Thea gawked at me like I’d asked her to marry me. She probably thought I was insane. Hell, I thought I was insane. But I knew something she didn’t. Five minutes ago, a man walked into the diner and began to watch us. Thea’s back was to him, but I’d gotten a good enough look to know he wasn’t an idle stranger with nothing better to do. If he’d been here when we arrived, I might have written it off as a coincidence. But he couldn’t hide what he was or why he was here. Someone had sent the young vampire to follow us. After everything that happened this evening, I wasn’t surprised. I’d taken another vampire’s life, and while my social status afforded me that right, I might find myself facing a pissed-off sire if news got out about it.
The trouble was that now I’d dragged Thea into this mess.
“You want to date me?” she asked in a confused voice. “But you don’t like me.”
This again. Apparently, I hadn’t done a very good job covering my blood-lust. It was interesting that she saw my lack of control as hatred. I wondered if she’d still be sitting across from me if she knew what it really was.
“Not exactly, and I like you perfectly well,” I corrected her in a low voice. This was not the place to discuss my idea now that a curious vampire was nearby. “Perhaps, we can discuss this at your apartment.”
“Now you want to come to my apartment?” she shook her head. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“Then, let me see you home.” I stood and gestured toward the door.
For once, she didn’t argue. I steered her toward the exit, keeping my body between her and the other vampire. He looked up with mild annoyance that he’d been caught. His dark eyes hooked on Thea and lingered. I moved closer to her, brushing my body against hers as we reached the door. She looked up, startled, and for a moment I lost myself in the green pools of her eyes, tiny gold flecks swimming in them like stars. Her breath caught, and heat blossomed on her cheeks, flooding the air around us with her delicate scent.
“We need to go,” I snarled and shoved open the door.
Thea flinched and shrank away from me, but I herded her outside. By the time we reached the car, she had grabbed the handle and opened it before I could open it for her. Judging by how she slammed it shut, she found my actions rude.
I didn’t care. She was alive. If I had to make her hate me to keep her safe, so be it.
That wasn’t going to stop her from punishing me, though.
We rode in silence the rest of the way to her place, which I only found thanks to the bloody GPS. Thea refused to even look at me. As soon as I slowed the car, she unbuckled her seat belt. She was already climbing out of the vehicle by the time I’d parked and sped to the other side.
“I’ve got it from here,” she said coldly. “And I’ve made up my mind.”
“You have?” She wasn’t going to give me a chance to pitch my idea.
She lifted her chin, her lower lip trembling just a little. “Make me forget. Compel me.”
I’d forgotten about that entirely. I hadn’t expected Thea to want me to compel her. She seemed far too interested in the vampire world. I waited for relief to hit me. Despite my string of glorious fuck ups, she had given me an out. There were only two problems: I couldn’t compel her, and, even if I could, I found I didn’t want to.
“I told you I had a better plan,” I reminded her as it began to drizzle, making the already cold night even more unwelcoming.
“Not interested.” She shook her head and stuck out her hand as if to shake mine. I couldn’t help noticing that she was shivering. “It was nice to meet you. Now make me forget it ever happened.”
I ignored the hand and took off my jacket.
“What are you doing?” she asked suspiciously as I wrapped it around her shoulders.
“You’re cold,” I said. “We should get you inside.”
“We shouldn’t do anything,” she corrected me, but she clutched the tuxedo jacket tighter. “I can see myself inside.”
For the first time, I bothered to look around us. I’d been so focused on her that I hadn’t realized where we were. Her building was a run-down old Victorian with bars on the windows. The street lamp flickered above us, casting shadows on a group of men conducting business on the corner.
“My cello?” she prompted.
“This is where you live?” I asked, ignoring the request as I continued to catalog my concerns. The list was growing longer by the minute.
“It’s an expensive city.”
“You need to move. This isn’t a safe place for a woman to live.” I couldn’t leave her here. Not in this part of town.
“I’m fine,” she said, “and I don’t live alone. I have roommates.”
“Roommates?” I eyed her.
“Olivia and Tanner,” she said, beginning to walk toward the dimly lit entrance.
I followed her, taking stock of the broken exterior light. “Is Tanner a man?”
“Yes,” she said dryly. “Does it matter?”
“Are you…two…”
“Mr. Rousseaux,” she said, feigning shock, “are you jealous?”
“Curious,” I said, knowing that was a fucking lie. She lived with a man. Never mind the fact that her apartment was one step above a crack den in terms of comfort and safety. A man lived with her. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“You didn’t ask a question. You insinuated.” She smiled up at me.
“You know what I meant.” Thea was wrong. I didn’t hate her. I didn’t dislike her. But she could really get on my nerves.
“Tanner is just my roommate,” she said. “I’m not…I don’t…date.”
“At all?” I couldn’t hide my surprise. Thea was pretty by vampire standards, making her beautiful by human standards. Surely, men must have noticed her. She’d already caught the attention of two vampires.
“I don’t have time to date.” A yawn overtook her.
I checked my watch to find it was nearly midnight. I’d been in no rush to decide what to do with Thea. It hadn’t occurred to me that she might be tired.
“My cello?” She yawned again.
“I need to repair it,” I said. “I’ll return it to you tomorrow.”
“Fine.” Her shoulders slumped, and she dug a key out of her bag. “Well, you know where I live.”
“Yes,” I grimaced and looked up at the building again. Something needed to be done about that, too.
She unlocked the door and turned to me, “Good n–”
But I was already inside, my hand catching hers and dragging her into the darkened hall.
“I’ll see you to the door,” I told her.
She studied me for a moment, an internal war flashing in her tired eyes, but then she led me up the stairs to the second floor. It was a minor improvement to find she wasn’t on the ground floor, but it hardly looked any safer. She paused in front of a door marked with an iron letter C and turned.
“You aren’t going to make me forget, are you?” she asked, her keys still in her hand.
“I should bring you your cello first. Don’t you think?” I said smoothly.
She raised an eyebrow, clearly not buying my excuse. It was even flimsy to me.
“And I think you should consider my offer.” I stepped closer to her, backing her slightly against the door.
“To date you?” she repeated. “I’m not sure I could handle your mood swings.”
“About that.” I paused to consider if I was making a mistake by telling her the truth. “There was another vampire in the diner. He showed up right before we left.”
Her eyes widened into saucers, but after a second, she gathered herself back together.
“There are probably lots of vampires in San Francisco.”
“A fair few,” I admitted. The older the city, the more vampires there tended to be. And by American standards, San Francisco was very old. More than a few of my kind had come during the gold rush, eager to fill their already bursting bank accounts with new wealth. Plus, the incessant fog made for easy hunting.
“Then it was a coincidence.”
“Maybe.” But it didn’t feel like that. Until I was sure if that vampire had been sent after her or me, I needed to keep an eye on Thea.
“So that’s why you were being so weird?” she asked. “Is that why you asked about a date?”
“Being under my protection would only afford you–”
“I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time,” she stopped me, but sadness colored her words.
Without thinking, I slipped my arm around her waist. “Maybe you shouldn’t have to.”
Her eyes locked on mine. The scent of candied violets filled the air around us, her body beckoning me to claim it. What was it about her that was so irresistible? I had to find out. And it wasn’t as if I could leave her here. This building wasn’t safe against petty criminals. It could never stand up to a vampire. The more I thought about leaving Thea, the less I felt I should. She needed my protection, and I needed to satisfy the craving I felt for her one way or the other.
“You should invite me in,” I murmured, lowering my face toward hers.
“I don’t know if that’s–”
My lips closed over hers before she could find another excuse. There was only one way to make Thea see this my way. I had to show her.
Her mouth parted, welcoming me to deepen the kiss. I slid my tongue into her mouth, drawing hers to mine. She responded with a moan that sent a rallying cry directly to my dick. I pulled back, scratching a fang over her lower lip just enough to make her gasp.
“Invite me in.”
Thea swallowed, her hand fumbling for the knob behind us. She’d begun to shake, her arousal overwhelming her and flooding the air around me with her scent. I was about three seconds away from ripping the door off its hinges and carrying her to bed when it finally swung open to a dark living room.
She glanced shyly at me. “Come in.”
I didn’t need a second invitation. Lifting her into my arms, I spun us inside and kicked the door closed behind us. Thea grabbed my shoulders, her whole being now trembling.
“Which way?” I asked.
She tilted her head toward the hall. “First one on the left.”
There were a million reasons that I shouldn’t be doing this. I should walk out the door, find someone to compel her, and forget this pretty little mortal existed. But somehow I knew I would never be satisfied if I left now. I found her lips as I carried her to bed, ignoring the fact that I was breaking more than one rule by doing so. I could only think of stripping her out of her poorly fitted dress and then sating the hunger growing inside me.
Her room was more like a closet, and the mattress shoved in the corner hardly counted as a bed, but it would do for now.
Dropping Thea on her feet, I reached for her zipper and moved to kiss her.
But she placed a hand on my chest. “Wait, Julian,” she murmured, “there’s something you should know.”
