“Is something wrong?” Rowan asked from beside me.
“No,” I murmured, wrapping my arm through his once more and tugging him along. He was still cool to the touch, but it felt less exaggerated after my ice cream. Maybe I had been a little overheated. “Just the opposite, actually.”
SIX
ROWAN
The Art in Artifice
I may have not had a natural heartbeat in a century, but I swore it was pounding at the way Naomi was pulling me along, her bare hand wrapped around my wrist instead of just making contact with my sleeve.
My God,I marveled to myself. It waselectrifying.I was extremely grateful she was facing away from me, lest she see the gobsmacked expression on my face.
From the moment we started talking, I’d been intrigued. After so many years of trying to win the favor of undead who were obsessed with smoke, mirrors, and artifice, her openness and honesty was refreshing. Almost a panacea for my mood. Even though I wasn’t the strongest texter, we’d texted back and forth all night long after the initial contact.
We’d kept it relatively casual, naturally, and yet I’d already learned so much about her. Like that she was a dog person (but thankfully she didn’tdislikecats) to the point of having a career in taking care of them; that she was nearly in her mid-thirties(talk about robbing the cradle); that she had a big family but lived separately from them because she wanted to be her own person. Honestly, I truly admired that. If my sire hadn’t chosen to move on, I’d probably still be living with him, still content in our small but simple life.
During our conversation, I kept going back to her photos, looking at the sweet smile she wore in some, and the mischievous glint in her eyes in others. I had been drawn in by her beauty, of course, but it wasnothingcompared to how she looked in person. Sure, she had all the same curves, including thighs that looked like they could crush me, but there was this… thisvibrancyto her. It was so different fromanyvampire I’d ever been drawn to, and it reminded me a bit of a type of old-fashioned warrior I wasn’t even sure existed any longer.
And she was funny.
It wasn’t fair—it really wasn’t—but I certainly didn’t mind. In fact, I could already feel a keen interest bubbling within me, spreading out through every part of my mind and body. It wasn’t quite infatuation, yet, but it sure wasinterest.
“Where are we going?” I asked in amusement as she continued to tug me along. Her fingers were blazinghot, and I worried she would notice how corpse-cold I was. Those worries vanished when she looked up at me, all smiles.
“Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?” I frowned. I had exceptional hearing, and I couldn’t really pick up on any?—
Oh.
The first note I detected was like an exclamation point in the air, and the second one had me grinning like a loon. Live music!
“Is there an event going on?” I murmured, happily perplexed. I was normally so on top of such things, but I hadn’t heard about any concerts going on.
“I don’t know,” Naomi said happily, and for a moment, it definitely felt like she was just as much of a music fan as I was. Could she really be that thrilledforme? It seemed almost impossible. So many vampires only cared about music if it was played on an organ or a string instrument—none had ever shown interest in jazz at all. And I was almost certain what I was hearing was jazz.
We traversed onto a fancy slate path with wrought-iron streetlights and benches. A moment later, the trees opened up, and I saw a band sitting in front of a fountain in what looked like a village square.
“Huh, I don’t remember this being here,” I murmured.
“You sure you’ve been to this park? I think this has been here for, like, twenty-five years.”
Whoops. Not the first mistake I’d made tonight but I’d gotten better at covering for myself. “That must be it! I don’t?—”
“Get out much,” she finished for me with that cheeky smile that I was growing more and more fond of by the minute. “I heard.”
“Glad to know you’re listening,” I shot back.
Naomi turned to someone walking by. “Pardon me, what’s going on here tonight?”
“They’re trying to raise money tonight to have a full-on jazz festival this fall. Kind of like a pop-up thing,” the stranger said.
“Wow, that’s so cool. Thank you. Have a great night.”
“You, too.”
Whistling, the man walked off, and I stared at Naomi in awe.
