Page 29 of Bad Luck Vampire

“She spent most of the time on the dance floor,” Alasdair reminded them. “Because she was on a date with Tybo.”

“Aye, well, and today she’ll be on a date with you.”

“Two dates,” Connor added, and then glanced at his wristwatch. “Speakin’ o’ that, it’s a quarter past the hour. Ye’d best get up and get showered. Ye’d no’ want to be late fer yer date.”

Cursing, Alasdair tossed his damp sheets and blankets aside and leapt out of bed.

Ten

A soft tap at her door drew Sophie from the paperwork she was going over. Today was a slow day for IT, so she was helping out their claims adjuster. Setting the papers down, she called out, “Yes?”

Janice, the company receptionist, entered and offered her an uncertain smile, and then said tentatively, “Sophie, there’s a... man out front who insists on seeing you. But he won’t explain why and—” She hesitated and flushed, before admitting, “I’m afraid I got a little flustered and forgot to ask his name.”

“Alasdair!” Sophie stood up with amazement as she spotted him towering behind the receptionist.

Janice immediately spun around, hand going to her chest. Her voice was breathy when she said, “Oh. You followed me.”

“I thought you were taking me to Sophie and I was meant to follow,” he explained, his voice deep and smooth.

For a moment, Janice seemed to sway on her feet and Sophie was afraid the older lady was going to swoon. She couldn’t blame her. Damn, the man was big and beautiful and had a killer voice. It made her glad he hadn’t spoken much the night before. She might not have been as well-behaved as she had managed to be if he’d used that against her.

“Oh!” Janice was suddenly blinking with recognition. “Sophie called you Alasdair.”

“Yes,” Alasdair agreed mildly.

“Then you’re the man who sent those beautiful flowers to her.”

The words made Sophie’s eyebrows rise slightly. The receptionist hadn’t been anywhere near her office when she’d opened the card. Either Janice had snooped and read the card before bringing it back to her office, or Megan, Bobby, and/or Lise had blabbed and told her who the flowers had come from. She suspected the latter. Not that Janice was above snooping, but Sophie knew her coworkers had probably been gossiping about it since she’d left them in the break room nearly two hours ago. In fact, she was only surprised that they hadn’t all invaded her office to grill her further on the subject.

Rather than speak this time, Alasdair merely nodded, his gaze moving to the flowers on her desk. She thought she saw surprise and relief flicker across his face as he took them in.

“Well, they’re beautiful,” Janice told him, and then stood smiling, her eyes eating him alive for a moment that drew out into two before she suddenly gave herself a little shake, and offered Sophie an apologetic smile before saying reluctantly, “I suppose I should get back to the front.”

“Yes,” Sophie agreed gently. “Thank you for showing him back, Janice.”

Nodding, the woman turned her gaze back to Alasdair and slowly eased past him as he stepped into the room. She then, just as slowly, drew the door closed, her gaze taking in as much of Alasdair as she could before the door was shut and she could no longer see him.

At least I’m not the only one affected by the man, Sophie thought as she switched her gaze to Alasdair and offered a smile she hoped was light and unconcerned. “Thanks for the flowers. They’re beautiful.”

“Welcome,” Alasdair responded, his gaze moving over her where she stood behind her desk.

Back to the one-word answers now that we’re alone, Sophie thought with amusement. At least he wasn’t just grunting. Considering him briefly, she tried to think what to say next. Flat-out asking why he was there seemed kind of rude and she was trying to come up with a way to say it more diplomatically when he asked, “Am I late?”

One eyebrow rising, she asked, “Late for what?”

“Our lunch date,” he explained. “Or maybe I’m early. I should have asked Janice what time you normally take lunch. If I’m early, I can just wait.”

He was talking in actual sentences again, but nothing he was saying was making any sense. Sophie tilted her head and considered him, then said, “I’m sorry. Did we have a lunch date?”

She didn’t recall anything like that. Had he asked her to lunch at some point last night? If so, she didn’t remember it, which made her wonder how much she’d had to drink. She’d thought she’d only had a glass of champagne to toast the bride and groom, and then another with dinner, but there were a few holes in her memory of last night that suggested otherwise. Just fuzzy spots in her memory where small things like bits of conversation were missing. She’d remember the start and end of a conversation, but there were obvious holes in the middle sometimes, as if someone had just plucked out a chunk of her memory. So, she supposed Alasdair could have asked her out last night and she didn’t recall the conversation. Although, she was quite sure she wouldn’t have agreed to a lunch date with Alasdair while on a date with Tybo. She would have simply given him her number and told him to call her in the morning.

“The card,” Alasdair said, drawing her attention back to him. “Did it not say—?” He paused and frowned. “I should have called to be sure you wanted to go to lunch, rather than just assume you would be willing to accept an invitation on a card.”

Sucking in a breath, Sophie snatched the envelope from where it was tucked into the flowers and tugged out the card. His name had been the only thing on the front of the card, but she hadn’t checked the back. Maybe— No, she saw as she turned the small card over. It was blank.

Returning her gaze to him, she asked, “I presume you called in the order and what to put on the card?”

When Alasdair merely raised his eyebrows in question, she held up the card for him to see and said, “It looks like someone messed up and didn’t add your message, just your name.”

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