The Vampire's Mail Order Bride

“I don’t know.”

“If a visit to Insomnia doesn’t prove I’m telling you the truth, nothing will.”

“It’s not that. It’s just…”

“Scared?” He waggled his brows, knowing she’d take his assessment like he was daring her to back down.

Her eyes narrowed. His challenge seemed to have worked. “I’ll go get changed.”

It didn’t take much for Delaney to get ready. Her wardrobe was sparse thanks to packing on the run and having no real clue what lay ahead. Fortunately, she’d brought one club-appropriate outfit. Skinny jeans, high-heeled black boots and a black strapless peplum top in leather. It wasn’t something she’d ever have spent money on herself, but Mrs. Rastinelli occasionally brought hand-me-downs into the restaurant and let the girls pick through them. Mrs. Rastinelli was actually wife number two and dressed like she wasn’t about to let there be a number three.

Most of the stuff she brought in was over-the-top sexy and verging on tacky, but somehow also expensive. Selling Mrs. Rastinelli’s hand-me-downs on Ebay had become a nice little hobby for Delaney. Enough that she could afford to buy quality baking supplies.

Delaney had planned on selling the leather top on Ebay too. Until she’d tried it on. She’d never owned something so sexy and sophisticated. Clearly too sophisticated for Mrs. Rastinelli.

Delaney thanked whatever instinct had driven her to bring it along on this trip.

Hugh’s mouth fell open as she walked down the stairs to the foyer where he waited. He wore a simple black suit with a white dress shirt open at the neck, no tie and looked pretty close to edible. “You look, uh…” He nodded. “This is a side of you I hadn’t been expecting.”

She’d smoked out her eye makeup, but she was pretty sure that wasn’t what he was talking about. She stopped directly in front of him. “What side is that?”

“This, this…” He waved his hands at her outfit. “You look a little dangerous. In a good way.”

She laughed. “I’m pretty sure that’s not a word that’s ever been used to describe me.” But she liked it a lot. It made her feel powerful. And reckless.

Heady with his compliment, she did a little spin. “Is this okay for the club then?”

“Yeah. Yes. More than okay. Damn good.”

In her heels, she was only a couple inches shorter than he was. Close enough to see the tantalizing shadow of stubble darkening his square jaw. The powerful, reckless feeling went to her head. She stared at his mouth. “Show me your fangs again.”

If he really was a vampire, that shouldn’t be a problem, right?

He stared at her for a second, then snorted softly before curling his lip back in a snarl. His canines were as sharp and pointed as any movie vampire’s she’d ever seen. “Happy?”

She peered at them. “You swear those are real?”

His gaze rolled skyward. “Don’t they look real?”

“Yes.” She reached forward before she realized what she was doing. She snatched her hand back.

“You want to touch them? Go ahead. I promise not to bite. Just be careful, they’re sharp.”

“This is weird,” she muttered.

“You started it.”

“That I did.” She reached out again and poked at one of his fangs. “Sure feels real.”

She tested the point with a fingertip. “Ouch.” She yanked her finger back. A drop of blood pearled on the tip. Sweet crispy crackers, what had she done? What if the blood drove him mad? She took a small step back, but nothing about him seemed crazed with blood lust.

“I told you they were sharp.” He frowned and took her hand for closer inspection. “It’s just a flesh wound.”

Still holding her hand, he looked into her eyes. “May I?”

She knew what he was asking. She also realized that she was safe with this man. This man who could probably be very unsafe, if he really was a vampire. The irony was that she’d never felt half this secure with fully human Russell. Her realizations didn’t stop her answer from coming out in a breathy wobble. “Y-yes.”

He lifted her finger to his lips and tenderly sucked off the bead of blood. His mouth was warm and electric, and the contact shot straight through her. Like he’d put his mouth in a very different place.

“Oh.” Another breathy, trembling response. She took a deep inhale to erase the sudden light-headedness threatening to unbalance her, but there was no erasing the desire.

He turned her hand around. “See? All better?”

The blood was gone, but that’s not what she was looking at. His eyes shone with the kind of luminescence of an animal’s at night, but then she blinked and it was gone. “Thanks.”

Her boldness was wavering, driving her to take advantage of it while she could. “Can you make your fangs go away just as easily?”

“Sure.” He grinned to show her they were gone. “Too frightening?”

“No. Too hazardous.” Then she leaned forward and planted her mouth on his.

He went completely still for a heartbeat, then his arms were around her and his hands found homes, one on her hip, the other high on the middle of her back. He moaned softly as his mouth opened to tease his tongue across hers.

She wrapped her hands around his biceps, instantly distracted by the hard muscle beneath the fabric of his suit. Her head spun. She was either kissing a vampire or a crazy man and he really did seem way less crazy than a lot of the guys she’d known. Either way, she was okay with it.