“No. Thatisme.”
“Right.”
I was makingsuchan ass of myself. Before I could open my mouth and embarrass myself further, I chugged back the entire glass of champagne.
Robert examined me with his composed gaze. “Are you afraid of vampires, Olivia?”
It was the first time he’d spoken my name. His full lips rounded as he drew out theO, making my knees felt weak.Oooooolivia.
“No,” I said too quickly, waving a trembling hand in dismissal. At that precise moment, my old friend, cheek twitch, dropped in for a visit.
Robert seemed skeptical.
I said, “The thing is, I had no clue vampires existed outside of books and movies until a few days ago. This is a lot for me to take in, especially when this is my first date—decoying—for Dignitary.”
“Really? You’veneverbeen out with a vampire?”
“Never,” I admitted. I could see no point in lying. “Not unless I’ve been in the company of one and didn’t realize it. I haven’t been ‘out’ with any man in a long time, actually. To tell you the truth, I’m more nervous about being on a date than I am about being out with a vampire—not that this a date. Decoying, I mean.”
I broke away from Robert’s stare, embarrassed. I tended to talk too much when I was nervous, a condition that had plagued me since childhood. Tilly used to say that I had an incurable case of diarrhea mouth. I almost shared this with Robert, but my internal filter thought better of it, thankfully.
“I see.” He lifted my chin gently until my eyes met his. I’d noticed this about vampires, that they were touchy-feely, but not in a way that felt violating. Probably so they could hang on to some semblance of their former humanity. It was actually kind of sweet. His skin didn’t feel as cold as Michael and Marlena’s. “If this puts you at ease, Olivia, this is my first social engagement with a human woman in a very long time.”
I found that hard to believe. I couldn’t imagine a single straight female on the planet who wouldn’t give up wine and chocolate for the rest of her life to spend a minute alone with this glorious immortal.
“I must say, your home is incredible,” I remarked, sweeping an arm out like a game show spokesmodel gone insane on uppers.
“Thank you.”
“I bet it gets a lot of natural light—not that you would favor such a thing being a vampire,” I prattled idiotically.
“No, I wouldn’t,” he agreed.
“Is it Eichler?”
He looked surprised. “Close. It’s Mason. Do you know a lot about architecture, Olivia?”Oooooolivia.
“Not all architecture,” I confessed. “Mainly mid-century modern, though I do also hold a soft spot in my heart for European Gothic. It’s such a beautifully sinister style. I love the weeping angels, the gargoyles, the scalloped ceilings.”
“Have you done a lot of traveling through Europe?”
“Not at all.” I shook my head, laughing softly at his assumption. “I grew up dirt-poor, so ‘travelling’ for us was going to Orlando for the day. I didn’t have a lot of friends in high school, being as nerdy as I was, so I spent a lot of time in the library. I devoured every book on architecture I could get my hands on—any book, really, whether it was on ancient art, travel, or cooking. Reading was how I got to see the world, have money, fall in love . . . Wow, I’m saying a lot.”
“I like it, your chatter.” He opened his mouth to comment further, but a grandfather clock cut him off with its chiming. He took my champagne flute and set it aside.
“Unfortunately, we must go now.” He didn’t seem happy about the fact.
We walked outside to the driveway, where an older, but still muscular, bald man waited next to a limo. He opened the back door as we approached, and Robert introduced us. “Carl, this is Olivia. Olivia, Carl.”
“Hello, Carl,” I smiled as I slid onto the cool leather seat. Another new experience, my first time in a limo.
Carl peered into the back once we were in. “Hello, Olivia.”
The limo smelled of Robert’s fresh scent and upholstery leather. The snacker in me was excited to see that it was stocked with treats tailored toward the human palate: fancy Norwegian water, various bottles of top-shelf alcohol, some of it on ice, foil-wrapped sweets that looked like pretty little Christmas ornaments. Robert noticed me licking my chops at the bite-sized sticks of Toblerone, my favorite chocolate, and asked if I wanted any. I’d been so nervous about our outing that I’d barely eaten a bite all day, but I didn’t want to start the evening by greedily shoving chunks of chocolate down my gullet. It would be my luck to leave smudges of brown on the dress. “Maybe later,” I said, though I did accept a glass of Veuve Clicquot (Good luck pronouncingthat, I thought), just so I’d have something to sip.
“I’ll be sure to send you home with a care package,” he said with a sultry wink. Dear God, he was beautiful. How I wishedhewas the care package I could unwrap.
Calm your horny self, Olivia.I pressed my knees together to stop my thighs from quaking. I was feeling every one of the fourteen months that had gone by since I’d last had sex.
