He stopped beside me and tipped his head to Silvio, then Sophia. “Well, I see most of the usual gang is here. Where’s Gin? Out killing someone on this cold day?”
Silvio spun around on his stool and crossed his arms over his chest. “You know as well as I do that she is currently on vacation.”
“Good for her,” Tucker murmured, then focused on me again. “Ms. Parker. May I have a word?”
“Certainly,” I drawled. “What word would you like? Arrogant? Inscrutable? Annoying jackass?”
He arched a black eyebrow. “That’s two words.”
“And yet they both fit you so perfectly.”
His eyebrow arched a little higher, but he gestured over at an empty booth. “Let me buy you a lemonade. Please.”
Silvio and Sophia both looked at me, questions in their eyes, but I shrugged at them. I didn’t know why Tucker was here or what he wanted, but I’d play along—for now.
Besides, we weren’t exactly enemies, and he wasn’t stupid enough to attack me in the restaurant. Not when Silvio looked like he wanted to bludgeon the vampire with his tablet, and Sophia was clutching a tomato knife with a serrated blade that was longer than her hand.
I stood up, and Tucker held his arm out to me in a clear challenge. I rolled my eyes, but I wasn’t one to back down, so I threaded my arm through his and let him escort me over to one of the booths by the windows. Tucker waited until I was settled in one side of the booth before sliding into the opposite half.
Sophia stalked over and slapped a menu down in front of Tucker, along with handing me a to-go cup of lemonade. Then she crossed her arms over her chest, making her biceps bulge, and glared down her nose at the vampire.
“I’ll have a barbecue chicken platter with all the fixings, along with an unsweetened iced tea with lemon,” Tucker said.
Sophia gave him another hot glare, then grabbed the menu and stalked back behind the counter to fix his food. Silvio returned to his tablet, although he kept sneaking glances at us, ready to leap to my aid should the need arise.
“Unsweetened tea?” I drawled. “That’s not very Southern of you, Mr. Tucker.”
Yes, it was a stupid thing to say, but those were the first words that popped into my mind, and I desperately needed to distract myself from the way Tucker’s shirt clung to his chest.
“Some of us are trying to watch our intake of sweets, Ms. Parker.”
“Well, I’ve never been one of those people. Sugar is the lifeblood of many a Southerner, myself included.”
Amusement danced in his eyes. “I know. I can literally smell the sugar in your lemonade.” His gaze dropped to my lips. “And on you too.”
Heat flooded my body, and I resisted the urge to shift in my seat.
“You always seem to have one sweet treat or another nearby,” Tucker continued. “Like that dessert you were eating last night at Underwood’s. Or the petit fours you were nibbling on when we met at the Eaton Estate.”
More heat flooded my body, and in an instant, my cheeks were burning even hotter than the restaurant’s stovetops. Several weeks ago, I had attended an auction at the Eaton Estate, along with Gin and some of our other friends. Gin had pointed out Tucker to me, and I’d been struck by how smooth, polished, and darkly handsome he was.
“Do you remember our conversation at the Eaton Estate?” Tucker asked. “Because I certainly do.”
A third wave of heat zipped through my body, but I shrugged, as though I was as cool and calm as he appeared to be. “We talked about some books we had both read. Nothing important.”
After Gin had pointed him out, I’d run into Tucker later that evening, in one of the Eaton mansion’s many libraries. I had found him perusing a shelf of fantasy books, and I’d been mesmerized by the way his fingers had skimmed over the leather covers, as though the books were beautiful treasures that he needed to handle with care.
I’d started to sneak away, but of course, Tucker had heard me with his sensitive vampire ears. Instead of hissing threats as expected, he had been a perfect gentleman, inquiring about what kinds of books I liked to read and which ones I might bid on during the auction. Our conversation had been strangely fascinating, especially since he seemed to enjoy so many of the same books and authors that I did.
Our next encounter hadn’t been nearly as pleasant.
Tucker had been waiting at the Mitchell family mansion when Emery Slater and her giants had kidnapped me, Gin, and Bria from the Posh boutique parking lot. Despite all the threats of violence on both sides, Tucker had once again been a perfect gentleman, offering me his arm and escorting me inside the mansion. He’d even shielded me from one of the giants who’d wanted to hit me. I didn’t need his protection, but part of me had appreciated it all the same.
Only a few people had ever stuck up for me, much less tried to protect me. Lily Rose, Mallory, Mosley, Gin. And then Tucker, even though he was working for Mason Mitchell at the time. The vampire had a strange sense of honor that I found oddly appealing.
Even when I’d scuffled with Tucker in the woods around the Circle family cemetery, I never thought he truly wanted to harm me, not even after I’d stabbed him in the thigh with an elemental Ice dagger so that Gin, Bria, and I could escape.
Tucker frowned at my quick dismissal of our previous conversation. I also thought a bit of hurt flickered across his face, but he was so hard to read that I couldn’t tell for certain.
