Page 15 of My Blind Date is a Vampire

“That old hag never gives up. I don’t know why she doesn’t start charging for her services. She’d be as rich as Midas if she did.” Rachel gave me a probing look before asking, “This thing between the two of you, is it serious?”

I shrugged, trying to be as nonchalant as possible, but the movement came off as jerky. A small part of me was still feeling defensive. I’d already lived through my family disapproving of Toby, and my subconscious was already drawing up conclusions of its own. If Rachel didn’t like him, there was a chance my family wouldn’t either. Was my taste in men really so deplorable?

“We’ve only been on one date so far, so I wouldn’t say that we’re getting serious, and I’m certainly in no rush to pick out a wedding dress yet.”

“But you like him more than you’re letting on, which means that you want him to stick around long enough to start entertaining thoughts of picking out a wedding dress,” Rachel pointed out, tipping the neck of her beer bottle in my direction.

“Cards on the table? Yes, I like the dude, and my feelings are quickly tipping beyond just mere affection and lust. But I also love having you as a friend, so I want to know if I’ll have to pick between you and Landon because it doesn’t seem like you’re as unconcerned about me dating him as you’d like me to believe.”

Rachel scrubbed a hand over her face to hide her grimace. “You don’t have to pick sides, Jules,” she said after a long pause. “Landon Grayson and my family haven’t always been cool with each other. He might rub my fur the wrong way, but we’ve learned to co-exist with each other over the years. It’s been a while since I’ve had a close gal pal, and I guess I’ll have to share you with the dang leech.”

She sighed and placed a finger over my mouth when I opened it to tell her to stop with the name-calling. “You’ll have to get over the insults, sweetheart. I’m sure Grayson has a few choice names for us as well. There’s no changing it, but I do promise to be on my best behavior if we’re ever around each other.”

Scowling, I spoke with her finger still on my lips. “Any chance you’ll tell me why you hate him so much?”

“Hmm. Maybe, if you manage to ply me with enough drinks to loosen my tongue.” She snickered and proceeded to drink the night away as if prohibition was coming back in the morning. I was afraid that I would have to drag her drunken self home at the end of the night, but she must have had the metabolism of Dionysus himself because she somehow remained as sober as a monk, even challenging the bikers by the pool table with me as her unwilling sidekick. Not only was I terrible at pool, but every time Rachel made her shot and then rubbed it in their faces, I was terrified that we would end up in the hospital. Lucky for me, the bikers were too busy checking us out to mind that Rachel was cleaning out their pockets.

I called it quits around ten-thirty, not wanting to be too tired for my date with Landon the next day. When I offered her a ride, Rachel declined. She and one of the bikers had been making eyes at each other all night, and she whispered to me with a naughty twist of her bright red lips that she was going with him for the night.

CHAPTER 17

Saturday morning, I was up with the birds despite crawling into bed a little after midnight the night before. Part of it was because my internal alarm clock was already used to waking up early for work, but it was mostly because I was so excited to finally see Landon again. I breezed through the house chores—loading my dirty laundry into the washing machine and distractedly picking up my bedroom, the kitchen, and living room. There really wasn’t much to clean since I lived alone, and by nine, I was impatiently checking my watch even though I knew Landon said he’d pick me up at ten.

While I waited, I skimmed through the book I’d bought at The Book Coven on Mystic Cove’s history. Sadly, there wasn’t much written about the supposed witches who came to live in the town after fleeing from the witch trials in Salem and other towns.

I jumped out of my seat when I heard a car pull into my driveway, butterflies exploding in my stomach. “It’s open,” I called out when Landon knocked at my door a short while later as I buckled up my sandals.

I sensed his presence before I even saw him walk in. The air in the living room became charged as if it were directly affected by Landon’s magnetism and charisma. I felt like a schoolgirl experiencing her first crush all over again, but I tried to play off my reaction with cool indifference instead of jumping into his arms the moment he came into view dressed in a black shirt—the first two buttons undone—and grey slacks. Mirrored aviators hid his eyes from view, but I could feel his gaze swallowing me up, just as his presence seemed to suck up all the space and air in the room—or perhaps that was me just forgetting to breathe again.

“Hey, you!” I chirped, walking around the couch to stand in front of him. Landon wasted no time pulling me in for a kiss that left me breathless and seeing spots in my vision when he was done. I lay my head on his broad chest and breathed in his crisp scent to center myself. How his heart was not pounding as hard as mine was a mystery.

“I’ve thought of nothing else but doing that since I left you at your front door on Monday.” His chest vibrated with each word he said, leaving the palms of my hands feeling all tingly.

“A girl could get used to these kinds of greetings,” I murmured into his chest and raised my head to look up at him. He looked so sexy with his unshaven scruff. I loved the rough texture under my palm as I caressed his sharp jawline. And as much as he looked like a GQ model with his shades on, I did not want to see my own face reflected at me when I looked into his eyes. I snatched the glasses away and threw them on the couch.

“Hey,” I said in greeting again, wrapping my hands around his shoulders and rising to my tiptoes.

“Morning, beautiful.” Landon’s voice was a low growl, his hands a hot brand on my waist that permeated through the fabric of my satin blouse. In the back of my mind, I knew that if we kissed again, it was likely that we’d wind up naked on the couch and missing out on the trip to Landon’s gallery, but I didn’t care all of a sudden.

As if he could read my mind, Landon hoisted me up and claimed my lips in one seamless move. I wrapped my legs around his waist and moaned into his mouth. He laid me down on the couch, settling between my legs and kissing me like a starved man. There was a frantic rustling of clothes as we both worked to get rid of each other’s tops without stopping the kiss. I’d have no way of knowing, but I was pretty sure that ambrosia tasted like Landon Grayson’s kisses.

He trailed wet kisses along my jawline and down my neck until he found my sweet spot in the crook of my neck, right where it curved into my shoulder. He sucked and licked at the spot while I cried out in pleasure and grew more and more aroused.

I felt the scrape of his teeth on my neck and drew in a sharp breath at the pleasurable pain that rocked through me. Before I knew what was happening, a cool blast of air hit my naked torso. The sudden loss of Landon’s body heat was the least confusing thing, however, because within the space of a second, Landon was across the room, his back turned to me as he buttoned up his shirt.

“Wha—” Something warm trickled down the side of my neck, and when I touched it, there was a slight sting and my fingers came away stained with blood. “What the heck?” My head was swimming with a myriad of emotions, mostly confusion warring with lust.

“I apologize. I didn’t mean to bite you, but I lost control for a moment.” I flinched when Landon wiped away the blood trailing down my neck with his thumb. I did not hear him approach and take a seat next to me. His glasses were back on, but his face was scrunched up in a tortured expression.

Wanting to put him at ease, I smiled and squeezed his thigh in reassurance. “It’s fine, no harm done. Anyway, it’s not like I don’t bite during sex either, although I’ve never drawn blood before.”

“It’s not fine,” he insisted. “What if I’d pierced your carotid artery and—” He cut himself off abruptly, his nostrils flaring and Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed. “This was a mistake. I don’t think I’m strong enough to do this. I’m sorry, Julia, but I have to go before I hurt you more than I already have.”

My heart sank when he got to his feet. “Landon, wait!” I grabbed onto his wrist and tugged him back, not that I was actually strong enough to keep him from leaving if he really wanted to. Thankfully, he remained rooted to the spot, but he kept his back to me. “Don’t you think you’re being a little overdramatic about this? It’s just one tiny bite that will hardly leave a mark behind. It was an accident and you apologized for it. Are you really going to throw away this thing between us without giving us a chance to explore it? Or are you just using this as an excuse to break things off? If you’re not interested, or if you realized that maybe I am not what you want, have the guts and decency to say so.” My voice broke and caught on a sob. I wrapped my arms around myself, missing my blouse, but Landon must have thrown it somewhere across the room.

“Julia, it’s nothing like that. I swear. It’s just that…” He trailed off, running his fingers through his hair in an impatient gesture. While he fought to find the words he wanted to say to me, I put my blouse on and went into the kitchen for a glass of water. I almost dropped the glass when I turned away from the sink and found him standing right in front of me.

“Jeez, what are you? A cat?” I exclaimed, holding the glass of water to my chest in a white-knuckled grip.

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