Page 56 of My Vampire Plus-One

“Doesn’t matter.” He raised an eyebrow. “My…dietdoesn’t allow wine.”

He hadn’t wanted to eat anything at Aunt Sue’s house, either. Given my own food issues, I had no room to judge him for whatever his were, but now I was curious. “What is your diet?” Maybe I was prying, but I’d already told him about my own food limitations, so it only seemed fair.

He leaned in and pitched his voice lower. “Don’t make me say it in public, Amelia. Someone might hear me.”

His reluctance to go into more detail reminded me of a conversation I’d had with Sam a few years ago about a new diet he was trying in the weeks leading up to his wedding. Sam had been mortified that I’d found out about it. Maybe Reggie, like Sam, was more private and self-conscious about his eating than I was.

I had no problem letting it go. “All right,” I said. “Your diet is your business. I didn’t mean to be nosy.”

“Thank you,” he said, sounding relieved. “I’m not sure I deserve your understanding. Not just your understanding about this, but about…everything.” He gestured expansively to himself. “I appreciate it more than you know.” Then he turned so that he was facing me fully, his eyes so soft and full of what I could easily have let myself believe was genuine affection my heart stuttered. “And I appreciateyou, for giving it to me.”

He leaned in, arms folded on the table in front of him. The look he gave me was so heated it could have sparked a flame.

I swallowed. The noisy bar was suddenly far too warm. I had to remind myself to keep breathing. “I haven’t done anything,” I managed.

“You’re wrong.” He’d seemed so distracted earlier, when wewere making our way to this bar, but now he’d found his focus. It was me. “Anyone else would have run in the opposite direction the moment I shared anything about myself at all. But you aren’t running. Even if you’re only staying with me as part of a ruse, I’m grateful.”

My eyes fell to my hands, to the wineglass in front of me, on anything and everything but him. I could feel him looking at me no matter where I turned my attention, the warmth of his gaze as much a gentle caress as his hands had given last night when he’d kissed me.

I didn’t want him to keep looking at me like that. Not here. Not now.

I also wanted him to never stop.

How did a conversation about food becomethisin the blink of an eye? We were spiraling, the situation slipping out of my control way too fast.

I had to snap us out of it.

“So,” I began, staring intently at my wineglass. “Can we go through the people you’re likely to meet at the wedding?”

Reggie chuckled, the sound warm and inviting. If he recognized this for the diversion it was, he had the grace not to say anything. “Right,” he said. He cleared his throat. “That’s the reason why you agreed to come out with me tonight. So, yes. Sure. Why don’t you—” He cut off abruptly, eyes caught on something just beyond my right shoulder.

“What is it?”

He inclined his head in the direction he was looking. I turned to see what had gotten his attention and my stomach dropped.

My cousin Gretchen, wearing what might have been the prettiest green dress I’d ever seen, was making her way over to us.

“Shit,” I said, my panic mounting. She lived in the suburbs.What was she doing downtown? “She’s going to ask us all sorts of questions. She’ll assume—”

I turned to face Reggie. Pretending to be my boyfriend right now would be going above and beyond. But I didn’t see any other way around it. Not without either being rude to Gretchen or telling her the truth.

He must have guessed what I’d been about to ask him. “I’ve got this,” he assured me. Without another word, he grabbed my hand that was closest to him and pressed a lingering kiss to my palm.

It was a simple gesture, his breath cool against my skin and the touch of his lips almost achingly gentle. Compared to the spine-melting kiss we’d shared at Aunt Sue’s it was positively chaste. On some level, I was aware of that—but my racing heart didn’t get the memo. He held my hand like it was something precious, and looked into my eyes as though there were nowhere he’d rather be. My breath caught as I met his gaze, and at what I could almost believe was real adoration reflected there.

I was barely aware of it when Gretchen pulled out one of the extra seats at our table and sat down. Reggie seemed not to notice her, either. He wasn’t kissing my hand anymore, but he was still holding it, rubbing gentle circles on the back of it with his thumb. His touch was grounding. Exhilarating.

“Hey!” Gretchen greeted us.

I cleared my throat, hoping I wasn’t blushingtoodeeply, and willed myself to get it together. Gretchen was watching both of us with a knowing expression.

“Nice to see you,” I said, wincing at how breathy I sounded.

“Nice to see you, too,” Gretchen said. “How wild is it that we ran into each other here? I’m so exhausted right now I almost didn’t even come out with my coworkers tonight.” She took along sip from a beer that I could tell was some kind of IPA from the way I could smell its hops from where I was sitting. Setting her glass back down again, she added, “I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to catch up with you at Mom’s party.”

“Oh my god, don’t worry about it,” I said. “You had, like, a million people to entertain.”

She nodded. “Yeah. You know how my mom can be.I’m just going to invite close friends and family, she told me.” Gretchen shook her head wearily before taking another long pull from her glass. “Amelia—she invited my friends fromhigh school.”

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