I led Joseph, as I’d done during his last visit, to the kitchen and offered him a glass of blood. I yelped when he pulled a chair back from the table and it screeched against the floor, nearly dropping the carafe of blood I’d pulled from the fridge.
“Sorry,” he apologized, though he was smirking. My edginess seemed to amuse him.
And just why was I so edgy? I wondered.
Robert was why, I realized, doing my best to keep a frown from darkening my face. Ridiculous as it was, I almost felt as if I was cheating on him.
Mentally, I gave myself another tongue lashing.He was the one who left, remember? Kind of hard to cheat on someone who dumped you.
Days had passed, and still no call, text, letter, or email from Robert. Nope, nothing.
Nothing other than a million dollars, that was.
I’d awakened each morning heartsick but optimistic, certainthiswould be the day he’d finally be in touch. Then, once I understood that Robert would continue to remain as much of a ghost to me as, well, an actual ghost, I’d scurry to the bathroom, nauseous. I was literally sick with heartache.
I’d even stooped to calling various departments of Bramson Enterprises as a means of sniffing him out, lest he’d warned his personal assistant that I might be calling. However, no matter who answered, I was always told the same thing. Mr. Bramson was “on vacation.”
Vacation. Right.
More pitiful, I took my phone with me everywhere, even into the shower. I sealed it in a plastic bag and kept it within groping distance, fearful that I’d miss his call. My heart seized every time the phone bleeped, and sometimes when it didn’t, making me wonder if I might be losing my mind after all.
Usually, it was Liz calling to update me on her home situation. David, unlike Robert, had at least been man enough to provide tangible proof that their relationship was officially over: divorce papers. Poor Liz was devastated.
Shifting my focus to the vampire in my—Robert’s—home, I reminded myself there was no need to be nervous, since I had no intention of making a move romantically. Joseph and I were merely one acquaintance providing another company at awedding, since otherwise I might have been shuffled to the singles table with other lonely hearts and undesirables.
Besides, it benefitted me to keep the VGO happy, which Joseph had said he’d be if I acted as his “date.” There was nothing wrong with practicing a little self-preservation, was there?
You can tell yourself whatever you need to,my inner critic heckled.But don’t act like you aren’t enjoying spending time with this highland hottie.
“Put a cork in it, already,” I muttered as I put the carafe of blood back inside the fridge.
“Pardon?”
I set the glass of blood I’d poured in front of Joseph, whose eyebrows were so high on his forehead that they nearly reached his hairline. Given how stellar vampire hearing was, he’d likely heard me. I appreciated that he had enough tact to not call me out on my crazy.
Flapping a hand, I lied, “I said it’s cold tonight, isn’t it?”
“Aye, it is a mite chilly.” He took a sip of his drink. “You look stunning, by the way.”
Not to toot my own horn, but I thought I looked pretty damn good. At minimum, Ifeltgood.
The wedding was a black-tie event, so I’d worn a pastel purple silk chiffon gown that swooped down around my shoulders. I’d pinned my hair back into a loose bun and accessorized with simple emerald stud earrings (a gift from Robert, like the dress, but never mind) and a thick gold cuff bracelet. Strappy metallic heels and a small crystal clutch bag completed the look.
I swirled for his approval. “You don’t think it’s a bit much?” I asked, playing coy.
He winked. “Sure, but why be a basic bitch?”
I laughed. Robert never would have used such slang.
“We’re going to an event withvampires, Olivia,” he said. “You might be one of the tamer individuals there.”
“You’re probably right about that.” I grinned. It was the most I’d smiled in days.
I joined him at the table with my own drink, champagne. I told him that he looked nice, too, leaving out that his appearance had inspired fantasies of him naked in a lake. We chatted about wedding specifics—attendance numbers, human to vampire ratio, etcetera—and then he asked what I’d gotten for a gift.
“It isn’t only from me. It’s also from Robert. I guess,” I said, feeling the need to clarify the detail for some inexplicable reason. Probably because he’d been the one to pay for it. Had the gift been on my budget, Jerry and Tim would have been lucky to get a nice centerpiece bowl from Target. “We got a marble replica of the Venus of Willendorf statue. Heard of it?”
“Busty gal with a kind of basket thing on her head?” Joseph reached up and patted at his hair like he was wearing a hat. Thankfully, he didn’t mime breasts.
