Page 41 of Midnight Serenade
I knew it was sudden, but it also felt really comfortable. Like taking off your bra and putting on your pajamas at the end of a long, brutal day. Not that I was going to tell the vampire holding my hand that.
Ever since my harrowing few hours in the middle of the ocean, Sebastian seemed more than happy for us to move pastjust friends.I think I’d terrified him that night. The way he’d called my name and the tremors in his body had said it all. I would wake up sometimes and find him sitting up in his bed, reading, with his privacy curtain pulled open just enough so he could see me, like a man panicked to let the person he loved out of his sight.
I wondered when we would all go back to normal and cursed the still unfound woman under my breath for the thousandth time.
Obviously, we knew that the person who was attacking me was a person on the cruise, but I’d been wracking my mind for someone on the cruise who matched the appearance of the woman I’d seen on the platform at the zipline place, and I was coming up empty. Right now, they were searching through the records of those who’d disembarked that day, but it was aheftylist, and they didn’t want to cause widespread panic on the ship by telling people a woman was onboard trying to kill another guest.
That was just a basic cruise no-no. Widespread panic with nowhere for people to go created all kinds of problems and injuries.
Sebastian and I found a bench in the botanical gardens and just sat and enjoyed the little pond they had there. It felt cooler among the plants, flowers and trees, and I appreciated the coolness as I tilted my face up to the slight breeze. The heat made me glad I was wearing a flirty cotton dress. Cottonbreathed.In the distance, dark clouds grew on the horizon, heading our way.
“We’d better head back to the ship. It looks like a storm is coming.” He nodded, and we started slowly making our way back, trying to squeeze out as much alone time as possible by walking at the pace of a turtle. To pass the time, we started playinghave you ever.I figured it was a good game to play when you were desperate to get to know someone.
Sebastian held my hand and occasionally, he absently brought it to his lips to kiss. Did it make me weak in the knees that he was absently kissing my hand like a tender lover kissed the hand of the person he adored? Yes. Yes, it did.
We moved quickly through favorite movies, songs, and books. His were all things I’d never heard of, but he didn’t take offense. “Have you ever been to Disneyland?” I asked.
“Of course. I even hugged Mickey Mouse.”
Awww!
“What’s your favorite Disney character?” Sebastian asked.
I made a face. “I don’t think I can pick only one, but I tend to love robots and droids, so I’d say Baymax, Wall-E, R2D2, and C3PO, followed by Mickey and Minnie.” I gave him a cheeky smile. “And that’s really only the beginning of the madness. I’m kind of a Disney addict.”
He nodded seriously, as if this were completely understandable and I didn’t need some kind of ten-step detox program. “We need to visit Disneyland Paris together. I’ll translate all the rides for you.”
“You speak French?”
He chuckled and ran a callused finger over the sensitive skin on the top of my hand. “I speak... a few languages.”
He seemed embarrassed, and I found this adorable. “Less than ten?”
He did the more or less thing with his hand and I gaped at him. “It’s over ten, isn’t it?” I guessed.
“Fourteen.”
“Well, I’d be all set to travel the world with you,” I said in faint amazement. “You could probably translate for me anywhere I cared to go.”
We stopped as he gazed fondly down at me. “I’d be happy to translate for you anytime, Grace,” he said tenderly.
Did men know that when they said sweet things like that, women wanted to tackle them down to the ground and kiss them senseless? I was so tempted to do just that, but we were already running perilously close to the time we were supposed to be on the ship, and I hadn’t used my words like an adult yet and told Sebastian I was all in with him. I just kept trying to find a darkened corner and kiss his lips off. I felt like that would be pretty self-explanatory, but I knew I needed to have that adult conversation instead. He deserved that from me.
“We’d better hurry. I think we’re supposed to be there in five minutes,” I said, trying unsuccessfully to tow him behind me faster as I started double timing it to the ship.
“It’s not like they’re going to leave without me, angel.”
Hmm. Good point.
I slowed, shivering a little at his sweet nickname for me and the way he wrapped an arm around my waist as we went up the gangplank to the ship.
The next day,Mama, Micaela, and I had found a quiet pub at midday and were playing hearts at a corner table. Later, I was going ashore alone, except for my guards, to do a thermal mud bath and then a natural hot spring, followed by a massage. Supposedly, it was fun and totally relaxing. And with all the stress I’d been under lately, I needed a little relaxation. My last attempts at a massage had not gone well at all.
Mama swept the card game, per usual, while I tried to pick up the pieces of my pride and Micaela argued that Mama had cheated. She hadn’t. My mama was just a card shark.
A massive guy suddenly stood in front of me, holding out a somewhat crumpled flower. Micaela was already up and about to put the guy in a headlock, but I held her off with a wave of my hand. My sonar was telling me he was a good guy.
“Hello, ma’am. I’m Lincoln. I wanted to give you this flower. I know you’re with the vampire who owns the ship, but I’ve never seen anyone more beautiful than you are, and I thought... all ladies like flowers, right?” He looked genuinely confused on this point, and I smiled gently as I took the flower.
