Page 13 of Grayson’s Challenge

“I don’t know yet, but I’m definitely on the short list.”

“Why leave San Francisco? Don’t you like it here?”

“Oh, I do. But here I’ll always be my father’s son. Everybody compares me to him. It’s not easy to step out from the shadow of a successful man.”

Oddly enough, she understood exactly what he meant. And the fact that he wanted to make his own success and not rely on his family, made her like him even more. He was definitely a man who deserved a second night.

6

Monique had returned to the rental house in Russian Hill, ready for a confrontation with her father, but since everybody was asleep, she’d retreated to her own room and slept too. When the house came alive around sunset, Monique went downstairs, freshly showered and dressed.

Cuckoo, cuckoo.

Her heart stopped at the sound. Fuck! Did this stupid clock have a motion sensor, or why was it going off each time she passed it? Annoyed, she headed for the kitchen.

A housekeeper had stocked the refrigerator with human food. Monique would be the only one benefiting from it. Her parents and the three vampire guards only drank human blood. She was hungry and filled her plate with fruit and pastries, and made herself coffee. While as a vampire hybrid she could sustain herself on human blood alone, she enjoyed human food.

“Hey, Monique,” her mother said as she entered the kitchen.

Faye looked beautiful and young as always, and when people saw them next to each other, they often assumed they were sisters. Neither Monique nor Faye corrected them.

“Where were you last night?”

“I went out.”

“Alone?”

Monique shrugged. “I certainly wasn’t gonna take William along. He’s a buzzkill.”

“I heard that!” William called out from the hallway.

Monique motioned in his direction. “See what I mean? I would never meet anybody if one of the guards was sticking to me like gum on a shoe.”

Faye sighed. “It’s just your father’s way of making sure you’re safe. He wasn’t pleased when he found out that you snuck out without your guard.”

“Oh, is that what William told him? That I snuck out? I didn’t know I was a prisoner here.”

“Monique, don’t talk to your mother like that!”

The sharp words came from Cain, who entered the kitchen and narrowed his eyes at her.

“As for how you got William to let you go out without protection, I’m fully aware of what you threatened him with,” Cain added.

Monique raised her voice and looked past him into the hallway. “You had to kiss and tell, William, didn’t you?”

“Don’t blame William, he’s just doing his job.”

“Fine! I’m not gonna blame him,” Monique said and fisted her hands at her hips. “I blame you. And while I’m at it: I’m not gonna play your little game tonight. If you think you can play matchmaker and force me to go out with Grayson Woodford, then think again.”

Cain stared at her, and Faye looked equally stunned. Had they really thought she wouldn’t find out?

“Who told you that?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Monique shot back. “What matters is that you’re trying to run my life. I can choose my own boyfriend. And for sure, it’s not gonna be Grayson. The guy is an arrogant prick!”

“You don’t even know him!”

“I know enough to know that I can’t stand the arrogant asshole who thinks the world revolves around him.”