“Okay. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Thanks, sweetie. I love you.”
“Love you, too, Mom.”
“What’s with you tonight?” Eliana queried as they strolled through the University of Houston’s campus.
“What do you mean?”
She gave him a long up-and-down look. “You’re wound as tight as a drum.”
Nick grimaced. “I fucked up.”
“How so?”
“I think I hurt Kayla’s feelings.” Self-recrimination struck. “No. I know I did. It was completely unintentional. But that doesn’t excuse it.” And it did nothing to banish the memory of the hurt he’d seen flicker in her eyes earlier when he’d backed away from her touch like a fucking sixteenth-century duchess whose manure-covered stable boy had tried to grope her.
“What happened?”
He sighed. “She touched me and I pulled away.”
She arched a brow and gave his crotch a quick glance. “Touched you where?”
“On my arm,” he growled. “Get your mind out of the gutter. Her daughter was in the room with us.”
She laughed, unashamed of where her thoughts had gone. “Why did you pull away?”
“Because now that I’ve held her and kissed her and touched her amazing body, all it takes is one brush of her hand on my arm to leave me hard and aching.”
“And make your eyes glow? Kinda like they’re glowing right now?”
“Yes, damn it.” Closing his eyes, he thought of the time in the eighteenth century when he’d gotten caught out in an open field with no trees or structures in sight as the sun rose, leaving him no choice but to burrow down into the snow to keep from getting burned. Without modern technology and the convenience of cell phones, he’d lacked the ability to call his Second for aid and had been forced to stay in that snow and ice all damned day.
Yep. That did it. The arousal sparked by thoughts of Kayla receded.
Opening his eyes, he cut Eliana a glance.
She nodded. “Back to brown. You’re good.”
He had to give her props for not laughing. If the shoe were on the other foot and her inability to keep her eyes from glowing hindered a budding relationship, he’d probably think it funny as hell.
But Eliana just offered him a commiserating smile. “Being an Immortal Guardian has its drawbacks.”
“It really does.”
She bumped his arm with her shoulder. “Stop worrying. I’m sure Kayla will understand. Just explain it when Becca isn’t around.”
“That’s the thing. Becca is always around.”
Now she did laugh. “She leaves tomorrow though, right?”
“Right.”
“Well, you’ve waited this long for Kayla. You can wait one more day.”
He nodded.
Crickets chirped, their song almost drowned out by the boom-boom-booming music pouring forth from the party they approached. It had been raging for a while now. The kids inside had been drinking and/or getting high for a few hours. Their inhibitions were down. And they paid no damn attention at all to their surroundings when they staggered outside to either head home, look for another party, or find the nearest place to get laid.
Even the biggest jock among them would prove easy pickings for vampires seeking a bite. Two such jocks headed their way, plastic cups reeking of the beer that sloshed over the rims.
“Hey, baby,” the blond called, ogling Eliana. “Why don’t you ditch this ugly fucker and come have some fun with us?”
Eliana grimaced. “Hell no. Look in the mirror and you’ll understand why.”
His friend guffawed. “Dude! That’s like the fifth girl who’s shot you down tonight!”
The blond scowled. “Bitch.”
Nick shook his head at the young men as they passed. “Perhaps if your parents had taught you better manners, you’d have more luck.”
“Fuck you,” the blond muttered under his breath.
Eliana glanced at him over her shoulder. “And read a fucking book every once in a while! Ignorance is a huge turnoff!”
That sparked another round of mutters from the blond while his friend laughed and razzed him.
She smiled up at Nick. “It is for me, anyway. Big and dumb has never attracted me. No matter how hot a guy is, he has to have something going on upstairs in order to pique my interest.”
Nick nodded absently as a crawling sensation worked its way up the back of his neck.
Eliana sobered. “What is it?”
“I don’t know. I just got a weird feeling.”
“What kind of weird feeling?”
“Like we’re being watched.”
Slipping her hand into his in a fake girlfriend-boyfriend ploy, she casually glanced around. “I don’t see anything.”
He didn’t either, yet the feeling persisted.
“Wait,” she said. “Yes I do. Over there.”
He followed her nod and watched a couple of vampires slink through the shadows after the two jocks. His steps slowed to a halt.
Eliana sighed. “Damn. Why couldn’t they have gone after someone I actually want to save?”
He arched a brow. “We could always look the other way.”
“Tempting.” She bit her lip. “But once they finish with those two numb nuts, they might seek other prey.”
“Such was my thought. Let’s do this then.” Giving her a teasing smile—because that feeling of being watched continued to prickle the back of his neck—he tugged her off the sidewalk toward the shadows between two buildings.
She cast him a flirtatious glance. “Oooh. Are we doing the horny couple turns offensive linemen thing?”
He smiled. “It seemed appropriate.”
“Woohoo!” she cheered with a grin. “Then hurry up, lover.”
Laughing, he broke into a loose jog. Just before they reached the corner of the first building, he released her hand and looped an arm around her waist, tugging her close as if they really were a horny couple looking for a dark, quiet place to engage in a quickie.
They ducked behind the building.
Eliana grinned up at him. “Having me this close doesn’t do anything at all for you, does it?”
He laughed. “No. Kayla has spoiled me for other women.”
Concealed in darkness and out of sight of the security cameras, they parted and turned to peer at the two jocks. The vampire duo continued to stalk the drunken idiots from the shadows.
“They’re keeping their distance,” she murmured.
He nodded. “Biding their time until they reach an area without cameras.” They were already almost upon one.
“Ready to do this?” Eliana asked, practically bobbing on her toes in anticipation.
“Ready.” They both faced their targets.
“You take Han. I’ll take Chewy.”
He chuckled at her description of the two vampires. One was broad-shouldered and brunette. The other was a taller, stockier ginger with long, shaggy hair and particularly hirsute arms. “One. Two. Three.”
Chapter Seven
Nick and Eliana raced forward at preternatural speeds, becoming but a blur of motion neither the partygoers nor the guards manning the security-camera feeds would detect.