Normally, I would have admired the way she hadn’t wasted any time. But something weird was happening to me—had been happening slowly over time. Endless time. There reached a point where a man had to admit things to himself, and here it was. Number one: Noel laughed at my jokes. Number two: She was committed to the agency and to fighting evil. Not just loyal but enthusiastic about her kick-ass higher purpose in life. She’d stuck by my side while others flew the coup. (Yeah, I’m talking about you, Aurora Sky.) Number three: She had a hearty appetite for human food—and she wasn’t picky. I’d watched her polish off a can of SpaghettiOs on our first team assignment like it was the caviar of pasta. A woman who could chow down and keep her figure was a keeper. Number four: Noel Harper was hot as fuck.
The douche next to her certainly agreed. He had his damn fingers on her thigh.
“Hey, Wyatt Earp, take a hike.” My voice boomed over the music. I didn’t want to have to repeat myself.
The cowboy must have missed the threat in my tone. Instead of leaving, he leaned back and turned to Noel.
“You here with this fellow?” I just made out his question over the chicks chorusing the lyrics while they danced.
“Yeah, she’s here with me.” I grabbed him by his coat lapels, lifted him off the sofa, and shoved him into the dancing mass. My fingers fisted as I expected the cowboy to come back and fight. I peered into the crowd and saw him stumble into a blonde wearing a short embroidered dress and cowgirl boots. The guy stared from her boots to her bright blue eyes then took off his hat and dipped his head. The blonde threw her arms around his neck and swayed her hips, tossing her hair back. Nice save.
Relaxing my fists, I took the vacant spot beside Noel, who looked at me over the rim of her cocktail with a smug grin.
“You owe me a drink,” she hollered.
I squeezed in close so we could converse without shouting.
“You already have one.” I nodded at the one in her hand.
“Still owe me. Doesn’t have to be tonight.”
“Oh yeah? How does next Friday sound? My place. Candles, massage oil, and a bottle of Voulez-vous coucher avec moi.”
Noel laughed, took a sip of her cocktail, and lowered her glass.
“Run into any trouble?”
“Meh. The usual.” I shrugged. “Nothing I couldn’t handle.”
“I can see that.” Her gaze flicked to the sodden bow tie around my wrist.
I eyed her hair—down but not disheveled. “What about you? Looks like you had some girl-on-boy action. Way to go, Harper.” My voice betrayed nothing. Buddy, buddy. As usual. This was beginning to suck harder than a rabid vampire during initiation.
Noel rolled her eyes. “Not yet, but the night’s not over.” She swayed her shoulders, knocking one into me. I liked the feel of her against me, even if it was an accident.
“Oh?” I asked a little too eagerly.
Noel looked at me sideways before taking another sip of her cocktail. I stared at her neck as she swallowed. Noel handed the glass to me. “Here, try it.”
“What is it?”
“Delicious,” Noel said with a laugh. “It’s called a—” Her words were drowned out by the next round of chorus and screaming chicks.
“What?” I yelled.
“Hell-raiser!” Noel yelled back.
“Sounds fun.” I took the drink and downed it. I smacked my lips. “Good stuff. I’ll get us a couple more. Where did you find this?”
“At the bar in back from a kick-ass bartender named Rowen. She’s the one with black lipstick wearing a leather minidress. You should go check her out. I’ve already had three hell-raisers and at least one of all the other signature cocktails from all six bartenders.”
I smiled in appreciation. Noel could drink someone three times her size under the table. She credited that particular talent to her Russian roots from her mom’s side of the family.
“You really have been busy,” I said.
“I get around.” Noel smirked. “Kill any hostiles?”
“Nah. Turned out this was a recruiting mission.”
“That’s great.”
“If you say so.”
“Hey.” Noel smacked my shoulder. “Killing vampires is easy. Finding quality recruits is the real challenge.”
“That’s true.” I glanced at her bare leg.
“Guess tonight was our lucky night.” Noel grinned.
“Our lucky night?” I lifted my eyes to her lips. My gaze roamed down Noel’s neck to the half-mounds straining against her golden bodice. Never mind cocktails, I didn’t want to leave my partner’s side. I set the empty glass on the ground by my foot.
Noel merely laughed the way she did every time I made a joke. Usually, I loved the way she got my humor, but tonight I didn’t know how to make her understand that I was dead serious. Making a move was risky. Noel might deck me, or she might dig it. Things could go either way.
“You let your hair down; that’s a start,” I noted.
“And you got bit.”
I followed Noel’s intent gaze to the bow tie at my wrist. With a grimace, I fingered the makeshift bandage.
“Sadly, I did the biting.”
Noel continued staring at my wrist. Her pupils dilated. I squeezed against her, wanting so much to put one arm around her shoulder and a hand on her thigh.
“Remember our first stakeout?” I asked.
Noel snorted and rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t a stakeout for very long. I recall someone, i.e. you, too impatient to watch our vampire suspect from the sidelines.”
“Hey, I like hands-on.” And hand jobs. Hello, hot-blooded Alaskan male here with the heightened stamina and sexual urges of the undead. I snuck a peek down the front of Noel’s gown, marveling once more at the efficiency of her push-up bra. “You suggested I bite you as part of my cover,” I reminded her.
Too bad I’d been hung up on my former mentee, who was obsessed with a lame-ass Italian vampire from the start. If I hadn’t been so blind, I could have been putting the moves on Noel long ago. That stakeout could have turned into a makeout. We’d shared the cabin together at night. Separate beds. Missed opportunity. Teddy wasn’t the only one picking the wrong type of women.
Well, live, learn, and move on.
“Never did get to bite you, Harper.”
Noel smirked. “You were too busy drinking beer with our ‘suspect.’” She made air quotes when she said “suspect.” Noel had known all along that we’d been sent on a wild snow goose chase. The two of us had managed to turn it into a good time. Moose and Mouse forever.
Noel flipped her hair over her shoulder. She still hadn’t explained how it came to be unbound. There was no sign of her hair pick. Maybe her shirtless dance partner had gotten too frisky. Wouldn’t put it past Noel to jam a pick through someone’s hand if they tried anything she wasn’t into. That or poke a vein and suck it. Shit. I shouldn’t be one to judge.
A male vocalist’s voice filled the room with “I’m a Sick Fuck, I Like a Quick Fuck” by Yung Nazty.
Noel and I watched the dancing turn downright dirty. On the floor in front of us, a beauty in a metallic pink bodysuit bounced her lush booty against her dance partner’s crotch. My dick hardened and pulsed in appreciation. I felt like a teenager watching a sex scene at the theater with a date I wanted to make a move on.