“Movies? Didn’t you two meet at a book club? I’d have thought you’d be all about discussing Tolstoy and Dostoevsky,” Dennis teased.
I narrowed my eyes at him, all too aware he’d caught me hanging out in the back room with a wide variety of smutty romance novels over the months I’d worked for him, and a distinct lack of Russian philosophers. But two could play this game. “Sure, who wouldn’t be—especially five rum and Cokes in. Tell me, Dennis, darling, if you were stranded on a desert island, which highbrow book would you pick over a cell phone with an Internet connection?”
My boss laughed and held up both hands in defeat. “All right, point well made. So, movies, then?”
* * *
For the next couple of hours, Warin fielded less-than-subtle flirting from Skye like a pro, intermixed with general banter and drunken human humor. But I guess he was a pro—at blending in with humans, that is. When he hadn’t been locked up and starved for goddess knew how long, at least.
I was pretty amazed with his transformation from when I’d first met him—especially when he not so much as glanced at Skye’s cleavage or neck. I recalled the darkness in his eyes when he’d stared at my bleeding collarbone and suppressed a shudder. Vampires were clearly better company when they’d been fed.
Skye, however, was less than impressed with his lack of interest in her booby offerings. When Warin ignored her batting eyelashes for probably the tenth time since his arrival at our booth, she’d clearly had enough of playing it subtle and deemed it time for a more direct approach. I was pretty sure, judging from Warin’s involuntary jerk, that when she reached under the table, she wasn’t grabbing at his leg.
“How about we all take it to a nightclub? I want to dance! Don’t you feel like a bit of grinding, Warin?” She shot the vampire at flirtatious smile.
“Actually, I’m beat,” I said, stretching for emphasis. “I should head on home. Warin, would you walk me, please? You never know what lurks out there.” I winked at the vampire and got a soft chuckle in return.
“Of course.” He very firmly moved Skye’s hand—which was, indeed, placed on his crotch, I noted as I got to my feet—and made to stand up.
“See you later, guys,” I said as Skye blew a raspberry at me behind Warin’s back.
We exited the bar and weaved our way past clusters of drunk people on the pavement. I led the vampire about a block away before I turned to him with a teasing smile.
“All right, the girls aren’t following, so you should be safe. You don’t actually have to walk me all the way home—it’s pretty far.”
“I would nevertheless like to,” he said
“Okay, then, but don’t complain if you get tired,” I teased as we began walking.
His hoarse laughter made my already present smile bigger. There was something about the sound of his mild amusement that warmed me from the inside out, almost as effectively as the several rum and Cokes I presently had in my system.
“You’ve seen firsthand how much stronger vampires are, and yet you worry a walk will make me tired? You are a funny human.”
I snorted. “Sorry, didn’t mean to put your entire race in a bad light with my concern for your comfort.
“Hardly. I find you rather intriguing.”
The way he said it so absolutely casually, as if it was a perfectly normal thing to say to a girl, made my already alcohol-fueled hormones spike.
Way too young, Liv. And a vampire, I mentally scolded my ovaries. Not that he seemed to be really flirting. He was casually strolling next to me with both hands in the pockets of his wool coat without so much as looking at me.
Yeah, I so wasn’t going there. A shudder rose up through my spine at the thought of mixing the kind of bedroom antics vampires were infamous for with what my lady bits currently seemed focused on. I was way too vanilla to ever want to try out blood play, that’s for damn sure.
“Are you cold?” my vampire companion asked at my shiver.
“Yeah,” I said. It was fucking freezing, and I hadn’t wrapped up as thoroughly as I should have when I got dressed for the night out. Foolishly, I’d chosen vanity over a healthy respect for Chicago’s November temperatures once the sun set.
He didn’t so much as stop as he swiftly unbuttoned his coat and draped it over my shoulders.
“Oh. You don’t have to—I don’t want you to get cold...” My voice died when he shot me an incredulous look, eyebrow raised. “Yeah, okay… vampires don’t feel the cold, do they?”
“No,” he said, an amused twitch to his lips at my belated light bulb-moment.
“Well… thank you,” I said, clutching it closer around me. The same scent—of crisp night air and a hint of earthy notes—as I’d noticed when he’d lent me his shirt months earlier wrapped around me. Flashes of some of the more X-rated dreams I’d been plagued with after we parted helpfully arrived in the forefront of my mind, making my face heat up. Apparently, the smell of him was enough to reactivate whatever had triggered them to begin with.
“Warin…. You know, when you, ah, fed me your blood…?” I asked, doing my best to keep my tone neutral.
“Hmm?”
“Are there… sometimes, uh, side-effects?”
The way he stole a glance at me from below his dark eyelashes made me suspect he was fully aware of what I was referring to.
“There can be some, yes. Which ones depends on the donor and receivers,” he non-answered. “Are you still feeling any… effects?”
I shook my head with vigor, silently thanking the goddess I hadn’t run into him while the dreams were still at their height. “Nope, damn shame too.”
His eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Oh?”
I gave him a teasing smile. “Yeah, my skin was flawless for weeks. You have no idea how many girls would kill for never having to reach for their foundation again.”
Warin chuckled at my theatrics.
“Seriously, you should bottle that stuff. You’d make a killing in the beauty industry.” I wasn’t serious at all.
However, Warin’s good-humored smile withered, dark severity taking its place as he grabbed my shoulder lightly, making me stop. “Liv, you can never tell anyone about taking vampire blood, or its effects. Do you understand? Never.”
“Yeah, just joking.” I gave him a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, I’m not about to repay you for saving my life with running my mouth about the healing properties of your blood. Don’t wanna think about what the pharmaceutical industry would do with that information.”
“There’ve been rumors circulating since the Night of Revelations. I am not worried about some foolish human attempting to extract blood from a vampire—but if an undead hears you speaking of such matters, they will end your life.”
“Oh.” I blinked, some of my pleasant buzz disappearing in the face of his seriousness. “Okay, got it. Any other warnings you wanna share? Or has the government got it covered with their anti-vamp campaigns?”
Warin snorted derisively. “They know very little of value.” He released my shoulder and began walking again. I fell in beside him.