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I reached over and slid my fingers through his dark hair, my heart suddenly full. “We’ll always find each other.”
He raised a dark brow. “Promise?”
“Cross my heart.” I leaned over and kissed him. He kissed me back.
“Road,” he murmured against my lips a couple moments later.
“What about it?” I asked.
“Can’t see it.”
“Good point.” I sat back in my seat and tried very hard to keep my hands off my super gorgeous husband. For now, anyway.
I’d never been to West Virginia before. We seemed to be neck-deep in mossy wilderness, rolling hills, and thick forests, with just a hint of red and orange starting to paint the lush green landscape to accompany the early-October chill in the air.
After what felt like forever, we entered a small town. I eyed it suspiciously through the car window, searching for any witchtastic threats headed directly for us on malicious-looking broomsticks. The only questionable thing I saw was a gigantic statue of a bear in the town square who looked like he’d barely (bearly?) survived a war, surrounded by a massive amount of pumpkins.
“Weird,” I muttered. Well, not the pumpkins. It was October, after all.
Thierry drove down the main street without any comment regarding the benign weirdness of this small town of potential paranormal activity. A tiny grocery store with rotting produce displayed outside, including more festive pumpkins. A tinier hardware store, a barbershop, a gas station. I didn’t see a motel, but I’d bet it would be managed by talking cockroaches.
Thierry must have noted my look of barely restrained underwhelm. “What you see is all a façade to keep humans from lingering. Past the security measures, so to speak, is a thriving community of witches, familiars, and shifters who prefer to keep their true identities secret, just as vampires do.”
“Huh,” I replied. “Well, I guess that makes sense. I get the pumpkins, but what was with the bear statue with half its head blown off?”
“That, Sarah, I do not have an answer for.”
Thierry parked the car at a diner where Alicia had agreed to meet us. I stepped out and took a deep breath, half expecting to smell something unpleasant. Instead, the delicious scent of whatever the diner was serving for lunch today wafted under my nose. Just because I couldn’t eat didn’t mean my sharpened vampire sense of smell couldn’t appreciate it, as well as that of the pine trees and wildflowers that surrounded us.
This town was already full of surprises.
The diner’s interior charmed me immediately. It seemed to be designed by a grandmother who enjoyed gingham, baked apple pies, and gave big, warm hugs.
The only thing strange about the diner was that no one was there, despite it being lunchtime. No one, except an elegant-looking blonde woman at a table in the center of the diner, drinking from a floral teacup. She watched our approach with interest.
“Thierry de Bennicoeur,” she said, her voice as sweet as one of those aforementioned apple pies. “You are a sight for sore eyes.”
“Alicia,” Thierry replied with a nod. “It’s been a long time.”
“Too long.” She stood up, walked directly to him, and gave him a hug.
One that, to his credit, he didn’t return.
She drew away with a smile dancing on her lips, and her gaze slid to me. “And you must be Sarah,” she said.
An aside before we continue. I’d made my peace in the last twenty-four hours about this assignment. Seriously. I wasn’t going to allow myself to be threatened by meeting someone from Thierry’s past. The two of us had gone down this road a couple times before. Me being jealous. Him being jealous. Jealousy…well, it wasn’t a cute look. And at a certain point in one’s relationship, trust had to be established if it’s to be successful. I felt confident that we’d mutually made it over the finish line of that particular marathon.
I trusted Thierry with both my life and my heart.
While Alicia was just as beautiful as I’d expected—with the kind of blonde hair that poets would describe as “spun gold,” eyes like sparkling sapphires, and a body like Pamela Anderson during her Baywatch days—I was deeply relieved that not a single part of me was triggered to physically hold Thierry back from her.
He was with me. I was with him. And I had the shiny rock on my left hand to prove it.
This Alicia chick, however? All bets were off when it came to her intentions. Thus, my ultimate decision to be Thierry’s unofficial chaperone on this business trip. And Blondie seriously needed to cool it with the random hugs if she didn’t want to be personally introduced to my dark side.
For now, I’d be nice. Nice would be my middle name today.
“That’s right.” I smiled and held out my hand. “It’s great to meet you, Alicia.”
