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“Asked you to do what?” Toni repeated. Eyes still closed, she patted the area around her, mumbling “sunglasses.” He didn’t have the heart to tell her she’d left them back in the room. Smiling, he realized how much he looked forward to helping Toni find the various things she would lose throughout the day.

“Spend the afternoon of your girls’ weekend sleeping by the pool,” he offered.

Her eyes opened then. “Did I ask you? I don’t remember, to be honest . . .”

Alessandra looked at him pointedly.

All he could do was shrug. The only thing he regretted was that she didn’t remember. Otherwise, sitting here in the sun with his woman, regret was the last thing on his mind. He was even, God forbid, lying on a chair next to Kenton.

Imagine, two vampires sunbathing together.

“When you’re done recounting the morning to your girlfriend—”

Toni perked up. “Am I your girlfriend?” She sat up, no longer looking very tired.

“Do you want to be?”

Despite the delighted look on her face, he held his breath, waiting. The love of this woman was the only thing he ever needed.

“Yes. I do,” she said emphatically.

“Then consider it official.”

The smile Toni gave him before sliding back down and closing her eyes would sustain him for the rest of his days. Which would be many, barring some extreme unforeseeable event. Something else they’d need to discuss. Would Toni want to stay human if they remained together?

“So glad we’ll be seeing even more of you,” Kenton said, clearly not glad at all. Or at least, he played it off that way. “More importantly—”

“Nothing could possibly be more important than a future with the woman I love.”

Knowing he’d overdone it, Lawrence laughed at Kenton and Alessandra’s gagging noises, but he’d say it again and again. Toni’s smile told him she wasn’t actually sleeping.

“More importantly, we need to talk about Zach Walsh,” Kenton said. “I forgot to mention yesterday—”

“If he so much as came near either of you,” Lawrence said to Alessandra.

“Just the opposite, in fact. The guy nearly fell over himself to cross the street when we saw him.” She reached for her bag and pulled out a bottle of sunscreen.

“Good,” Lawrence said.

Kenton stood, plucked the lotion from Alessandra’s hands, and squatted down beside her. She pointed to her legs.

“I spoke to the mayor—”

“Nice to have friends in high places,” Lawrence quipped, although his own friendship with the man took the heat out of his accusation.

Kenton ignored him as he lathered Alessandra’s legs. “Which sent Alessandra and I down a research rabbit hole.”

“I got him to take a look at the police report for me,” Kenton boasted.

“From the break-in?”

“Yep. And he confirmed what you suspected. The cash register wasn’t touched.”

“Which Birdie could have confirmed if she and my uncle had a slightly better accounting system,” Toni mumbled.

If Lawrence looked at Kenton like he wanted to kill him, it was likely because he did. “And you didn’t think that was important enough to mention to me last night—”

“Where are they?” Kenton mocked the question Lawrence had asked, more than once, the night before when he showed up at his house, slightly frantic to find Toni.