AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She got busy in the kitchen, making more food and trying to ease her nerves with orange juice. When she turned off the stove, a figure stumbled out of one of the bedrooms, carrying a groan that was half in agony and half in confusion. His hands rubbed his face before one scratched the back of his head, lifting the hem of his shirt to reveal those tight, rippled abs. She should be familiar with it but could only be dumbfounded at the sight of Edmund like this: rumpled, heavy with slumber, and so far from his flawless image and just so…bare. The sheer sexiness of this new man slammed into her senses and had her staring as he wandered into the kitchen.
“Pancakes. Do I smell pancakes?” he rumbled, his voice drenched with a longing that twisted her insides. “Why do they smell so good?”
Her heart skipped a beat, then galloped so fast. Her mouth went dry and made it difficult to answer, but she swallowed and tried.
Colleague. Acquaintance. Co-painter. Sometimes friend. That’s it.
“Yes. I made a lot. Eat up. And try this.” She placed a glass in front of him when he sat down. “I don’t know if vampires get hangovers, but…”
He gulped the glass without asking its contents, an act of trust that caught her off guard. He speared a stack of pancakes and shoved them in his mouth, groaning again. Then, his steady blue gaze pierced her.
“This is amazing. You are amazing, Alexa.”
“Thank you.”
His sincerity weakened her knees, but his next words stilled her.
“What happened last night?”
The maple syrup made a glugging sound in a small bowl she was preparing, but he took it from her and continued pouring it. Electricity hummed at their fingers brushing, but she flexed hers in secret and pretended it didn’t happen. Then her brain scrambled.
“You don’t remember?” she asked. He peered at her, then shook his head. She tilted her head, refusing to let the image of a stray kiss back in, hot, hungry, and threatening to drive her insane. “You made a fool of yourself.”
The words were enough to clear his study as his body snapped ramrod straight. A haughty expression came on. “I don’t ever make a fool of myself.”
And there was the Edmund she knew, no longer vulnerable. She latched on to it and teased.
“So, you don’t remember dancing on top of a table and singing your lungs out?”
The man gawked at her as if she had multiple heads. “Please tell me you’re jesting.”
His mortification was so apparent that she didn’t have it in her heart to keep misleading him. Satisfied that last night’s ongoings were safe, she smirked. “I’m jesting. What do you remember?”
He continued eating, then pondering. “Drinking too much. Sharing stories. Truth or dare. I walked you home…that’s it.”
Relief coursed through her in waves.
“Don’t stress over it,” she said lightly. “You couldn’t go home, so I brought you upstairs. You slept like a baby.” All of which was true.
“Oh. Well, thank you for last night and this. As I said, you are amazing. You are…not alone.”
Small fingers tugged on her leg. But it was Edmund’s attention on the boy that had her freezing, torn between the habit of keeping Archie out of other creatures’ presence and this newfound faith she put on this man. She watched rigidly as her boy wandered over to peek at the vampire more closely, then hopped on the stool one seat away from him. Archie held out his plate, then waited patiently as the staring Edmund snapped out of his reverie and poured some maple syrup on the remaining pancakes.
“Thank you,” Archie said promptly.
“You are welcome. Hey there, little man.”
“I’m not so little.”
“Oh.” Edmund blinked, then recovered. “Well, then, hey, big man. What’s your name?”
“Archie. Who are you, and why are you here?”
“I’m Edmund. I’m Alexa’s friend. I was having trouble getting home last night, so your mother was kind enough to share her extra bedroom.”
“I see.” Archie studied him openly, and Edmund did the same. After a while, the boy turned to her. “Mama, is he your friend?”
Pride filled her at the way he verified instead of trusting words immediately. She nodded.
