Page 1 of Bad Luck Vampire

Prologue

“Aren’t you getting a drink with your dinner?”

Sophie turned from the waitress she’d been giving her order to, and peered with confusion at her blind date. “I asked for iced tea.”

“A Long Island iced tea?” Carl suggested.

“No. Just iced tea.”

She started to turn back to the waitress, only to pause when he cajoled, “Oh, come now. You have to have a proper drink. How about a margarita? That’s a girly drink, isn’t it?”

Sophie stiffened at his words. A girly drink? Seriously? Irritation sparked in her, but she pushed it down. “No, I’m good with the iced tea,” she assured him, and turned away to smile at the waitress as she reaffirmed, “A straight iced tea, no alcohol please.”

Carl wasn’t done pushing, though. “Well, if you don’t like margaritas, what about a mai tai, then?”

Sophie frowned at the man. “No.”

“A mojito?”

“No.”

“Oh! Sex on the beach,” he suggested with a grin, and told the waitress, “She’ll have a sex on the beach.”

“She won’t have sex on anything,” Sophie said grimly, losing her patience. Arching one eyebrow, she asked, “Are you a date rapist or something?”

Carl jerked back in his seat, shock on his face. “Why would you ask a thing like that?”

“Because you appear to have trouble accepting no for an answer, and I gather that’s an issue with date rapists too,” she explained sweetly. And then her expression went cold as she said, “I don’t want an alcoholic beverage. I don’t like the taste of alcohol. I want an iced tea.”

Carl relaxed at once, a slimy smile oozing over his face. “Oh, well, no one likes the taste of alcohol, Sophie. That’s not why anyone drinks.”

“Really,” she said dryly. “So, you only drink to get buzzed?”

“Exactly,” he said at once.

“Riiight,” Sophie drew out the word, her eyes narrowing. “So aside from giving off a date rapist vibe, you acknowledge you have a drinking problem. Good to know, and thanks for revealing all of that right away so I don’t have to waste any more time than necessary on this blind date.”

Picking up her purse, Sophie pulled out a twenty as she stood up. She handed the money to the waitress then and offered her a smile. “For your trouble. Please scratch the iced tea and Caesar salad you just wrote down. I won’t be staying. Have a good night.”

Grabbing her coat off the back of her chair, Sophie headed for the exit, more than eager to be done with this nasty-ass blind date.

“Hey!” Carl shouted.

Sophie heard the scrape of a chair pushing back from the table and just knew it was his. Of course Carl couldn’t just let her leave quietly and calmly. No, jerks like him always had to make a scene.

“Hey!” His hand on her arm stopped Sophie as she reached the door.

She turned slowly and peered at the man with dead eyes. “Let go of me.”

“You can’t just walk out like that. We’re on a date.”

“The date is done,” she said firmly, and tugged her arm free to push the door open and slip outside.

“It’s not done. You didn’t even give me a chance,” Carl protested, following her out into the cool night air. “Come back in and finish the date.”

“No, thank you.” Sophie picked up speed, nearly jogging in her high heels to get away from him. She’d had a long day, and this blind date she’d let her coworker Lise rope her into was the crappy cherry on top of a crap day. She just wanted to go home, kick off her heels, veg on the couch in front of a movie, and forget this day—and specifically this date—had ever happened.

“Come on, stop playing hard to get. I make good money and I’m a good-looking guy. I’m a real catch. I know you want me.”

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