“Nothing to report. No one following her. Nothing out of the ordinary. She’s at the loft. And I’m assuming you are too.”
“Is Vivian at my apartment?”
“Last I checked in with Hassim.”
“Good.” He stood. “You’re off duty until tomorrow.”
“Night, boss.”
“Good night.”
Gavin stood and looked for something he could use for clothes. Nothing. He’d left his wet clothes on the floor above. He wrapped a towel around his waist, unlocked the intricate set of locks securing the room, and walked upstairs.
He stood at the threshold of the kitchen, watching her hips move to the music as she rinsed something in the sink. Chloe was a dancer. It had taken Gavin some time to realize she danced to everything. Music in the house. At the bar. She even danced a little in the elevator. Her life was lived in movement, and it was his pleasure to watch.
Imagine if you could watch her forever.
Too soon. Far, far too soon. For the moment the point was to ensure her safety while Vivian was in town.
Gavin said, “Do you intend to keep me naked while I’m here?”
She jumped and turned around, but Gavin was pleased to see a smile on her beautiful face. “Hey. And that sounds like an excellent idea if you ask me.”
“Hmmm, good to know you like me naked.” He walked over, gripping the towel at his waist, and wrapped his arm around her. He bent down and kissed her full on the mouth, stroking her tongue with his, letting the heat between them build until she was gasping.
Chloe’s breasts pressed to his bare chest. Damp hands came to rest on his shoulders. He slid his hand down and cupped her bottom, pulling her closer as he bent her backward over the counter.
Gavin pulled away. “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t put ye on this counter, strip off these clothes, and show ye how I like to wake up in the evening.”
Chloe blinked. “Uh…”
He lifted her up and set her on the counter. “Didn’t hear a good argument.”
“I really don’t have one.”
Gavin dropped the towel and pulled the smooth grey leggings and her lace-trimmed panties down her glorious legs. He spread her thighs and stroked two long fingers inside her before he gripped his erection and entered her with one hard stroke.
Dear glorious fuck, it was even better than the night before. He felt randy as a schoolboy, and all he could think was Chloe, cock, good.
Chloe was laughing against his chest. “I swear, no one curses like a Scotsman.”
“I have no idea what I just said.”
“In all honesty, neither do I, but I think I’m flattered?”
“Ye should be.” He groaned. “Dammit, woman.” He leaned over and kissed her senseless. “You undo me, Miss Reardon.”
Her breath hitched. “Gavin.”
“Yes?” He began to move slowly back and forth, running his fingers across the top of her thighs.
“Nothing.” She threw her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his waist. Then she whispered in his ear, “You undo me too.”
He sat at the counter in the trousers Chloe had dried for him, meticulously sorting through his emails as she finished cooking dinner. He forwarded most of the messages to Veronica. He deleted others. Answered one himself.
Chloe was making meatballs as a marinara sauce simmered on the stove and Halsey sang in the background.
Gavin glanced at the voice mails. Two from Veronica, three from Renard. One from Cormac and another from the manager at the Bat and the Barrel.
He set his phone on the counter. “Notepaper?”
“Notepaper? So old-fashioned.”
“Well, in case you weren’t aware of it, Miss Reardon, I am the definition of old-fashioned.”
“You?” She smiled. “I hang out with people thousands of years older than you.” She pointed over her shoulder. “Pencils and Post-its in the drawer by the phone.”
“Thanks.” He walked over, kissing her shoulder as he passed her. “Good to know I’m not too old for you.”
“Well, you are. But you’re too old for pretty much anyone with a regular pulse. I can’t hold it against you.”
“I beg to differ, dove.” He ran a hand over the curve of her ass. “Hold it all against me, and I’ll thank you for the pleasure.”
He walked back to the kitchen while she was laughing at him. Gavin set his phone to speaker and listened to the voice mail from his manager first. The manager had a simple ordering question. Gavin texted him before he moved to the voice mail from Cormac. He didn’t listen to that one on speaker.
Cormac was wondering who the fuck Renard was and why the man was calling him like they were friends. Cormac hadn’t given anyone his number. How had Renard even gotten it?
Gavin pressed his eyes shut and sighed.
“Problem with the bar?”
“Problem with Vivian.” He called Cormac immediately. “Sorry, old man.”
“Who the fuck is this guy, and how did he get my number?”
“Vivian’s day man. I did not give your number to him, and I have no idea how he got it.”
“I have to change my number again.” Cormac growled. “I really hate changing my number, Gavin.”
“Give me half an hour. He won’t bother you again.”
Cormac was silent.
“Would I say it if it wasn’t true?”
“Half an hour.” Cormac hung up.
Chloe was pouring the marinara over the spaghetti. “This will be ready in ten minutes.”
“You’re a treasure. This shouldn’t take long.” He dialed Renard’s number and walked over to the french doors, the phone to his ear.
“Hello?”
“You don’t know Cormac O’Brien’s phone number anymore, Renard.”
The man tried to bluff. “I don’t answer to you, Gavin. Vivian told me—”
“I don’t give a flying fuck what Vivian told you, ya naff bampot.” His voice dropped and his brogue got thicker. “Shut yer puss and put her on the phone.”
Renard went silent, and Gavin heard Vivian in the background.
“Put her. On the phone.”
“Vivian.”
His sister’s voice came over the line. “Gavin, where are you?”
“None of your business. You don’t know Cormac O’Brien, Vivian.”
Her voice was breezy and annoyed. “I need his whiskey casks.”
“No, you want them.” He kept his voice low and lethal. “It’s not the same thing, and you’re not in France, Vivian. No one here gives a shit who you fucked in 1923. No one cares who you are until I tell them to care, so shut the fuck up before you screw my own operation, ye ken? You don’t know Cormac’s numbers. You don’t know his people. You don’t know anyone in the state of New York unless I personally introduce you. Are we clear on this?”
Her voice was no longer breezy, but she was still annoyed. “Do you think you’re better than me?”
“No, I know it.”
“You arrogant bast—”
“Who’s asking for favors, Vivi?”
She was silent.
“Who?”
“Do you have a point?”
His voice rose. “You don’t know Cormac O’Brien. You—and definitely fucking Renard—lost his phone number. Are we clear?”
“Fine.” She hung up.
Gavin let his head fall back and he groaned. “Fuck this. She shows up in the city, expects me to open doors for her, then she pulls a stunt like this? Fuck this and fuck that scabby roaster of a day man too.”
Chloe said, “And here I used to be sad I was an only child.”
Her wry tone of voice managed to wrest a smile from him. “Don’t be. She’s a pain in my arse.”
“So why even take her calls?”
“Because she’s the closest thing I have to family. And in our world, that does matter. She may do ma nut in, but if I ever actually needed her, she’d be loyal.”
“Well, th
at’s good, I guess.”
He watched her. “You don’t ever have the urge to reconcile with your parents?”
“Uh… why?” Chloe lifted the pot of pasta and took it to the sink. “It’s a one-way relationship. From what you say about Vivian, at least if you needed her, she’d be there for you. My parents really only care about themselves.”
“Are you sure about that?”
She smiled sadly. “Ten months after I moved here, I called them. I’d found a roommate. Found a job. Had managed to kind of make it on my own, and I was proud of that, you know? I wasn’t a smashing success, but I didn’t expect that. And I thought…” She set the pot to the side and poured the pasta in a dish. “I thought if they didn’t respect what I was trying to do—turn dancing into a profession—then they’d at least respect the hard work.”
Gavin set his phone on the coffee table and walked to the counter. “And they didn’t?”
“They kind of brushed it off with polite sounds. Then they proceeded to go on and on about all their friends’ kids—the ones who had gotten into Stanford and Yale and Harvard—and how they were doing. What internships they would get when they graduated. How proud their parents were. They did not ask about auditions. They didn’t ask about my ushering job. Nothing.”
“They’re dobbers,” he muttered. “Utter dobbers.”
She laughed. “Yeah. They are.”
“And they don’t deserve you.”
Chloe sighed and shrugged. “I’m sure they would say they deserve better. But I couldn’t keep being someone I wasn’t. I couldn’t keep following their dreams and not my own. I didn’t have any illusions like they accused me of having. I just knew that I wanted what I wanted. And even if I had tons of money, I’d be miserable if I followed their path.”
“Money doesn’t make you happy.” Gavin took the dish from her and held it while she poured the sauce over the top. “Trust me, I have plenty.”
“But you’re not miserable the way my parents are,” Chloe said. “So what makes you happy, Gavin Wallace?”
The corner of his mouth lifted. “Besides you?”
Her cheeks flushed with pleasure. “I’m flattered.”
“You should be.” He set the dish on the counter and waited for her to get plates and forks. “Being good at what I do makes me happy. Being respected makes me happy.”
“Being feared?”
He frowned. “Fear can be useful in my world, but it’s a tool I use very sparingly. For my purposes, I can accomplish more if people trust me. Though part of that trust is a genuine fear that I’ll bring hell if anyone crosses my rules. But an equal part is people knowing that unless they break my rules, I don’t care who they are or what they do.”
She bit her lip as she set the table. “Ben says you deal with some pretty shady people.”
His territorial instincts went on alert. “Was that him warning you away from me?”
“Uh… no.” She wrinkled her forehead. “I don’t think so. He just wanted me to know.”
“There’s less of that at the Dancing Bear than at the Bat and Barrel, but he’s not wrong. The point is, as long as they don’t bring their problems into my place of business, then they won’t come to any harm under my roof. Does that make sense?”
“Yeah. But that also means you might serve awful people—vampires—you know what I mean. They could be killers, thieves… I can’t even imagine.”
“You’re not wrong.” Gavin chose his words carefully, partly to reassure her, but partly because it was an idea that had haunted him at times. “But think of it this way: Every society needs a meeting place. A common ground, so to speak. If there’s no chance of safe meeting—of neutrality—then every meeting will end in violence. Every problem will be solved with actions instead of words.”
Chloe smiled. “So you’re a diplomat?”
“Every barman is a diplomat, dove. Some are just better at it than others.”
She put the meatballs in a bowl and set both dishes in the middle of the small dining table. “Okay, enough philosophy. Time to eat.”
“We eat.” He walked to the table. “And then we plan.”
“We need plans?”
“Yes. I like having plans.” And I like making them with you.
7
The plan was Chloe would stay at the loft while Vivian was in town, play host to Giovanni and Beatrice while they were there, and not overreact when Gavin told her he was having her followed.
“You did what?”
“I don’t need to know where you go or who you go out with, but spare me a thought, dove. If I don’t know you’re safe, I’ll more than likely go mad.”
Having had experience with more than one territorial vampire, Chloe eventually relented. After all, Ben was human and he’d done the same thing. Ben didn’t know that Chloe knew about the bodyguards after she left Tom, but Tenzin had told her when Chloe confessed to feeling jumpy. In the end, knowing someone was watching to make sure her ex didn’t come close was reassuring, not invasive. She figured she could put up with it again if it kept Gavin from going mental.
Gavin had left for the Bat and Barrel around ten, and it was nearly midnight when Chloe heard the knock on the door.
Yay! More territorial vampires!
She opened the door to Beatrice De Novo, Chloe’s favorite librarian badass. “Beatrice, hi!”
“How are you?” She enveloped Chloe in a hard hug—sometimes she forgot her own strength. “I miss you. You and Ben need to come out and visit more.”
“Or you could just keep coming to New York.” Chloe stepped back, allowing what felt like a small crowd into the loft. “How many people—?”
“Just four. Don’t panic. Beatrice and me, Sadia and Dema are staying here.” Ben’s Uncle Giovanni stepped forward and gave Chloe a slightly softer side hug since he was carrying a sleeping toddler. “The rest have found accommodations elsewhere and are just helping to deliver…” He looked slightly bewildered. “Stuff.”
So much stuff. Since Beatrice and Giovanni had adopted their daughter Sadia, they moved with slightly less stealth than most vampires. Their two designer suitcases were joined by more and more kid stuff as the men with them delivered various bags in green and pink, a backpack shaped like a horse—make that a unicorn—a car seat, a high chair, and three canvas tote bags of books.
Chloe blinked. “Uh… wow.”
Beatrice’s smile was strained. “Giovanni likes to be prepared for all eventualities.”
“Well, you… seem prepared.” Luckily the loft, though short on sleeping space, was large on room. “We can move all her toys and books down to the practice area. With Tenzin and Ben gone, I’m only in there to dance. So no weapons and lots of room for her to run around.”
A trim young woman stepped forward. “If you’ll show me the training area, I can double-check it for any nonapparent risks.”
That had to be Dema, the bodyguard nanny. The woman’s skin was a smooth light brown, and her hair was covered neatly by a light grey hijab that brought out the unusual olive green of her eyes. She moved with military precision as she surveyed the room.
“I’ll show you.” Giovanni handed Sadia to Beatrice. “The stairs will be the biggest concern.” He looked around. “But it looks like they’ve already delivered the gates.”
“After we’ve gone over the lower floor, we should start on this one,” Dema said. “I can already tell there are quite a few areas that could be a potential problem.”
“Agreed.” Giovanni and Dema walked downstairs.
“This is quite a production,” Chloe said quietly.
“If I didn’t have Dema,” Beatrice said, “I would go insane.”
“I can only imagine. Are you working much? Or mom stuff only right now?”
Beatrice rubbed Sadia’s back as the little girl snored quietly. “I’ve started back on a couple of projects in the past month. Simple things that don’t require travel. Mostly research with Zeno and Fina. Organizing the colle
ction. Things like that.”
“Nice.”
Beatrice nodded. “It’s good to have some time to just be in work. Sadia conks out between eleven and midnight most days, so after that we can both work.”
So weird. So, so weird. “Do you want to put her down? Does she sleep with you guys, or…?”
“No, she’ll sleep in Ben’s room, I think. Dema can share with her since she’ll be with her throughout the day.”
“Okay, no problem. And you know all the downstairs except for my room and Ben’s is light safe, right?” Chloe knew Beatrice didn’t sleep normal vampire hours. She was somewhere between Gavin and Tenzin, but she didn’t want to assume.
“Yep. I’ll be fine. I’m gonna go lay her down. You do what you do and don’t worry about us while we’re here.” Beatrice smiled as she started toward the stairs. “Though I hope Sadia and I can go to one of your rehearsals, if that’s okay. I’d love to see you dance, and I think Sadia will be fascinated. She already dances around any time music is playing.”
“Oh, that’s so cool! And I’d love if you visited. Most rehearsals are after work hours, so this time of year you’d have no trouble coming. I usually split time between here and Gavin’s, but he has company this week too, so I’ll be around.”
At the mention of Gavin, Beatrice’s smile tightened. Just a little. “Cool. We’ll work it out then. I’m excited.”
Chloe had forgotten that Beatrice wasn’t Gavin’s biggest fan. According to Ben, it stemmed from something that happened when his aunt was still human, but he wasn’t clear on what it was.
Not my circus, Chloe thought, not my monkeys.
But she couldn’t lie that it bothered her just a little that two of her favorite vampires clearly didn’t get along. What she could do to remedy the situation, she had no idea.
The furor of Giovanni and Beatrice’s arrival quickly wound down as Dema and the two drivers sorted all the stuff and the baby was put to bed. Chloe texted Gavin before she retreated to her room.
Vampire families are weird. And wonderful.
Weird I will agree with. Wonderful is debatable.
The Devil and the Dancer Page 7