This was too good to be true. “You hate seafood?”
“Loathe it,” she assured him.
“You are the most perfect woman ever.”
She laughed. “Don’t say that. You haven’t seen me eat an entire jar of pickles in one sitting.”
“I have a pickle shelf in my fridge,” he said. “Multiple jars of dill, spicy, and bread and butter.”
“Do you mix the spicy and bread and butter pickles together?” she asked.
His exaggerated, “Of course” made her laugh again. Goddess of the Hunt, he loved her laugh!
They spent the rest of the drive talking about all their favorite pickle brands and flavors.
It wasn’t until they pulled into the driveway and were confronted by Arthur’s home that they lapsed into silence. It was a massive, contemporary style house that looked like a bunch of squares stacked on each other at slightly different angles.
“That’s, um, a home,” he said, hating the cold look to all the concrete and glass. “Of sorts.”
“It’s a monstrosity,” she said with a little shake of her head.
“If I know, um,” he almost saidvampires, but caught himself in time, “men like Arthur, he’s probably got several houses. This is probably just the one he’s living in right now.”
“Really?” she murmured, hand still on his thigh. He hoped she wasn’t having second thoughts about spending the night with them. “I hope none of them are as brutalist as this one.”
“I bet the inside isn’t as bad,” Titan said, then flinched when Arthur appeared next to the van’s door without warning. Even knowing vampires could move with incredible stealth and speed, Titan was taken by surprise.
“Arthur,” he gasped, rubbing his chest. “I’m big but not tough, so don’t give me a heart attack!”
“How did he beat us here?” she asked, letting go of his thigh to open her door. Arthur disappeared from his side and reappeared on her side of the van.
“Let me show you inside,” he said, holding out a hand. Titan rushed to get out and circle around to be close to the two of them. The moment he was within reach, Arthur grabbed him by the back of the neck.
All worries vanished.
He didn’t really notice anything as Arthur led them into the well-lit house. Not until Beatrix made a humming sound.
“You have interesting taste,” she said.
Titan forced himself to look around as Arthur led them through the house. It was a living room-like area with a long couch, several chairs, and a piece of art on each wall.
Unfortunately, the inside was as cold as the outside. The couch didn’t even look comfortable and the art was all shapes and colors that made Titan’s brain hurt because he wanted them to make sense but they didn’t.
“I bought the house fully furnished," Arthur explained. “I wanted something made from concrete with double pane windows. The only place I bothered to change was the study.”
“Show me,” Beatrix demanded. Titan would never think to make a demand, but he was happy Beatrix had. He wanted to know what Arthur’s personal space looked like.
The moment they walked into the study, Titan saw Arthur in the soft lighting, warm earth tones, and an overstuffed couch covered in plenty of soft, plump pillows.
“We’re staying in here,” Beatrix declared, pulling the two of them to the couch.
Arthur chuckled. “Whatever you wish.”
Letting go of Arthur’s hand, she shoved him down on the couch. He let go of Titan’s neck as he sat. Titan tried to follow and sit at the other end of the couch so Beatrix could nestle between them, but she guided him to settle right next to Arthur.
“I’m not sure about everything yet,” she said, climbing onto Titan’s lap and stretching her legs across Arthur’s thighs. “But I definitely want more kissing and touching. There’s something real and intense between us. I want to explore it.”
Arthur’s eyes gleamed with lust. “I have no objections.”
