Draven drew in a deep, slow breath. “It’s more important for you to remain safe than for you to date.”
I squinted up at him. “So, until we catch this person or persons, I’m going to be locked up at the villa?”
“Either that or I come with you.” He smiled at me hopefully. “You can always choose not to date until we find out who’s trying to kill us.” I eyed him, trying to discern why he seemed happy at that thought, and why he felt it was necessary to be here, even though he’d told me himself that Mesmer was an excellent bodyguard.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Can you at least sit at another table tonight?” I thought this was a very reasonable request, but Draven shook his head, and I wanted to thump my head against a wall in frustration.
“Our killer has used magic bullets in the past,” Draven said quietly. “I need to be close enough to you to stop them if I hear them coming.” I didn’t know what my face looked like, devastated that he would use his own body to stop bullets aimed for me probably, so he quickly said, “I just want you to be safe. I promise to stay quiet.”
Uh-huh.
I crossed my arms, studying him. He seemed...fragile right then. I wasn’t entirely sure of the reasons, but I knew that I had come to matter to Draven. His fragility was a mystery that I would look into later, but for now, he wasn’t my boss. He was just a male standing here, not wanting to hurt or frustrate me, but also adamant that he could protect me best. So, I could either fight him all night, or give in gracefully. I chose to give in gracefully. But first, I really needed to clarify some things.
I sighed, dropping my arms. “I know. But I can’t be locked away to keep me that way.” I pointed at his shoulder, which had been shot clear through as he’d looked out a window the other day at the villa. Only his lightning fast reflexes had prevented the bullet from lodging in his heart. His enemy had hired snipers now. To say I was terrified, both for him and myself, would be an understatement.
He’d assured me the bullets hadn’t been gold tipped. Which meant they would slow him down some, but not outright kill him. Gold, I learned, acted as a slow-moving poison in vampires unless they can get blood fresh from another source to counteract it. Draven kept people on his payroll who served as blood suppliers for just those kinds of emergencies.
As Draven and I stood there, me not knowing how I was going to explain to Montblanc that my boss was crashing our date, and him not willing to move a muscle from my side, they started the pre-meal show on the stage.
Brightly dressed women and men came out, doing a traditional and sinuous dance. It mesmerized me for a few moments, before I shook my head, sighed, and pulled Draven by his belt loop, hauling him to the table that Montblanc had secured for us.
Montblanc looked up as I approached, and I introduced my boss to my date. Draven must have done something to allow Montblanc to see him, because my date didn’t look at me like I was a crazy person talking to ghosts. Wait...were ghosts a thing here? I didn’t know, but I wanted to find out. I’d ask Mesmer later.
Montblanc, far from being irate or frustrated that I had not one, but two men crashing our date now, looked at me like a man who likes a woman looks. His gaze made me squirmy, and I couldn’t figure out why, until I turned my head and saw Draven was looking at me too. Montblanc’s gaze was the gaze a guy gives to a woman he’s attracted to, but Draven’s gaze was as deep as still waters. And just as mysterious.
Now Draven had been alive for a long time. He’d already told me that. But he adamantly refused to tell me how old. (When I’d guessed 3,000 out of pure orneriness, he’d looked like he wanted to throw an eraser at me.)
So, Draven the vampire, who’d had many,manyyears to perfect hisgo- ahead-and-level-whatever-at-me-because-I-am-an-ocean-of-calm look,looked about three seconds from leaping across the table and taking a chunk out of Montblanc’s neck because of the way Montblanc was staring at me.
Montblanc turned, and his face went tight in surprise before his eyes started to glow gold. I’d only seen that once so far in shifters, so I knew it was them preparing to shift, or being close to a shift because of heightened emotion or a sense of danger. I was trying to figure out what the heck was going on! Why was Draven so mad? And where the suffering Sasquatch was Mesmer when I needed him?
S.O.S!
How did I get into this mess?
I kicked Draven in his shins underneath the table (he didn’t even flinch) and tried to smile charmingly at my date. “I’m really sorry about this. Draven apparently wanted to go to the luau tonight as well.”
Montblanc nodded, his eyes still glowing gold. “Also, he doesn’t think I can protect you.”
Draven looked away, thankfully de-escalating whatever had been going on, and I put my face in my hands in relief. What else could go wrong?
A throat cleared at the opposite end of the table, and I peaked through my fingers.
“Hi, Mesmer.” Yay, Mesmer was here!
He nodded at me. His expression seemed to ask if I was okay, and I shook my head. Nope. Not really. He sighed and sat down in a too-small chair that groaned at his prodigious weight.
We all focused on the show, and I let out a silent sigh of relief. The show was epic. I swayed to the rhythm of the dance in my seat and tapped my fingers. When Montblanc scooted his chair closer to me and took my hand, I smiled at him. Happy that he was, what I considered, my first real date. My attempted dating in Manhattan, I no longer counted. Montblanc was a good guy. I’d been getting that vibe from him all evening. And he was trying really hard to be cool with Draven being with us, and Mesmer sitting at our table. I appreciated that about him.
Later, as we had dinner, I tried my best to focus my conversation on Montblanc. Draven, for the most part, stayed quiet, just eating and observing our surroundings, and I was really grateful for that.
I was sorry I’d been such a pill about him being with us tonight, but, to be fair, I was really trying to bury my growing feelings for him, and that was really difficult to do if I was around him 24/7.
The food was excellent: roasted, pulled pork, macaroni salad, pineapple coleslaw, roasted vegetable skewers, and an electric blue mocktail that was sweet, but not too sweet. But what I literally had three helpings of, and couldn’t stay away from, was the piña colada triple layer cake. Oh my gosh, it was amazing! Light, fluffy, and stuffed with my favorite piña colada flavoring. It literally melted on my tongue.
The hula dancers were finishing, and the fire dancers were taking the stage. The evening was winding down, and the sun was setting. As the fire dancers started dancing to a deep, bass beat, they asked for members from the audience to come up on stage with them and help them finish their show.
I really, honestly, couldn’t dance, but I was feeling the beat so much that I raised my hand.
