Page 38 of Lucien

Still, Luc felt surprisingly dizzy at the thought of it, a certain weakness in his knees. He couldn’t say why he was suddenly so terrified. “Chew on one of your toothpicks instead,” he suggested, trying to keep his voice light.

Jamie stared at him a moment longer before shrugging, pulling a cinnamon-flavored toothpick out of his pocket. “You’re lucky I’m not a die-hard smoker,” he mumbled around it. “You gonna start pushing me around about stuff like this?”

Luc stood from his barstool, making sure his legs would hold. “I just want you…healthy. Whole.”

Jamie nibbled on his toothpick, scanning Luc’s face. For a moment, Luc thought maybe Jamie could see it all painted there. Luc’s past mistakes. His horrible, twisted insides. The monster that ruled him always, no matter how he tried to fight it.

But if Jamie did see any of that, it wasn’t scaring his human off. Jamie just nodded thoughtfully, moving his toothpick from one side to the other before reaching out to take Luc’s hand.

“Poor monster,” he said softly. “Come on. Take me home.”

ten

Jamie

“Don’tbescared,”Jamieteased, nudging Luc’s shoulder with his own as they stood on his family’s front porch.

“I’m notfrightenedof your family,” Luc protested, glaring at Jamie ferociously.

Jamie raised his brows skeptically, snapping the piece of gum in his mouth. Luc totallywas. It was pretty adorable, actually—thinking of his big, bad monster terrified of Jamie’s loving mother, who barely topped five feet.

“It’s just a casual lunch,” he reassured his skittish vampire. “And you don’t have to eat anything. I already told them you have weird dietary restrictions.”

And possibly a weird food fetish to boot. Luc had watched Jamie consume his breakfast that morning with the same mind-boggling intensity as all the other times his vampire had seen him eat, even pushing a second plate at Jamie just for the pleasure of witnessing him swallow it down.

Jamie had never exactly felt sexy eating scrambled eggs before, but if it was Luc’s kink, he was all for it.

Speaking of which… “You finally gonna fuck me tonight?” he asked.

Jamie had been just the teensiest bit disappointed—okay, a whole lot disappointed—Luc hadn’t kept to his teasing words the night before, even if he’d somewhat made up for it by devouring Jamie’s cock the second they’d gotten home.

If Jamie hadn’t known better, he would have thought his vampire was a little tipsy after a full night seated at Monique’s bar, glowering at all the flirty customers and sipping on whiskey. He’d been unusually grabby (not that Jamie had minded), and his thing about Jamie’s cigarettes…

Luc was definitely having some thoughts and feelings about Jamie’s mortality.

And now he was most certainly having thoughts and feelings about meeting Jamie’s family.

Luc was sputtering at him, uncharacteristically fazed. “We’re on your mother’s doorstep, for fuck’s sake.”

“Aw, he’s shy,” Jamie teased.

Luc stepped closer with menace in his eyes—not, like, “I’m gonna kill you” menace (as if Luc would ever hurt him), more like “I’m gonna toss you over my knee and punish you” kind of menace (which Jamie was 100 percenthere for).

But Luc didn’t have a chance to punish him for his teasing because the next moment, the front door opened, and Jamie’s little sister was poking her head out, peering out at them suspiciously, her long dark hair held out of her face with two yellow barrettes. “What are you two doing lurking on the porch like a couple of weirdos?”

Playful teasing aside, Jamie wasn’t about to tell any of his family he was giving his vampire lover a minute to bolster his courage. “Good to see you too, little menace,” he drawled. “Step aside. You’re letting the AC out.”

She ignored him, her eyes widening as she looked Luc over. “Is this the new boyfriend?”

Luc bent forward slightly at the waist—was he fuckingbowingto Jamie’s little sister?—and held out a hand. “I’m Lucien, but you may call me Luc. What’s your name, little mademoiselle?”

Izzy’s eyes widened further, and a look very much bordering on hero worship crossed over her face.Um, excuse me?Jamie was her adored older brother, and she’d never looked athimlike that. Did she have a crush on Luc already?

Well, damn. That was fast. Jamie couldn’t fault her taste though. His vampire was sexy as fuck.

“Um. Isabel,” she mumbled, placing her hand in Luc’s. “Izzy.”

Luc shook her hand lightly—for a second, Jamie was afraid he was going to honest-to-God kiss it, like some black-and-white movie dandy—and then straightened back up. “Charmed, Izzy. Will you show us inside?”

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