She wasn’t at the park when I arrived, so at first I thought she’d run, taking the easy way out. But as I searched for her, a sinking feeling had set over me. And then I’d scented her blood.
I’d changed since then. We both had. I only hoped it was enough that we could make this second chance work out better than the first.
6
KELLY
For longer than I cared to admit, I watched Xavier lounging in his car through the front window of the shop. After a while I got bored and went about my usual business, and did my damnedest to pretend he wasn’t there. I refused to check what else he was up to. Until I headed to sleep, when I did one last check.
True to his word, Xavier slept in his car all night. Peter crashed in Marla’s apartment, making the occasional banging sounds like the weirdo he was.
As soon as I opened the shop the next morning, Xavier came wordlessly inside and hung around like a lost puppy, watching me as I set up for the day.
I was not built for this stress.
“Aren’t there other vampire-staking jobs you need to take?” I asked him. “Now that all the danger is gone from Forbidden?”
He shrugged, lifting one massive shoulder. His muscles were like giant stones covered in smooth, tanned skin. I remembered peppering kisses over them, smoothing my hands over them. I’d been a human at the time.
Now I just wanted to bite those muscles. And I told myself it wasn’t in a sexy way.
I was a lying liar.
I hoped Cordelia was working hard on that banishing spell. I needed to get rid of this man like a case of scabies.
I puttered around the tattoo shop, cleaning up nonexistent messes, just to keep myself busy. Xavier sat on my beautiful red sofa, his arms crossed over his chest, looking menacing and hot.
No, I told myself. Not hot. Simply menacing.
“Oh, do you hear that?” I said loudly.
He spun around. “What?”
“I hear someone in distress. ‘No, don’t hurt me, you scary vampire,’ they’re saying. ‘If only someone would come save me…’ You better get out there, Xavier, before it’s too late for them.”
He rolled his eyes.
A new sound did reach my ears, but it came from the apartment above. Peter, again. He’d been practicing his poetry, just loudly enough to grate on my nerves.
His voice came through the ceiling. “I think that I shall never see—a vampire lovely as Kelly.”
“The meter is off, you wanker,” I shouted.
Suddenly, Xavier was at my side. I hadn’t even seen him stand. But now he was close, and he smelled good, and my body remembered the way he used to feel against me.
“He’s right, though,” Xavier said, his voice husky. “You are the loveliest.”
“Get out of here,” I said, shoving him back.
“Not until I’ve confirmed your story.”
“Are you calling me a liar?” I asked.
“Of course not,” he said. “But I have protocols to follow or they’ll send another hunter to finish the job.”
Xavier, I could handle. Kind of. Better than the unknown, I supposed.
“You can’t sleep in here,” I said, even though we’d been over this exact subject the night before.
“Then where should I sleep?”
“Out on the sidewalk, for all I care.”
He gave me a wink. “As you wish.”
Yes, I understood the Princess Bride reference. And I told myself I didn’t care.
Heart of stone, Kelly, I reminded myself. You have an undead heart of stone.
I USUALLY SLEPT from two a.m. to ten a.m. One of the benefits of my daylight charm meant that I didn’t have to keep vampire hours. The cats had been quiet last night, although Snowball had made a brief appearance. Thankfully, what they’d lacked in drama had been more than adequately provided by Yelling Man. He’d gone on about demons and possessions, and his angry ranting had soothed me to a blissful slumber.
When I walked past Peter’s room—no, Marla’s room—a strong floral scent reached my nose.
“Hey,” I shouted through the door, “go easy on the air freshener.”
“Okay,” he said.
I frowned at the door and made my way downstairs. I only wanted to check on the building and see where His Lordship King Snugglebumpkins had got to. It had nothing to do with my curiosity over whether Xavier was still there.
He was.
And he’d been sleeping outside the front door, leaning against the glass.
He must’ve heard me approaching, because he stood up in a hurry and waited for me to let him inside.
“I swear, you’re like a stray,” I said.
He rolled his neck and shoulders, which were probably stiff after he’d slept against the side of the building. Forbidden residents were already up and about, and they’d probably taken him for a homeless person. But it was the small wince he made as he stretched that thawed my cold heart of stone.
“You can’t stay out here anymore,” I said.
“No?”
“No. You’re probably scaring off customers. If you must remain in Forbidden and you refuse to get proper lodging, you can stay on the bench in here.”
He flicked a glance at the four-and-a-half-foot-long bench in question. “Looks cozy. Sort of like the pit of despair.”
“Shut up with your Princess Bride references. I don’t like that film anymore.”
“Oh, Kels,” he said. “I can tell when you’re lying, remember?”
It was one of the things I’d hated when we were together. I never felt I had any secrets. Every emotion, every feeling, every damned thing was open for his inspection and analysis.
“You’re frowning,” he said. “I pissed you off again, didn’t I?”
“Argh!” I threw up my hands and turned around, intending to go upstairs. But the path was blocked by bright, colorful flowers. The pile was over five feet tall, and wide enough to prevent anyone from passing. “What is this?”
Xavier held up his hands. “I had nothing to
