Hearing the masculine voice, my groaning nearly took on an irritated tone. But then I looked up. Oh, yes. Hello, hot country boy. Or are they called swamp boys in Louisiana? Who knows? And it didn't matter where that beautiful man was from. After being around those snobby champagne-sippers all night, he looked like a happy meal. So bad for you, but so delicious. A meal to go with my meal.
Licking my lips, I looked him over. “Sit down.”
“Pardon?”
“I said. Sit. Down.” I lifted my glass of sweet tea and motioned at the chair across from me.
“Yes, ma'am.” He grinned and sat down. “I'm Remy.”
“Of course you are.” I rolled my eyes. You could throw a stone and hit a Remy in Nola. “I'm Salina. You here alone, Remy?”
“Naw. I'm with my boys.” He nodded at a group of men a few tables over who were gaping at us.
“And they dared you to come over here?”
“Now, how'd you know that?”
“I know men.” I went back to eating.
“Uh. You mind if I bring my plate over?”
“By all means.”
Remy tried to bring only his plate to my table, but his boys followed him with the whole fucking table. Yep. They lifted the table and set it down next to mine since there weren't any other open ones near me. Then they crowded around me. If I hadn't been in a restaurant, I would have been worried.
“Come on, boys. Don't be like that.” Remy pushed them back. “You're gonna scare her.”
“We gotta make sure she's safe for you to flirt with,” one of them said. “Not a vampire.”
The word sent a blast of cold down my spine. I sat back and stared at my food.
“Shit. I'm sorry, cher. Did I upset you?” the man asked. “You know they ain't real, right? I was just teasin'.”
“Oh, I know.”
“You need to return to your own table,” a low, masculine voice said.
Every eye in the room turned toward that sound. It was impossible not to gravitate toward the voice. It was the audio equivalent of desire without being overtly sexual. He hadn't even said anything sexy—quite the opposite—but I still shivered in response. My body instantly forgot about every other man in the room and swayed toward the owner of that voice.
I looked up. And up. The voice belonged to a big, brawny, and beautiful man. Despite having never met him, I recognizedhim immediately. Even if I hadn't felt the preternatural waves of energy radiating from him, I would have known that face. It was very similar to his brother's. And his daddy's.
“Son of a bitch,” I muttered and looked away. I wiped my lips and was about to tell the hound to scram when my new friends did it for me.
“Fuck off, asshole. The lady invited us over.”
“She did not. She invitedhimover.” The hound pointed at Remy. “And she shouldn't have done that.” He leveled a look at me.
Green eyes. Oh, that was nice. Especially with his tan. Yummy.
Nope! I will not be manipulated before I even consummate our . . . union.
“I hereby invite them all,” I said. “Now, mind your own business.”
“Youaremy business, Salina.”
“Trying to shock me with my name?” I snorted. “I recognize you too. Your brother is Cyrus, so you must have a C-name too. Let me guess; it's Cu—”
“Jake,” he cut me off. “Or Jacob if you prefer.”
