“I thoughtafter the mermaid disaster, a banshee would be easy.” He touchedhis ears, recalling the ringing that lasted a whole day. “Wrong.She nearly deafened me with her wailing. I thought she’d burst myeardrums at one point.”
Evie finallylet out her laugh, a tinkling sound that carried in the gentlebreeze. “I know I shouldn’t laugh, Caleb, sorry, but you’ve made mydates sound mild in comparison.”
“I love yourlaugh, Evie.” Where did that come from? He gulped hisbrandy. “Your turn.”
“Remember thegood-looking Fae?”
Yeah, how couldhe forget?
“He turned outto be a vain, sex-crazy loser. He didn’t look up from my chestonce, and then he said I was begging for it because I wore a tightdress.”
“That’sridiculous.”
“I know. I wenton the date hoping to get to know him better, and I certainlydidn’t have sex on my mind.” She looked at the city below andshrugged. “Although… I suppose it would have been a bonus since Ihaven’t seen any action in ages.”
Caleb nearlychoked on his brandy this time. She’d never been so frank about hersex life, or lack of it, apparently.
“But thatdoesn’t mean I’m going to jump into bed with the first guy whoshows me any attention,” she continued. “Been there and got theT-shirt. I mistook love for lust in my past life, but no moremeaningless sex for me. I want something different for my immortallife. I want a connection, someone who sees me for who I really amand not as a quick lay. Do you know what I mean?”
He didn’t, buthe was trying to process her honest confession. He knew she’d had arough upbringing, but she’d never given him much detail on how hardit had been for her or what she’d endured. His heart swelled withpride that she could go through tough times and not end up bitter,twisted and angry. “Not all guys are losers. There are still plentyof good ones in the world.”
“Well, I wishthey would come and find me.”
“I’m sureyou’ll find someone one day. You have an immortal lifetime, afterall.”
Raphael andOphelia’s words came to mind. He cared for Evie a lot, and he washonoured she’d confided in him, but that didn’t mean he’d fallenfor her… did it?
He focused.“What about your other dates? The vampire and the half-dragon?”
“Don’t even getme started on those two catastrophes. I need more brandy.”
Caleb filledher chipped mug halfway. “You have me intrigued. Tell me.”
“The vamp hadmummy issues.”
“He hadwhat?”
“I gotchauffeur-driven to his house, or should I say mansion. He’d laidon this impressive spread of food while he sat there drinking bloodfrom a gold goblet. And then, of all things, his mother joined us.You should have seen it, Caleb. Mummy darling, as he called her,fussed around him and dabbed his mouth with a napkin. I thought shewas going to change his nappy at one point.” She sipped morebrandy.
A hilarious yetdisturbing image of a vampire in a nappy came to mind.
“And thehalf-dragon,” she continued. “He used his flaming breath to burnhis food to a crisp—I suppose he thought it would impress me, butit didn’t. Do you remember that awful chocolate cake I madeonce?”
“You mean theone you cremated?”
“That’s theone. His steak looked worse than that, and then he chewed hisblackened food with his mouth open.”
Caleb threw hishead back and laughed. “You always did hate people who chew withtheir mouths open.” He raised his glass. “I propose we drink toawful dates.”
She tapped hermug against his glass. “To disastrous dates and lucky escapes.”
They drank theamber liquid as they gazed over the city, strikingly silhouettedagainst the gold and orange sky.
After a fewminutes, Caleb spoke. “Do you have any more dates lined up?”
“One more, awarlock. I wasn’t going to bother, but it’s all arranged now. Whatabout you?”
“Same, onemore. You remember the angel from the first time we used the datingagency?”
She nodded.
“I didn’t thinkshe was interested, but she messaged me after the banshee incident,and I thought another angel might be a better match.”
“Good for you.You never know. These two might turn out to be normal.”
“I hopeso.”
“I’ll drink tothat.”
They clinkedtheir mug and glass again.
“One thing Iwanted to ask,” Evie said. “Did you get a gift before eachdate?”
He suppressed asmile, feigning innocence. “What sort of gifts?”
“I got flowersbefore my date with the Fae, then vampire teeth sweets, which mademe laugh, and a cute dragon soft toy arrived before I went out withthe half-dragon. I thought Love Bites sent them, but the deliveryguy knew nothing about an agency, then—”
Caleb grinned.“So you liked them then?”
Her prettymouth made an O shape. “It was you? Why would you send megifts?”
“That’s thekind of guy I am,” he joked. “I thought it might be a bit of fun,that’s all.”
Evie grinnedback at him, a warm, fuzzy feeling in her belly. She never imaginedfor one minute that Caleb had sent the gifts, but she was glad hedid. She nudged his shoulder. “You’re an absolute angel, you knowthat?”
He laughed.“Takes one to know one.”
“You’re verythoughtful, too. Not bad for an old guy.” Evie pecked his cheek,lingering a fraction longer than she should to breathe in hishypnotic scent; fresh air, soap and masculinity. She pulled back.“Thanks.”
If he noticed,he was his usual diplomatic self and didn’t mention it. “Hey, lessof the old, thank you.”
“Morebrandy?”
“Sillyquestion.” He held out his glass while she topped it up.
Before he couldtake a sip, Caleb scrambled backwards, spilling a drop of hisbrandy. He let out what could have passed as a girly scream.
“What’s up?”She pressed her lips together to stop her smile.
“There’s aspider.”
“Where?”
“There.” Hepointed to the metal railing.
She imagined itmust be a huge one by his overreaction, but it wasn’t. She pickedup the fingernail-sized creature. “What, this little thing?”
Caleb backedfurther away. His wings pressed against the brick wall next to herwindow. “It’s not little.”
“Seriously?Caleb Pearce is scared of spiders?” She let the spider crawl overher hand.
He tugged athis shirt collar. His gaze never left the spider. “I’m not scared…it’s, well… they move so fast.”
“It’s nothingto be ashamed of,” she told him, doing her best to keep a straightface. “Lots of people don’t like spiders, but Sidney Spider herewon’t hurt you.”
“You namedit?”
“Yeah, I nameall the creatures I find in my flat. Wait until you meet Dora theDormouse
