Zane hesitated. “I’m afraid it might be worse to say it’s a limited edition cologne more or less designed for me, though.”He put the iron aside and lifted his slacks, shaking them a little so they would cool enough that he could test their dampness. They weren’t entirely dry, but he wasn’t sure he could get them that way with the iron.
He must have made a face, because Vicki said, “Not dry yet? Well, we can hang them over the heat vent or something. And no, I don’t think it’s worse for you to have a cologne designed for you, but how did that happen?”
“Oh, Éliott Renault’s daughter wanted a wedding dress, and I wanted a cologne, so we took it out in trade.” Zane grimaced again as he set the slacks aside so he could work on his suit jacket. “That definitely sounds worse. Now it sounds like I’m name-dropping.”
“Which would work better if I had any idea who Éliott Renault is.” Vicki had her phone out, looking the perfumier up, but she shook her head as she found him online. “Still don’t know. Wow, that dress, though.” She turned the phone around, showing him a picture of Renault and his daughter Daniéle on her wedding day, as if he wasn’t familiar with the gown. Daniéle was a tiny, delicately-boned young woman, extremely blonde and pale-skinned.
Zane crooked a smile. “Thank you. The poor thing was in tears when they came to ask me about designing a dress. She’s so pale she looks like a ghost in white, but didn’t want a dress that would overwhelm her with color, either. They hadn’t been able to find anything that didn’t make her feel like she’d disappear into the background of her own wedding.”
Vicki turned the phone back around, examining the picture, then clearly scrolling to more. He knew what she saw: the young bride in a bodice of the palest lilac that faded to a cloud-like skirt of silver illusion tulle, light and flowing and beautiful. He had been pleased with the gown, and Daniéle had been overjoyed. “So I made the dress, and Éliott spent the entire time I wasworking on it with me in my workshop, smelling me, then presented me with the cologne at the wedding.”
Vicki’s gaze jerked up, laughter in her eyes. “Are you serious?”
“Completely. He said to design a unique cologne he had to knowmyscent first, so he would understand what he was working with. He had me use three different kinds of deodorant on three different days, and insisted I not wear any on one day.Iregretted it, but the fact that I stank didn’t seem to bother him at all. In fact, he told me there are no bad smells, only scents that can be worked with. I’ve had people watch me closely while I was working before, but I’d never had anybody basically put his nose in my armpit while I sewed. All right,” Zane added. “These are as dry as they’re getting tonight. I can probably make it back to the B&B without freezing to death.”
“Oh.” Vicki’s face fell, which was flattering and, if Zane was truthful with himself, a relief. It suggested she wanted to spend more time with him, which made a warm, relieved core in the center of him. He didn’t have to think or worry about things like fate if she justlikedhim. She looked at her phone to see the time and sighed. “I guess. They’re probably not still all out there around the building, right? It’s almost two in the morning.”
“Oh my God. And you have to work tomorrow! I’m so sorry!” Zane whisked his suit jacket off the makeshift ironing board and gave it a shake, too. It was mostly dry, and the lines looked good. That would do. And next time he would wear an overcoat.
As if there was likely to be a next time for diving under a beautiful woman who was falling out a window.
“No, it’s okay, coffee to the rescue,” Vicki said airily. “This has been a really nice evening, and I wouldn’t have missed it for a couple of hours in bed.” She went scarlet from her collarbones up as she heard what she’d said. “I mean—I mean?—”
Zane couldn’t stop a huge grin from plastering itself over his face. “You mean a couple of hours of sleep. I get it.”
Vicki moaned and put her face in her hands. Zane thought he’d much rather hear that kind of sound under other circumstances, but at least she was also laughing, even if it was in obvious embarrassment. “It didn’t sound wrong in my head!”
“Don’t worry about it.” Zane was still grinning. “I’ll get out of your hair so you can go sleep for a while.”
“That’s probably a good idea.” Vicki looked up, expression reluctant. “Do you want me to call you a taxi?”
Zane’s eyebrows rose. “A…taxi?”
She blinked at him. “I know it’s notthatfar, but your clothes are still a little damp—I mean, you can borrow those ones if you want to go home in them, which, now that I’m saying it, I could have thought of three hours ago so you could have escaped my weird apartment—so I thought it might be nicer than hoofing it, especially in dress shoes in this weather?”
“No, no, it’s just, who uses taxies anymore? Aren’t there any other ride services in Virtue?”
“Oh! No. They’re actually illegal in the township. All of that ‘sharing economy’ stuff is, as far as I can tell. If you want a room for the night, you rent a hotel or a B&B. If you want someone to drive you somewhere, you hire a taxi. It’s helped keep the local housing economy stable and when people said they couldn’t afford to live without supplementing their income with the gig economy, the town council voted to raise the local minimum wage to a living wage.”
Zane stared at her, taken aback. “That’s wildly forward-thinking. Are you sure I’m in Virtue?”
“It’s aweirdlittle town,” Vicki said again. “Totally isolationist—I mean, holy cow, I tell you what, some of the people who have come at me just for being a temporary teacher in town, like wow—and then on the other hand, they do reallyprogressive stuff like this. You should see the recycling program in the township! But probably not tonight.”
“I’m going to have to look it up,” Zane said in astonishment.
Vicki laughed. “Good luck with that. The town’s website dates from last century, I think. Sarah Ekstrom, the librar—oh, you know Sarah—even she finally gave up trying to get them to let her update it.”
“Sarah built that website,” Zane said absently. He remembered when she had, and how frustrated she’d been that the town council hadn’t embraced it. At the time, he’d wanted to explain about Virtue’s secrets and shifters, but he hadn’t known how to bring it up.
He still didn’t, even though he was going to have to explain it to Vicki at some point. But for the moment, he added, “I think…I might borrow these clothes to walk home in? The shoes don’t go, but needs must.”
“I won’t tell anyone you’re a late-night fashion disaster,” Vicki promised. “But are you sure you want to walk?”
Zane’s wolf said,Definitely, but he couldn’t exactly say that to her. Or maybe he could. For a heartbeat, Zane considered it. What was the worst that could happen?
Nothing bad,the wolf said.She’ll like it.
And yet he couldn’t quite bring himself to blurt the truth that he was a shifter out on a mere evening’s acquaintance, so Zane only nodded as he folded up his now-clean clothes. “I’m sure. I don’t get much walking done in LA, and it’ll be nice to stretch my legs. I’ll bring the clothes back washed tomorrow.”
