Page 40 of How a Vampire Falls

The call ended.

Well, shoot. Now hehadto sleep. He’d promised.

He woke up on his own, no alarm needed, a few minutes before noon. By six o’clock, he was ready for court in the morning. He sent his girlfriend a video call.

Her face filled his screen. “You look much better. Ready for tomorrow?”

“Yeah. It went pretty fast after I woke up.”

“Good.”

“But I hadn’t made any mistakes. For the record.”

Leslie rolled her eyes. “Remember how sleep was foryou, not for the math?”

“Yeah.” He hated to admit it, but maybe he should. “Thanks. I feel…a lot better.”

“You don’t say.” She gave him a smirk meant to tease, but it sent sparks through his blood instead. One of her silver eyebrows lifted. “What are you thinking?”

“I want to kiss you right now.”

Her little hum set the sparks inside to exploding. “Well, good news: you get to kiss me in less than a week. Also…” She bit her lip as though he needed one more reason to crave the taste of those lips, but the rest of her body language said she wassuddenly nervous. “Next time you’re here, I’d like to invite my parents over.”

Whoa. He nodded. “If you feel ready, then let’s do it.”

“I’m sorry in advance if my parents get weird about any vampire-related topics.”

He could have laughed, but she was somber. Ready, yes, but worried too. “Nothing they can say is going to bother me, Leslie.”

“Or not say. They’re more likely to clam up.”

“That’ll be okay too. Whatever happens will be okay, and it won’t be your job to keep everything smooth and easy. Okay?”

Her shoulders lowered as she finally relaxed. “You really know me.”

Knowing Leslie was pure pleasure, a gift he couldn’t hope to put into words. Instead he said, “It’s mutual, you know.”

“Hmm. Ididsend you to bed.”

“Exactly.”

Twelve

Leslie’s house was scrubbed to a shine, and her parents had offered to pick up takeout from the diner on their way over. She’d managed her nerves pretty well until Ryker’s first message that his flight out of Richmond was delayed. His second message regarding a second delay made her clutch loose waves of her hair in both fists and give a little shriek while standing in the middle of her immaculate house. Now, two hours before dinner was scheduled, she was finally driving home with her boyfriend in the passenger seat. She could only hope the traffic out of Nashville didn’t make them late.

Ryker watched her drive in silence, the crinkle between his eyes at an all-time crinkly record.

“It’s fine,” she said.

He nodded.

“I… Never mind. It’s fine.”

“Will they be snarky if we’re late?”

“Oh, no, it’s not that. I just…today I needed everything to go as planned.”

Another nod, and then he reached across the console and offered his hand. Leslie laced her fingers with his, and the contact brought her a sense of calm.

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