Page 35 of Forsworn By The Vampire
All that being said, I'd never fed from her. Not that I hadn't tried. I grunted to the room in general as I remembered the way she'd ever so politely refused my invitation to join me in the back room for a private dance. I'd even offered to give it to her for free--so to speak. But she'd told me she wasn't interested inthat.
However, ever since then, she'd shown up at least once or twice a week. Always when I was working. And after the first few times, I stopped inviting her into the back room. But when I danced, I danced for her and her alone.
We didn't talk anymore. Not until the night I'd stayed behind to walk Kenya home and found Esme waiting for me outside the club. It had been stupid of me to listen to her when she'd told me she could make it home fine on her own, but the look on Esme's face...I thought something had happened, and I was worried about her. Turns out my instincts had been right.
She had that same look on her face tonight, but I wasn't falling for it this time. That woman and her life was of no concern to me. I needed to stay out of all of it, stay away from her and her questions before she discovered more than she needed to know.
I was done with my shower in record time and didn't even bother buttoning my shirt (my favorite one. It had hula girls dancing all over it) or lacing my boots. Shoving my G-string in my jeans pocket to throw in the wash when I got home, I carefully opened the door, half expecting Esme to be waiting for me in the hall. When I didn't see her, I tiptoed down the hall to the back door, and, with a quick look over my shoulder, shoved it open. Grinning, I let it slam behind me and walked out into the alley.
"Not hanging around tonight, Brogan?"
"Jesus fucking Christ!" My fangs shot down and I swung around, snapping my mouth shut just in time. I even managed not to wince as one razor sharp fang sliced the inside of my bottom lip on the way down.
The woman in the alleyway laughed.
She fucking laughed.
And I guess she had the right. Somehow, she'd managed to sneak up on a fucking vampire and scare the bejesus out of him. A feat not many humans could claim. Well, so much for my sneaking out of there.
"Are you scared of me or something?"
"Pfft." I wasn't even going to dignify that question with an answer. The woman had no idea. "What do you want, Esme?"
She glanced around the alley, giving me a minute to admire her in all her gorgeousness. Tonight, she was wearing black jeans that hugged her thick curves like a second skin, a red blouse, and a short, black leather jacket. Her lips were painted red, too. But the rest of her makeup was minimal as far as I could tell. Of course, I am a guy. So there's no telling what I was actually looking at here. Long hair, so dark it was almost black, hung in thick waves over one shoulder, tied that way with a ponytail holder.
"Wanna go get something to eat?"
Although her expression was completely innocent, I knew damn well what she was doing. And I gave her my standard answer. "You know damn well I don't date customers. I've told you this plenty of times."
"It's not a date," she said. "It's dinner. I never asked you to buy."
Tenacious. Did I say before how Latin women were tenacious? "It's not happening. I have things to do."
"I'll come with you. Keep you company." She smiled a wide smile, all white teeth and dimples, and my heart stuttered to a stop.
I managed to shake my head. "I didn't ask for company."
Smile still in place, like she knew how it made me stupid, she walked up beside me and laced her arm through mine. I had to give her credit. The woman had balls. Most humans had a sixth sense about me and would keep their distance. Unless, of course, I turned on my vampire charm. Then they were drawn to me like they hadn't had water in days and I was the only oasis in the desert.
But not this one.
I started to button up my shirt. "Esme, I told you I didn't want company."
"Well, I do. So, you're stuck with me. You might as well just deal with it and let's get on about things. I don't want to be up all night. I have an early meeting."
"Tomorrow's Sunday."
She looked at me as if to say, "And?"
I looked down at her. She only came up just past my shoulder in heels, a tiny thing with an ass that would make a man weep watching it walk away, and an attitude the size of The Rock. "Fine." I told her.
If anything, that smile got even brighter.
We walked out of the alley and I headed toward the closest restaurant. No sense in dragging this out.
Despite the colder weather, the streets were crowded with people full of the holiday spirit. As I walked through them with this gorgeous woman on my arm, I held my chin high and tried to ignore the sense of pride that filled my chest. Esme wasn't mine. Hell, she didn't even want me. Like every other time I'd taken her out, she was only doing this to try to get information out of me.
And she already knew too much.
