AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No, I think you’re right that your family will be more polite in a public restaurant than in the limo driving over like the original plan.”
“Yeah, though now Jean-Claude rented a limo to impress my family and they won’t be riding in it.”
“If the dinner goes well, maybe they can ride back in the limo with you,” Ethan said.
“Maybe,” I said.
“I think Milligan and Custer should drive your family to the restaurant,” Nicky said.
“Because I’m not dating either of them,” I said.
“That and they both look more like your father expects security guards to look.”
“He’ll like that they’re ex-military,” I said.
“He doesn’t seem like he was ever in the military,” Nicky said.
“He wasn’t, but he’s just very guy-guy, so he likes people who don’t make him think too hard about what’s traditionally female and traditionally male.”
“Wait, I thought your dad raised you to be a tomboy?” Ethan asked.
“He did, he just assumed I’d grow out of it and turn into a girl at some point.”
Nicky put his arm around my shoulders and said, “You look like a girl to me.” He kissed the top of my head and drew in a deep breath, gathering the scent of me the way other men would look at you. I’d thought it was kind of creepy when wereanimals did it at first, but now, years later, it was comforting. I’d even started doing itmyself. I wanted to do it now but wasn’t sure how much my makeup would stand up to rubbing against his shirt. I compromised and reached up for his hand on my shoulder and breathed in the scent of his skin, though hands smell more of everything you’ve touched. If I really wanted to huff him I’d go for the back of the neck or bury my face against his bare chest. I pressed my mouth against the back of his hand and left a very careful lip print against his skin. It made me happy to see my mark on him.
He made a sound that was halfway between a growl and a purr. If someone had been close enough to hear they’d have looked around for an animal, a very big cat. I hugged him tighter to me. “I’ll have to wash it off before dinner.”
“Why?” I asked, loosening my arms so I could look up at him.
“If people see it they’ll ask questions.”
“I don’t care about strangers, and my family knows we’re dating.”
“It’s usually you that wears my marks,” he said, leaning down.
“Your marks are a lot more fun than lipstick,” I said, and shivered a little as I thought about his teeth marks decorating my body. I leaned up, still shivering, to meet his lips in another careful kiss.
He drew back and said, “When all this is over I want to kiss you like normal and spread that damn lipstick all over your face.”
“You’ll ruin the makeup.”
“That’s the idea,” he said, and the look on his face made me want to saylet’s do it now and to hell with the dinner, but that wasn’t just me wanting to be with Nicky, that was me being afraid of dinner with my family and Jean-Claude. I couldn’t chicken out.
“Later,” I said.
“You’ll be with Jean-Claude later.”
“I’ll have them do full makeup on me one night just for you,” I said.
He gave me a fierce grin. “No waterproof mascara, I want to see you cry black tears for me.”
I just smiled and nodded. Ethan had to keep us on track to get back in the SUV and head for home to pick up Jean-Claude. I wanted to see my main squeeze, but delay meant delaying the dinner where I introduced my family to him. I loved him and I loved them, and I was about to be put in the middle of all of them.
8
The bright lightsof the Circus of the Damned looked like a flashing neon dawn in the distance; from here we couldn’t see the giant vampire clowns twirling slowly on top and its garish posters advertising the acts inside.See vampires fly!It was our trapeze act under the permanent big top.See the Lamia half snake half woman!Professor Wolf trapped as half man and half wolf reads his latest poetry live for this week only! See the skinless horror of the Nuckelavee!We wouldn’t get to see the front of the building tonight. We didn’t have the time to get caught in the traffic jam that started after dark and continued until the Circus closed for the night.
The first time I’d gone to the Circus it had been helping the police with a vampire-related case, but the first time I saw the underground part of the Circus, where no customers were allowed to go, that was because the old Master of the City, Nikolaos, wanted to see me. I’d tried to say no, but you don’t refuse the Master of the City and live. Jean-Claude had shared the first vampire mark with me to save my life, and the second to save his. The rest, as they say, was history.
