I was faster. A second later, I opened it from the outside and offered her my hand. Her mouth fell open, but she quickly clamped it shut. “How do you do that?”
“I’m a predator.” I helped her out of the car. “I’m built to hunt.”
Her throat slid, drawing attention to her porcelain neck. Her skin was so pale that it was nearly translucent, making it far too easy to see the blue veins running through it. I hadn’t bitten a woman on the neck in decades. Marking a human there only said two things among vampire circles. Neither were messages I wanted to send.
“Are you going to bite me?” she whispered, and I realized I’d been staring at her long enough that she had noticed.
I grimaced, wishing her question hadn’t been so on the nose, and shook my head. “No. I’m not going to bite you.”
“So you aren’t hangry?” she pressed.
Goddammit, did she want me to bite her? It was bad enough that my fangs had yet to fully retract. It made my mouth ache for attention.
“No, I am not hangry,” I said harshly.
“Look, if you needed to...um…” She stared at the ground as her cheeks flushed.
“To what?” I asked.
“Eat,” she blurted out. “I mean, I owe you, and I guess–”
“Never offer a vampire your blood again,” I seethed. Just the thought of a vampire–any vampire–drinking Thea’s blood was enough to make my fangs lengthen.
Her eyes widened as she got a glimpse of them. “But you’re hungry…”
It took every ounce of self-control I possessed not to pin her to the car and take her up on her offer. She wouldn’t resist, not once I was inside her. The only trouble was that I couldn’t decide what I wanted more: to sink my teeth into her or bury my dick inside her.
“Never,” I roared again and stalked toward the door. “Let’s eat.”
A bell tinkled as I opened the door. I held it for her. Following her inside, we paused at an abandoned hostess stand. A deeply lined face appeared in the pass-through window, summoned by the bell. He waved a spatula in the air. “Sit wherever you want.”
The diner was fairly empty at the odd hour–too late for dinner and too early for the late-night crowd. The few patrons here now weren’t the type to nose around in another’s business–probably because they wouldn’t want anyone to nose around in theirs. There wasn’t a speck of dirt on the checkered-tile floor or a single crack in the slick vinyl seats despite their age. Thea didn’t wait. She just walked toward a booth in the far corner away from the windows and the other diners.
Thea was quiet as she scooted into her seat, which squeaked under her petite body. Before I could apologize for losing my temper, a waitress delivered menus to us. They hit the tabletop with a plastic smack.
“Can I get you two something to drink?” she asked with a sugary sweet smile.
“Coffee,” Thea murmured.
“I’ll take one, too,” I said. As the waitress left, I nudged the menu toward Thea.
“I’m not really hungry,” she said quietly.
I raised an eyebrow, and she groaned.
“That’s not really fair.” She picked up the menu and flipped it open. “Why do you get to worry about feeding me when–”
“I’ll eat,” I said and grabbed my own menu.
“Wait, you eat?” she asked, peering over the top of hers at me. “Like real food?”
“Of course.” Not that there were a lot of tempting options here. Nearly everything was fried, smothered in gravy, or came with a side of pancakes. “Why do they put hash browns on every plate here?”
She ignored the question. Lowering her voice to a whisper, she said, “I thought vampires only drank blood.”
“That wouldn’t be a very balanced diet.” I folded the menu and placed it in front of me. “You have a lot to learn about vampires.”
“About that…” she trailed off as our coffees appeared.
“You two want food?” the waitress asked.
“Two eggs,” I told her. “Basted.”
The waitress blinked at me, her pencil hovering over her order pad. “Let me ask.”
“Never mind,” I said with a sigh. “Whatever’s easiest.”
“Scrambled?” she asked.
I glanced at the line cook working the griddle and decided it was the safest option. “Yes.”
“Cheese?”
“No.” I handed her the menu.
“And you?” She turned to Thea.
“Same.”
