“I think he’sinfatuated with you too, you know?” Dex muttered under his breath. He’d shifted to lean across the wide table separating us. “I can clearly see why.”
My eyes locked with his. He didn’t seem angry like I expected. Instead there was a wolfish grin spreading across his face, the type that was cheesy enough to make my lips form a small one of their own. I wasn’t sure whether I should apologize or thank him for his comment.
“Okay.” It was the only thing I could think to say. Never in my life had I been forced to suffer through a night as awkward as this one had turned out to be.
“Okay? That’s all I get?” He shook his head as though he was offended, but the smirk on his face told me otherwise. “Damn, I’m losin’ my touch.”
“Thank you?” I offered.
“You’re welcome.” He took a swig from his beer, seemingly appeased by my show of manners. “Why don’t we get back to the gettin’ to know you phase of our date?”
I dropped my eyes to the menu in my hands, ready to focus on our date again as well. “All right.”
“I’ll start it up again. Do you live alone?”
“Yeah, I do.” I crossed my legs and attempted to meet his stare, but all I wanted to do was sneak one more glance at Mr. Sexy before I dug myself a hole beneath the table and waited the rest of the night out. “What about you?” I set the menu down and leaned my elbows against the tabletop, forcing myself to stare into Dex’s dark brown eyes. I put up a shield of confidence I wasn’t truly feeling, finally able to tap back into my succubus tendencies.
“Yup. Being in a pack is okay, but a man still needs a sense of privacy sometimes.” He picked at the peeling label of his beer bottle with his thumbnail.
“I can understand that.” I searched the menu once more, trying to decide what I wanted.
Silence built between us, but I could still feel his eyes on me. They were observant, giving me the sensation he was looking through me and seeing each of my emotions as they passed beneath my skin. I didn’t like it. It made me feel vulnerable, exposed in a way I didn’t want to be.
“Your turn to ask a question.”
Our server came then, giving me time to think about what I wanted to ask next.“Hey, I’m Clio,” she introduced herself. As I took her in, I noticed the sage green of her aura—Clio was a witch. This was a nice change of pace from seeing nothing but fairies working so far tonight. “Are the two of you ready to order?”
Dex motioned to me. “Ready?”
“Yeah.” I glanced at my menu again. “I’ll take the baked ziti, hold the garlic bread, and a side salad with balsamic vinaigrette, please.”
“Okay.” I watched her as she jotted my order down, and then shifted to glance at Dex. “And for you?”
“I’ll take the rib eye, medium. Thank you.” He took my menu and stacked it on his before handing them both to her.
“I’ll have this out to you in just a bit.” Clio flashed us a contagious smile before she strutted away.
I tried to fight it, but the second my eyes left her smiling face, they drifted to the vampire couple sitting at the center table. The woman, who should feel lucky to be in his company, seemed angry with him. I watched her as she leaned over the table, jabbing her index finger at him while she spoke. I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but I wished I could. Curiosity was getting the better of me when it came to this guy tonight.
Dex inhaled sharply, and I shifted my attention to him thinking he was about to say something smart-ass, but he didn’t. In fact, what he said surprised me.
“Looks as though your infatuation for the night is gettin’ dumped.”
“First, he’s not my infatuation.” I rolled my eyes, trying to look as dismissive about his assumption as possible, but it did me no good. He’d caught me, and it was clear he was going to gloat about it. “And second, how would you know anyway?”
Dex flashed me a shit-eating grin and tapped his left ear. “Werewolf hearin’.”
“Right.” I wanted to ask him what they were saying, but knew I shouldn’t. Instead, I wracked my brain for a question to toss his way that would steer us back to where we had left off before our server came. “So, back to getting to know you—name something you like.”
A sudden outburst erupted from the couple’s table. I watched as the redhead stood. Her hands were pressed against the table, and I was sure she was giving him a murderous glare to go with whatever she was saying in a hiss of words.
Dex chuckled under his breath, and the desire to know what was being said got the best of me. “What? What’s she saying to him?” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.
“She’s dumpin’ him, like I said.”
It was like something from a TV show. Never in my life had I witnessed a public breakup. While she was still standing, ranting about something or another, he was sipping from a glass of wine as though she wasn’t even talking to him. How could he be so calm? I would be mortified!
“Okay, look.” Dex’s tone startled me, forcing my eyes back to him. A serious expression swept over his face, and I wondered if I was about to get dumped as well. It would seem fitting with the craptastic theme of the night. “I think you’re beautiful, but this isn’t goin’ to work between the two of us, sweetheart.”
Even though I knew there was a chance those words might be coming, I still felt my heart deflate. Generally, I tossed out the rejections, not the other way around. While I understood why Dex was discarding me tonight, it still stung.
“I think it’s obvious we’d be better as friends, because I’m not gettin’ the she-thinks-I’m-sexy vibes from you.” His lips twisted into a smile showcasing his dimples once more.
I laughed. Thank God for his humor. It made this all less awkward.
He leaned on his elbows against the table. “See, and that’s exactly what I’m talkin’ about right there. A woman who thought I was sexy generally wouldn’t laugh at that. She’d lower her voice and say, ‘Oh, honey, I think you’re sexy as hell.’” He wiggled his brows up and down in a suggestive manner.
I laughed even harder. “I’m sorry. It’s not that I don’t find you attractive, because I do, it’s just that…” I trailed off, struggling to contain myself while figuring out a nice way to reiterate what he’d said about the friend thing.
“We’d be better as friends, I know. That’s what I just said.” He smirked. “But remember, anytime you think you might wanna blur that line, I’m game.” He winked.
“Oh, wow.” I cleared my throat.
“I mean it.” He took another swig of his beer.
My brows lifted to my hairline, and a smile curved my lips. “I got ya.”
Our server came then with our food, putting the weird moment we were trapped in on pause. I released a breath and allowed myself a second to decompress. Dex was intense. The second our waitress walked away, I could feel his eyes boring into me again. His stare made the fine hairs along the back of my neck stand on end. When I finally decided enough was enough and looked up, I realized he hadn’t been staring at me at all. In fact, he was focused on cutting his steak into thin strips.
I smoothed along my brow with my fingertip. Who was staring at me then? A crazy sensation of hot shivers slipped along my skin. I glanced around, searching for the source. All the breath left my lungs when I realized it was the gorgeous vampire guy staring at me in an unabashed way.
“Uh-oh.” Dex set his knife and fork down. The clank across his plate, along with his words, startled me, causing my eyes to snap to him. “You’re bein’ mentioned again.”
“Me? Why?” I picked up my fork and stabbed at a piece of cucumber, pretending to be unfazed by his words and hoping I hadn’t been caught staring again.
“The vamp you’ve got the hots for over there.” Dex nodded in the couple’s direction. My fork paused midway to my lips. Could he be any blunter? “They were makin’ up, or at least the girl was kissin’ ass for a while.” He smirked as though whatever she said then was amusi
ng. “Now she’s pissed again and she’s mentionin’ you.”
My heart pounded in my throat. What could she possibly have to say about me? “Are you sure?”
“Positive. She described you as the succubus with the fuck-me heels and the let-me-seduce-you eyes.”
I pressed my lips into a thin line. Hmm, I guess those could be general ways to describe me tonight. I was wearing my sexiest pair of heels, but the eyes? I didn’t think I was asking to seduce anyone with them. I spent the majority of the night either embarrassed as hell or annoyed; nothing about that screamed seduction to me.
“She’s zeroin’ in on how he’s been starin’ at you all night.” Dex picked his fork and knife up.
I fought to keep my gaze trained on him instead of glancing at the couple. “He hasn’t been staring at me all night.” I muttered.
Dex crammed a thinly sliced piece of steak into his mouth. “Maybe not all night, but he can’t deny that he’s scoped you out a few times, sweetheart.”
I dropped my eyes to my plate and moved the contents around with my fork as my heart drummed in my chest. “Maybe that’s because I walked in on him peeing earlier.”
“Do what?” He coughed as though he were choking and reached for his beer. It was clear the cough had been the beginnings of a laugh before the chunk of meat he’d been eating had gotten in the way.
“I accidently walked into the men’s room earlier and saw him peeing,” I admitted. Maybe I should have opted to have that other drink.
“So, you got a look at his junk, and decided that’s what you wanted tonight? If that’s all it takes to get your attention, I can flop it out right here for you to judge.” He grinned.
“Oh my God.” I chuckled and wiped at my forehead to hide my face. This guy was a riot. “No, that’s not what I meant. I didn’t see his thing. I just saw his back, but it was clear what he was doing.”
“His thing? What are you, five? Can’t you say the word penis, sweetheart?” He stabbed at another slice of steak, his grin widening.
I rolled my eyes. “Of course I can. That’s beside the point though. All I’m saying is that’s probably why he was looking at me so much. He remembered me being the stupid girl who walked into the men’s room earlier.”
“Well, I doubt that, but if that’s what you’ve got to tell yourself, then sure, whatever.” He shook his head and a rough chuckle fell past his lips. “He just dumped her, and now she’s pissed.”
I glanced in their direction in time to see her storm away in a blaze of fire. My eyes drifted back to the table where the guy was sitting. He was seemingly unaffected by what had happened. I watched as he picked up his glass of wine and took a tentative sip, before setting it down again and digging out his wallet. His movements were composed and defined. Why was he so calm? Hadn’t he been the one getting dumped a second ago? When did their conversation turn around?
“I thought you said he was the one getting dumped.” Why it mattered, I wasn’t sure.It just did. I needed clarification on the situation.
“I did, because he was. Looked like they were gonna make up too, but then she caught him starin’ at you again. I’m guessin’ she’s the jealous type.”
I couldn’t speak. I wasn’t naive in thinking I hadn’t been the cause of breakups before—it was something that came with the succubus territory, no matter how hard I tried to avoid it—but I had never witnessed one firsthand and especially not from a supernatural couple. I wasn’t positive, but I didn’t think I had any pull when it came to supernatural men, at least not the way I did with humans. That was part of the reason Sage had offered to set me up with someone, and I’d agreed. Maybe it had been a promise for a false sense of normalcy, but at this point in my life I would take what I could get.
“So.” Dex popped a fry in his mouth. “You want to know the lowdown on old classy over there?” He nodded in the direction of the couple’s empty table, and then started dishing out details before I could give him an answer. “His name is Randal Vincent, and that lovely redhead you saw him with has been his on-again, off-again girlfriend for nearly half a century.”
My jaw dropped. Nearly half a century? How old was the guy?
“You’re joking, right?” I took a sip of my water, and then smirked, because he had to be joking.
I knew vampires were immortal, but for this guy to have been the inspiration for Dracula, he would have to be nearly half a millennium old. It was hard for me to imagine someone being around for that long, even with everything I knew about the supernatural world now.
“Nope. I’m as serious as a heart attack, darlin’.” He took another long swig of his beer.“Have you ever heard of Dracula?”
“Yeah.” I dragged the word out, skeptical about where this conversation was going.
“Well, you just saw who he was inspired by.”
I searched his face for any sign he was joking, but either I wasn’t as good as I thought I was at reading people, or else he was dead serious. My heart dropped to my toes. Was it possible I had been in the same room as the legendary Dracula tonight? Dex didn’t strike me as the type to lie; in fact, he seemed to be bold and straightforward. My hand smoothed along my forehead as I processed what I’d just been told. Dear God, this had been a night.
* * * *
After finishing our meals and paying, Dex and I walked to the parking lot. The night air was chilly, but I enjoyed the feel of it against my skin. Normally I wasn’t a spring season lover, I preferred summer, but after the amount of time my face had been flushed with embarrassment tonight the cool was a welcomed sensation.
“So, I know tonight probably didn’t go the way you anticipated—or maybe it did, I wouldn’t know—but I’d really like it if we could hang out sometime.” Dex dug around in his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. “Can I have your number?”
“Sure. I had a good time.” I typed my number into his phone and then called my own. “And tonight was nice, considering everything that happened.” Of course the night hadn’t turned out the way I would have liked, but I’d met someone who I was sure would be a hilarious friend to have around.
“Good, me too.” He smiled, flashing me his charming dimples, and I wondered what the hell was wrong with me?
Dex had all the staples going for him that most women wanted in a man. He was funny, he could cook, and he had a car and a place of his own. Why couldn’t I have hit it off with him? Visions of Randal looking all sophisticated and composed in his suit and tie with his clean-cut hair and shiny black shoes flickered through my mind. He had been why.
I’d been blindsided by my lust for Dracula and hadn’t even given Dex a fair shot.
“Maybe next time we can invite Sage out with us? We should all go for drinks someplace or something,” I offered.
“Sure.” An odd look flickered across his face, and a slight twist to his lipscaught me off guard. “Sounds good to me.”
“What?” I smoothed a hand over my face, thinking I had something on it. “Why are you looking at me like that?” My tongue ran over my teeth, searching for any lettuce that might be stuck there from my salad.
“Nothin’, it’s just I can’t believe I went out with a succubus tonight and didn’t score.”
I laughed and shook my head. “Wow, I think it’s going to take me a while to get used to your bold way with words.”
“You will though. Don’t worry.” Dex winked as he walked backward toward wherever he had parked. “See you later, sweetheart.”
I smiled wide. “Later.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Sunlight streaming through my bedroom windows woke me the next morning. The familiar tightness in my limbs and the dull ache in the back of my throat let me know today was not going to be a good day. I flung my blankets off, and then snatched my robe from on the bedpost, unbelieving it was that time already.
Feeding every three days was not something I enjoyed.
Padding down the hallway, I headed toward the kitchen, ready for a warm cup of tea
. My mind flipped through potential places I could meet the type of guy I wanted. For a moment, I found myself wondering how most succubi went about their feedings. In the time I had knowingly been a part of this team, I’d created a specific process for myself.
The moment I felt the first trickles of sickness making their way through my body,I instantly went on the hunt. It was something I’d learned early on the hard way.
Finding someone proved to be a difficult and lengthy process at times, considering there were only certain guys I chose to feed from. Being picky was the single best advice my mother had given me at the time of my awakening. Of course when she mentioned it she’d meant I should pay attention to the aura colors, not the guy in particular, because some could cause adverse reactions. I followed her advice each time, but also took it a step further and became selective with the type of guy I fed from as well.
I enjoyed going after the guys who were on the nerdy side and had yellow as their base aura color. It tasted of lemons and always seemed to leave me feeling alive, healthy, and happy. Orange was a second favorite of mine, as long as it was truly orange and not red/orange. There was a huge difference between the two, as with any color variation, when it came to their meanings. I spun the ring on my left hand around. It was something I tended to do when I thought about her because the ring had been what led her to me on the night of my awakening. There was some sort of connection between it and her, one that a part of me hoped was still intact. It was the main reason I still wore the thing.
After I made myself tea, I migrated to my couch, grabbing my laptop off my end table along the way. Feeding could wait, at least for a little while. I checked my email on my cell while my laptop booted up. Fifteen unread emails glared back at me. I scanned the subject lines: Price Quote, Any Pre-mades, Cover Question. I clicked on the first email. It was a request to purchase a pre-made I’d created months ago. A smile twisted at my lips. Designs by Kenna might actually become a thing by the end of the year.Excitement slipped through me at the thought.
After reading through each email, I created a list of which ones were for pre-mades I had already completed and which were for brand new works. Leaning back, I stared at the notepad balancing on the armrest of my couch. There were nine customs and six pre-mades waiting to be sold! After taking a small sip from my tea, I set it down on the end table and decided to get down to business emailing those who wanted pre-mades first.
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