See you then.
Well. Turned out his instincts weren’t entirely off when it came to Claire. He’d take it as a win today. Maybe, despite his distaste for optimism, he’d even take it as an encouragement for what might follow. She didn’t date. He would respect that, but he’d also try to find out why. Along with trying to find out everything else there was to know about the most intriguing woman he’d ever met who had decided to accept his truce.
Eight
Maybe her gut knew something she didn’t. Claire had never been the impulsive type, but you wouldn’t know it to look at her morning text messages. Unblocking him was one thing, but then…explaining herself? Thanking him for his presumedhonesty? Allowing herself to be sidetracked from behind the bar every time a text buzzed into her phone from the break room, darting off to read his latest message, and then…the cherry on the out-of-character sundae.
She’d agreed to go out with him.
He’d said it wasn’t a date, but how could it not be? He’d be wearing a tuxedo. He’d come to her place to pick her up. They’d eat expensive food, and she’d wear expensive shoes, and then he would drive her home, and then…
But it wasn’t a date, because Claire would never have agreed to a date. It wasn’t a date unless both parties considered it as such, and Tai had already said he didn’t. Platonic. Potential friends. That was all.
Unless he’d only said that to put her at ease.
For the rest of the day, Claire barely kept her mind on her job. Then she nearly forgot she’d planned weeks ago to get dinner with Nova tonight. On the way to the restaurant, she called her best friend, the only person she wanted to tell about the upcoming not-a-date. Of course, Ember would be shocked. She knew the old story and sent a row of heart emojis when Claire texted that she’d gotten Tai’s signature on the paperwork that ended their business connection.
The phone rang three times, and even as it picked up, Claire knew she was about to hear Ember’s voicemail message.
“Hi, you’ve reached Ember Reed. I’m not available right now, but I’ll get back with you if you leave a message.”
Claire hung up. A few years ago, Ember wouldn’t have missed her call; or if she had, she’d call back within minutes. But Ember’s life had changed so much more in those years than Claire’s had. Yes, she was still Ember. When they managed to catch up, Ember always sounded exactly like herself, and she sounded happy. But she was growing, developing new facets. She was Aaron’s mate, Quinn’s guardian now as well as his aunt, and—most recent of all—Kolson’s mom.
Claire was nobody’s spouse, nobody’s guardian, and nobody’s mother. But she was other things. A protector, for one, though not even Ember knew Claire had been turning in human men to the police for the last nine months.
She parked at the tapas restaurant downtown, such a favorite of vampires that they often outnumbered the human patrons. Nova’s dark-green Jeep sat a few spaces over, still occupied and still running. She must have pulled in mere seconds ahead of Claire.
When Claire got out of her car and headed toward the restaurant, Nova spoke from inside her Jeep. “Claire.”
Claire took a step toward her, and Nova beckoned her to get in on the passenger side.
“Hey, aren’t we getting food?” Claire said.
“Not yet.”
Nova began driving a loop on the industrial drive that circled the plaza. It was a classic vampire move while in public, better privacy from others with super-hearing. She handed her phone to Claire without looking at her.
“A source sent me this,” Nova said, lowering her voice despite the moving vehicle. “Look like anybody we know?”
The picture was a high-angle snap from a security camera. Somehow Claire’s brain took in the familiar gray-and-blue diamond-patterned carpet before she let herself focus on the person striding over said carpet. Blonde wig, brown eyes, pink fringe dress.
Claire forced her grip to loosen a moment before she would have broken the phone. This wasn’t happening. But of course it was. She’d missed the camera. How had she missed the camera?
“You’ve got them stymied,” Nova said. “The police, I mean. They’re split on whether you deserve a citation or a medal, but it doesn’t matter at this point, because you’ve been doing this for—what, a year?—and this is the first image you’ve left behind.”
“Nine months,” Claire said.
Nova darted a glance from the road to her, teal eyes glittering in the dim interior. “And how many men?”
“He was number eight.”
“What are you going to do if one of these guys is carrying and shoots you?”
Claire shrugged as her thoughts raced and her instincts screamed for denial though she’d just confessed. She almost laughed at the loneliness that had eaten her up every other Saturday night for months. She’d take the loneliness back if she could compel Nova to forget about this picture the way some movies portrayed vampire “powers.”
“Claire, I’m serious.” Nova’s voice was tightening like a bowstring with every sentence. “This could get dangerous.”
“Oh, stop. I’m not stupid. Obviously I’d smell a weapon and I’d disarm him before he could use it.”
