Blood Feud

by Heather MacKinnon

She tipped her nose in the air. “Not nearly enough.”

  We both broke into peals of laughter that did a lot to calm my nerves. Despite how confident I was acting, I really was nervous to come home.

  Last night, when I’d arrived to find my apartment broken into, the first call I’d made was to Allie. And as I drove to her apartment across town, I made my second call to Alexander Hausle.

  I told him everything that happened the other day when I was at his apartment, and predictably, he’d been furious. He’d promised to take care of the situation, and I’d felt the instant relief of having this problem taken off my shoulders.

  He’d tried to argue with me when I told him I was coming back home, but nothing would sway me. I’d been living in this apartment for over eighty years, and I wasn’t leaving now.

  The elevator doors opened onto my floor, and I immediately caught sight of a man in a charcoal gray suit and knew it was my bodyguard.

  “Think he’ll be as hot as Kevin Costner?” Allie whispered to me.

  I suppressed a giggle as I elbowed her again. “Can you behave, please?”

  I must not have been as quiet as I thought, because the man turned to look at us. And when he did, I stopped dead in my tracks.

  It was Ashton.

  He was my bodyguard.

  “Millie?” Allie asked, but I couldn’t focus on her.

  My eyes were trained on Ashton and the little grin that twitched at the corner of his lips. Lips I could still vividly remember the taste of.

  “It’s Ashton,” I murmured low enough that only she could hear.

  “What’s Ashton?” she asked, but I didn’t have time to answer.

  “Millie,” he said as he stopped in front of me, close enough for the smell of his cologne to mess with my head.

  “Hi, Ashton,” I said, my voice weaker than I wanted it to be.

  “Ashton?!” Allie practically yelled.

  I elbowed her again, harder this time, and she let out a whoosh of air. Ashton’s eyes darted between us, probably trying to understand what he was missing. But I wasn’t going to let that happen.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked stupidly.

  His gaze finally settled on me. “Hausle hired me to watch you during the day.”

  Since I’d already figured that out, the only thing I had to say was, “Oh.”

  His eyes were busy as they raced across my face and down my body. I tried to stand still under his quick perusal, but that was almost impossible when his blue-gray gaze burned across my skin.

  A sharp blow to my ribs knocked me forward a step, and I turned to glare at Allie. She motioned between her and Ashton, and I felt my cheeks warm with a blush.

  “Oh. Uh. Ashton, this is Allie.”

  He continued to stare at me for another long moment before finally looking at her. “Nice to meet you, Allie,” he said as he held his hand out to her.

  She took it with a giant, trouble-making smile on her face. “It’s so nice to meet you, Ashton.”

  She was so lucky she was out of range of my elbows.

  He pulled his hand away from hers and looked at me again. “We should get inside.”

  I didn’t know why I’d been expecting him to say something else, but I had. Wasn’t there some kind of protocol for running into your one-night stand again?

  Something like you’re looking good. Or even nice to see you again.

  Instead, all I got was we should get inside.

  Okay.

  That’s fine.

  He probably didn’t want to get personal with Allie standing right there.

  No big deal.

  Ashton motioned for us to precede him into my apartment and then locked it up behind us. I stood in my front entrance, watching him work and appreciating the way his muscles shifted under his dress shirt. I was so wrapped up, that when he finally looked over at me, I got caught staring.

  My eyes darted away from him as I cleared my throat. I had no plans for what to say next though, so I was grateful when Allie spoke up.

  “I think I’ll head to the bedroom now.”

  My heart thundered in my chest as I watched her slowly back away from us. Knowing we were about to be alone again for the first time since that night made my hands shake and my stomach riot with butterflies.

  But that was all dashed the moment Ashton opened his mouth.

  “There’s only a few minutes until sunrise. You should probably both head in.”

  I frowned in his direction, but he wasn’t looking at me. He looked unconcerned. Detached. Like he didn’t even know me.

  I turned around and followed Allie back to my secured bedroom, my head in snarls. I kept trying to convince myself that he was just being professional in front of Allie, but the more I repeated those words in my head, the less I believed them.

  Chapter 7

  Millie

  “I think you should ask him out.”

  My eyes opened before Allie’s, but her mouth opened before mine.

  I rolled away from her. “No.”

  “Yes.”

  “No.”

  She sighed and rolled me back over to face her. “Why the heck not?”

  I pulled my pillow over my face, letting the down muffle my words. “I’ve never done something like that before.”

  She yanked it out of my hands and tossed it over her shoulder. “No time like the present!”

  I narrowed my eyes at her. “Why are you pushing this so hard?”

  She sighed and laid down next to me in bed. “Things seem different with this guy. For whatever reason, you let him in almost immediately. I’ve never seen you do that before. Why not see where it goes? He’s right there.”

  I sighed and squeezed my eyes closed, my stomach already cramping painfully. “What if he says no?” I whispered.

  She elbowed me in the ribs. “Didn’t he already ask you out?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And even though you told him no, didn’t he keep asking?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So, all you’re really doing is saying yes to the date he’s already asked you on.”

  I paused as I let those words sink in. To be honest, they were making more sense than I wanted them to.

  Sure, I’d never asked a guy out before, but Allie was right. He’d technically asked me out already. All I’d be doing is telling him I changed my mind. That wouldn’t be so hard, right?

  Allie sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed. “I can tell you’re thinking about it now, so my work here is done.”

  I jolted upright. “Where are you going?”

  “Home.”

  I shook my head as I followed her off the bed. “Why don’t you just stay until after I talk to him? That way if he says no, you’ll be here to console me.”

  She snorted. “First of all, he’s not going to say no. And second of all, if you asking him out leads to hanky panky, I don’t want to cramp your style. And I definitely don’t want to stick around for it.”

  My cheeks heated as I watched her put on her shoes and grab her bag. “We’re not having sex. I’m just asking him out.”

  Why did only one of those two things make me anxious?

  She ignored me and kept heading toward the door.

  “Allie,” I whined.

  She shook her head, a ghost of a smile on her face. “Nope. You need to do this on your own.”

  I stuck out my bottom lip in a pout that I knew wouldn’t get me anywhere.

  Allie spun back around to face me, her eyes lit up. “But before I go, I can help you pick out what to wear.”

  My stomach fell as I realized I’d have to actually care about my clothes. I usually dressed for comfort, but the first time he’d seen me, I’d dressed to dispose of a body and those coveralls had done nothing for my figure.

  Now I had the opportunity to actually try to get his attention, and the excitement was flirting with the worry inside me.

  Allie took off for my walk-in closet and I hurried to follow
her. “You don’t want to seem like you’re trying too hard, but there’s no harm in showing off what you’ve got,” she mused as she rifled through my clothes. Finally, she snagged a pair of jeans off a hanger. “Here. These make your ass look phenomenal.”

  I took them from her. “Never knew you noticed.”

  Allie gave me a wink. “How could I not?” She turned back around and grabbed a lacy tank next. “Wear this too. It shows enough boob to get his attention, but not enough to look like you’re trying to get his attention.”

  I frowned at the shirt. “This says all that?”

  Allie nodded. “Trust me.” She bent down to grab a pair of knee-high leather boots and thrust them into my arms. “Pair that with these, and you’ve got this in the bag.”

  I took the shoes from her and followed as she left my closet. Allie stopped in the middle of my room and turned to face me again. “Okay, I think that’s all I can do. The rest is up to you.”

  I unloaded the clothes from my arms onto the bed and turned to her. “I still don’t know if I can do this.”

  Allie pursed her lips as she shook her head. “Millie, you’re a bombshell, okay? And this guy’s already gotten a taste of the goods. There’s no way he’s saying no.”

  I nodded once as I let her words repeat through my head, filling me with a confidence I hadn’t possessed before. “Okay.”

  She stood there watching me for a long minute before sighing and crossing the room toward me again. “Listen, I know this is scary. But it’s not as scary as the shit you’ve already been through in your life.”

  My thoughts instantly went dark as I remembered exactly how scary my life had been in the past.

  “But this isn’t like that. This is fun. Easy. All you have to do is ask him to go somewhere. Or hell, ask him to stay and watch a movie with you. It doesn’t really matter what you do as long as you ask him.”

  “But what if he says no?” I asked the one question I couldn’t stop thinking.

  Allie reached out to grasp my arms, her expression serious. “You’ve been through way worse and survived. You can handle some one-night stand turning you down for a date.”

  When she put it that way, it seemed almost silly to worry so much about it. So what if he did say no? It wasn’t the end of the world. It didn’t have the power to break me.

  Nothing did.

  She started walking backward as she slung her purse over her shoulder. “You can call me if you need me, but you won’t need me.”

  I nodded again. “Okay. I’ll let you know what happens.”

  She stopped walking. “No. You’ll let me know when your date is. Failure is not an option.”

  I blew out a deep breath. “Okay,” I said again. “I’m going to take a shower first.”

  She nodded. “Good idea. You definitely want your vajayjay clean if you’re getting some later.”

  I laughed as I pointed to the door. “Okay, now I’ve had enough of you.”

  She blew me a kiss. “Love you too,” she said as she flounced to my door and slipped through.

  I stood silent in my room for a moment before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “I can do this,” I said to myself with a nod.

  I cleared my head and just got on with it. I had a shift at the hospital later, so I needed to shower anyway. I’d just go about my normal routine like I wasn’t planning to ask out my first guy ever.

  I flipped through the music on my phone and picked a pop playlist to listen to. I needed something upbeat and happy today. The music blasted through my speakers as I stripped down and headed into the bathroom.

  The shower took longer than I expected because I kept finding new things to do. Cleaning, shaving, exfoliating, masking. I did it all. And when I finally had nothing left to do in there, I turned the water off and stepped out.

  I was still dawdling as I got dressed and towel-dried my long, red hair. It wasn’t until I zipped up my last boot that the dread started to fill my system.

  “He’s already asked you out, Millie,” I reminded myself. “You’re just accepting that offer now.”

  I tossed my towel on the floor and marched toward the bedroom door. If I didn’t leave right away, I was going to lose my nerve, and I’d never hear the end of it from Allie.

  I burst into the hallway and stopped dead in my tracks.

  Why did my apartment smell so funny?

  I followed the scent down the hall, my heels clacking noisily on the hardwood floor. When I made it to the kitchen, I found Ashton with his back to me, his suit jacket gone and his broad shoulders on display beneath his pressed shirt.

  “I’m just packing up my leftovers. I’ll be out of your hair in a few,” he called.

  I pulled out a barstool and took a seat. “No rush.” I watched for a minute as he scraped some food off a plate and into a small plastic container. Now at least I knew what the smell was. “I didn’t even know I had plates.”

  Ashton turned to me and smiled, the sight sending the butterflies in my stomach flapping. “I had to dig to find this. And I had to cook my dinner in the microwave because you have no pots or pans.”

  I winced and shrugged. “Sorry. I don’t cook.”

  His smile was easy before he turned back to what he was doing. “Of course you don’t. I should have realized and brought some stuff from home.”

  I rested my chin in my hand as I watched him. “Do you cook a lot?”

  He nodded. “As often as possible.”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever met a man who cooked.”

  He shrugged, his back still to me. “I like to eat, so it only made sense that I learn how to cook.”

  I breathed in the multitude of scents again. “What did you make?”

  He set the plate he’d been using in the dishwasher and turned to me. “It’s just garlic chicken and broccoli. Nothing special.”

  “It smells… potent.”

  He laughed as he snapped the plastic container closed. “That’s the garlic.” His smile fell as he glanced up at me. “Aren’t vampires supposed to be allergic to garlic?”

  I smiled wide as I shook my head. “That’s a myth. The only thing we’re allergic to is silver.”

  I bit my lip as I let that piece of information slip. It wasn’t something we advertised to humans. Which made sense. Why would you tell someone who wasn’t supposed to know you exist what your greatest weakness was?

  But I trusted Ashton with this. I didn’t know why, but I did.

  “Silver, huh?”

  “Yeah, only gold jewelry for me.”

  He smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  My stupid heart jumped at his words, and I was just glad he couldn’t hear it.

  He tossed his plastic container of food into a shopping bag and grabbed the handles. “Well, today was uneventful, thankfully. You did have maintenance knock on the door earlier. They wanted to change the batteries in your smoke detectors, and I told them to come back later.”

  I slid off the chair and followed Ashton as he left the kitchen. “I’ll give them a call.”

  He grabbed his suit jacket off the couch and turned to me. “I left my number on the counter if you need me. I’ll be back before the sun rises tomorrow morning.”

  He turned to leave, and I felt my opportunity slipping through my fingers. It was now or never, and I couldn’t live with never.

  “Hey, Ashton, hold on a second.”

  I hurried to his side, not missing the way his eyes darted up and down my body, resting longer on my exposed chest. “What’s up?” he asked, his gaze fixed on mine.

  I stared up into his eyes for as long as I could before I looked down at my fidgeting hands.

  Just ask him.

  Just ask him.

  Just ask him.

  “Oh. Um. You don’t need to leave so soon.”

  Silence descended around us. I swear, even my clocks stopped ticking as I waited for what he’d say next. Finally, when I couldn’t stand it anymore, I looked up
into his blue-gray gaze. It was twisting with turmoil and I wondered why.

  “What are you saying?” he asked, his voice low.

  I dug the toe of my boot into the rug beneath my foot as I weighed my words. “I just thought you could stick around a little while and we could do something. If you want,” I hurried to add.

  “I… don’t think that’s a good idea,” he said slowly.

  He’s saying no.

  Oh my God, he’s actually saying no.

  “Oh,” was all I could say. But he hadn’t said no, had he? Maybe that was because I hadn’t actually asked him anything. I dragged in a deep breath before looking up at him again. “Do you have other plans?”

  His eyes were wary as he shook his head. “No. I don’t.”

  “Oh,” I said again. “Well, do you want to go out somewhere? We could go do something before I have to be at work.”

  “Millie,” he said, his voice strangled. “I can’t do that.”

  I frowned. “Can’t?”

  He shook his head.

  “Why?”

  “I can’t date clients.”

  “Is that a rule at the agency you work with?”

  “No. This assignment isn’t through the agency. This is my own rule.”

  “But I’m not your client. I didn’t hire you, Parliament did.”

  He nodded slowly. “But you’re the subject of my assignment. To date you would be unethical.”

  I didn’t know why, but instead of this hurting my feelings, it just riled me up. What he was saying wasn’t making sense, and that irritated me.

  “But you’re off duty now,” I argued. “How would that be unethical?”

  He grit his teeth and turned away. “It just would.”

  I tilted my head to the side as I crossed my arms over my chest. “Are you just turning me down because I turned you down?”

  His lips twitched with a smile. “No. I’m not.”

  I let my arms fall to my sides. “Then what the hell? You asked me out a week ago and now suddenly you can’t date me?”

  “A week ago, you weren’t my client.”

  “So, what if I had said yes back then? We’d be in this same predicament. Would you have stopped dating me then?”

  His eyes were bright silver as he stared at me. “No. I would have chosen dating you over taking this assignment.”