by Juliet Lyons
Laura nods, some of the tension leaking out of her shoulders. “And the guy who rescued you was a vampire too?”
“Yeah.” I pause, remembering his strong arms around my waist. “He was totally hot.”
Laura’s dour face brightens. “Really? What was his name? Did you see a wedding ring?”
This is one of the things I love most about Laura. She sits through a dramatic account of my near-death experience on a date and still believes there’s a chance I might get a boyfriend out of it.
“Inspector Ferrer,” I say, biting off a chunk of cookie. “I can’t say I was really in the frame of mind to be looking out for a wedding ring though. He just sort of fell from the sky.”
“When you say hot, how hot?”
“Super hot. You know that guy on the billboard as you drive along the M40? The one frolicking in the surf? That hot.”
Laura’s jaw drops. “Jesus.”
We don’t speak for a few seconds, silent in our worship of the billboard hottie.
“He was nice too. He loaned me his jacket. Too bad I’ll never see him again.”
Laura frowns. “Why won’t you see him again? Don’t they want to question you some more?”
I glance down at my wristwatch, vaguely aware I was supposed to be there half an hour ago. Sometime during my sleepless night, I decided wild horses wouldn’t be enough to drag me to Scotland Yard today.
“I’ve already told them everything,” I say, taking a sip of tea. “I just want to put the whole sorry mess behind me.”
“But what if they catch him?” Laura says, her blue eyes wide. “You would have to do one of those lineup things like they have on CSI. Then afterward, Inspector Hot Guy would ask you for coffee. He’d say something like”—she adopts a deeper voice—“‘In a way, I should thank that psycho for bringing you into my life.’”
Despite my weariness, I chuckle. “Didn’t we make a pact to quit pretending life is like the movies?”
“Yeah, we did,” she says, a pink glow appearing in her cheeks. “Until I met Tom.”
I narrow my eyes, pretending to scowl. “Yeah, thanks again for leaving me alone on Bitter Island.”
Up until a few years ago, Laura had been in the exact same situation as me—building an impressive collection of douche bag ex-boyfriends and wondering if there was such a thing as happy ever after. Then the stars aligned. She met her now-husband, Tom, and experienced one of those miraculous moments when both timing and attraction come together in perfect harmony, the holy grail of dating.
Of course, I wasn’t the least bit jealous.
Well, okay, maybe a tiny bit.
“I reckon something good will happen for you soon, Mila. Your days on Bitter Island are numbered,” she says, gazing dreamily out the window at her gardenias. She opens her mouth to add something but then thinks better of it, pursing her lips shut instead.
I wave an accusing finger in her face. “Were you about to say what I think you were about to say?”
She shakes her head vigorously before breaking into a devious smile. “It’ll happen when you least expect it.”
I snatch up a tea towel dangling from the back of a chair and fling it at her. If there’s one thing that drives me mental, it’s hearing that phrase.
“But actually,” Laura says, picking up the cloth and refolding it, “maybe it’s true this time. I bet you weren’t expecting to meet the gorgeous inspector in that alleyway.”
“No, Laura. At that point, I was more focused on the hands about to break my neck than meeting the love of my life.”
“Exactly. So, this could be it.”
“With a vampire?” I ask incredulously. “Even if he swept in that door right now with a diamond engagement ring, it’s completely pointless. There’s no future in dating a man forever trapped in youth. I mean, it’s tough enough trying to keep a regular man faithful for a lifetime. Think what life would be like with some model sort who remains eternally young. Look at Demi Moore.”
She frowns. “So why were you using that site in the first place if you didn’t want to seriously meet someone?”
I shrug, running a finger around the edge of my mug. “Because it interested me, that’s all. I wanted to meet one. After Josh and that whole ‘Oh, by the way, I’m still married to someone and we have two kids together’ fiasco, I felt like dipping a toe in foreign waters. See what the other species are like. Now my curiosity is sated. The end.”
Laura throws me a smug grin and raises a dark brow. “We’ll see about that.”
Order Juliet Lyons’s next book
in the Undead Dating Service series
Romancing the Undead
On sale October 2017
Acknowledgments
First, I would like to thank my son, James, who keeps me going with his wise words and encouragement and who is the driving force behind everything I do. Also, thank you to my good friends Maeve, Maria, Mim, Liz, Lucinda, Ellen, and Claire B. for the friendship and laughter we’ve shared over the years. It’s thanks to our adventures—holidays, university, flat shares, living abroad, and general debauchery—that I have an endless supply of material for my stories.
Thank you to my wonderful editor, Cat Clyne, who plucked me from Wattpad in late 2015 and made all my dreams come true. And finally, to my Wattpad friends Joanne Weaver, Sally Mason, Leila Adams, RK Close, May Freighter, and CJ Laurence, who are always on hand to lift my spirits at the end of a hard day’s writing and whose advice and support means so much.
About the Author
Juliet Lyons is a paranormal romance author from the UK. She holds a degree in Spanish and Latin American studies and works part-time in a local primary school, where she spends far too much time discussing Harry Potter. Since joining global storytelling site Wattpad in 2014, her work has received millions of hits online and gained a legion of fans from all over the world. When she is not writing or working, Juliet enjoys reading and spending time with her family. Visit her online at www.julietlyons.co.uk.
ROMANCING THE UNDEAD
Brooding London vampires meet Bridget Jones-esque snark in Juliet Lyons’s second Undead Dating Service novel
Mila Hart’s first experience with the vampire dating site V-Date.com is a complete disaster—her date is wanted for murder! But things turn around when she’s rescued by dashing vampire cop Vincent Ferrer. Dangerous and devastatingly attractive, he’s just the undead hottie Mila was hoping for.
Haunted by his past, Vincent can’t risk falling in love again—even if Mila charms him more than anyone he’s ever met. But when the killer from Mila’s date seeks her out, Vincent is the only one who can protect her. Protecting his heart is a different story…
“Snarky, sexy, and steamy as a sauna.”
—Katie MacAlister, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author for Dating the Undead
For more Juliet Lyons, visit:
www.sourcebooks.com
Thank you for reading!
At Sourcebooks we are always working on something new and exciting, and we don’t want you to miss out.
So sign up now to receive exclusive offers, bonus content, and always be the first to get the scoop on what’s new!
SIGN UP NOW!