Jay eyed the fingernails displayed in front of him with great interest. They were bright yellow and orange, with little fall leaves and pumpkins painted on. The images were so tiny, even with the extra length on the nails.
“Amazing,” he whispered in awe.
They were. They were the definition of craftsmanship.
“Thanks,” Alicia told him, taking her hand away and flicking her long red ponytail. “I didn’t used to bother, but self-care, you know?”
Jay nodded, even though he didn’t, not really. He’d never managed to grow his nails beyond short little stubs, and he’d definitely never paid anyone to create masterpieces on his fingers. But Alicia was in school now, and that had added, as she put it, “tons of extra stress” to her day to day, so maybe the portable artwork helped with that.
She was in a program to become an X-ray tech, and Jay was so very proud of her, even if he’d be so sad to one day no longer see her behind the counter of his beloved coffee shop.
“And you can still press all the buttons you need to?” he asked, eyeing the length of her nails again.
She shrugged, then leaned over the counter on crossed arms. “Sure. I’ll have to go short and plain for placements, but that’s ages away.”
The bell above Death by Coffee’s door rang, meaning a new customer had arrived. Alicia slowly rose from her slouch, and Jay turned to smile at the newcomer.
Jay didn’t work here anymore—not with the animal shelter taking up so much of his time—so he wasn’t required to greet anyone or anything, but it was still nice to let people know they were appreciated with a smile and a warm hello.
“Welcome to DBC!” he called, waving with enthusiasm.
The guy who’d just entered gave him a sweet but confused smile and Alicia rolled her eyes. “You order with me. He’s just decoration.”
Jay beamed. That meant Alicia thought he was cute. Jay already knew that she did, of course, but it was nice for her to say so in front of the customers.
Said customer gave Alicia his full attention, and Jay took the opportunity to study him. A cutie pie, for sure. He had a sweet face and very neat clothing—he was wearing a button-down shirt and slacks even though he looked quite young. He had surprisingly messy blond hair, glasses, and—
Jay gasped. “Oh, Iloveyour freckles,” he told him, leaning in close to study the patterns. “So pretty.”
The guy flushed a bright pink—the color was almost as pretty as the freckles—and gave Jay a stuttered, “Th-Thank you,” before shifting over to the drink pick-up area.
Jay frowned after him. He could swear he’d just caught a whiff of something metallic. Almost…coppery.
He started to follow after the customer, and Alicia clucked her tongue at him.
“What?” Jay asked.
“You know people think you’re flirting when you get like that,” she told him, all lowered voice and shifty eyes.
Jay cocked his head. “Like what?”
Alicia sighed, turning to the espresso machine. “I’ll tell Alexei I tried.”
Jay grinned at her—he liked when she and Alexei bonded—and sidled over to the customer.
He decided to go for a subtle approach. He leaned in close and gave a little sniff. “You smell very nice. Cologne?”
The customer’s eyes widened, and he went bright pink again. But Jay didn’t need a second sniff. Coppery, for sure, in a very distinctive way. Definitely a vampire.
And sure, he didn’tlooklike the terrible kind that would make their lives extra hard, but then, it was always hard to tell with some people.
The customer-vampire cleared his throat. “Listen, you’re really cute, but I’m, uh—”
A deep voice cut in just as a broad figure appeared at the strange vampire’s side, wrapping a possessive arm over his shoulders. “He’staken.”
Jay blinked at the newcomer, who was giving Jay a severe scowl. He was very handsome, even with the sour face. Tall with black hair and bright-green eyes, and wearing a much more casual outfit than his counterpart. And—Jay sniffed—also human.
The human grabbed the vampire’s chin and gave him a deep, filthy kiss. The vampire kind of whimpered into his mouth, and Jay watched avidly, fascinated by the display.
