by Ever Coming
I appreciated him trying to let me off the hook, even when I far from deserved it.
“Please, accept the favor I called in on your behalf.”
“I accept.” I would have been a complete fool not to. I had no idea what, if any conditions this acceptance would carry, but I felt lighter than I had in years. “Can I tour it tomorrow, do you think?”
“Absolutely.” We stopped in front of a very nondescript storefront. If I hadn’t heard the slight sound of music I would have assumed it vacant. “Now on to the important question of the moment: do you like steak?”
5
The little hole in the wall restaurant turned out to be anything but. I had expected it to be a small place with a few tables based on the entrance. The place was ginormous. It was filled with a ton of little rooms, each with only a few tables. I watched in awe as the host showed us to our place. They had left much of the original architecture intact, which explained all the little rooms. At one point in time, this had been a grand home.
The room we were led to was unlike the others I had seen. It had only one table and a floor to ceiling wine rack. I knew absolutely nothing about wine, but even I was impressed. Not that I would be drinking tonight. Even if things were going to work out as beautifully and easily as Jameson indicated they would, I still needed to get a job and a place to live. The whole not having a job thing was actually overly confusing. I’d left Madame Victoria’s office thinking I had one and now I was pretty sure I didn’t. Maybe I did need just one little drink.
“Here we are, sir. Would you like me to bring you your regular?” The host was so very formal, but he knew Jameson well enough to know his regular. This place was so far removed from my experience at the diner, where if you knew someone you teased them or brought it without asking. Goodness, the host even pulled out my chair for me. At the diner you got a good table if your butt didn’t stick to the chair.
“That would be perfect, thank you, Stephen.”
“Lisa will be your server today. Should I send her right in or would you like an appetizer first?”
“Right in would be perfect, Stephen.” Jameson took the seat beside me instead of the one set for him directly in front of me. “The beautiful Ms. Angel is my date for the evening.”
“Very well, sir.” Stephen quickly moved the place setting to where Jameson had moved. “Sorry about the confusion.”
I wanted to kick myself for not paying more attention to the conversation as it was happening. I had been so distracted by my date’s, yes I finally admitted it my myself, he was a date, proximity that I missed the subtle nuances. I had no idea what the confusion was, unless it was the place setting, which was really nothing to be apologizing for.
“I hear they have amazing steak here.” I didn’t miss his attempt at getting me to focus away from the awkward moment and when his arm wrapped behind me as he leaned in to point to the side of the menu where the beef was, he pretty much succeeded. “You should give it a try.”
Feeling his breath on my cheek as he spoke had me fighting not to turn my head slightly to invite a kiss. Of course, then the gig would be up and hopes of a job would be lost. There was no way my kisses would seem anything other than inexperienced. If things looked good tomorrow at the facility, I would only need a job, not the job in question. Then I could date this man beside me, the one who had my stomach in a bunch.
He tapped the menu, probably realizing how lost I was in thought. The menu contained zero prices. Zero prices meant there was no way I could afford any of this, which double sucked because I hadn’t eaten since I got on the bus.
“I was thinking more toward just getting a cup of soup.” They had butternut squash soup and it didn’t sound at all good, but in my estimation it had to be the cheapest. All of the other starters had truffles or lobster, which was pretentious as well as out of my price range. It struck me as odd that the host called them appetizers and the menu called them starters, but Stephen was a host, not a server.
“You haven’t eaten all day and I can hear your stomach growling.” Where was a hole when I needed one? Crawling inside and hiding seemed like a pretty flipping great idea. There was nothing even close to resembling attractive about digestion sounds. Nothing.
“I know but—”
“But what?” His arm guided my shoulder gently. He wanted to see my face. Yeah, I really needed that hole. “Please avoid lying to me about you not being hungry.”
“I was going to say I …” He quirked his eyebrow, his eyes almost daring me to lie. Was he into some of those things Victoria mentioned? If I lied would he spank me? I squirmed the tiniest bit as the thought of his palm on my arse sent warmth through me. I needed my body to pipe down before I threw myself at Jameson. “Fuck it,” I mumbled more to myself than him. I made sure to catch his eyes, so he could see the honesty and frankly embarrassment in my eyes. “I was trying to stay in budget.”
His response caught me off guard. He didn’t laugh. He didn’t show pity. Instead he looked, I dare say angry. It was unsettling, but at no point did I fear him. True, he could kill me in a nanosecond. A twist of my head and boom, broken neck. A bite of my neck and boom, blood drainage. Fast and strong, but also safe. Yes, I was safe with him. Maybe it was a vampire trait to lure in victims?
“You arrived with less than a dollar and you know I know this.” Ugg. I had totally forgotten that his intel had been so detailed. “So I’m not sure if I should be offended you think I wouldn’t want my date to enjoy what she truly wanted off of the menu, or if I should be worried that you are so out of touch that you think a few coins can buy anything here.”
“Arabella gave me a twenty dollar bill.” I lowered my head slightly, the moment too intense. “I was planning to use that.”
“So it was that you thought I wasn’t going to pay?”
Crap. I hadn’t meant to hurt his feelings.
“I didn’t know how this would work.” Because this is my first date and you aren’t even human and you might be my boss. I left all of that in my headspace, trying to not complicate things more than they already were.
“I already told you I wanted this to just be a date.”
“I know and that’s why I didn’t know…” My mouth was running away from me. What is the saying in for a nickel or something? “If it was work, I would assume you had it covered.”
“But as a date, you didn’t know?” I shook my head. “That tells me you are dating the wrong kind of men.”
“I just didn’t know. Can we leave it at that?” My voice cracked.
“Will you order dinner?”
“Heck, after embarrassing me like that I’m ordering twenty seven courses.”
He pulled me into a hug. It was slightly awkward, seeing as we were both sitting in chairs and only our top halves were twisted, yet I wanted to stay in his embrace just like this for pretty much always. His coolness actually seemed to set my body ablaze. I snuggled into him tightly, not wanting to let go, while at the same time needing to make it more than just an embrace. I felt his head move slightly and moved mine as well, hoping to, well, hoping to see and possibly brush against his lips.
“Here is your wine, sir.”
I would have jumped a mile high if I hadn’t been so securely held in his arms. I was so lost in the moment that I hadn’t even remembered I was in a public place, much less that someone had come in.
“Thank you, Lisa.”
“Would you like an appetizer this evening?” I felt tension in his arms, but they still held me tenderly. “I was told this is a date.” The word fell from her lips like poison. It wasn’t like there was a mystery I was there with him in some kind of social manner. I had to see what this woman looked like, but as I inched my head to the side, he caressed my back and my body decided to stay put and enjoy the sensations. It was painfully obvious that my body had far more control over than my brain did when it came to this man.
“You’re dismissed.” His words were curt and to the point. She had pissed him off. Big time.
“Send in Stephen.”
“But…I didn’t mean…” The woman was stammering and I took a sick pleasure in it. This woman I had yet to see, yet vehemently disliked.
“Now.” The command in his left no room for argument.
“Yes, sir.”
I lifted my head, the curiosity getting the better of me and instead of seeing the hussy, for I decided she was that, scamper away, Jameson's lips met mine. They were cold and, unlike the hardness of his muscular body, they were soft. For a moment, our lips just sat there touching, not moving. I don’t know if was because he was waiting for me to let him know it was alright or if he, like me, was awestruck by the sensation.
I decided to go for broke and leaned into his. It wasn’t a bold move by any stretch, but bold for me. He responded immediately and I wanted to crawl on his lap and hold on tight as his lips caressed mine. I found my mouth opening for him of its own accord and that was when he broke the kiss, cupped my cheek, and leaned his forehead on mine. Perfect. That was what this moment was. Perfect.
He mumbled something in another language before breaking our connection and holding up the bottle of wine. “Wine?”
“So we’re going to play pretend you didn’t get all pissy at the waitress for no reason?” I was half teasing and mostly trying to get my mind off of all the things I wanted him to do to me.
“It wasn’t no reason.” He poured me some wine in each of the glasses. I had planned to decline, but never got to that part of the discussion. “She disrespected you and I was planning to ignore it because I have better things to occupy my time.”
My face burned bright at that. Better things. I was hoping those better things included kissing me.
“Your blush paired with your luscious lips is a deadly combination.”
And that only made my cheeks even redder.
“Sir, Lisa sent me in.” Stephen was back before I could embarrass myself fuller and part of me hated him for it.
“Yes, Stephen. Lisa must be under the weather. She was not herself and disrespected my date.” Stephen began to fidget and tap his toe. “She should probably go home for the evening and get some rest. In case it’s the flu starting, best have her stay home to recoup for the next week.”
Jameson somehow managed to reprimand the waitress, get her some unpaid leave and make it sound like he was being kind. It wasn’t fooling Stephen, though. He was doing the look above the eyes so it looks like you are looking them in the eye trick with Jameson.
“Yes, sir. Should I send in Marian?”
“That won’t be necessary. If you have a moment to take Angel’s order.”
I ordered the steak and somehow it morphed into a three course meal. I really was hungry, but even I couldn’t eat it all. It didn’t go unnoticed that Jameson ordered nothing. I knew he wasn’t like me and didn’t eat food, yet it was so easy to forget he wasn’t human.
The silence when Stephen left was deafening. Jameson was just watching me. I don’t know if he was trying to gauge how I was feeling about the kiss or Lisa or something else altogether. I decided to just lay it out there.
“You just had her sent home, just like that. Remind me to never piss you off.” Fine, I laid half of it out there. I wasn’t about to bring up the kiss until he did. I just didn’t know how. Even if it was as easy as telling him I wanted more, there was still the little predicament of him possibly being my boss.
“I imagine I would actually enjoy that.” There was bemusement mixed with mischief on his face. I wanted to nip at the corner of his upturned lip. Or maybe suck on it. Heck, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with it, but my mouth was going to be involved. “You look like you could use a good spanking.”
“Behave.” My words were a lie. I didn’t want him to behave. I wanted him to follow through on his naughty plan. What was wrong with me? A quick change of subject was needed before I decided to get too up close and personal. “You must come here a lot.”
“I do.” He pointed to the wine rack. “They have the best wine selection in the city and keep this room open for me. That is only a small sample of their stock.”
I never understood the wine thing. So much money for so little beverage, but vampires were well known for being connoisseurs.“Impressive.”
“Yet you aren’t impressed.” Busted.
“With the wine, not so much.”
He placed his hand on my knee and this time instead of being the gentleman, he snuck it just under my dress. He wasn’t being grabby and rude, he just let it sit there.
“I’m confused though, why do they keep offering you food if…” I was so stupid. Of course they weren’t offering him mozzarella stick drizzled in truffle oil or whatever pretentious thing they would do to increase the price at a place like this. They were offering him blood. “Ohhhhh, never mind.”
“Yes, some of the courtesans work here.”
I went ridged, his words not at all what I expected to hear. Little bottles of blood maybe? Or possibly blood wine, if that were a thing. But live courtesans, ummm, not so much. I thought of that as behind closed doors and in secret, not in a restaurant anyone could go to.
“They are registered and bill through Madame Victoria and there are safety measures in place.”
“So this place has a lot of vampires.” I wasn’t asking. If there were blood whores, of course there were vamps. “And humans.” Did vampires normally date humans? Was that the reason for this mishmash of culinary weirdness? We die so young, so long term was generally a no go, but I could see the attraction.
“You whisper it as if it was a secret.”
I did? I hadn’t even realized it, but it made sense. Vampires were something people knew about but barely discussed. The proverbial elephant in the room. “People know about us, you know.”
“I know, I just don’t want to offend anyone.”
“Is that why you talk around the whole Bob and Arabella thing and act as if they are two people?”
I was so not prepared to be called out on that one. There were so many reasons for that. I didn’t know what they wanted to share or not share and with whom was a huge component. The other was I didn’t really know enough to say more than they were the same person.
“Maybe.” It came out sounding coy which was far from my intent. I really didn’t completely know why, especially since they trusted and had a relationship with my vampire. Wait? What? How did he become mine, and why did it feel so right?
“Arabella would have told you if you asked.”
“I should ask, then.”
“Or I could tell you.” He gave me a reassuring squeeze on my knee, his hand inching up just slightly.
I kept having the right or the wrong of just letting him tell me bounce around in my head. I didn’t want to break, or cause anyone else to break, any trusts. If Jameson was offering, I had to believe he felt comfortable with it.
“I vote door number two.”
His hand inched up ever slightly. The good girl in me told me to stop him. My body was shouting at me to encourage him to bring it up even higher. I ended up doing neither and waited to see where thing went.
“Bob is my friend and a wonderful man.” Stinks, I got lost in his simple movement that I forgot there was an important discussion to be had. “He has many talents, one of them is performing. He was part of a drag show when I first met him and had quite the fan base from what I saw.”
“So Arabella is a stage name.” That made sense. The dress she wore was over the top fancy for mid-afternoon, and her eyelashes were a few miles long.
“More like a professional name.” So more than a drag performer. If things worked out and I stayed, I planned to see Arabella perform. It would be number one on my to do list after find a place to live, start my job, and boring things such as that.
“So when I go back tonight?”
“I don’t plan on that happening.” His hand began to make the journey my body had been begging him to. Slowly, he caressed his way up my thigh. “I plan on havi
ng you fall madly in love with me and spending the night.” My body was screaming yes at him. My brain was telling me to stop the train, but I wasn’t listening. I wanted this. I needed this. I leaned in hoping he would get the hint and kiss me. Instead, he moved past my lips and pressed his cheek to mine. “Bob may be my good friend, but the last place I want you is sleeping near another man.”
Holy fuck.
“Did you go all cave man on me?”
“Technically I went all possessive vampire, but in a manner of speaking, yes, I did.”
He didn’t give me time to respond. His lips crashed into mine. Gone were the gentle caresses of earlier. He was taking possession and this time when I opened up, offering him entrance, he took it. Lips and tongues collided and exploded as I found myself climbing onto his lap, needing more. I nipped his lip and he mumbled something about self-control before leaning back, leaving me breathless.
“Good to know.” I breathlessly fell forward into his waiting arms and nestled my head into his chest. “Riddle me this. Why me?”
“Why you?” He seemed to be asking himself the same question. “I’ve no idea. I never date employees. With you, though, I feel the need to be near you, to touch you, to make you smile. I have no reason for it and find it quite baffling.” His honesty was refreshing. He wasn’t quoting sonnets or telling me all the things a girl likes to hear. No, he was laying it out there. He had no idea why I was special, I just was. For some reason that had me soaring.
“Good baffling?”
“I have a feeling the best baffling.” He kissed the top of my head before helping me back to my seat. “I have a theory.”
“Care to let me in on it?” He glanced to the side and I watched Stephen come in with far too many plates, explaining why I was no longer in his arms. Stupid dinner.
“Not yet.” He gave me a quick peck on the lips. “but I will.”
6
Dinner was as scrumptious as it smelled. At first, I was self-conscious eating in front of a non-eater, but as the conversation flowed, I became less and less nervous and more and more at ease, enjoying every bite. He regaled me with stories of his time as a human in Europe a few hundred years before I had even taken my first breath. It was still difficult for me to fully absorb the idea that he was so vastly older than I am. I had always been told I had an old soul, but his actually was old.
