Page 23 of Bad Luck Vampire

His smile widened at her words and he read out, “Mini shrimp cocktails with cocktail sauce, fish tacos with tequila lime corn salsa, and tuna sashimi wontons.”

“This one looks like meat,” Connor announced, turning the last platter that sat closest to him until he found the card for that one. He then read out, “Garlic and lemon chicken skewers smothered in garlic sauce, pulled pork tostadas with mango salsa, and mini Montreal smoked meat sandwiches with Dijon and pickles.”

“So,” Sophie said, “a vegetarian plate, a seafood plate, and a meat plate of hors d’oeuvres.”

“Something for everyone,” Marguerite said with a nod. “But I’m sure it’s all delicious. Natalie is a brilliant chef.”

“The bride cooked these herself?” Sophie asked, wondering where she would have found the time. If Natalie had only known Valerian not quite four weeks, she couldn’t imagine she’d had more than a day or two or perhaps a week to arrange everything.

Alasdair shook his head. “Valerian said La Bonne Vie was catering.”

Sophie’s eyebrows rose at this news. She recognized the name. It was a fancy restaurant in Toronto, some place she couldn’t afford. Sophie didn’t say that, though, and simply commented, “I didn’t know they catered.”

“They do not,” Marguerite agreed, picking up her small plate and surveying the various appetizers on offer. “However, the owner, Alex, is a relative and she was kind enough to close down one of her restaurants for the day and brought her people down here to prepare and serve the meals so no one from the clubhouse restaurant had to miss the wedding,” she explained, and reached out to select several appetizers and place them on her small plate. “But all the recipes used are Natalie’s.”

Sophie nodded, and considered the offerings briefly, then reached for a chicken skewer even as Alasdair did. Both froze when their hands collided, their gazes shooting to each other as electricity sparked between them.

Sophie was the first to retrieve her hand and shift her gaze away from his. She was sorry she had to, but until this date with Tybo was over . . . The thought made her wonder if she’d ever encounter Alasdair again and get the chance to pursue this crazy attraction between them.

Maybe she should ask for his number, Sophie thought. Would that be a bad thing to do while on a date with another? She was fretting over that when Inan suddenly spoke.

“Tell us a little bit about yourself, Sophie, lass,” he suggested. “It’ll let us get to know ye better while we wait fer the food to come.”

Sophie froze like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car as all eyes turned to her. She so hated being the center of attention.

Eight

Alasdair had actually been glad when his uncle Inan had suggested Sophie tell them more about herself. He’d just been wondering what she did for a living, and worrying that it could be a career that might be made difficult by being an immortal. It would be hard enough to convince her to become his life mate without the threat of losing her career being part of the decision.

But his feelings on the question changed when he saw Sophie’s reaction to it. She had a hunted, almost horrified look on her face, and he realized she’d kind of been put on the spot and wasn’t comfortable with it. He was just trying to think of a way to ease the situation for her, when she cleared her throat and finally spoke.

“Well, there isn’t much to tell,” she said slowly. “I live in Toronto in a small apartment I own, have a bachelor in computer science, and work for my family’s insurance office.”

“You sell insurance?” Alasdair asked with a small frown. She didn’t seem like a salesperson. In his experience, people in sales usually enjoyed attention and Sophie definitely didn’t if he were to judge by her reaction just now, as well as during the wedding when her startled outburst had temporarily drawn all eyes her way.

“No,” she said quickly, and then frowned and said, “Well, not so far anyway. Officially, my title is information technology manager.”

Alasdair nodded, relieved to know that her job would not affect her decision about whether to become immortal or not.

“But?” Connor asked. “I hear a but in your tone.”

Alasdair’s gaze shot to his uncle at those words, and then bounced back to Sophie as she smiled faintly at his uncle and nodded.

“Good catch. Yes, there’s a but,” she admitted. “Our branch is too small to need a full-time IT manager, so while I’d say fifty percent of my time is spent on that, the other half of my time is spent wherever I’m needed. Sometimes on office stuff, sometimes helping out the adjuster, sometimes the claims examiner, but usually I play assistant to my boss, the owner, when not needed for IT work.”

“So ye were hired fer a job, but only get to do it half the time and otherwise play general dogsbody?” Inan asked with a slight frown.

Sophie gave a small shrug. “Obviously, they don’t really need a full-time IT manager. In fact, they wouldn’t even need a half-time IT manager if it weren’t for certain employees who—despite repeated warnings—insist on opening sketchy websites and downloading from the internet, inviting viruses and whatnot.”

“Do you mind?” Alasdair asked, and when she glanced at him in question, he explained, “That you only do what you trained for half your workday?”

“Oh... no,” Sophie said after a hesitation that made him think she wasn’t being completely truthful. As if sensing his thoughts, she added, “It makes the workday more interesting. Sometimes I’m working IT all day, and sometimes it’s ten minutes and then I’m off making calls, checking through insurance policies, or running to pick up lunch for my boss, so...” She shrugged. “It’s all good.”

Alasdair wasn’t sure she was being completely honest, but her smile was infectious, and he found himself smiling in return. However, his smile dropped into a scowl when the cheeky waiter who’d been trying to look down her top wheeled another cart to their table. This time it was to collect their empty platters and appetizer dishes, and to show them the dinner options and have them select what they wanted.

There were four options: a pasta dish that could be vegetarian or not; a vegetarian-only meal that Sophie didn’t show the least interest in; a chicken dish featuring creamy herb chicken and a choice of sides; and a steak dish that Marguerite told them was the best thing she’d ever tasted and was well loved by the locals. It too had a choice of sides. Sophie went for the steak, as did Alasdair and everyone else at the table except for Julius, who chose the pasta, but the nonvegetarian version.

This time, the waiter was both professional and swift about his job without any loitering or leering. Sophie and Marguerite said thank you to the young man as they gave their orders, and Julius and Colle nodded politely, but Alasdair and his uncles all glared at him until he’d left.

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