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“Very well, sir.” The valet popped the trunk and began unloading our luggage onto the sidewalk as a bellman transferred everything to a rolling cart. The valet handed Leo a claim ticket and said, “Dial this number for valet reception whenever you require your vehicle. We will have it waiting for you.” He nodded towards the bellman. “Sean here will take your bags for you.”
Leo took the card and shook his hand. I was pretty sure he was doing that discreet tipping thing he was so good at. “Thank you.” As he opened my door he asked, “My love, are you ready?”
I took his hand and joined him. “Let’s go.”
The bellman followed us over to the front desk and waited for us to check in. Not surprisingly, Leo had reserved the Presidential Suite. We took the elevator, or the lift, as they called it, up to the top floor. After he opened the double doors, Sean rolled our luggage inside and began to offload everything into the master bedroom, as Leo had instructed. Making his way back out front, he asked, “Is there anything else I can do for you?” At least that’s what I think he said. It sounded more like, “Is dare anythin’ else oi can doo for yer?”
Leo did the handshake/tip thing again. “No, that will be all, Sean. Thank you.” He closed the door and looked towards the master bedroom. “There’s an extra bedroom for me adjacent to the loft upstairs.”
“Wait, what? I’m not taking the master. It’s all yours.”
Leo briefly walked into the bedroom and came out with his suitcase in hand. “Nonsense.”
“Nonsense?” I repeated. “What the hell kind of reply is that?”
He walked over to an end table in the seating area, picked up a leather-bound book, and flipped through the pages. “Would you like something from room service?”
That was Leo’s way of saying that it was not open for discussion and I should choose my battles wisely. I didn’t feel strongly enough about our sleeping arrangements to push it any further. Fine by me if he wanted to take the smaller room; you couldn’t say I didn’t offer. I looked at the clock on my phone and quickly calculated the time difference. It was almost midnight in Dublin but only mid-afternoon in Vegas. I contemplated calling Erica but decided against it when I thought about our last conversation. She was mourning the betrayal and subsequent loss of her husband, Jake. Add in raging pregnancy hormones and you had a recipe for an emotional train wreck. I tried being supportive, but she’d pushed me away. She’d turned to Vance instead because she said I reminded her of everything she’d lost. She didn’t think Jake would have ever come into her life had Maria not been obsessed with orchestrating such an elaborate revenge scheme. Erica resented me for pulling her into it. The truth was that Maria got her involved, not me, but she wasn’t exactly thinking rationally in her state, and there wasn’t much I could do about it. She’d said she needed time, so time was what I was going to give her, whether I liked it or not. I wasn’t going to risk losing my best friend because I wanted things to be on my terms.
“No, I think I’ll just take a shower and hit the hay,” I replied. “I’m pretty wiped out from the flight.”
He walked up to me, cradled my head in his hands, and kissed me on the forehead. “Sleep we
ll, my sweet.” He nodded towards the circular staircase. “I’ll be upstairs if you need me for anything.”
His words were harmless enough, but the intent behind them was anything but. He wasn’t the only Empath in the room. My psychic abilities were becoming more pronounced as I approached immortality. Reading emotions had become almost second nature at that point, and Leo’s emotions were screaming lascivious thoughts that made me shiver from the intensity. “Uh…okie dokie.”
Leo’s chuckle echoed throughout the room as he climbed the stairs. “Goodnight, Karli.”
“N-night.”
All righty, cold shower it is!
I woke up the next morning smelling something wonderful, and went out into the living area to investigate. Leo was pacing the room, speaking to someone on the phone. He pulled out a chair at the small dining table and gestured for me to sit. I took a seat and surveyed my options. There were several dishes spread out but one in particular caught my eye. It was piled high with thick strips of grilled meat that looked like they belonged in my mouth. I grabbed a piece and rolled my eyes back into my head as I took the first bite. “Omigod, I think I have to change my panties.”
“What did you say about panties, my love?” Leo joined me at the table.
Shit, did I say that aloud? “Uh…this is really good. Any idea what it is?”
He smirked. “It’s bacon. I thought you liked bacon.”
“I do,” I managed to say around a mouthful of deliciousness, “but this is not bacon. This is heaven.”
He laughed. “I assure you, my dear that is bacon. They cut it from a different part of the pig over here.”
I shoved two more pieces in my mouth. “Well, if that’s true, I’m ruined for crappy American bacon forever. I can’t go back to that after this.”
He grinned as he pushed a bowl of fruit towards me. “Try this.”
I scooped out some honeydew and took a bite. Juices and flavor exploded in my mouth like the Fourth of July. “Sooo sooo freaking good!”
He smiled as he popped a piece of cantaloupe into his mouth. As a vampire, Leo didn’t need to eat food, but he enjoyed the taste of sweet things like fruit or chocolate. “It’s because the food is fresher than you’re used to.” He took another bite. “Where have you traveled before here? You had a passport, so I assumed you’ve experienced some other cultures already.”
I took a bite of steel cut oats swirled with an incredible red berry concoction. “I went to Cancun one year during spring break. There was no culture involved during that trip; just drinking. Lots and lots of drinking.”
“Well, lucky for you, I happen to enjoy traveling. We’ll have to work on adding some stamps to your book.”
“Really?” I murmured around the spoon in my mouth. God, I really wasn’t concerned about table manners right then, was I?
