by Dannika Dark
This place was a little ambitious of him. Fancy dresses, expensive jewelry, jazzy music, women who didn’t have weapons strapped to their thighs.
“Looks like you weren’t the only one who made reservations on Valentine’s. But why would you pick a place called Denial?”
Christian sat back and crossed his legs. “It had a nice ring to it.”
My lip twitched.
“Go on and say it, lass. I can see the joke festering in your eyes.”
“Are you going to order the empty plate, or is hunger still your denial?” I chortled and admired the Rolex on his fine, strong wrist. Then I skimmed over the rest of his attire, a crisp white button-up beneath a charcoal vest and matching trousers. He’d taken off his leather gloves and put them in the pockets of his trench coat, and though he wore a tie, it was slim and tucked beneath his vest. All he needed was a newsboy hat and a pocket watch to complete the period-piece ensemble that stepped out of last century. “When is the last time you went out on a date? And that Chitah you asked out while you were spying on me doesn’t count. I mean a real date.”
“1935.”
“Your clothes look older.”
“A man never throws out a good suit.”
“I hope he throws out his good underwear.”
When the host immediately seated a couple who’d just walked in, Christian launched to his feet.
I stood up and grabbed his arm. “It’s not worth it.”
He turned so slowly that my belly did a little dip. “I want more with you than a few dalliances. I can’t pretend to know what it is you require in a man, but I’ll not let you starve to death on my watch.”
I stifled a laugh as he turned to the host.
Christian’s patience was wearing thin, and I watched curiously to see how it would play out. “We’ve been sitting here sucking air while you’ve seated others. Is there something I’m not aware of in the reservation process, aside from you checking off my fecking name and giving us a table?”
The older man with the caterpillar mustache sighed before leaning in and lowering his voice. “Sir, we’re a respectable establishment. Interbreeding makes people… uncomfortable.” He made an insincere effort to appear apologetic.
Christian looked over his shoulder at me, obviously seeking my opinion on the matter.
“I’ve changed my mind. It’s worth it,” I said, giving him the all clear to make a scene.
Some of the elite didn’t like mixed couples of different Breeds. Christian was clearly a Vampire, and as far as this guy was concerned, I wasn’t.
Christian reached across the podium and snatched the man’s tie, jerking him forward. “I’ll thank you kindly to seat my companion and me at the finest table in your establishment. If I so much as see the bathroom or kitchen door, I’ll throw you in a pool filled with eels.”
The man instantly snapped his eyes shut, avoiding Christian’s Vampire charm. “Sir, it’s manager’s orders. My hands… they’re tied.” Sweat beaded on his pasty brow. “It’s a pleasant evening, and we want to keep it that way. Most of our customers, as you can plainly see, are the same Breed.”
Christian slammed the man’s head against the clipboard. “You spineless little gobshite. I should drain you.”
The man clapped a hand on his neck and reared back. “How dare you threaten me!” He searched his immediate surroundings, hoping someone had overheard.
I found this all too amusing and simply admired Christian’s bravado.
Christian straightened his vest, a baleful look on his face. “I just cleaned this jacket, so you’re lucky this time.”
The man smiled willfully.
Christian eased up to him, his tone thick with malice. “But one random night, when you’re walking to your car after a long day seating customers, you keep an eye on those shadows. I don’t forget anyone who does me a bad turn. And on that note, we bid you a good evening.”
The man stood slack-jawed, and Christian’s dark laugh as he turned away made the man clutch his throat again.
“Well played,” I murmured, passing a couple of Chitahs. “I thought for a minute you were going to start a war for me.”
Christian held the door open. “You’ll know when that day comes.”
I tucked my hands in my pockets and turned away from the street. “Maybe the universe is telling us to go home,” I said, trying to thaw out his mood.
“The universe can shove it up its arse. Now we go to plan B.”
“Explain.”
“I drop you off in an abandoned building and run an errand.”
“Errand?” I just bet. “If this is some kind of joke where you go home and I’m left sitting in a warehouse, think again, Vamp.”
Christian rolled with laughter. “Jaysus wept. Have you no faith in me?”
“Sure. I trust Vampires all the time.”
He put his arm around me and led us to his car. “I promise I’ll have you home in one piece.”
“Are you sure about that?”
He gave me a guarded look. “A promise is a promise.”
When Christian Poe said he was going to drop me off in front of an abandoned building on Valentine’s Day, he was not kidding around. Shortly after leaving the restaurant, we drove to the other side of the Breed district, and Christian let me out of the car in front of a tall building.
“Wait here, and don’t go inside,” he instructed me.
Really?
Waiting out in the cold lasted five minutes before I tested the unlocked door and entered the ten-story building. The main lobby had trash on the floor and nary a place to sit my cold ass. I tried all the doors, but they were locked.
Except one—the staircase. Curious and bored, I let my adventuresome spirit take hold and went up. The stairwell was a lot warmer than the lobby, and the exercise would not only get my blood pumping but also kill some time. The doors on each floor were locked, so I kept going up until I reached a narrow staircase that didn’t have a landing at the top, just a heavy door with a broken lock.
I stepped outside and looked around, my breath heavy and feet sore. The stars shimmered above me like tiny diamonds pressed against black velvet. And oh man, what a view. It was a tremendous vantage point for admiring the cityscape. Some parts of Cognito were artsy and others a slum, but all districts were equal in beauty from the rooftops.
While turning in a circle, I couldn’t help but notice a large mattress. I scouted the roof, wondering if I’d barged in on someone’s makeshift home. What threw me were the black satin sheets tucked around the edges and a deep-red blanket folded on top. And then as I stepped closer, I noticed an ice bucket with a bottle of vino inside and two wineglasses sitting on cloth napkins.
Ah. So this was his master plan. Impress me with fancy dining and then… well, what exactly? Get me drunk on an abandoned rooftop? Unbridled sex? Holding me beneath the stars and declaring his everlasting love and affection?
It had to be the sex. Christian wasn’t the cuddling type.
While I debated on whether to be insulted or flattered, I sat on the mattress and waited as the minutes ticked by. At least my boots were warm. I folded my legs beneath me and wondered what Christian was doing. Was he in a club somewhere, hitting on a busty blonde and having a private laugh about leaving me out in the cold? He had a dark sense of humor, and I wouldn’t put it past him.
My heart ratcheted when the hinges on the door squeaked. Christian’s dark shape took form as he kicked the door shut behind him.
“Did you really have a reservation at the restaurant?” I asked.
He gave me a cross look, a white cloud of smoke escaping his lips as he strode toward me with a black bag.
“What’s that?”
Christian set the large thermal bag in front of me, and a savory smell hovered in the air while I unzipped the top.
I drew in a deep breath, my mouth watering.
“Angus burgers, onion rings, and hot coffee,” he said in that lovely Irish brogue. “I de
cided against milkshakes since I wasn’t sure if I’d find you frozen to death.”
I pulled out a thermos and then another. “Where did you get these?”
“Your friend Betty sold them to me from her personal stash.”
Good old Betty.
The first thing I did was shove an onion ring into my mouth before they got cold. “I like this plan better than fine dining. The less silverware the better.”
He removed his coat and draped it across the ledge. “Burgers on a rooftop,” he muttered. “You should strive for better things in life.”
“Should I remark about the mattress, or do you want to sit down and join me?”
His lip twitched as he sat down, one leg folded underneath him and the other foot propped on the ground. To my surprise, he didn’t balk about eating. Vampires don’t require food to survive and often decline it entirely. Maybe he joined me so I wouldn’t be eating alone, but I watched him unwrap his burger and take a monstrous bite. After a few quiet moments, it felt like a real date. His eyes sparkled a little, and I was certain he made a grunting sound as he ate more. Christian reminded me of a well-mannered man who was starving to death and yet trying to retain his social graces.
“You can lick your fingers,” I said. “I won’t tell anyone.”
He flashed me a hot look and wiped his mouth and beard with a paper napkin.
I couldn’t help it. Maybe it was him pulling out all the stops, or maybe it was that damn suit, but I got all tingly looking at Christian. The way he hungrily chewed on that burger reminded me of his voracious appetite in bed. And yet there was also an indescribable feeling coming over me… like déjà vu. My thoughts drifted back to the night when Christian and I had sought shelter in an abandoned building in the Bricks, but when I tried to remember our conversation, a shooting pain burrowed in my head.
I winced and set my burger down.
“Something wrong?” he asked.
“No. I was just trying to remember something.”
His jaw tensed. Christian slowly opened a thermos and sipped the steaming coffee.
“Why did you think a fancy restaurant would impress me?”
“In my experience, you don’t impress anyone by pinching pennies.”
“We met in a dive where I was scavenging for food. I’m obviously not a cocktail-and-lobster kind of girl. This is all you had to do. Burgers, a rooftop, and… okay, we have to discuss the elephant in the room.”
When I patted the bed, he looked genuinely disappointed with himself.
“I overshot with the mattress.”
I snorted. “I bet hauling it up those stairs was a logistical nightmare.”
“Praying to the heavenly angels that it wouldn’t rain was another. Then I would have had to go to plan C.”
My brows popped up.
“And you’re not finding that one out,” he said.
“Viktor’s van?”
Christian would never take me to a hotel and make me feel like a prostitute. No, he would seduce me with wine and a Tempur-Pedic on a rooftop. It was almost funny. Almost. But his unconventional courtship also appealed to the romantic side of me, because Christian knew what I liked.
After I finished my onion rings, I wrapped up my half-eaten burger and stuffed it in the sack. “That’s all I can manage.”
“You’re shivering,” he murmured, moving the paper bag aside and scooting closer. When he wrapped his arms around my shoulders, I warmed from the inside out. Meanwhile, my mind warred with what I knew about Christian before Houdini versus what I knew about him after. He seemed like two different men.
“I understand,” he said, his soft voice wrapping around me like a blanket.
“What do you mean?”
“The headaches. I have a keen awareness of what you’re doing when we’re together. You’re trying to remember all those missing pieces. That’s why I’m doing all this, Raven. I’m trying to fill those holes with new memories.”
“I always wanted a guy who would fill my holes.”
Christian threw back his head and laughed. I loved the sound of it up close, and my toes actually curled.
“Jaysus, woman. You’re a handful.”
I tilted my head back, my breath skating across his neck. “I’m also a mouthful.”
His breath hitched, and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed down his reaction. I was so close to his neck that the heat coming off his skin warmed my cheek. Viktor had mentioned how certain things in my life would trigger memories of the past, and for me, that trigger would always be Christian’s blood. I remembered the tantalizing flavor and his sweet blood coursing through my veins like fire.
When Christian dipped his chin and looked down at me, he gave me a hot look.
Without any preamble, his mouth brushed against mine, searching for permission. His tongue swept across the seam of my lips, and my hand slid around him, discovering the hard planes and ridges of his body beneath his vest.
My lips parted, and Christian delivered a smoldering kiss. His rough hand held the nape of my neck as he caged me with his heat. I suddenly felt feverish, every stroke of his tongue inserting fantasies into my head about him lifting my skirt. The kiss was hot and sensual, and I moaned as my heavy boots shifted in my attempt to straddle him.
But Christian wouldn’t allow it. He held me still, not allowing me to take it to the next level. When I nibbled on his lower lip in protest, his hand slipped inside my coat.
“Your breath is atrocious,” he growled, delivering another crushing kiss.
Served him right for buying me onion rings.
His tongue pressed against mine, the rhythm unraveling me at the seams. Damn him and that sexy beard. I couldn’t get enough of his whiskers, his hands, his mouth. The kiss lengthened, burning like a timeless fireplace. Memories of sex with Christian flooded my mind, and yet there was an undercurrent in the way he kissed me that wasn’t sexual at all. I felt an intimate connection threading between us that overpowered my senses. It was the strongest thing I’d ever felt, and it consumed me.
Suddenly, I got scared. “Wait,” I said, breaking the kiss. I reared back, panting and out of breath. My heart was racing a mile a minute, and I still couldn’t shake that intense feeling.
His hand fell to my thigh, and he squeezed it. “What has you spooked like a horse? Is it because of Gem?”
My eyes flicked up. Could he see right through me?
I’d lost my mother at an early age, one of many reasons I’d pushed my father away as I got older. Deep down, I was afraid of losing him too. Now that I finally wanted a relationship with him, my life as an immortal had forced me to let go. Christian was addressing another elephant in the room—my fear of intimacy. Part of it was due to my stolen memories, but I was also afraid of love. What if he didn’t love me back? What if he died? My job wasn’t the only thing at stake; there was also my heart to consider. I still felt as if I didn’t know Christian well enough to give him more.
Not yet.
“Is that how you’re going to live your life?” he went on. “Sabotaging relationships because you’re afraid?”
“Don’t flip this around on me when you’re the one who’s always scoffed at the idea of love.”
“That’s because it’s a canker sore in life, and I know the damage it can do.”
“But you’re still pursuing me.”
“Aye.”
“Even though it could end in ruin.”
“Aye. But I’m not running from it because I’m afraid of death. There are things far worse in this world than death.”
I wiped my mouth. “Like keeping our relationship a secret?”
His black eyes narrowed.
I stood up, cold from losing the heat of him. “You dodge me whenever someone walks into a room. We’re constantly looking over our shoulders, worried someone might pick up on an emotional imprint, a smell, or even a look. How long can we keep doing this?” I turned away to face the city. “Is it worth our jobs?”
I was torn between keeping it casual or getting serious. How long could I live a lie? Eventually the lies would catch up with us.
“I’ve always lived my life in the open,” I said, gathering steam again. “All this cloak-and-dagger shit is wearing thin, and if I’m going to take a man in my life, then maybe I want someone who isn’t afraid to fight for it. If something isn’t worth fighting over, maybe it’s not worth having.”
Christian rose, and I felt the heat of him behind me. “Are you asking for me to fight Viktor on something you’re not even sure you want? You asked me to go slow, and we’re coasting along in the slow lane. I don’t know how much you’ve changed since…”
I walked to the ledge and sat down, unable to straddle it with my long skirt on. “You intentionally picked a restaurant that no one on our team goes to, didn’t you? It wasn’t to impress me—it was to hide.”
Christian approached the ledge and warily glanced at the street below. “What would you have me do?”
I raised the collar of my trench coat up to shield my neck from the wind. “I don’t know. I’m not trying to lay any blame on you, but I wish… I just wish I had my memories back. Maybe then it would be an easier decision.”
He rocked on his heels, his hands in his pockets. When he spoke, his words were quiet and to himself. “So that’s what it’s going to take.”
“Why do you even like me to begin with? Infatuation with a crossbreed? My sparkling personality? My kill ratio?”
Without warning, he grabbed my hand and pulled me to him. I teetered on my tiptoes as his arm snaked around my waist and he cupped my neck. “You’re timeless.” He looked at my blue eye and then my brown. “Your eyes are like heaven and earth, and I’m trapped somewhere in between.”
I found myself unable to breathe. Since when was Christian so tenderhearted? I enjoyed his dark sarcasm, his sexy swagger, the way he could take down any man with his bare hands, and most especially the way he smelled when I was right up close. But all these soft words had me dumbfounded. Part of me wanted to stab him in the throat with my dagger, fearing this was a joke. The other part wanted him to lift me in his arms and carry me away.
