“I’m so glad that we ditched that blood sucking boyfriend of yours,” Natalie joked as she scooted back onto the plush sofa in the lounge. After I pretended not to be hungry enough for dinner, Natalie insisted that we hit the hotel bar for some drinks.

Natalie certainly attracted attention. Even before she became a movie star, her gorgeous body and her bubbly demeanor turned heads. A handsome blonde man with jade green eyes walked towards us. He was just Natalie’s type.

“Oooh, look at the eye-candy headed our way,” she cooed.

“He’s definitely got his eye on you.”

As he approached us, I noticed that he had two gin and tonics in his hand. He took a sip of one, and I presumed the other one was for Natalie, since he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

“I’m going to get some air. Be right back,” I said as I stood up.

“Uh-huh.” Natalie barely heard me as she eye-fucked the stranger walking towards her.

I headed for the outside lounge, eager to get some space to clear my head. I felt so guilty about the heap of lies I’d told my best friend. I wanted to tell Natalie that truth: that I was a vampire. I’d planned to tell her this weekend. But since she reviled Caleb, I didn’t think she’d take the news well. My body prickled with a cold sweat, and I pushed the wet tendrils from my face.

The dark sky spread out over the vast desert landscape surrounding us. I spread my arms as a warm breeze floated past me, whipping my hair. It was easy to forget about my troubles in a place like this. I sat down on an open lounge chair and smoothed my dark hair over my shoulders.

“Beautiful night. Have you ever seen more stars in the sky?”

I turned to see who was speaking to me. It was a handsome man, in his early thirties. He was dressed casually, but nice. The shoes he wore looked particularly expensive.

“It’s gorgeous, I’ll give you that. I’ve missed seeing a star-filled sky in LA.” There was no harm in making small talk with the stranger. He looked friendly.

“Me, too.” He smiled, revealing straight white teeth with subtle fangs on his incisors. His muscular arms were lean and long. He reached his hand towards me, as if to shake it. When I placed my hand in his, he held it gently for a moment before releasing it.

“I’m Abby.”

“Dylan.” He sat down on the comfortable lounge chair across from me and stretched his arms behind his head. The underside of his biceps had an unusual tattoo. I was sure I’d seen it somewhere before, but I couldn’t recall where.

“Nice to meet you, Dylan.”

“Likewise.” He smiled warmly, and his deep brown eyes crinkled at the edges. He looked trustworthy, like someone I would have dated before I met Caleb. When I looked closer, the teeth I thought looked like fangs were just slightly crooked regular teeth. His demeanor was charming, and I didn’t mind talking to him. I looked over my shoulder to see if Caleb was near, and as far as I could tell, he wasn’t.

“What brings you to Palm Springs?” he asked.

“A girls’ weekend with my best friend.”

He clucked his tongue. “Ah, I see. The lady at the bar?”

“Yes,” I nodded. “She gets attention wherever she goes.”

“I can tell.” He laughed. “She’s not really my type. Can I buy you a drink?”

I hesitated. I knew that vampires had a ridiculously low alcohol tolerance. One drink and I’d be blitzed. Before I had the chance to answer, two muscle-bound bouncers interrupted our conversation.

“Sir, I’ll have to ask you to leave the lady alone.”

“Excuse me,” I said without thinking. “I appreciate your concern, but I’m fine.”

Dylan sat impassive, as if he was considering what to do. The bouncers persisted.

“Sir, I don’t want to repeat myself. Move to the other side of the lounge please, or security will escort you out.”

I checked their shirts to see who exactly these guys were. Sure enough, their tight polo shirts had the hotel’s insignia across the front breast pocket. Caleb must have sent them. Was he watching my every move? Was this his idea of protecting me?

The bouncer addressed me next. “Abby, Ms. Thorne has retired to her suite and has requested that you join her in your room.”

What the hell? I cocked my eyebrow. Since when had Natalie ever gone up to bed early? In all her years going to clubs on the Sunset Strip, she’d never come home before dawn. Something was up.

I looked around for Natalie, but she was missing. My heart caught in my throat. What if someone had taken her away, all on account of me. She didn’t deserve that. She didn’t even know I was a vampire. I stood up quickly to leave.

“I’m not sure what this is about, but I was headed up to my room anyway.” My voice softened. “It was nice to meet you, Dylan.”

“The pleasure was mine,” his voice lilted flirtatiously.

I walked towards the lounge door, and out into the hotel’s plush hallway. The two bouncers followed closely behind me. When I pressed the button on the elevator, I turned sharply towards them.

“Caleb Crane told you to do this.”

Their expressions didn’t change. The elevator dinged, and they held open the gilded doors for me.

“That’s what I thought,” I continued.

Caleb can’t even trust me to have a girls’ weekend with my best friend. How embarrassing.

Him not trusting me seemed ridiculous after how he expected me to trust him when I saw Reina speeding away in his car.

I stormed through the open elevator doors.

“You guys don’t have to follow me all the way up. I can make the trip all by myself…”

“We’ve been instructed to make sure you get safely back to your room.”

I stewed in angry silence, thinking of what I would say to Caleb when I saw him next. In fact, I wanted to march over to his room and give him a piece of my mind. Was he really that possessive that he wouldn’t let me speak to another man?

When I walked in the front door of our suite, I found Natalie seated atop the marble kitchen island, eating the last of the ravioli leftovers. She sucked the tomato sauce off the spoon and smacked her lips. “You don’t know what you’re missing, Abby,” she smiled.

My brow furrowed. If Natalie had been told what to do by those bouncers, she would have given them hell. She seemed too happy to have been escorted upstairs against her will.

“Did anyone talk to you at the bar, Nat?”

She took another bite of pasta and chewed it slowly.

“Natalie?”

“Of course, guys talked to me at the bar, Abby. Didn’t you see the swarm around me?”

“Then why did you come upstairs early, without telling me?” I bit my lip.

“Oh,” she swung her feet up onto the counter. “Someone from the front desk came by and told me that a special VIP package had been delivered to the room. I wanted to see what was in it, of course.”

I looked over at the entryway table. Sure enough, there was a large gift basket with comp cards, full size premium bath products, and Natalie’s weakness…chocolate.

“Typical,” I said under my breath.

“What?”

I explained to Natalie how the bouncers had approached me in the outdoor lounge, and how they wouldn’t stop following me until I was inside the penthouse suite.

“I told you that Caleb Crane is intense. What did you expect, Abby? The guy can’t even let you go to Palm Springs without stalking you.”

“It’s not stalking, Natalie. Stop.”

She brushed her hair from her shoulder and took another luxurious bite of pasta. I could smell it from where I was standing, and the scent was so heavenly, I almost cried.

“Well, anyway,” I continued, trying my best to ignore the pasta and fresh garlic bread on Natalie’s plate. “It’s ridiculous. I can’t believe he’d do that after I spent the last three hours fucking him.”

Natalie dropped her fork and feigned disgust. “Really, Abby? In our suite?” She smiled and rolled her eyes. “You two can’t keep your hands off each other. Why do you think I got him another room? I didn’t want to hear you two all night.”

“I can’t stand that he’s having me followed. After all I’ve been through because of him. I’ve given up everything to be with him.”

“Everything?” Natalie huffed. “Now you’re just being dramatic. That’s my job,” she winked.

“Nat…” I wanted to tell her that I’d transformed, and that I’d shed my humanity the night Greyson attacked me. Surely, she would understand? But after she dumped Ansel, and how she treated Caleb, I wasn’t so sure.

“Yes?”

“Never mind. It’s nothing.” I changed the subject. “I’m not going to let Caleb do that to me.”

“Seems like he already did,” Natalie cocked her eyebrow. “Do you want payback?”

“Yes,” I said. “But how?”

“I have a security detail that I use when I am on the press circuit. I could make a call and have one of my guys follow Caleb. Turnabout is fair play.”

“Oh, I don’t know, Natalie.” Thoughts of Caleb and his violent streak flashed through my head. He could be so tender with me, but I knew he wasn’t that way with everyone.

“Consider it done. I’ll set the whole thing up. I won’t tell you a thing, so you won’t be guilty.”

My stomach sank. I didn’t have a good feeling about Natalie’s plan. But when she made up her mind about something, there was no stopping her.