Page 36 of Benjamin and the Thief

“Ooh, you’ve got it bad, bro,” Zach said with a laugh. “Better you than me.”

“Very funny.”

“So how long have you known her?”

“Why does it matter?” he deflected.

Because if he said barely three days, Zach would have a laughing fit at how pussy-whipped he was after such a short time.

“Let me guess,” David suddenly said, joining them. “A week?”

Zach slapped his brother over the back of his head. “Oh, please, if he’d known her for that long, she’d know his secret already. My guess is two days.”

He shouldn’t be surprised that both of them came rather close to the truth. After all, most of his friends had met, dated, and bonded with their mates within a week at most.

He rolled his eyes, and the brothers grinned rather self-satisfied. He turned away from them to see that Catalina had finished eating and now reached for a clean glass. She looked around for a beverage, and he realized that the wine bottles on the counter were all empty. Fearing that she would go to the refrigerator and see the bottled blood he kept in there, he tried to head her off.

“Hey, baby,” he said, rushing toward her. “I’ve been a terrible host. You shouldn’t have to hunt for something to drink by yourself.”

“It’s your party. You shouldn’t have to worry about entertaining me. All your friends are here,” she replied and opened the refrigerator before he could stop her.

Now, the open refrigerator door blocked him from reaching her. Panicked, he tried to get around the kitchen island when he saw that Isabelle had already reached the other side. She cast him a quick look that assured him that she was aware of what he was worried about. Isabelle was Samson’s daughter, the oldest of his three children, and was mated to Orlando, a pure-blooded vampire, who had once been a bouncer at the Scanguards-owned nightclub Mezzanine. Now, he owned the club.

“I can recommend the chardonnay,” Isabelle said, making Catalina turn her head.

“I’m not really a wine person,” Catalina replied. “I was just looking for some juice.”

“I doubt you’ll find any in Benjamin’s fridge.” Isabelle gave a soft laugh while trying to move so she would partially obstruct Catalina’s view of the contents.

But Catalina already reached into the fridge. “Looks like there’s some tomato juice. Not my favorite, but it’ll do.”

Fuck! She’d discovered the bottled blood. This was not how he was planning to tell her that he was a vampire. Hell, he hadn’t planned anything yet.

“That stuff is still in there?” he said quickly, now only a step away from her. “That’s from last year. That’s off.”

He squeezed past her and rummaged through the bottles, pushing the bottles of blood all the way to the back of the shelf. Luckily, there were a few bottles of sparkling water stashed next to the bottles of white wine somebody had brought for the party. He snatched one and turned around to Catalina.

“All I’ve got is water.”

“I’ll take it,” Catalina said, and he handed her the bottle. Then she pointed to the refrigerator. “What was all that tomato juice for? Bloody Marys?”

“Yeah, it was for a birthday brunch for… uhm,” he said, while his gaze drifted to his guests. “Buffy.”

Buffy, who was human, but whose stepfather was a pure-blooded vampire, had just stepped into his field of vision. He noticed her run her eyes over Zach in a way he’d never seen her do. The object of her interest suddenly turned as if he’d felt her gaze on him. Had Buffy been Caucasian, she might have blushed if he interpreted her nervousness correctly, but her dark skin hid any signs of embarrassment.

“There,” he pointed her out to Catalina. “The pretty black girl.”

“You have a lot of friends,” Catalina commented.

Benjamin closed the refrigerator. “I know. We actually all work together at Scanguards. Even the triplets, though they work in the New Orleans branch of Scanguards.”

“Are you saying they’re all bodyguards?”

“Most of them.”

Isabelle put a hand on Catalina’s arm. “How about I introduce them all properly?”

“Thanks, Isa,” Benjamin said, grateful that she came to his aid. “But I can do that.”