His gaze jumped to hers, leaving Cassie to wonder if he had felt it, too. She stopped at the end of the concrete path that led to the door of her apartment complex. “We’re here.”
Giovani glanced at the rundown building. It was in desperate need of a coat of paint. Some of the roof tiles were missing. A few of the windows were patched with tape. “You live here?”
She bit down on her lower lip, suddenly embarrassed as she looked at the place through his eyes. “It’s a dump, I know, but it’s all I can afford.”
“What is it you do?”
“I serve drinks at the Winchester Lounge five nights a week.” The place was a dive. Tips were lousy. But it paid the rent. Barely. “Do you know it?”
“Yeah.” He had gone hunting there a time or two. “I live alone,” he said, weighing each word carefully. “In a rather large house with five bedrooms. It’s nothing fancy, but certainly better than this. And in a safer neighborhood.”
She blinked up at him. “Are you asking me to move in with you?” she exclaimed. “Are you crazy? I’ve only known you, what? Ten minutes?”
“I’m not suggesting anything immoral,” he said, obviously insulted that she would think otherwise. “I’m gone all day, and a good deal of the night, so you would have the place to yourself most of the time. The house is paid for, so there’s no need to pay rent. I’ve been alone a very long time and I’ve grown weary of my own company. I merely thought … Forgive my impertinence. It was a bad idea.”
Cassie shrugged it off. Had she known him better, she might have jumped at the chance to live rent-free in a decent house. “Thanks for walking me home.”
“Please accept my apology,” he said stiffly. “I didn’t mean to offend you. I was merely trying to help. Good evening.”
She stared at him a moment. Perhaps she had misjudged his intentions, she thought as she walked swiftly up the stairs to the front door. She paused, her hand on the latch. Maybe she owed him an apology. She turned to tell him she was sorry, but he had already gone.
What a strange man. He had seemed harmless, enough. A gentleman. And yet … she shivered as her mind replayed what had happened in the park. There was something about him, although she couldn’t put her finger on it. Something she’d felt on some primal level but couldn’t explain.
With a shake of her head, she went inside and closed the door behind her, thinking that perhaps she had escaped two predators that night, even though one had rescued her from the other.
She laughed softly as she went into the bedroom, bemused by her fanciful thoughts.
Giovanni’s first thought when the sun went down was for the young, golden-haired, brown-eyed woman he had met the night before. Cassie Douglas. No woman had ever affected him quite like she had. Even now, hours later, he clearly remembered the flowery fragrance of her hair. The warmth of her skin.
The tantalizing aroma of her life’s blood.
When she’d looked at him, his whole body had responded. That, too, was unusual. He was, after all, a priest. Years of abstinence and rigid self-discipline had left him immune to the temptations of the fairer sex.
Or so he’d thought.
Her scent, the sound of her voice, had awakened feelings and desires he’d not felt since Maria Elena.
Leaving his lair, he went to his lonely house where he showered, dressed and ran a comb through his hair. And all the while, the memory of his meeting with the young woman played in the forefront of his mind. He told himself he was centuries too old for him. She was barely more than a child. But try as he might, he couldn’t stop thinking about her.
Cassie. She worked five nights a week at the Winchester Lounge, he thought. Was tonight one of those nights? Before he could talk himself out of it, he was on his way out the door.
Cassie glanced at the clock, willing the hands to move more quickly. It never worked, of course. Tonight, more than usual, she hated her job. Hated the lustful stares of the men, their furtive snickers, their lewd attempts at humor. She was tired of fighting off their unwanted advances, tired of forcing herself to laugh at their vulgar jokes. Heck, she was just plain tired.
Waiting at the bar for an order to be filled, she found herself thinking of the man who had come to her rescue the night before. What was his name? Johnny something. A real gentleman, he was. Then again, maybe he wasn’t. After knowing her for only a few minutes, he had hinted that she should move in with him. Though he seemed nice enough, she could only imagine what might have happened if she had agreed. No doubt she would have become one of those women you read about in the paper who vanished without a trace, never to be seen or heard from again. Suspicious, much? She grinned inwardly as his words from the night before replayed in her mind. Always, she thought.
And with good reason.
She slapped the hand of one of the regular patrons when he tried to pat her behind as she passed by, more annoyed than usual. She needed a vacation from this place, but that wasn’t going to happen any time soon. Not if she wanted to continue eating.
Maybe she should have taken Johnny what’s-his-name up on his offer, she thought, then shook her head. Definitely not a good idea. She was just tired and edgy. She tensed every time a new customer arrived, always afraid Lynx and his buddies might come swaggering through the door. Where had Darla found a loser like that anyway? Cassie wondered. And why was she always attracted to the wrong kind of
