I nodded my head. “Yeah, sort of.”
With one hand up, Daniel shook his head. “Let’s say no work talk. Tonight is about us, not the stuff we have to deal with."
While it was true, I wanted to tell him about Vance and the upcoming dinner, it felt like something that needed to be said soon, or it'd almost be like I was hiding it from him. And I never wanted to hide anything from Daniel. Still, I guess it could wait until we weren’t on a date. Sometimes I forgot how important it was to him to keep our romantic time and work time separate. He had once confessed to me that after seeing all the cops around him getting divorces or their wives always seeming to be unhappy in their marriages, he'd worked very hard with his wife not to make the mistake of being married to his career. Which was a good thing. When she died, at least he knew he’d been a good husband.
Now that he was technically retired, well, semi-retired, he didn't see any reason in this world to not carry on the same tradition. He said that he always wanted me to feel special. But I also wanted him to understand that when the department called him in for supernatural cases, I had no problem with him jumping into his work. I did the same thing after all.
And like we could ever be work friends. But the thought was just so sweet that I wanted to try to stick to his preference, even if I wasn't good at holding things in. I'd try. For Daniel.
So, we ate together. Daniel asked more questions about what Bryan had been like in high school. He hadn’t known him well. He asked what Bryan’s relationship with Carol had been like, and I gushed over how perfect they’d seemed for each other. Daniel's slight scowl at the mention of Bryan's name slowly faded away until I could see it hit him how much Bryan seemed to have been special, at least back then, and why any of us were willing to get involved in vampire business, to begin with. Although neither of us talked about all the vampire trouble.
Daniel told me about working with the wolf shifters. How Nathan was growing into a good alpha for his people, and how Thomas would have been proud. Daniel had shown Nathan how to fix their cabins. They'd worked on repairing the leaky roofs together, fixing insulation, and other issues. He'd helped the young man create responsibilities for his people, as well as rules. Daniel confessed that Nathan had had some struggles getting his people to fall in line, since they were so used to doing whatever the heck they wanted, but that things were getting better. That helped with their money troubles, too, having everyone working and productive.
I was glad.
My big bear shifter pretended to be so tough, but when it came to his best friend's son, he had a serious weak spot. He seemed to think that when his friend died, it was his responsibility to take over as a father figure. He wanted it to be that simple, but I knew it wasn't. Daniel couldn't be anyone's father figure until they were ready for him to be. And, finally, it seemed Nathan was ready for it.
After dinner, Daniel suggested a walk around the block. My neighborhood bordered the ocean, with sidewalks and cute little street lights. It made for a nice evening walk, although I made sure to shrug into a jacket before we left. Hand in hand, we strolled down the street with the sound of the surf in the air and just enough chill in the air to cut the heat from the day. Neither of us spoke until we got to the small boardwalk that led down to the beach from the street. It was something the neighborhood had installed as a joint venture years ago.
As we stepped up onto the boards, a ping came from the vicinity of Daniel’s butt. He pulled his phone out of his back pocket with his free hand but frowned at the screen. As curious as I was, I didn’t peek at the screen. “Everything okay?” I asked instead.
With a sigh, he stuffed his phone into his back pocket again. “We agreed to no work talk.” He squeezed my hand and we started down the boardwalk. “Want to walk back to your house on the sand?”
“Sure.” Wehadsaid no work talk, but I didn’t like not telling him about my plans for the following evening. “Daniel,” I said slowly as he helped me stay upright as I slipped off my sandals to walk along the beach. “No work talk, I know, but…”
He furrowed his brow. “What?”
“There’s something you should know,” I said, reluctant to break the peace of our evening. “You know that vampire detective? Vance?” Oh, how innocent my voice came out.
It could’ve been my imagination, but it seemed like Daniel bristled a bit. “Yeah?”
“He came by earlier.” I didn’t elaborate where he’d come from, but Daniel must’ve sensed there was more to it.
“Came by where?” he asked suspiciously.
“Uh, well, I went for a swim and when I got out, he was there.”
“Vance Acheron waswaiting for youwhen you got out of the ocean?”
Oh, my. Why was it so hot that Daniel’s voice sounded positively predatory? I fought the shiver that wanted to dance up my spine. “Yes. And he wanted to talk about the case, so we took a little walk to talk.”
He grunted but no more protestations, so I kept talking.
“He invited me to dinner,” I said, then when Daniel turned his head sharply to look at me, I rapidly followed up with, “a dinner party, not like a date.”
He lifted a brow. “With the vampires?”
“Yes. He thinks it’s one of the vampires that will be there tomorrow night killed the guy on the beach and thought, with my powers, I might be able to figure out who had done it. I’ve been working on reaching out with my magic to get a read on people. It’s not strong yet, but it’s something.” I shrugged and bumped my shoulder into Daniels.
Oh, no. He looked seriously upset. “It’s a bad idea,” Daniel said, seeming to choose each of his words with care. “I can’t tell you not to go, but…”
“You’d like for me to not go?” I squeezed his hand, understanding what he wasn't saying. He was worried about me. He didn't like the idea of me walking into a potentially dangerous situation alone, and probably saw no real need for it. But anything that could help me figure out if my friend's ex was a murderer, and who was a killer in our town, was a smart move. Especially given the fact that I'm not just some helpless damsel in distress. “Daniel. I know there’s the potential for danger. But I am Karma, after all. More than likely my karmic powers will help protect me. And it’s not a date, no matter how Vance might flirt.”
Oops. Probably shouldn’t have said that part.
Daniel tugged on my hand until I fell against him. My skin danced with anticipation as he slid his hand around my shoulders and stopped me.
It was all I could do to control my breathing as I looked up into his sea-green eyes. No doubt he could hear my heart pitter-pattering in my chest, but I couldn't stop that.
