“Sounds good. Is that within walking distance, too?”
“Anything is walkable, but in this case, we’ll go back and get the car.”
“Okay.”
They walked in silence for a while, which Andi was fine with. Gave her a chance to take in the town. It was pretty. Lots of big trees draped in Spanish moss and the mist that settled over everything gave the place the cozy feel of a small European village.
Sort of.
“Where am I, exactly?”
“Shadowvale.”
“Right. But where is that?”
“In the Carolinas. In the United States.” He shot her a look. “Where did you say you came from?”
“Paris. My sister works there, so we’ve been there for a few years. We were in Rome before that. And Edinburgh prior to that.”
“I see. You move a lot, then.”
It wasn’t a question, but she answered it anyway. “A fair amount. Wherever her job takes her. She’s an event planner and really good at it. Like, big-league good.”
“And you live with her?”
“No, not with her. But near her. I like to travel, so it works out.”
“Do you think you’ll ever settle down in one place?”
“Maybe someday. If I find the right place. The right guy.” She gave him a little half smile, but he was staring at the sidewalk ahead, looking rather glum.
She couldn’t figure him out. “What about you? Do you like to travel?”
“I have. Not so much anymore. It’s hard for a vampire. Takes more planning.”
“Oh, right. The whole sun thing.”
“Which is why so many of us live here.”
She wasn’t sure what he meant. “Why?”
“Because the sun never shines in Shadowvale.”
She stopped abruptly. “It’s night all the time here?”
He shook his head. “No. But the days are all overcast. The sun can’t penetrate. Or at least not enough to be a danger to us. It gets light, of course, but there’s no such thing as a sunny day in Shadowvale. Unless you go above the twilight line.”
“Which is?”
“A certain point on the surrounding mountains where the clouds end. I understand there’s a specific spot up there, Nightingale Park, where people go to sun themselves and have picnics and such. I’ve never been. Obviously.”
“Obviously.” Her brows rose. “This place is a lot more interesting than I thought.”
“There’s deep magic here. Strong meridian lines. And the powerful work of a very gifted witch.”
“Is that the witch you were going to call about my curse?”
He looked at her. “No. But I suppose she would be the right choice. We are well acquainted.”
Her brows lifted. “Another ex?”
He laughed softly. “No, not that kind of well acquainted. I guess you could say my family has a long history with her. She might help us with this.”
“That would be great.” They were back at the bookstore now.
Con took his keys from his pocket and let them into the shop. “My car is in the back alley.”
“Right behind you.” She followed him through the shop into the alley.
She’d expected some kind of expensive European sedan. Something sleek and spendy, but safe and ultimately a little boring.
Instead, there was a gleaming black Chevy Tahoe. Not cheap, by any means, but a lot more rugged than anything she’d guessed he’d drive.
She had to ask. “An SUV, huh?”
He locked the back door of the shop, then clicked his key fob to open the vehicle. “Yes. I need the room.”
“For?”
He gave her a look like the answer was obvious. “Books.”
“Really? You carry around that many books?” She got into the passenger seat while he put her bags in the back.
“On occasion. I periodically go through my inventory and donate some of it to the library and schools. Or sometimes I have to make a large delivery to a customer.”
She smiled at him. “That’s very cool of you.”
He climbed behind the wheel. “Books make life so much better. Everyone should have access to them.”
“I agree, and I love to read, but I haven’t had much chance lately.”
He froze, then turned toward her. “That’s too bad. Escaping into a book is one of the greatest pleasures in life.”
She could also think of a few equally great pleasures, but she kept those to herself. “Right, but escaping into a book is pretty hard to do when you’re already stuck in a book. Literally. No pun intended.”
He laughed. “That’s a valid reason to be behind on your reading. Listen, you’re welcome to look through the shop and help yourself to whatever looks interesting.”
“That’s very kind of you. Thanks. I’ll pretty much take any new releases in romance from the past year.”
“I don’t carry romance.”
She frowned at him. “What? It’s, like, the most popular thing people read.”
“Happy ever after is a lie.” His smile faded, putting an end to that conversation.
But she was never one to let things lie. “Um, it’s fiction, though, so…”
He started the car, but didn’t say anything more on the subject. She sighed and watched the town go by, getting her bearings as best she could. In minutes, they were at the drugstore.
She went to work, filling a basket with cosmetics, toiletries, and one paperback romance novel. Because that’s just who she was.
He didn’t comment on it when they were checking out, but he had to have seen it. Stubborn, stubborn vampire.
They were back in the car and headed to his home a few minutes later.
Even in the darkness, she could tell the landscape was changing. A lot. “Where are we going now?”
“My home.”
“I know, but where is it in town? This looks very different than where we just were. Very…swampy.”
“I live in Bayou Orleans. Most of my family does, except for my sister Juliette, who lives in an apartment in town.”
“This place has a bayou?”
“Several of them. But Bayou Orleans is the biggest.”
“Aren’t bayous like swamps? And don’t swamps have alligators?”
“Yes and yes. In fact, Bayou Orleans has a somewhat famous gator named Brutus, due to his size.”
“I’m okay not meeting him.” She watched the scenery for a moment. “How large is Shadowvale exactly?”
“As large as it needs to be.”
She glanced at him. “That’s not really an answer, you know.”
He shrugged. “It’s the only answer I can give you. The town seems to resist surveying.”
“The town resists it?”
He nodded as he turned off the main road and onto Orleans Road.
They passed several homes on stilts, each more beautiful than the last. He pointed out his parents’ house as they drove on.
Then a house rose out of the mist ahead of them, a beautiful place of dove gray with a red door and charcoal roof. It sat on stilts like the rest with a gorgeous wraparound porch and three dormers on the roof above. Fat pots of ferns hung between the posts on the porch. It was not only beautiful, but welcoming.
Not at all the kind of place she’d pictured him in.
“I’m impressed.” Maybe more so, considering her last residence was a fourth-floor cold-water walk-up in a less-than-desirable part of Paris. She’d shared the two-bedroom flat out of economic necessity. Chuck had probably gotten a new roommate by now. Not that she could blame him. “You live here alone?”
“Yes.” He hesitated. “Well, not entirely alone. There’s Chloe.”
He parked the truck and got out before she could ask who Chloe was. Girlfriend? Roommate? Housekeeper? Ghost? Anything was possible.
She got out, still pondering the Chloe thing, but also wondering how a prickly vampire ended up with a place that looked like it could grace the cover of a fa
ncy-house magazine. Maybe Chloe had decorated it. That was the name of a woman who’d probably love decorating with someone else’s money.
He opened the back of the SUV, got her shopping bags out, and headed for the house, leaving her to catch up. Maybe he didn’t want to tell her who Chloe was. Or maybe he didn’t want Andi to ask.
Like either of those was going to stop her.
She jogged after him, joining him in a few seconds. “Who’s Chloe?”
He took the steps by two. “My cat. And be careful when you open the door. She’s been known to run out. I think she fancies herself a bit of an escape artist, although she’s never gone farther than the porch. Regardless, I don’t want to risk it. Not living out here.”
She stopped halfway up and stared after him. “You have a cat?”
“Is that so odd?” He unlocked the front door and held it open for her.
“No, I guess not, but I wasn’t expecting—” His house was even prettier on the inside, but the thing that caught her eye was the large ball of white fluff sitting at the edge of the foyer. “I take it that’s Chloe.”
At the sound of her name, she meowed.
Con walked in and set the shopping bags down. “Yes, that’s my girl.”
Andi shut the door, not willing to risk the cat getting out.
He knelt and softly clapped his hands together. “Come here, Chloe. Come on, baby.”
The cat sauntered over to him for pets and scratches, then let Con pick her up. She curled into his arms like it was her favorite spot in the world. Maybe it was. Andi had been in those arms, and it was a pretty comfortable place.
Andi shook her head. “You look like a Bond villain.”
Con smiled and scratched beneath Chloe’s chin. Her eyes were shut, and she was purring loudly. Lucky beast. “I found Chloe next to the dumpster in the alley behind the store. She was so tiny she fit in the palm of my hand. Maybe four, five weeks old. I thought she was gray until her first bath. She was sick with fleas and ringworm, had an eye infection, just a mess.”
“Wow.”
He kissed Chloe on the head. “No one expected her to make it. But she did. And now she lives like a queen, don’t you, baby? Queen of this house anyway.”
Andi’s heart almost burst. Not in a million years would she have labeled Con an animal lover or rescuer, but to see him with Chloe was like looking at a different person. “You did a good thing for her. You saved her life.”
Chloe glanced at Andi by tipping her head back over Con’s arm, her eyes full of love for the man who held her. Andi got it. Totally.
“It was mutual, really. All right, sweetness, let me get settled.” He set Chloe down and picked up the shopping bags again. “Come on, I’ll show you the guest room.”
She wanted to ask more about what he’d meant by the life-saving being mutual, but she had an idea it had something to do with Miranda again. At least that’s what she guessed, since his face had taken on that same tormented look as it had in the shop when he’d talked about his ex.
Andi was really curious to see what this femme fatale looked like.
Chapter Six
Constantin hoped the guest room was to Andromeda’s liking. His sisters had helped him decorate the room after they’d insisted it needed a woman’s touch. He doubted that, but liked that they’d wanted to help him. They’d already helped him with the rest of the house, so what was one more room?
Even with all his appreciation for their work, he’d had to rein them in, letting Juliette paint only one wall with the mural she’d insisted upon.
He opened the door and stepped back so Andromeda could enter.
“This is really nice. I’d say pretty, but there’s a masculine touch in here, too.”
“My sisters helped me decorate it. But I had the final say on everything.”
She nodded as she looked around. “I can see you in here for sure.”
He tried to see the room through her eyes, the taupe walls (the one behind the bed painted with delicate trees sprouting early-spring leaves and the very occasional pale pink blossom), the accents of ivory and copper, and the dark wood furniture. “Too masculine?”
“No, not at all. Anyone would be comfortable in here.” She ran her hand over the bed’s quilted silk coverlet, surprised he cared what she thought, but touched that he did. “I think it’s the nicest room I’ve ever stayed in.”
“Good.”
“Is Pussy Galore allowed in here?”
“Who?”
She laughed. “Chloe.”
“Oh. That’s another Bond reference, isn’t it?”
“Yes, and the last one, I promise.”
He nodded. “She’s allowed anywhere. But if you’d rather she not visit, just keep the door shut.”
“No, I don’t mind.” Andromeda tipped her head and put her hand to her stomach. “I hate to ask, but could I have something to eat? I’m kind of starving. But, you know, not for, like…blood. Actual food. You have that, right?”
He sighed and shook his head. “I’m rubbish at having guests. I imagine you are very hungry. And yes, I have actual food. Vampires eat. What would you like?”
“I’d take a PB&J at this point.”
He stared at her blankly.
“Peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”
“I don’t think I have that.” He thought for a moment. “I can do ham and cheese on a baguette. Some grapes, maybe. There are cornichons, I know that.”
“Sounds like heaven. And you don’t need to make it, just point me in the direction of the kitchen.”
“I can do that.”
He showed her to the kitchen, a sleek, modern space that he thought still had a warmth to it, thanks to the dark wood and whorled granite.
She shook her head.
“What?” he asked.
“It’s beautiful, but I’m guessing this space doesn’t get used much, does it?”
“Actually, it does. I live by myself, and being a vampire means I don’t eat as much as a human would, but I do cook occasionally.”
“Then you keep an impeccably clean house.”
“I have a little help.”
“Cleaning service?”
“Housekeeper, twice a week.”
“Must be nice.” She opened his stainless-steel refrigerator. “Huh. Actual food. All laid out with military precision, but food nonetheless.” She eyed the shelf of plasma. “Well, mostly food.”
“Told you.” He was happy to see she hadn’t reacted with squeamishness to that particular shelf. He couldn’t change who he was or where his primary source of nutrition came from.
“Yes, you did.” Refrigerator door still open, she looked at him. “Where would the cheese and ham be?”
“Second middle drawer.”
While she got that out, he went to fetch a baguette from the bread box. Fresh bread, especially baguettes and croissants, was something he couldn’t do without. His French heritage, by way of Louisiana, wouldn’t allow it. When he’d been human, bread had been life. Now it was blood, but bread was a close second.
He took out a serrated knife and sliced the loaf in half, then lengthwise.
She was laying things out on the counter. Ham, the sliced Gruyère cheese, the homemade pickles, mayonnaise, the good grainy mustard. He approved of her choices, but then, they had all come from his larder.
She twisted the lid off the mayonnaise as she looked at him. “Am I making two?”
“Sure. I could eat. Especially since we’re going out in a bit.”
“Good. Then I don’t have to eat alone.”
She hummed to herself as she worked, a soft, happy tune he didn’t quite recognize.
He laid out plates and poured two glasses of water. Then Chloe came in and meowed at him. He bent toward her. “You want some dinner?”
She meowed again.
Andromeda laughed. “She’s talkative, huh?”
“She is. I don’t mind.” He got Chloe’s dish, washed it, then filled it with a n
ew can of food and set it on her mat. He did the same with her water bowl. Behind him, Andromeda was rummaging around and working away.
It was nice, all the activity in his house. There wasn’t much of that usually, and the change was a lot more pleasant than he’d anticipated.
He went back to the counter as Andromeda was laying the sandwiches on the plates. She then brought them to the other side of the counter where three stainless-steel and wood stools sat at a perfect distance from the granite’s edge. She put a plate in front of the middle and right stools before taking the middle for herself.
He sat on the one to the right. “Sandwiches look good.”
“It doesn’t take a culinary degree to get them right.” Then she made a funny little face. “But thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He tucked into his food as she did the same.
One bite later, he lifted the bread. “Did you combine the mayo and mustard?”
“I did. And I sprinkled a little dill on there.”
“I was about to ask what those flecks of green were.”
She held her sandwich before her. “Is it okay?”
“It’s great.” He was about to take another bite, then hesitated. “You like food?”
“I do. I mean, who doesn’t? I like to try new and interesting things. Broadens the horizons and all that.”
“It does, I agree. Maybe tomorrow night we could have dinner at the Table.” Although something poked at him, like that might not be a good night. But what? He couldn’t remember. Andi was too distracting.
“Is that a restaurant in town?”
He nodded. “Very interesting food.”
“So, like a date, then?”
“I…yes, well, you are supposed to be my girlfriend.” His quick-thinking explanation hadn’t actually factored into his idea about going out.
“True. Can I wear the same dress?”
That gave him pause. “You could, but most women wouldn’t, would they?”
“Not two nights in a row, no.” Her nose wrinkled. “Sorry.”
“You’ll have to go shopping again.”
“You realize that means you have to go with me again.”
“I know.” He shrugged one shoulder. “Wasn’t so bad.”
“Resounding praise for my shopping abilities. I’ll take it.” She laughed, then bit into her sandwich again.
The Vampire's Cursed Kiss (Shadowvale Book 2) Page 5