Мишель Роуэн - Fanged & Fabulous

“And you love me.”

He smiled. “Yes, I love you, Sarah Dearly.”

“Then everything is perfect.”

My heart swelled almost enough to burst. So I said nothing else, and instead hugged him tightly, my mouth meeting his in another kiss that left nothing unsaid, with nothing restrained. I knew nothing could ruin this moment. It was perfect. My fractured fairy tale come to life.

His cell phone rang and I leaned back, reached into his inner jacket pocket to pull it out, and held the call display up for him to see.

He raised an eyebrow at me. “It’s my wife.”

I grimaced. Well, maybe things weren’tthat perfect.

“Don’t answer it,” he said.

“I wasn’t planning to.”

I saw motion off to the right. George and Quinn were coming toward us, limping slightly and rubbing their heads.

“What in the hell happened?” Quinn asked.

“My brain feels like it’s going to explode,” George said. “And not in a good way.”

“You both got shot with garlic darts,” I told them.

George sniffed his shirt. “That would explain why I smell like a Caesar salad.”

“Janie,” Quinn growled. “Where is that bitch now?”

I shrugged. “Gone.”

His jaw tensed. “She’s damn lucky. If I ever get my hands on her she’ll be very sorry.”

“So,” George said. “Were asses kicked?”

“Sort of,” I said. “Turned out that Gideon wasn’t all that interested in me after all. It was all Nicolai. He was nuts. Wanted to kill me in front of Thierry.”

“Gideon Chase,” Quinn repeated, “is still interested. I’m sure of it. He’s no good.”

“There’s a newsflash.”

“Where’s Nicolai now?” Quinn asked.

I nodded over at the stain. “He exited stage left. Permanently.”

Quinn eyed me and Thierry. “So are you two—?”

I nodded.

He looked away. “Good. Then I guess there’s nothing left to do around here.” He leaned over and picked up the key that Janie had left behind. “I assume this belongs to you?”

I took the key from him and worked on Thierry’s handcuffs for a moment before they snapped open.

Then I checked my watch. “You know, the party’s probably still going on.”

“We must leave immediately,” George said. “Cake would be greatly appreciated. Unless there’s anything else you’d like to do to almost get us killed, Sarah? Is there?”

I shook my head. “No, this should about do it for tonight.”

“Hallelujah.”

When we got back to Haven, nobody had even noticed that we’d been gone. Which was good, though it was also a little bit disappointing to realize we were not the life of the party. We decided not to fill anybody in on what had transpired in the past couple of hours. At least not yet.

Thierry had definitely sold the club. That couldn’t be changed. But it was okay. No club meant he would do something different. We’d do something different. Or nothing at all. It didn’t matter, as long as we did it together.

Starting with my moving in with him. George had told me in no uncertain terms that while he did enjoy my company on a temporary basis, we were not going to be roommates forever. So I’d decided to move in with Thierry. He didn’t exactly know this yet, but he couldn’t possibly have a problem with that, could he? Don’t answer that.

I gave Amy the gold necklace as her birthday gift. She took one look at it, said thank you, and slid in into her pocket instead of putting it on. It was really ugly, and she was more of a platinum kind of girl. I felt certain that whatever it was would be safely kept locked away in her jewelry box from that day forward and never worn in public. Passing the buck? Maybe a little bit. I knew where to find it if I ever needed it, though I couldn’t imagine why I would.

Quinn seemed to make his peace with me and Thierry being together. I don’t think he liked it, but peace had been made. I introduced him to Barkley the werewolf at the party, and the two kind of hit it off.

Since Quinn had an itch to get out of the country—possibly to get as far away from me as possible, imagine that—he’d volunteered to drive Barkley (who was apparently deathly afraid of airplanes) down to Arizona to rejoin his werewolf pack. They’d split gas money. I was going to miss them. Both of them.

Although those 3:00 A.M. trips out to take Barkley for a walk I wouldn’t miss. Quinn was a little less high maintenance that way.

I did wonder if this Gideon Chase guy I’d been hearing so much about was really interested in me. It wouldn’t be long before the truth that I wasn’t anything all that special got to him, right? Then he’d find something else to interest him. At least I hoped so. He didn’t sound like the kind of guy I ever wanted a face-to-face meeting with. Thinking about that would keep me up at night worrying. And I had enough things to worry about.

For example, my ten-year high school reunion was coming up very soon. Thierry insists that I leave my old life behind, but I wonder if he’d mind if I went to it, just for old time’s sake. Maybe he could come too. I’d use the opportunity to introduce him to my parents as my much, much older, married vampire boyfriend who turns into a blood-crazed monster when he gets a taste of the red stuff. And that I was crazy in love with him. Oh, and that by the way, I was a vampire, too. They’d be happy for me, right?

Time would have to tell on that one.

But I’d face all of that after the party.

Thierry approached me and slid an arm around my waist to draw me closer to him. Still not wearing the party hat. Also, not a big fan of dance music, strangely enough.

“You know, Sarah,” he said, “there are a great many problems we still have to resolve. The life of a vampire is not easy, and seems to grow more difficult every day.”

I traced a hand across his chest to find that his heart was beating as fast as mine was.

“You sweet talker, you. Let’s just face our problems one at a time. Together.” I stood up on my tiptoes to kiss him. A kiss he returned with a passion that curled my toes. “But do you think we can worry about it tomorrow?”

He smiled wide enough that I caught a glimpse of his fangs. “Yes, Sarah. Tomorrow.”

And it sounded like a promise.