She stuck her tongue out at me before downing the last of her vodka-Redbull. “I don’t remember you being this cheerful about it when he had us drape the entire window display in the stuff. Go on—why don’t you tell Dennis how his Samhain display wrecked your day?”
I sighed dramatically and began my—if I may say so myself—hilarious parody of the customer who’d come by the shop looking like she’d stepped straight out of a Harry Potter novel, claiming the alter cloth spread decoratively across the window display ruined her ability to see the future from her apartment a couple of floors up.
It was only when Skye and Raven both uttered a weird sort of whimper—some five minutes of animated storytelling later—that I realized I’d lost two thirds of my captive audience. They were both staring at something—or, judging by the glazed look on both women, someone—behind me and Dennis.
“That’s just great. Way to make a girl feel important,” I huffed as I turned around to check out what’d made their ovaries start tangoing on the table. “What are you—?”
My irritated question died in a surprised croak of recognition as I spotted the object of their attention.
Blazing blue eyes met mine as the young man who’d just entered the bar looked up. His dark brown hair was tousled from the cold November weather, and his gray woolen coat did nothing to hide the wide set of his shoulders or trim waistline.
Soft lips, dark eyebrows, and high cheekbones completed his perfect physique—this time without so much as a speck of dirt to hide how drop-dead gorgeous he was. Pun intended.
“Warin!” My face cracked into a huge smile at the sight of the vampire I’d met over the summer.
Perhaps if I hadn’t been two hairs past tipsy, I would have remembered the many disturbing sex dreams I’d had of him since we parted ways. Instead I scrambled up from the booth to throw myself across the bar and around his neck as if he was my long-lost brother. Sadly for me, it was only when I collided with his solid chest that a vivid memory of waking up with a soaked pillow between my legs the day after we’d said goodbye came back in ultra-sharp high-definition.
“I, uh… hey!” I fought back a hefty blush and detached myself from my one-sided hug—he’d stopped dead the moment my arms went around his neck—and gave him what I hoped was a slightly less insane smile. “I did not expect to see you again—especially not here, of all places.” I looked at the drunk, black-clad bar patrons with a raised eyebrow.
“No?” he asked, and even though his velvety voice was soft, it carried easily over the music and loud chatter.
“Well, I didn’t exactly take you for the type to trawl bars for—“ I was about to say “women,” but then realized what, exactly, a vampire was likely looking for in a crowded bar filled with drunk humans.
Sex probably wasn’t it.
“Uh,” I said, smart as ever. “Company.”
The corner of his full lips curled up in the faintest echo of a smile at my lame ending.
“So… you pub-crawl, huh?” I said, looking around at the drunk people, arms crossed. I caught Raven and Skye making wild gestures of encouragement out the corner of my eye and hurriedly refocused on Warin.
Warin’s lips hiked up a bit higher. “I wouldn’t go that far. And yourself? Are you here with friends?”
It was such a normal question to ask, it took me a moment to remember my already lacking social etiquette. “Oh, yes. Work night out. You should join us.”
His gaze flickered over my shoulder to where I’d left my colleagues. “I don’t wish to interrupt your night.”
“Nonsense, you won’t.” I flashed him a happy smile, feeling a lot less awkward now that I was no longer plastered across his chest. “Besides, Skye and Raven are dying to meet you. Just don’t eat any of them. Even though they’d probably let you.” I grabbed his arm and began to pull him toward our table.
“Guys, this is Warin—Warin, this is Skye, Dennis and Raven,” I said as we arrived at the booth. I let go of Warin’s arm to let him slide in next to Dennis, but I needn’t have bothered.
“Oh, wow, it’s so good to meet one of Liv’s friends!” Skye chirped as she shot out of her seat and pulled the vampire into a hug, one that had her ample chest smooshed up against him tight enough for her bra to nearly lose its grip on her breasts. Warin froze at the unexpected touch, every muscle in his body tensing even harder than when I’d force-hugged him, but Skye didn’t seem to notice.
“Come, sit!” she said, beaming smile still in place. She practically pushed him into the bench next to Raven and hurriedly scooted in after, effectively trapping him between them both.
Raven mouthed an enthusiastic “thank you” at me before she focused her attention on the newcomer too. Her top wasn’t as low cut as Skye’s, but when she purred, “Yes, what a pleasure,” at the vampire, an impressive amount of her tits suddenly appeared right underneath his nose.
I rolled my eyes so hard they nearly got lost in the back of my skull. “Smooth, girls.”
Dennis managed a decent attempt at disguising his laugh in his pint of beer.
“So, Warin… How do you know Liv?” he asked once he’d downed a swig. “You one of her friends from back in Denver?”
“No, we only met recently,” I quickly stepped in. I hadn’t told any of them about my little kidnapping adventure, partly because it seemed somehow inappropriate to answer, “So, what did you do on your day off?” with “Was kidnapped and stabbed by fanatics, but oh, I made a vampire friend!”—and partly because I wasn’t exactly keen on getting linked back to the two dead men Warin had left behind when we made our escape. “We met at, uh, a book club a little while ago.”
“Oh, you like to read? Who’s your favorite author?” Raven lit up, and I recalled her grumbling about how hard it was to find a well-read man the last time she came into work after a disappointing date.
“I’ve enjoyed many over the years. Kierkegaard is always thought-provoking, but I often find myself revisiting Dante,” Warin said, as if throwing that level of literary references on the table was no big deal. “Do you have favorite authors?” He directed the question to the table at large, but Raven was not about to let his attention waver. She looked like Christmas had come early as she casually let a finger travel up the back of Warin’s hand to regain his focus.
It didn’t surprise me when Warin froze at the uninvited touch this time—but Raven’s wide eyes as she quickly snapped her finger away did. Huh.
I shrugged it off, assuming she was just sober enough to catch social cues somewhat better than both Skye and I.
“What about favorite movies?” I asked, not feeling a need to divulge how much further down the social capital ladder my taste in books hung out.