“I’m very aware of that. If you’re telling me the truth, you are admitting that there are vampires in Ordinary. Are you using the term vampire as a metaphor or slang?”
“No.”
“How did Sven die? More than just a bullet through the head?”
Now he had five questions left. I nodded.
“He was a vampire?”
Again with the nod. Four.
“Who else in town is a vampire? Old Rossi? All the Rossis?”
“Is that one question or three?”
“One.”
“Pass.”
“Who were those men you met?” I asked. “Who do they work for? How do you work with them?”
“You only have one question left after this.”
“I know.”
He rolled one shoulder back and tipped his head so he was looking at me a little sideways. “I can’t—I can’t talk about that.” He said it so quietly, I almost missed it.
“You don’t want to make me doubt your level of involvement in this,” I said. “It won’t end well. You don’t know the kind of pressure I can bring to bear on this situation. On those men. On you.”
“Are you threatening me?”
Two. “I’m telling you the truth, Bailey. Deal with it.”
“You’re kind of hot when you’re all bossy and in control.”
“Flirting won’t work on me.”
It totally would.
“What will work on you?”
“You only have one question left after this.”
He took a couple steps forward, closing the space between us. “I know.”
What works on me? That sexy look. Your sexy eyes. That smile that makes my mouth go hot, and that purr you get in your voice when it drops an octave and teases across my spine.
“Honesty.”
“Honesty?” He was so close to me I could loop my fingers in the tops of his jeans almost without moving. “Or a confession maybe.”
“Honesty.”
His eyes were faded jade, flecks of brown scattered within them. He had a couple freckles on the arcs of his cheeks, almost invisible beneath his tan. His nose was strong, and the laugh lines at the corners of his eyes were trails of pain and joy. He was familiar waters and uncharted shores. He was the boy I’d always known and the man I’d never met.
He was innocent words and guilty eyes.
And he was absolutely not someone I should kiss.
