Mindy waved toward the bathroom. “Go on. I’ll scrounge up something to eat. I’m in the mood for something with no nutritional value whatsoever.”
Olivia sighed. “Man, I miss just ordering pizza or Chinese food.”
“Yeah, the filthy vamps robbed us of a lot of stuff.”
Olivia sighed, unsure whether she could handle Mindy’s attitude all night. Her friend was entitled to her opinion, but Olivia was tired and confused and wanted to sleep for a week. She headed for the bubble bath that was calling her name.
When she sank into the tub of warm water, it was nothing short of heavenly. She didn’t read as she thought she might, instead laying her head back and closing her eyes. As the warmth soaked through her, relieving her aches and pains, she drifted into a state of semiconsciousness. Her thoughts drifted, as well, and ended up settling on one Campbell Raines, all six-plus muscular feet of him.
Somehow her mind knew this wasn’t real and so it was safe to go where she wanted. He stood in the middle of her living room, and she stared at him in confusion.
“How did you get in here?” she asked.
“You invited me in, remember?”
“I did?”
“Yes, Olivia. You wanted me here, where I could touch you.”
“Bite me?”
“Only if you want me to.”
Did she want that? No, of course not. But something else? She walked closer and looked up at his handsome face. Yes, she definitely wanted something else. “Kiss me.”
He smiled and she was glad to see his fangs were safely tucked away. His mouth lowered toward hers, and her heart rate picked up in anticipation of the feel of his lips on hers. When their lips met, her entire body started to vibrate with need, with wanting him. He seemed to feel the same, and the kiss deepened. Why hadn’t she invited him in sooner? Why had she been so afraid?
She was so caught up in the kiss that she didn’t notice the change in him at first. A low growl, an animal sound, had started in his throat. Fear leaped inside her and she tried to push away. He didn’t let her.
“Campbell, let me go.” She pushed at his chest, but it was no use.
“Never,” he growled next to her ear. He pulled back enough for her to see his fully descended fangs a moment before he plunged them into her neck.
Olivia gasped and sat up so quickly she sloshed water over the side of the tub. Her heart was beating so fast she wondered if it would ever slow.
“Liv, you okay?” Mindy asked from the other side of the bathroom door.
Olivia stared at the door for a few seconds as reality fell a little more into place. She was fine. She hadn’t invited any vampires into her home. She lifted her hand to her neck and found it free from puncture marks.
“Yeah, fine. I just drifted off.”
“Well, don’t drown yourself. I can’t eat all this food by myself.”
Olivia smiled a little, thankful her friend sounded a bit more like herself. No doubt she’d pulled out every bit of junk food in the apartment and made a smorgasbord of it. When Mindy was working out a problem, she fueled her brain with chips, dip and snack cakes—enough salt and sugar to freak out every cardiologist in Manhattan.
“I’ll be out in a minute.”
When she heard Mindy walk away from the door, Olivia sank back into the cooling water for a moment to let the rest of her scrambled thoughts sort themselves out between reality and dream. And then between the parts of the dream she liked and the part that was pure terror. Maybe it was her subconscious reminding her that no matter how nice Campbell seemed, no matter how attractive, he was still basically a killing machine.
But that kiss. She had no idea if that was how it would really feel, but it made for a mighty fine dream kiss. She lifted her hand out of the water and touched her lips, realized just how much she missed being held, being made to feel desirable and loved.
“Oh, Jeremy,” she whispered. “Why did you have to leave me?”
She pushed thoughts of Jeremy and Campbell away as she got out of the tub, toweled off and put on her most comfortable cotton pajamas. If the bath didn’t set her troubled mind at ease, maybe a night of TV and junk food would do the trick. She walked out to find Mindy had baked a sausage pizza and some mozzarella cheese sticks, held a bag of barbecue potato chips in her hands and by the smell of things had a pan of brownies in the oven.
“How long was I in there?” Olivia asked.
Mindy shrugged. “Awhile.”
Olivia swiped a slice of pizza and a soda and headed for the couch. The buzzer went off on the stove, sending Mindy toward the kitchen to retrieve the brownies.
“Turn on something,” Mindy said. “It’s too damn quiet in here.”
Olivia flipped channels until she found Leap Year just starting, then sat back to enjoy her pizza. It was so good to have something escapist to watch again instead of the nonstop news coverage during the virus outbreak and the revelation of the vampire threat. Worse had been when so many media people died that TV broadcasts were intermittent. Gradually, on-air time had returned to a normal schedule with something other than all gloom all the time.
Mindy slid the pan of wonderful-smelling brownies onto the coffee table and sat down with her own plate of pizza.
They ate in what could only be called a tense silence. Olivia cursed herself for revealing anything about Campbell and ruining the friendly ease between her and Mindy.
“You didn’t have to babysit me tonight,” Olivia said.
“You’re in danger and already injured. Of course I had to stay.”
“Had to?”
“You know what I mean.”
Olivia was afraid she did. She’d committed the one unforgivable sin—thinking anything remotely positive about a vampire.
Mindy motioned toward Olivia’s ankle. “How’s it feeling?”
“Better.”
They fell into silence again and watched some more of the movie. Olivia set her plate on the coffee table, her appetite gone. She stopped paying attention to the movie even though it was one of her favorites. Instead she started thinking about how to protect herself against the latest threat. “Min, when my ankle heals, will you teach me self-defense?”
Mindy had taken karate, Tae Kwon Do, kickboxing and who knew how many other classes meant to ensure she was never an easy target. She nodded. “Good idea, on one condition.”
“What?”
Mindy turned toward her and met her gaze. “You promise me you’ll never talk to this vampire again.”
Olivia hesitated a moment but realized this was for the best—for her relationship with her best friend, not to mention her own safety and sanity. She nodded. “I promise.” Why did those words feel wrong?
“One other thing.”
“What?”
“Find someone to date, someone with a heartbeat.”
Olivia shook her head. “I’m too busy for a relationship. I have the restaurant to run, and I’ve got to figure out a way to start delivering meals again.”
“If you’ve got time to talk to a vampire on the phone, you’ve got time for a relationship.”
“I don’t think I’m ready.”
“It’s been two years. You know I loved Jeremy, but he’s gone. And if the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that we don’t know how much time we have.”
“We never knew that.”
“No, but doesn’t the distant possibility of heart disease or being hit by a crazy-ass cabdriver seem so minor now compared to global pandemics and vampires?”
She had a very good point. Still, it was a huge step to move from being in mourning to trying to find romantic happiness again. She wasn’t sure she was ready or able to take it.
“Well, I obviously have time to think about it with no viable prospects on the horizon. And what about you? I don’t see you pairing up.”