Part 27 (1/2)
”You're here,” she declared. ”I've been worried. We have twenty-seven men inside, but we're still missing number twenty-eight.”
”Here you go.” I motioned to Lloyd. ”Meet your alpha redhead.”
Disbelief lit her dark eyes and a smile curved her full lips. ”Dear, I hate to break this to you, but he has no hair.” The smile faded as she studied him even closer. She shook her head. ”I'm afraid he just won't do.”
”What?” Lloyd asked. ”Does that mean I don't get to have s.e.x?”
”Hush,” I muttered before turning a brilliant smile on Viola. ”Of course he won't do. Not like this. But with a little help.” ”I'm afraid I don't understand.”
I held up a boxed DVD set of Happy Days. ”The most popular episodes. Your friend can watch these, get a really good fantasy going, and then live out the real thing with Lloyd.”
”One glance will kill the fantasy, dear.”
”That's why I brought this.” I held up a red handkerchief I'd picked up at Morty's before climbing into the minivan. ”It's a blindfold.” I handed it to her. ”He feels the part, smells the part, and acts the part. What more can you ask for?”
She seemed to weigh my words before she shook her head. ”You've done a great job, Lil. Truly. The men are superb and you've more than earned your initial fee. But this...”
”I almost forgot. Wait here.”
I hightailed it back to the minivan and retrieved the power tool I'd swiped from my father's garage on the way to Viola's. ”Here,”
I told her when I reached the front door again.
She eyed the yellow metal. ”What's this?”
”My father's new chain saw.”
Her interest sparked. ”The one he's been using on my azalea bushes?” When I nodded, she added, ”He'll just buy another one when he finds this missing.”
”Maybe. Unless he knows you have it. Then he'll be determined to get it back because, of course, he can't let you keep it. It's the principle of the thing, after all.”
”And yet another point of contention.”
”Not if you use it to negotiate something in writing as far as the bushes are concerned. Something that says they lie on your side of the property line.”
”Clever.” She smiled. ”I think you may have earned that bonus, after all.”
Chapter Twenty-eight.
I glanced down at the check Viola had given me. Oddly enough, it didn't fill me with the expected euphoria. I looked across the surrounding treetops toward the scene unfolding in Viola's backyard.
Ty had disappeared under the pretense of ”checking things out,” while I'd been talking to Viola. When he didn't resurface right away, I'd retreated to the minivan to give the NUNS some privacy and let nature take its course.
After ten minutes of flipping through radio stations, my curiosity, along with a great deal of howling, had lured me up into a tree at the far edge of Viola's estate. I stood poised on a very slim branch that wouldn't have supported a cat, much less a full grown woman.
But a vampire... Being fanged and fantabulous definitely had its perks.
Previous Top NextA restlessness stirred deep inside and I trembled.
Pathetic. I mean, geez, I should be feeling on top of the world. Fulfilled. I'd aced the job for Viola. Ayala was out with Remy at the moment and no doubt loving it since he was a primo catch. Esther wasn't upset over being trampled. I actually had some solid leads that would surely lead to the real killer and get my head off the chopping block. And I was this close to my parents-their estate loomed behind me-and I hadn't once contemplated impaling myself on the nearest sharp object.
Talk about a moment of triumph.
The moon hung full and ripe in the black velvet sky. The air sizzled with electricity. There was an energy that wafted on the breeze. Awareness washed over me, drenching every nerve as I stared at the scene unfolding.
It was as wild as I'd imagined it would be, as loud, as primitive. I was far enough away that I couldn't see specifics-although a glare flashed every once in a while like Morse code. I knew Lloyd was alive and well and-if the o.r.g.a.s.mic wails that echoed in my ears were any indication-having the time of his life.
Bodies writhed and sweated. Men panted and groaned. Women moaned and howled. My stomach hollowed out. An ache started between my legs (you try watching something like this and not get turned on) and spread north, working its way up. A fullness tugged at my b.r.e.a.s.t.s. My nipples went on high alert.
”What's wrong?” Ty's deep voice drew my attention.
I turned just as he leapt and landed at the end of my branch. The motion was smooth and easy and he didn't so much as stir a leaf.
He stepped toward me. ”You look sad.”
”I'm not sad.” I glanced back toward the scene and the words spilled out before I could stop them. ”It's called h.o.r.n.y.” Why oh why had I said that? ”There are dozens of people having phenomenal s.e.x and I'm not one of them.”
His warm chuckle slid over my skin and into my ears. My skin tingled and my nerves hummed.
”That's no one's fault but yours.” His voice was rich and deep and oh so stirring. ”You could be right there with them.”
”With a human male?” I shook my head. ”Not my thing. Not that I haven't tried it, of course. Many times.” Okay, I was exaggerating a little, but I didn't want Ty to think I wasn't all that. ”But after five hundred years, it gets old.”
”I'm not talking about the alpha males down there.”
My gaze collided with his. ”Then what are you talking about?”
You. Me. Us.
The possibilities floated through my head, but he didn't say anything. He simply stared at me, into me, for a long moment before he asked. ”What is it you want, Lil?”
The question stirred a ton of responses, none of which I wanted to acknowledge much less say out loud. I grinned. ”Another retainer fee like the one I just collected.”
”I'm not talking about professionally. I'm talking about your personal life. What is it you're looking for?”
I shrugged. ”What every born vampire looks for-an eternity mate.”
”Another born vampire then.”I nodded. ”That's usually the way it works. Born vamp plus born vamp equals baby vamps.” Which equals a happy, noninterfering mother.
Okay, so we're talking my mother. I'd settle for one out of two.
”And is that so important? Right here? Right now? Is that what you want more than anything else? At this moment?”