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“Sounds great.” I took my hand back, and the car drove off, leaving the two of us facing each other alone.
He stared for a long moment, almost as if he wanted to say something, but couldn’t. Very unsettling.
“Ready?” he finally asked.
Nope.“Sure.”
He opened the door and ushered me inside the club. We turned down a dimly lit corridor and were greeted by a tall, skinny maître d’. He gave me one look and frowned.
Yep. This is a test.Stark probably wanted to see how I’d handle myself. Public ridicule versus disobeying him.
“Mr. Stark, very pleased to see you. Your usual table is waiting,” said the man.
“You come here a lot?” I asked Stark.
“All the time.”
We were led through the restaurant, which wasn’t packed but had a decent crowd. Everyone was dressed elegantly, sitting around tables with white linens and soft candlelight. I’d never felt so out of place, not even when I went to senior prom by myself. I’d already bought the dress, and I wasn’t about to let my best friend and cheating, no-good ex keep me home because they were going together.
Stark helped me take my seat at a small square table beside a window overlooking the green.
“Thank you.” I set my purse next to the decorative plate with the club’s logo—a tulip with crisscrossed golf clubs—and folded my shaking hands on my lap to keep them from view. “So, did I pass?”
Stark sat across from me, the candlelight flickering in his pale eyes. I just couldn’t get over how different he looked tonight. So handsome.So…human.
“Pass what?” he asked.
“You wanted to see if I’d obey you and actually wear this in public.” I glanced down at my half-exposed girls.
“Wrong. I may only get one night with you, and if that is the case, I wanted to see you in something I can pleasure myself to for many years to come. No pun intended.”
I swallowed a lump in my throat. I hadn’t expected him to say something so…sexual.
He leaned in and whispered, “Also, I do not care what anyone here thinks, and neither should you.”
The waiter showed up, and Stark ordered a bottle of expensive-sounding wine, a steak for me, and some fancy French dish, with the words coco and truck, for himself. Or had he said “van”? I was too nervous to remember.
“Thought you didn’t eat,” I said.
“I do not, but it would be rude to make you sit and dine alone.” He paused. “Also, I admit, I do enjoy the aroma of certain foods sometimes. Once in a while, I bake cookies just to fill the house.”
Vampires were nostalgic. Very surprising. “So, I’m just itchin’ to hear your plan for tonight. What do you have planned?”
“Let’s discuss it after we get some food into you. You must be hungry.”
“I’m fine.”
He tilted his head. “Did you eat after you consumed the pill?”
Oh no.My stomach wobbled. I’d forgotten about the pill, not that I’d planned to take it. Wearing this outfit was one thing, but I did not do drugs.
“I’m too nervous to be hungry,” I replied, sidestepping his question.
He leaned in. “Please tell me you took the pill, Masie.”
I didn’t want to lie and risk losing his trust. Not when we’d come so far, and I needed him to open up about vampire kryptonite.
I personally had my fingers crossed for holy water. I mean, how hard could it be to get the local priest to bless our reservoir? Before we knew it, we’d have purified lawns, holy veggie gardens, and be pumped full of Godly goodness from the tap. Leiper’s Fork and everyone in it would be vampire repellent.
