“And?” Tanner pressed.
“Gorgeous and rich,” I added with a sigh.
“Rich?” Olivia sat up straighter.
“Gorgeous?” Tanner said. “Maybe you should see him again.”
“I have to, don’t I? I need to get my cello back.”
“Sure, your cello.” Olivia winked at me.
“He did ask me to dinner.” I instantly regretted mentioning it, because they both launched back into the topic.
“What are you going to wear?” Olivia asked.
“Who cares? We need to deal with the virginity thing. That’s the problem, right?” Tanner teased. “Look, if you need help with that, I know some guys–”
“Ew, Tanner!” Olivia cut him off. “Maybe Julian just wants to take her somewhere special before he relieves her of that problem himself.”
In my friends’ book, the fate of my virginity was already sealed. At this rate, I was going to be up all night while they decided exactly how I should give it up.
“As much as I’m enjoying your insinuations, I’m exhausted.” Yawning to prove it, I got to my feet.
“We’re not through discussing this,” she warned me as I carried the empty pint of ice cream to the kitchen and tossed it in the garbage.
“Yes, we’ll talk about this tomorrow, young lady,” Tanner mimicked Olivia’s lecturing tone.
She smacked him and then followed me down the hall. “Don’t listen to him,” she whispered, so only I could hear. “And if you want to talk or ask questions, I’m here.”
“Questions?” I repeated blankly.
“About what to expect when...you know.”
If you can’t say it, you shouldn’t do it. I frowned, remembering what Julian had said. Maybe he was the one who needed to loosen up. I mean, what could I expect from a nine-hundred-year-old vampire?
“Thanks,” I said. “I will.”
I said good night and gratefully closed the door. Olivia’s offer was sweet. But I wouldn’t need to accept it, because Julian had made it perfectly clear he wasn’t interested in taking me to bed. Not anymore. But then he’d gone and invited me to dinner. I wasn’t sure what to make of him, except that everything about him seemed like bad news on paper. So why did it feel so right to be in his arms?
Slipping off my dress, I climbed into bed in my underwear. It felt small and cold. I burrowed into the covers, but it didn’t help. It was hard to believe that an hour ago, he’d been here with me. Telling him was the right thing to do, but I still regretted it. If I hadn’t, would he be here now? It was impossible to imagine him in my tiny, single bed, but I tried to anyway.
I slid my hand past the band of my panties, my fingers searching for relief. But before I could find it, my phone lit up on my nightstand. I reached for it, expecting to see a suggestive text from Tanner or Olivia, but the number was new to me. I had two messages from it.
My finger skimmed over the screen to check them. I recognized the text I’d sent to my phone from his. It was him. I held my breath as I scrolled to the second message.
Dear Thea, it began. I giggled at the formality of the message. It sounded like he was writing a letter. I supposed that I needed to teach him more about text messaging.
I’ll pick you up at nine.
Sincerely,
Julian
So much for waiting for me to decide. It seemed he had chosen for me. Arrogant, grumpy vampire. I stared at the message for a moment, trying to determine how to respond.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
JULIAN
There are mansions. There are palaces. And then there are homes so obscene they could only be called monstrosities. My mother had a taste for the third. Sabine Rousseaux’s Pacific Heights enclave took up nearly a city block. Its size was bettered only by that of a neighboring romance author’s residence. My mother said she preferred the view from her balcony–a panorama of San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge–to the square footage.
The BMW’s engine kicked into third as I made my way up the steep hill my family home sat atop. The house itself was a glorious bastard of design my parents had concocted over the course of a century. There was a revival-style portico mixing with French flourishes around the front. Arched windows sat in its limestone walls. I noticed a bit of scaffolding on the north side. No doubt my mother was still trying to match the original stone with what needed to be replaced following the 1906 earthquake. A twenty-foot-tall wrought iron fence surrounded the perimeter to keep curious tourists from straying into our home, more for their protection than ours. I rolled down my window at the gate and smiled grimly at the security camera. A moment later, it creaked open and I drove into the private underground garage. While my family liked cars a bit too much, it was clear she had guests.
Was this why she needed me so fucking urgently? Did she have a parade of potential familiars lined up and ready to present?
I picked my phone up from the passenger seat. I was not going to spend every second I had in this city making small talk with other rich vampires, their bastards, and a bunch of desperate witches. Navigating to the text messages, I found the last one sent.
This is Julian’s number.
It had to be her. The rest of the messages were marked by name, except for one about my phone bill. There was no response. It must be the one she sent? I was still unclear on exactly how this worked. Was I supposed to wait until she sent a yes or no about dinner tomorrow and why? Was I supposed to ask again on this infernal device? Was it so hard to just answer me in-person? I decided to do it for her. It took me a second to punch in my message on the tiny digital keyboard. When I was finished I had more questions than answers about why today’s people liked these crappy devices. There had to be a better way to communicate. After a few seconds, three dots blinked back at me.
What the hell did that mean?
They disappeared.
I waited, dimly aware that the elevator had arrived in the garage. The three dots appeared again and I ignored whoever had joined me. Another few seconds passed before I got a response.
Okay.
