“Yes.” He sidled toward the back of the shop, keeping an eye on her.
When he got a few feet from the rear entrance, she felt a tug as if an imaginary rope had been lassoed around her midsection and given a good pull. She let out a yelp as she was yanked toward him.
His eyes widened. “You’re doing that.”
She sighed. “I promise you, I’m not.”
His jaw tightened. “What if you go back into the book and wait for someone else to open it?”
“It’s cute you think I have any control over this.”
“I don’t want this.” Frustration made his words a low growl.
A little heartsick as the reality of her condition set in, she stared at the carpet, her voice nearly a whisper as she said, “Neither do I.”
A moment of silence passed before he spoke again. “No, I suppose you don’t.”
The unexpected sympathy made her look up. His brow was furrowed in what appeared to be sincere concern. She felt for him. Thanks to Cassi, he was as much a victim in this mess as Andi was. More the victim, probably. Well, not more. But equal, for sure. His life had just been upended. And she was at least out of the book now. “I’m sorry you’re stuck with me.”
He shrugged as he walked toward her. “It’s not your fault.”
If he only knew. “Thanks. I don’t want to disrupt your life.”
“I believe that ship has sailed.” He sighed. “To think my love of books has betrayed me in such an underhanded way. But I suppose there’s nothing to be done now but move forward toward a solution.”
She smiled, happy that he seemed to be settling into the idea that she was going to be around for a bit. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m generally considered the life of the party wherever I go.”
His expression became oddly strained. “I do my best to avoid parties.”
“Oh.” So he was an introvert. She could deal with that. “Well, I’ll try to stay out of your way. As best I can.”
“Good.” He frowned. “I didn’t mean that the way it came out.” Then he muttered something she didn’t quite catch. “I am not generally considered the life of the party wherever I go, which is why I rarely go anywhere.”
She leaned on the counter, facing him. “I kind of picked up on that.” Then she shrugged. “It’s okay. We are who we are, right?”
“I suppose so.”
Chimes rang out through the store. She took that to mean the front door had opened. She turned to see who’d come in. No one she knew, obviously, but he was effortlessly handsome in the kind of way men were when they knew how attractive they were. She greeted the man with a smile that was pleasant, but nothing that said she was bowled over by his handsomeness. “Hi there, looking for a book?”
“Andromeda,” Constantin rushed in a harsh whisper. “I’ll handle this.”
But the customer’s face lit up with a bright grin, and he made a beeline for her. “Hello there.” Then he looked at Constantin. “I didn’t know you’d hired more help.” His attention returned to Andi with a slow, inventory-taking gaze. “And such nice-looking help.”
Oh brother. She barely refrained from rolling her eyes at his attempted charm. “Does that mean you are looking for a book? Because this place is loaded with them, so you’re in the right spot.” Not that he struck her as a reader.
He laughed. “No, I’m just here to see my brother.”
Constantin walked up to join her. “Valentino isn’t much of a reader.”
She’d pegged him correctly, then.
But she hadn’t pegged the tension between the two men, which was instantly apparent. Then Andi rethought that. In truth, Constantin was the only one who’d tensed up. His brother seemed oblivious to how he was being received. In fact, he was giving off a vibe that said he pretty much thought everyone loved him.
Maybe that was true of most people, but Constantin wasn’t one of them. Interesting. Andi could relate to sibling issues.
Valentino kept on smiling, although his expression turned a little sardonic. “I read.”
Constantin shot back, “I’m talking about more than financial statements.”
Valentino’s wry expression never faltered. He was unashamed of his literary lacking. “But those are at least interesting.”
Constantin’s mouth hardened into a thin line. “What did you stop by for?”
“To see if you wanted to come by the club tonight. Since Cousin Isabelle’s laryngitis has returned, this was the perfect opportunity to bring in a special guest.” He leaned forward. “A very special guest.”
Constantin sighed like he was bored beyond belief. “Just come out with it.”
Valentino held his silence a moment longer, maybe for dramatic effect. “Miranda Moore is here, and she’ll be singing around eleven.”
Constantin’s expression changed for a microsecond. From bored to tortured, then straight to utter indifference that was clearly a lie. Whoever this Miranda person was, she meant something to him. “Good for her. You could have texted.”
Valentino shook his head. “This felt like one of those messages that needed to be delivered in person.” He winked at Andi. “Plus, I got to meet your lovely new assistant.”
“She’s not my assistant,” Constantin said as he slid over to Andi and put his arm around her. “She’s my girlfriend.”
Chapter Three
Constantin had no idea why the words that had just come out of his mouth had even formed. They were nonsense. What was he doing? Where was his brain? Andromeda wasn’t his girlfriend. She was his burden.
Valentino’s jaw dropped in unreserved surprise, and Constantin knew that was exactly why he’d made the claim.
For once, he’d wanted to shut his brother up. Or in this case, leave him speechless.
And it had worked.
So far. Andromeda had yet to say anything, and with one word, she could make a fool of him with the truth.
Then her arm slipped around Constantin’s waist, and she looked up at him with a smile that said she knew what he was doing and he was about to owe her big-time. He was okay with that.
Her gaze stayed on him a moment longer, then she turned to speak to Valentino. “We were just going to have a nice quiet dinner at home, but we could drop by the club for a bit if you like.”
Constantin shook his head. He didn’t like. Not where Miranda Moore was concerned. “It’s been a long day. I’m not sure I’m up for it.”
Valentino regained his voice with a snort. “We’re vampires, brother. Finding the energy for an evening out is for humans.”
“It’s about the mental energy, not the physical. Crowds drain me.”
Valentino’s brows lifted. “Look, if being around Miranda again intimidates you—”
“No one intimidates me.”
“Then I’ll see you there.” He glanced at Andromeda. “Both of you.” With a little nod, he turned and left, his annoying smile back in place.
As soon as the shop door closed behind him, Constantin took his arm from Andromeda’s shoulders and pinched the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes for a moment. “I shouldn’t have said you were my girlfriend, but thank you for not exposing my lie to my brother.”
He felt her hand on his arm. A gesture of comfort? Sympathy? He was so unused to being touched, he wasn’t sure.
“When it comes to troublesome siblings, I completely understand.”
He looked at her and smiled, a rare thing for a man who found his joy in books and his companion, Chloe. “I suppose you do. Thank you all the same.”
“We’re in this together, right?”
“Right.” Such as it was. He really hadn’t been given a choice. But he understood she could have called him a liar in front of Valentino and hadn’t. He owed her. Whatever that was going to mean. He supposed he ought to stop thinking of her as his burden, too.
She crossed her arms. “Who’s this Miranda Moore person?”
He took a breath. He hadn’t given space to thos
e memories in a long time. Of course, Valentino was to blame. He’d brought the woman up. Hell, he’d probably brought her to town just to aggravate Constantin. “She’s someone from my past.”
“I got that much. Girlfriend?”
“More than that, I’m afraid.” He stared into the shop, seeing none of it. “Fiancée, unfortunately.”
“Did you break it off with her?”
He shook his head, this time grimacing at the scene playing out in his head. “I wish. But no. She left me. The morning of the ceremony.”
Andromeda hissed through her teeth. “Ouch.”
“Yes, indeed. So you can see why I don’t want to go to the club this evening.”
“Are you crazy? That’s exactly why you want to go to the club!”
“It is?”
“Sure.” She planted her hands on her hips as she cocked one to the side and gave him a big, sultry smile. “Besides the fact that your brother practically dared you not to go, you’ve got a girlfriend, remember? Proof you’re not just pining away for your ex. Proof that you’ve gotten on with your life. That you’ve forgotten all about her.”
He gave that a long moment of thought. “It would be nice to show her that she didn’t destroy me.” Although that was another lie.
Andromeda’s hands dropped from her hips. “There’s just one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m not really club-ready at the moment.” She glanced down at herself. “This is literally all I have to my name. I didn’t exactly get to pack a bag before Cassi did her thing. I don’t even have a toothbrush.”
“That can be rectified. Many of the shops along Main Street stay open late to accommodate the supernaturals who prefer evening hours. Just get what you like and tell them to charge it to me.” Whatever she spent, it would be a small price to pay for the comeuppance that Valentino—and Miranda—was about to receive.
“So just go out and shop?”
“Yes. Within reason, of course, but get what you need.”
“Great. Do you want to leave now?”
“I don’t want to leave at—oh. I have to go with you, don’t I?”
She nodded. “Yep. That whole tethered-by-the-curse thing.”
He sighed. “That means I have to close the shop.”
“Sorry.” She laughed weakly. “I seem to be apologizing to you a lot.”
That gave him pause. She wasn’t the first to say that to him. “People do that around me. Why is that, do you think?”
She tilted her head in thought. “I suppose it’s because you seem upset a lot. Apologizing is kind of a natural reaction to that kind of mood. No one wants to be the reason someone else is angry.”
“I’m not angry. Not exactly.”
“But you’re not bubbling over with joie de vivre either. It’s obvious you’re bothered. By me, by the burden I’ve put on you, by your evening being disturbed, by your brother stopping in, by this woman coming to town—”
“Point taken.” He frowned at having his prickliness laid out in front of him so blatantly. “But I already told you I’m not an easy person to be around.”
She didn’t say anything, just watched him. Like she was taking notes.
He tried not to let that bother him, too. “I need to get a few things from my office, then we can go do some shopping. We should have some dinner, too. Then get you settled at the house.”
“Sounds good to me.” She climbed onto the stool behind the counter, crossing one shapely leg over the other.
He started to walk to his office, trying not to think about her in his house. A stranger in his personal space. He shuddered at the thought.
“You should put this somewhere secure. Lock it up, maybe.”
He stopped, looking back to see her holding the book she’d come out of. “Is the store’s safe good enough?”
“I’d think so.”
He retrieved the book and took it with him. Once in his office, he spun the dial to open the wall safe, tucked the book in, and locked it again. He took his wallet and keys from the top drawer of his desk, then locked his office.
He made sure the back door was locked as well, then returned to the counter. She was looking through the latest issue of Fine Books & Collections.
She glanced over the top at him. “You really like books, huh?”
“They’re my life.” The words suddenly had a sad ring to them, something he’d never heard before. “What I mean is, they’re a big part of my life.”
She closed the magazine and slipped out of the chair to stand in front of him. “I get it. You like them better than people. And they are your business. Hey, I love reading, so I think it’s cool.”
He nodded. “Right. Good.” But he wasn’t thinking about books anymore. He was thinking about her. About how close she was. And how nice she smelled.
And the surprising bonus that she was a reader.
She gazed up at him. Her eyes reminded him of the marbled endpapers inside his favorite collection of Longfellow poems—swirls of violet speckled with gold. She smiled. “It’s okay, you know. I bet there are a lot of people who’d prefer a book to me.”
Her words caught him off guard, and he laughed—really laughed, like he hadn’t in a long time.
Her eyes crinkled as her smile grew. “You’re probably going to be one of those.”
He shook his head as he regained his composure. “I don’t think that’s going to be the case.”
Somehow, those words didn’t feel like a lie, or even a pleasantry said just to soothe her feelings.
She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth for a second, like she was waiting on something. “You could kiss me if you want to.”
His breath stuck in his throat. More words he hadn’t expected. He swallowed. “Right. Because of the curse.”
She nodded. “Right.” She put her hand on his chest. “You have to want to, though. You can’t do it just to get it over with.”
“Makes sense.” Her touch ignited dormant feelings in him. Something dark and unexpected. A longing. No. A hunger. But not the kind of hunger he was used to. This came from a place much deeper.
“So…do you?”
“Do I want to kiss you?”
She nodded, her body somehow closer to his than it had been just a second ago.
“Yes, I do.” He pulled her into his arms.
And the shop door opened.
He released her with the quicker-than-a-blink speed only a vampire could manage. When he stopped moving, he was in front of the customer. “Good evening, Mrs. Gallagher. What can I help you with?”
The old woman, a banshee whose brilliant red hair had long gone gray, didn’t come into town often. But when she did, she always stopped at the Gilded Page. She spoke softly, in the perfected whisper her kind used when in town. “What have you got that I might like? I’m bored.”
A bored banshee, no matter how old, was never a good thing. Nala Gallagher wasn’t prone to bouts of wailing, but then, he wouldn’t put it past her if she had too much free time on her hands. “I had a few new philosophy books come in. From an estate lot. Haven’t even had a chance to put them out yet. And there are new selections in almost every area of the store.”
She nodded as she looked around. “I’ll browse, but bring me the philosophy books, too.”
“I’ll have them at the counter for you.”
By the time Mrs. Gallagher was done, she’d put a good dent in his stock and nearly filled two shopping bags. He was happy about that.
But not happy about the interrupted kiss, which was all he’d been able to think about since the woman had come in.
He walked Mrs. Gallagher to the door, wished her a good night, then locked it behind her and flipped the sign to say Closed. For good measure, he turned off the shop’s lights, leaving only the front windows illuminated.
Andromeda had a little half smile on her face as he walked back to the counter. “So about that kiss.”
But Constantin didn’t
use words to reply. Instead, he pulled her into his arms and let his mouth do the talking.
Chapter Four
Andi barely had time to let out a gasp of shock as Constantin pulled her close and covered her mouth with his. She’d expected to be kissed, she just hadn’t expected him to be so…forward about it. In the moment that he’d reached for her, he’d looked like a man possessed.
There was no asking for permission, no double-checking to see if she was ready, just him and her and the soul-scorching heat of the moment. She was surprised he was capable of such action—and such passion.
She was also not one bit mad about his sudden decision to take what he wanted. Not when what he wanted was her.
Every nerve ending in her went electric with the thrill of being in his arms. His kiss was hungry and needy and not at all the kind of sober kiss she’d thought she’d get from him. She fought to maintain her balance against the surge of pleasure rising through her.
At last, she let it take her, leaning against him and forgetting that the kiss was something she was supposed to need to earn her freedom. Forgetting everything, really, while she was pressed against his muscled frame. And for a few very long, indulgent seconds, she was just a woman being kissed by a very desirable man.
Then he ended the kiss and released her, the muscles in his jaw contracting with an emotion she couldn’t quite name. He shook his head. He seemed upset for some reason. “That was more than you required, wasn’t it? My apologies.”
Was he bothered by his loss of control?
“Don’t apologize. That was perfect.” In so many ways. Sweet sparkly starlight. Her whole body felt light and floaty and warmer than it had in a long time. For a man who preferred books, he was really good at kissing.
His brows bent. “It was?”
“Yes. The best kiss I’ve had in…well, a long while.”
He looked skeptical. “You’ve been in that book for nearly a year. I suppose any kiss might seem good.”
The Vampire's Cursed Kiss (Shadowvale Book 2) Page 3