by Rose Pressey
“What about locking the door? Jennifer’s in there sleeping.” I adjusted my grip around Jack’s neck. I felt like Scarlett O’Hara. Well, if there was a paranormal version of Gone with the Wind.
“We’ll lock it in a minute. She’ll be okay. I can hear everything anyway. If someone goes near that door, I’ll hear it and be over there in a flash. Remember my new supersonic hearing?” He smiled.
Yeah. How could I forget? He practically read my thoughts now. Something I wasn’t happy about, but he seemed really pleased with his new talents.
Jack kicked open his door, closed it with his foot, and then whisked me across the threshold toward his bedroom. His apartment was set up just like mine, but reversed. Like a mirror image. The living room was to our right, dining room and kitchen to the left, then hallway that led to the bedrooms. The lights were off, but lit candles flickered across the apartment, guiding our way. It looked as if he’d planned this little meeting. He kicked open the bedroom door and carried me across the room. When we neared his bed, he lowered me and my feet hit the floor. I wanted to ask what he’d been drinking, but I didn’t. I’d just enjoy the spontaneous moment, no matter how anxious it made me feel.
Jack stood in front of me and ran his finger along my cheek. “You look beautiful. Your eyes. Your skin. Your hair. Your body,” he whispered.
His touch sucked the air right out of my lungs. I didn’t utter a word. Instead, I gazed into his gorgeous blue eyes. It wasn’t often I was left speechless, but Jack did it to me often.
Jack caressed my arms and traced the outline of my stomach and hips with his fingertips until he came back to a stop at my waist. He lifted the hem of my T-shirt and slipped it over my head. My gaze was fixed on his as I followed his lead and unbuttoned his shirt, then tossed it across the floor. He chuckled, then pulled me closer and continued to run his hands down my bare skin—starting at my cheeks and stopping at my butt, only to bring his hands back up to my chest. My heart thumped wildly. Jack caressed my breasts and I longed to have his mouth on mine.
My hands rested in his hair as he teased my nipple with his thumb. I inhaled his spicy scent and closed my eyes to savor each delicious moment. He pressed his open mouth to my lips and I welcomed his tongue with mine. My hands moved to his hard chest and I traced his nipples with my fingers. The urge to lick his chest and outline his six-pack with my tongue overwhelmed me. I opened my eyes and looked at him, then hesitated with my fingertips on his hard abs. All of this was still new to me—all of this, meaning his body. Plus, it had been a long time since I’d been with anyone until I’d met Jack. It took a while for me to accept that all of this was real. In the back of my mind I was waiting for the curse to return... for it to take Jack away from me. The voice in my head told me not to get too involved. Apparently, I wasn’t listening to that voice.
Jack pressed his hips harder against mine and I let out a soft moan. My boyfriend the vampire. Who’d a thunk it? Heck, I couldn’t believe I had a boyfriend, much less that I was having sex with him. Jack slid his hands down to my pants and eased them to the floor. Then he slipped my panties off and tossed them across the floor somewhere near his shirt. Clothing littered the floor—for a brief moment my obsessive compulsive disorder took over and I wanted to pick them up. Yeah, I had a few minor issues. But then Jack’s hands touching my skin made me mentally say to heck with the clothing.
Jack lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist. My heavy breathing increased as he carried me to the bed and eased me down. The sheets were soft and felt cool against my hot skin. Jack’s touch made my skin sizzle.
Jack climbed onto the bed and the soft light from the window shone across his face, highlighting his chiseled features. I ran my hands through his thick hair again. My gaze was now fixed on his full lips. I needed another kiss and wanted to feel him pressed close to me.
“I have to say, this was unexpected. You surprised me,” I said.
“I wanted to show you I can be spontaneous.” He planted several feathery kisses on my neck.
I smiled. “You succeeded.”
“Are you disappointed?” He stroked my hair.
“No. No. I’m far from disappointed.” I shook my head.
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
Jack eased closer to me. Then a scream rang out. Not just any scream, but a blood-curdling scream. One that I recognized… it was Jennifer.
Chapter Three
How to Date a Demon, Rule #3
Always tell your date how hot they look.
I grabbed my pants and shirt from the floor and jumped into them as I made my way down the hall. Why did the emergencies always happen when I had not a stitch of clothing on my body? Wasn’t that the way it always worked?
Jack and I ran back to my apartment. The door was wide open. I knew I should have insisted that we lock it. My heart thumped in my chest and I feared the worst. Who had broken in this time? The vampires, the werewolves or something even worse? Jack made it to Jennifer’s bedroom door in record time and I wasn’t far behind him.
“Get away from her,” Jack said as he stormed into the room.
Stephen stood beside Jennifer’s bed. She had the covers pulled up close to her as if that would fend him off. Jack moved toward Stephen, closing the distance in one giant step. But before anything drastic could happen, I ran behind him and grabbed his arm. Stephen exposed his fangs. So he was the big bad vampire now trying to scare people with his fangs? Well, Jack had them too and I had claws, so I was sure we could handle his little baby teeth. Stephen hissed as if the sound effects made him scarier. I knew I hadn’t liked that guy from the beginning.
The three of us stood in a showdown until Stephen shifted his gaze and said, “I’m not here to harm her in any way. I just want to talk with Jennifer. She has to listen to me.”
“I don’t have to do anything,” Jennifer said.
I gave Stephen a mocking smile. “You heard her. Now I think it’s time you take your bullying vampire butt and get the heck out of here before we have to show you out the hard way.”
Stephen glared at me as if he was willing me to disappear. Clearly, he wasn’t thrilled with my statement. Well, that was just tough. I wasn’t happy with the fact that he was harassing my best friend. Technically, I guessed I should be a little nicer to him considering I was the reason he was a vampire in the first place, but I couldn’t excuse the fact that he had been playing games with Jennifer. I felt sorry for his wife. Did she know Stephen was a vampire now? There was no way that he would be able to hide it. I wondered how he’d explained his being turned to her.
“She doesn’t want to talk with you, Stephen. Now, I think you need to go.” My jaw tightened and I gave him the evil eye.
“Does Jennifer want me to go? I think she has some say in this matter.” His expression tensed.
“Fine.” I crossed my arms in front of my chest.
He had me there. She could talk to him if she wanted, but it didn’t look as if she wanted anything to do with him.
In the interest of being completely fair, I said, “Go ahead and ask her. I’m pretty sure I know her answer.”
We looked at Jennifer, waiting for her answer. If Stephen made one wrong move, Jack would throw him out with no further discussion.
Finally, she said, “He scared the hell out of me. I woke up and he was standing in the middle of my room. How did you expect me to react?” She looked at Stephen, then back to me. “I thought he was here to suck the blood out of me.”
Even though Jennifer had been dating a vampire, I still hadn’t convinced her that all vampires didn’t want to do that, but she had a point. Some of them still wanted blood straight from the source. Because of that I didn’t know what Stephen would do. We both knew that he hadn’t had an easy time of adjusting to the vampire life. His behavior was erratic.
Jack moved forward and placed his hand on Stephen’s arm. It was as if he was saying, “Go the easy way, or I can make this hard for you.”
/> Stephen looked at Jennifer, then finally relented and allowed Jack to guide him toward the front door. Adios. Jennifer sure had bad luck with guys. If I hadn’t known better I’d think that she had a curse on her love life too.
I followed the men down the hallway. When we reached the front door, Stephen stopped and looked at me, searching my eyes for an answer. For half a second, I felt sorry for him, with his big puppy dog eyes. But for just half a second until I remembered why Jennifer was mad at him in the first place.
“I just wanted to talk with her. I wanted to explain. It’s not what it seems like,” he pleaded.
“I don’t think breaking into a girl’s apartment and scaring her to death is the way to get on her good side.” I let out a deep breath. “Listen, why don’t you give it some time? Maybe she’ll feel more like talking. At least wait until the morning.”
He frowned.
“Oh yeah, I forgot you don’t do sunlight well. Okay, come back some other time then, but use the doorbell, please.”
“But she won’t answer. She won’t let me in.” He was awfully whiny for a vampire.
“I guess that’s the price you’ll have to pay,” I said, closing the door in his face.
Was I being too harsh? I’d never dealt well with cheaters.
I met Jack’s gaze. He smiled, exposing the tips of his fangs. I couldn’t deny that I found that sexy. I was weak, what could I say?
“I guess I’d better go talk to Jennifer.” I gestured with a tilt of my head.
He nodded. “Do you need to be alone?”
“Yeah, we probably need some girl time.” I traced my fingers up and down is arm.
“You make it very hard for me to leave you. Will you come over later?” he asked.
I continued caressing his skin. “I’d love nothing more.”
Jack kissed me on the lips and I watched as he moved across the hall to his place. When I regained use of my jelly-like legs, I went to Jennifer’s bedroom. The only light came from the streetlight outside the window, casting eerie shadows across the room. She sat on the edge of the bed with her knees folded up and her arms wrapped around them. Her face was buried in her knees.
I sat beside her. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” She shrugged her shoulders. “He just scared the hell out of me.”
“Are you sure about what happened at the restaurant? Maybe he is planning a divorce?” I asked.
She looked at me as if I’d just asked her if she was sure she loved chocolate.
I nodded. “Okay, so you’re sure. That was a stupid question. Anyway, I have a feeling he will be back around. The crazy ones always come back.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to talk to him. He broke my heart and I’ll never forgive him.”
“You’re probably going to have to tell him to get lost and stay lost. If that doesn’t work, well, we’ll do something to get him to leave you alone. Now why don’t you get some rest?” I patted her leg.
She nodded and slipped back under the covers. I pulled them up and pushed the blanket up close to her body as if she was two years old and needed to be tucked in. I eased across the room. When I got to the door, I turned around for one last look. I could have sworn I saw her eyes glow red for a split second before she closed her lids to drift off back to sleep. A chill prickled my skin. I chalked it up to my imagination and made my way back to Jack’s apartment. But what if it hadn’t been my imagination?
Chapter Four
How to Date a Demon, Rule #4
Refrain from Satan jokes.
I hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before, but that was no surprise really. I couldn’t get used to Jack’s vampire schedule—I needed to sleep at night. Sure, I was occasionally lured out after ten p.m. by the full moon, but I tried to ignore that nocturnal call as often as possible. Lucky for me, Jack could still go out into the sun since he was only a half vampire. Half the hassle, half the fun. Was there fun while being a vampire? Hmm. Yeah, I guessed Jack would say there were some benefits. As long as he was okay with it. Anyway, he could go out in the sun, he just had to limit the amount, so that meant more nighttime activities.
I was sitting in my office attempting to get at least a little work done. My mind was preoccupied to say the least. I had been so distracted lately that my business was suffering. I really needed to get my matchmaking on and get the nutso paranormal creeps out of my life for good. Call me crazy, but in spite of recent events and lacking business, I felt good about things. It was probably the first time in my life that I’d ever felt that way. Things were going well with Jack. If I could just get things worked out for Jennifer, then everything would be perfect.
I tapped my pen against my large wood desk trying to find a mate for a particularly picky werewolf (no, it wasn’t Lily) when I heard footfalls coming down the stairs. Was it Jack or Jennifer? My question was answered when Jennifer poked her blonde head around the corner.
“Good morning,” she said cheerily.
No glowing eyes, so she certainly looked better. Her smile seemed forced which was unlike her because she was the bubbliest person I knew. Too bubbly at times, especially at this time of the morning.
“Off to work?” I asked.
She hurried over and plopped down in the leather chair that was placed in front of my desk. She leaned her head back against the leather. For a second, she said nothing.
I thought maybe she’d fallen asleep when she said, “I want you to fix me up with someone.”
I almost choked. “You want me to do what?” I gaped at her.
She nodded as if to say, “Yeah, you heard me right.”
“I think it’s best if I get back on the horse, if you will.” She gestured with her hands. “Why wait around? All guys are going to turn out to be losers anyway, so I might as well have a little fun while I can. Someday I’ll be old and collect knick-knacks and sit around and knit.”
I glanced over at my animal figurine collection. What was wrong with collecting things? It was a fun hobby, no?
Jennifer continued, “Maybe I’ll get a bunch of cats, but for now, I want to date. So will you fix me up or not? I’ll pay your fee. Don’t think I want to mooch off you or anything.” She waved her hands.
“Jennifer, I wouldn’t dream of asking you do pay. But don’t you think you need to wait a while? You’d just broken up with Todd when you met Stephen. Both of them turned out to be not that great. Maybe give it some time.”
“I love how positive you are, Rylie. You always try to see the good in people. Saying that they were not that great is like saying Charles Manson is slightly crazy.”
I watched her, waiting for what she’d say next. She did have a point though.
“So, are you going to fix me up or not?” She tapped her fingers against the chair arm.
I released a heavy sigh. What I was about to do was wrong, but I couldn’t say no to her. How would I ever find the right person for Jennifer? That was the reason I hadn’t fixed her up in the past. What if they didn’t get along? Would she blame me? I didn’t want it to ruin our friendship. But after all that we’d been through I wondered if there was anything that could ruin our friendship. We’d been through failed relationships, her mother’s ailing health, and countless other struggles and we still stuck by each other. Heck, she was friends with me even when she’d thought I was some delusional person who thought she was a werewolf.
“Fine. I’ll do it. But let it be on the record that I think this is a bad idea.” The little voice inside my head told me this was not the right thing to do. As usual, I ignored the warning.
She continued and ignored my cautionary advice. “You know what kind of guys I like. You know what I’m looking for.”
That was the thing. I didn’t know what kind of guy she was looking for. Her taste in men was so varied that I had no idea where to begin. I guessed good-looking, nice, and with a job was a good place to start.
She looked at me expectantly.
Finally, I nodd
ed, “Okay. I’ll see what I can do.”
She jumped up with renewed vigor. “Good. Let me know when you find my Mr. Right. I’m off to work.” She waved over her shoulder.
An hour later, a knock sounded on my door. I no longer invited people in without checking to see who it was first. I’d learned that the hard way. I hurried over to the door and eased it open. How long would I be on edge? Would I ever be able to let my guard down? Probably not.
When I opened the door just a crack, a gorgeous guy was standing in front of me. That hadn’t happened often in the past, but lately there were good-looking men all over the place. I definitely wasn’t complaining.
His hair was short and dark with maybe a tad too much hair-styling product. Maybe he’d accidentally poured out too much this morning so I’d overlook it. He wore a dark suit and striped tie. Was he a lawyer? Had Uncle Ernie done something illegal again?
“Hello, are you Rylie Cruz?” he asked with his smooth voice.
I wanted to say, Who’s asking? But that would have been unprofessional.
“Yes, I’m Rylie.” I nodded.
“My name is Neil Allen and a friend of mine recommended Get a Mate. Do I need an appointment to see you? I looked at your website and I was going to set up an online account, but I live so close that I thought I’d take a chance and drop by.”
“You’re looking for a date?” I asked as if I didn’t run a matchmaking service.
He quirked a brow. “Yes. I can come back if it’s a problem.”
I finally remembered to open the door for him. “No, no. Please come in. I’m so sorry. Have a seat.” I gestured toward the leather chair.
“Thank you,” he said, flashing me a perfect smile.
Why couldn’t this guy find a date? What was wrong with him? He was gorgeous. I figured women would be following him down the street. Was he an axe murderer? Did he collect dolls? I pulled out my usual forms and handed them to him. I couldn’t wait to find out more information about him. He had said he lived nearby. Was he a paranormal?
