Page 14 of Santa's Wish
"Why does silver work?" I asked.
"Silver has always countered bacteria and viruses." He pointed to the soup. "Eat before it gets cold. I'll find you something to wear."
Santa had given me a pair of sweats and a t-shirt after I puked all over my nice button-down. Then, he'dshown me the full-sized washer and dryer nestled in the corner of the apartment. If I hadn't already been sold on the wood floors and great location, that would have done it.
Tonight, he returned with jeans a little big on me and another plain white t-shirt. His chest was so broad, while my head and one shoulder fit through the neck hole. Thankfully, I'd worn a belt to the bar. I tucked in the shirt and cinched the belt around both the jeans and the extra t-shirt fabric.
Santa grinned and shook his head when I emerged from the bathroom. "It will get you back to your dorm, at least."
I couldn't argue with that.
We detoured to Fanglory, and he told me to get out of his Chevelle. Shocked the hell out of me until he led me to the cargo van in the parking lot.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were kidnapping me," I said once we were back on the road to Cambridge.
"Technically, you can still say no. You haven't signed the lease yet."
"It's perfect for me," I assured him. "And I have a vampire to help me move out before I change my mind."
I didn't even know how accurate that statement was until I grabbed a change of clothes that fit and padded to the dorm's communal bathroom. When I returnedin my own clothes, everything but the standard college-issued bed and desk had been loaded into the van. My futon lay in pieces in the giant trash bin at the corner of the parking lot.
"I have to be at work in an hour," Santa said when he found me staring listlessly around my empty room.
"Right. Thanks for," I waved at the barren room, "all this."
"You're welcome!" He winked at me, and my face burned.
Once again, I was reminded of how wrong I was to stereotype all vampires like Bela Lugosi. Santa's skin, while pale, still held a hint of a tan. Golden highlights shone in his brown hair, probably from being kissed by the sun while he raised farm buildings and houses in his youth. He had the face of an angel, a little cherub with dimples in his cheeks and chin.
Not only did he not fit the vampire stereotype, he didn't fit what I'd thought was my ideal man. He was too perfect. Too pretty. Too good for me.
He was also a sex worker. My friends had paid for a two-for-one special. One had fucked Santa while he sucked the other. I didn't want to know who did what, so I didn't ask.
Now was not the time to wonder what sex with him would feel like. He'd promised to take me out on a date before he blew my mind with whatever he had planned…
"Tonight wasn't a date, right?" I asked as we approached the offramp.
"No." Without taking his eyes off the road, he reached over and patted my knee. "Not enough time. I have Mondays off, if you want to go then?"
"What did you have in mind?"
He grinned. "What kind of food do you like?"
"Pizza, at home."
That got an outright chuckle from him. His laugh was already one of my favorite things. I was quickly becoming addicted to hearing his voice. I wondered if that was a vampire thing, or if I had been spending too much time in my books and my head.
When Colette had asked about my college experience, I'd told her about my favorite textbooks. I'd expected her to scoff at my answer or accuse me of being the most boring candidate for the job, but she looked even more feral afterward.
Imperial Accounting had hired me as a temporary-to-immortal employee for their empress. This was my trial period before they made me a vampire. I swallowed hard at the realization. I'd played right into their hands, then. Most boring human in the world reporting for duty. Sure, I would make a reliable vampire employee, but then what?
"I'm nobody," I muttered. "Why does the empress want me?"
"You're fascinating to me," Santa said.
He kept his eyes on the road, but his hand returned to my knee and stayed there, all warm and comforting. He'd stopped at Blood Drive on the way out of town, and the temperature difference shocked me. I thought vampires stayed as cold as the dead, but warm blood seemed to revive them.
My only response would be to tell him he was the interesting one, not me, so I kept my mouth shut.
