughtful of her. But my dad loved her, so I smiled brightly. “That’s awesome. Thanks, Posey.”
Josh hung at the back of the room, waiting to be introduced. I looked over at him and his easy, amused grin, and felt suddenly flustered. Dad was looking at me expectantly, and Posey had a lunatic grin on her overly made- up face.
“Well?” Dad said. “Introduce us to your friend,
“Sure,” I said, moving to Josh’s side. “Dad, Posey, this is . . . my friend. Josh.”
Josh casually put his arm over my shoulders, and I gritted my teeth.
“Marie . . . Pierre?” Josh asked, glancing over at me, and I could hear the chuckle in his voice.
“Her mother was French-Canadian,” my father explained. “It’s a family name. For some reason, Marie doesn’t like it.”
“I think it’s lovely. And it is so nice to meet you, Josh,” Posey said, sweeping forward to hug him in a cloud of perfume. “Marie-Pierre has told us so much about you.”
“Has she now,” he said, taking the hug with no hint of awkwardness, though his nostrils flared from her heavy scent.
My dad moved forward, extending his hand. “Good to meet you, son. Have you two been dating long?”
“We’re not—” I began.
“Really keeping track of things,” Josh said with an easy grin. “Taking it one day at a time.”
“Nothing wrong with that,” Dad said and gestured at Posey. “We brought donuts and coffee and orange juice. I hope that’s okay?”
I smiled. “That sounds great. Thank you.”
Posey unloaded makeup and skin-care samples on me while Josh and Dad set out the food. They cleaned the puzzle off my dining room table, and I could hear the two men chatting in low voices. Josh was already at ease around my father. I supposed that was a good thing, but it bothered me. If they fell in love with him, it would just make things more difficult.
“Breakfast is ready,” Dad called cheerfully, saving me before Posey could start dabbing a wrinkle cream on my face.
As I moved forward, Dad threw his arm over my shoulders and hugged me close. “You look tired. You’re not working too hard, are you?”
Josh stilled, watching me.
“Just been putting in some long hours,” I told him with a faint smile. “I’ll catch up on my sleep this weekend.”
“Don’t let them work you too hard. Those overnights are rough on the body.” He turned to look at Josh. “I’m counting on you to keep an eye on her. She has a one-track mind.”
“Oh, I know,” Josh said, taking a sprinkle-covered donut from the box.
My dad chuckled.
• • •
I watched as Josh charmed Posey and my dad. He told them funny anecdotes about his security job, never mentioning that he bodyguarded vampires, of course. He told them about his big family, all brothers, and how Beau had raised him as a teenage boy when their father had passed away. How we’d met while I’d been at work, and how he’d talked me into going out with him.
My dad loved him, of course. It was impossible not to when Josh was on full-charm offensive. He made Posey blush with his obvious compliments, but she didn’t mind those in the slightest. And they laughed and chatted as Josh devoured almost a dozen donuts on his own. They didn’t seem to find that unusual.
After my dad and Posey left, Josh turned and grinned at me. “They’re really nice. I like them.”
I said nothing.
“I think they like me, too.” He sounded almost smug about it.
“Of course they do,” I said crankily. “You charmed their socks off.”
He ignored my bad mood and cleared the plates off the table. “You should really tell your dad, you know. It’s not right to keep a secret like that from someone.”
I gritted my teeth. “It’s for the best.”
“No, it’s not,” he said, coming to my side. He put his hands around my waist, tugging me in close. “It’s not okay. You’re sick and you’re hiding it from him.”
“That’s right,” I snapped, jerking out of his grip. “And it’s none of your business.”
He looked at me in surprise. “What’s wrong with you?”
“All of this,” I told him, gesturing at my dirty apartment, the empty plates. His dirty shirts tossed over the couch. It bothered me, just as much as his ease sliding into my personal life did. “Just because you met my father doesn’t mean you have the right to . . . to . . . ” I struggled to find the right word for exactly who Josh was to me.
“To act like we’re a couple?”
“Yes,” I exploded. “We’re not! We can’t be!”
His eyes glinted, hard. “So what was last night about?”
I stared at him, surprised. “You, of all people, should know that it wasn’t anything serious.”
“?‘You, of all people’?” He raised an eyebrow, and I got the distinct feeling that I’d hurt him. “Is that some sort of jab at me?”
It was, and it wasn’t nice of me. I deflected. “You know this thing between us can’t be. Set up shop in Greenland permanently? Destroy the Alliance? Ruin your brother’s life and Bathsheba’s? Force the agency to close? No, thank you.”
“How about you try trusting me?” Josh said with a growl.
“How about you trust
