“What?”
“A shot!”
“Oh, I love it when you talk dirty to me,” I tease, flashing her an overly seductive look.
The server comes over, and Sienna orders us two lemon drop shots while I look over the menu. Everything sounds so good that I can’t seem to make up my mind. Eventually, we decide to split an order of the truffle mac and cheese and chicken marsala.
We’re halfway through our meal when our server brings over two espresso martinis.
“From the gentleman over there,” she says, nodding to an attractive man dressed in a navy suit.
He raises his glass, cheersing us from across the room. I’m just about to take a sip when Kole snatches the drink out of my hand.
“What the hell?” I snap, wiping the spilled liquid off my hand.
“It could be poisoned,” Kole says, holding the glass up to his nose to take a whiff.
I glance at Sienna, who looks just as taken aback as I am. It’s not like I haven’t noticed the dirty looks and occasional sneers, but the drink came from the bar, and maybe I’m being naïve, but Thane made it pretty clear last time we were in Seattle that no one was to hurt me.
“Well?” I ask, turning back to Kole.
He sets the glass back down and slides it to me. “It’s fine.”
“Great,” I mutter, noticing the entire restaurant looking at us again.
Kole makes his way back to the bar, and everyone turns their attention away from us as if he commanded it.
“I hope he doesn’t do that all night,” Sienna murmurs, reaching for her drink. “I mean, I get being cautious, but you’re under Thane’s protection, and everyone in the Northern Territories knows it. Going after you now would be a death wish.”
I grab my glass and turn to Sienna, holding it up.
“Here’s to not letting anyone, including Kole, ruin our fun tonight.” She clinks her glass against mine with a nod of agreement.
By the time we finish dinner, our buzz is alive and well. Kole takes care of the tab and escorts us to the car, seeming a bit more tense than usual. He opens the passenger door for me, and I turn to him.
“You know, it’s kind of hard to have fun when you’re acting like you’re a member of the Secret Service.”
“Sorry for caring about your safety,” he says with enough sarcasm to make me roll my eyes.
“Could you at least lighten up a little bit?” I plead, batting my eyelashes.
Kole shakes his head at me with a defeated sigh. “This is the one and only time you’ll ever get to use that look on me.”
Kole
Oh yeah,the heavens must think they’re real funny, serving her up to me in that fucking outfit, making it damn near impossible to keep my dick from punching a hole through my jeans. I mean, how am I supposed to keep myself from cutting out every asshole’s eyes that look her way tonight?
Shit, I’m not even sure I won’t claw out my own eyes to keep myself from going completely mad. She’s a damn temptress, and if I’m not careful, I’ll be down on my knees, begging her to end my suffering.
Chapter 41
The next destination we end up at is a vampire-themed club that they must’ve renovated after the Last War. Everything from the blood bags filled with alcohol to the bloody wallpaper and coffin-shaped tables screams classic vampire. I would think that they would hate playing into the stereotype that the humans created, but maybe this is their way of reclaiming that power.
A girl walking around with vials of blood stops to offer Kole one, shooting Sienna and me an irritated glance. Kole waves her off, and she hisses at me like his dismissal of her was somehow my fault.
“First things first.” Sienna grabs a hold of the purse on my shoulder and tears the leather jacket off me.
She sprints over to the bar, handing our things over to one of the bartenders and points to Kole, saying something. The bartender nods and dips down, securing our belongings somewhere behind the bar. When she comes back over to join us, she’s holding three tequila shots. We each cheers and toss them back before she grabs a hold of my hand and drags me towardthe dance floor. I glance over my shoulder to see if Kole is following, but find him already sitting on one of the barstools, ordering a drink from the bartender who took our things.
