“Lorcan is anything but ‘okay’,” Roy responded, shaking his head as he looked at me. “Be careful around him. He’s an infamous womanizer.”
“Well, not to worry. He isn’t my… type,” I answered, even though I inwardly argued with myself that I didn’t even have a type. Well, loser was probably my type, as exemplified by the string of crappy relationships in my past.
“If I were you, I’d invest in some garlic pills and start taking them post haste.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it—the suggestion was just so completely out of left field. Yet, his expression remained serious. “Why on earth would I do that?”
He shrugged, like his statement wasn’t so weird. “Garlic lowers your blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Sometimes it can even prevent the common cold. And it’s one hundred percent proven to repel Lorcan Rowe.”
I frowned at him. “And why is that?”
Roy shrugged again, going for casual but not quite getting there. “He has a… garlic allergy.”
I shook my head, a small helpless laugh burbling from me because I didn’t understand how garlic was going to repel a man. Unless…
Oh my God, Poppy! I reprimanded myself. Monsters aren’t real, remember? And that means vampires aren’t real either.
Right.
That was when I remembered Roy’s comment about Ophelia not liking how Haven Hollow was becoming touristy and how she didn’t like Marty for that exact reason. I decided to be a little nosy… “I’ve heard there are rumors about a cult in Haven Hollow,” I started.
“Pardon?”
“Yeah, and I’ve heard Ophelia is part of it…”
Roy faced me, and a smirk took over his lips. If he was handsome before, he was downright sexy now. “And who else is rumored to be in this cult?”
“Quite a few people who work here, actually.”
“Oh?” he put his elbows on the bar and leaned over, his head cradled in his hands as he stared at me and it was all I could do to stay seated so close in front of him. “Who?”
“Um, Fifi…” I started, swallowing hard because he was… he was really close. So close that I could smell him and he smelled like the woods—all pine trees and masculinity. “And… and you.”
“And you believe there’s a cult and we’re all in it?” He did a bad job of hiding the contempt in his voice.
“Well, there appears to be something… strange… about all of you.”
He narrowed his eyes at me and I felt my heart start to pound in earnest. “What’s strange about us?”
I wasn’t going to back down. Not when I had my chance to get some answers directly from the source. If there really was a cult in Haven Hollow, I wanted to know. “Well, produce rots within minutes of coming into contact with Ophelia,” I started, holding my own as Roy continued to stare at me. “I’ve never seen Stanley Stomper exit his creamery. Fifi has some sort of uber sexy aura that stops traffic. Lorcan is as creepy as he is handsome and you...”
“And me?” he asked, one corner of his mouth curling upward. “What is so strange about me?”
“I don’t know exactly,” I confessed, cocking my head to the side as I studied him. He stared at me with those beautiful gray eyes and I could see his attraction for me burning in his gaze. No doubt, he could feel mine burning for him just as easily. I’d never experienced anything like this before—this sense of complete animal magnetism with a total stranger. “I just sense... something.”
He took my half empty glass and refilled it, swapping out the wrung-out lemon for a fresh slice.
“If you’d like a little more insight into this so-called ‘cult’, you could join me for dinner,” he said and floored the crap out of me.
“More insight?” I asked.
“Sure,” he nodded. “I’ll treat you to a steak and open one of my better vintages, and we could talk.”
“About the cult?”
“About the council,” he corrected me.
I eyed him narrowly as I wondered if he was going to try to recruit me like Ophelia had. “I’m not interested in joining, if that’s your angle.”
He chuckled. “Who said we’d let you join?”
I couldn’t help my smile. “Touché.”
Then there was a weighty silence that descended on us both and Roy just continued leaning over the counter, staring at me. And I stared right back at him.
“Dinner still stands,” he said finally. “I’d like to learn more about… you.”
“Me?”
He nodded. “I’ve never met a gypsy before.”
“How did you know–” I started.
“News travels fast, but even faster in small towns.” He paused and just looked at me for the space of three heartbeats. “I’d like to get to know you… better,” he finished, as he studied me. “I have to admit from the moment I laid eyes on you… I found you… interesting.”
“Ditto,” I answered, even though I was amazed to even find my voice.
“So, what do you say about the two of us going on an adventure regarding why we find each other so… interesting?”
Heat prickled across my skin, and I had to drop my eyes to my lap. The intensity of his stare was scorching. He had to be a player. There was no way a man who looked like this and had this sort of… confidence didn’t have a woman warming his bed every night. And I wasn’t about to be added to the list.
“I’m a single mom,” I started, wanting him to understand I had responsibilities and I wasn’t just another woman who was going to be a notch on his bedpost. “I have a son,” I continued. “And I’m not shopping for a one-night-stand.”
Roy pulled back then and looked surprised. “I would never assume,” he started and then shook his head. “Poppy, I know what type of woman you are and I would never presume to take you to dinner with thoughts of… what could come afterwards. I know you don’t know me, but I’m a gentleman.”
I took a deep breath. I hadn’t meant to offend him. “I’m sorry,” I started.
“And I’m aware that you have a son,” he continued. “He was with you the other night, when you were here.”
“Right,” I said with a quick nod. “So… if I were to meet you for dinner… I’d need… I’d need to see if I could get a babysitter.”
“Does that mean you will meet me for dinner?” he asked and he sounded like an eager little boy.
I laughed. “You did say you were a gentleman,” I started.
“And I am!” he responded with a big grin.
“Then, yes, I’d love to take you up on your offer.”
Wow, had I just agreed to a date? I’d decided I was going to be off the market for a while and boom, I was back. Just like that. Darla would be proud.
Roy reached into the white apron he’d somehow managed to lash around his gargantuan body. I didn’t understand how there was enough fabric to make it all the way around him. He had the sturdy strength of an oak tree and the dimensions to match. He had more muscles than the average bodybuilder and looked like he’d have a shot at wrestling a bear into submission.