Мишель Роуэн - Bitten & Smitten

But I loved Thierry.

“Sarah—” His voice, choked with his own emotion, caught on the wind that had just picked up. A storm was brewing. The first major snowstorm of the year. I could taste it in the air, sense it was coming with every fiber of my being. Plus, I’d heard about it on Barry’s car radio on the way over. We were expecting twenty inches of cold white stuff between now and tomorrow.

He took a step toward me and I tried to move a step closer to him, but my foot slipped and, with a surprised scream and scrambling at the empty air—I fell. Thierry dropped his stake and caught my wrist, holding me dangling high over the Don River. I looked up at him frantically.

“Pull me up!”

He cocked his head to one side. “But I thought you wanted to jump?”

“I’ve changed my mind! Pull me up!”

“What about the other things you said? That you love me? Have you also changed your mind about that?”

I gulped, looked down, then back to his face. “No. I love you. I do!”

“Then perhaps I shall pull you up.”

“Stop being a jerk and do it right now!”

He smiled. He was strong enough to hold me this way all night if he wanted. “You do need to work on your manners. But very well, Sarah.” He braced himself against the bridge to haul me up, but a gust of wind bit him before he was fully secure. He wobbled a bit, casting a worried look down at me. Then he lost his footing and slipped off the side of the bridge.

“Oh, shit!” I yelled as we made our second plunge together into the ice-cold, dark water.

Three weeks later I was reclining on a beach in Puerto Vallarta. My big, floppy hat and dark sunglasses were firmly in place. I’d packed four bikinis. I was presently wearing the red one. Looked pretty good against my white skin. I hadn’t bothered with a tan. The sun was way too annoyingly bright for that, and I just couldn’t be bothered with the messy self-tanning creams. And don’t even start with me about tanning salons. Not going to happen. I sighed contentedly as I watched the red sun leisurely slip beneath the horizon. Mexico was so beautiful. I felt the cool sand between my toes and listened to the ocean lap softly at the shore.

The beach was mostly deserted at this time of the evening. Most vacationers were inside eating dinner or starting their drinking binges, since, after all, tins was an all-inclusive resort. But they also served out on the beach at this time of the day if you requested it. A bit begrudgingly, but they did have a policy of the customer always being right. I hadn’t planned on going there. After everything that had happened, it hadn’t exactly felt right just to pick up and go on vacation. But I needed to get away. Clear my mind. Get over the drama, the sadness, the pain. I figured that I deserved it. The waiter gingerly made his way over with the drink tray balanced in his hands. He smiled politely and handed me a tequila sunrise. I took an enthusiastic sip.

“Delicious. Muchas gracias.”

“De nada. And your cranberry juice, sir?”

Thierry reached out to take the drink from him. “Gracias.”

“Hope you’re both having a wonderful vacation,” the waiter said.

“Oh, we certainly are.” I smiled at Thierry. We clinked glasses as the waiter wandered away.

“What shall we toast to?” I asked him.

He met my eyes and smiled back at me. “To new beginnings.”

We drank to that, and I snuggled against his fully clothed body. I hadn’t convinced him to go the swimsuit route yet, but just give me time.

Amy and Barry were still on their extended honeymoon in Niagara Falls. Thierry had shut down the club for a few weeks and given everyone—well, Barry, George, and the new waiter—time off with pay. The place was up for sale, since the location was well known by the hunters who had ended up escaping. Thierry was looking into some property for a brand-new vampire club in the Beaches area of Toronto. Very chic.

Quinn was happy that Thierry and I were together. Or, at least, that’s what he said. In private he told me that one day he’d win me back. Which was kind of funny, since he’d never really had me in the first place. I just nodded and told him he should find someone else in the meantime. I didn’t know he’d take that advice to heart. To get over me, he’d launched into a passionate romance with Veronique. He’d even learned to speak some French, at least the dirty words, anyhow. Believe it or not, they were coming down to

Mexico to join us for the weekend. Weren’t we just the happy little family? Yeah, things were good. I gazed at Thierry as he watched the multicolored horizon, and then he met my eyes. I was doing my very best to keep him happy to be alive. And so far I’d received no complaints, thank you very much. I took another sip of my drink as I watched the rest of the sunset. Maybe after all was said and done, vampires actually could be the stars of fairy tales and get the chance to live happily ever after.

Who knows? Then again, maybe that was just the tequila talking.