Chapter 61

Julia

In the time I’d been staying with Gryph, I’d come to realize he needed less sleep than I did. I was surprised he was still sleeping at nine at night. This was definitely going to throw his schedule off, but it had been impossible to wake him up, so I’d headed downstairs to look for food.

The knock on Gryph’s front door interrupted me on the way to the kitchen. Gryph had great lighting on his porch, so even in the dark, I could check the peephole before opening the door. Ray and Lauren stood on the porch. I’d expected a visit from them eventually to complain about us waking up the neighborhood kids when we’d used their pool.

When I opened the door, I immediately started in with my apology. “I’m so sorry about waking up the kids when we were using your pool.”

Ray chuckled at my apology. “Don’t worry about it, Julia,” he assured me.

“While we’d rather have them sleep during the day, they had a wonderful time,” Lauren added. “Thank you so much for putting up with them.”

“They were a great distraction on a rough day,” I told her before stepping back. “Would you like to come in? Gryph’s still asleep, but you’re welcome to join me while I look for some food, or do you need to get back to the kids?”

“The girls have a play date,” Lauren explained as they stepped inside and followed me into the kitchen.

“That must be nice,” I remarked. “I still can’t believe you have three children. I’d heard vampires only have one.”

“That’s true,” Ray confirmed. “We all have one child. In most cases, we save the eggs and sperm to use with a surrogate human later.”

“Many vampires aren’t cut out for parenting,” Lauren added. “Those of us living in this part of the community raise the children. Biologically, we only have a tie to Cecily, the youngest. She’s our great granddaughter.”

I’d just pulled out some sliced cheese, bread, and butter when I looked over at the vampire couple.

They both laughed at my expression.

“It must be hard to believe we’re that old when we don’t look old enough to drive,” Lauren remarked.

“It’s just that you act so young,” I explained.

Gryph walked into the kitchen wearing nothing but a pair of jeans. His long hair was messy, and it seemed he’d just climbed out of bed.

“Hey there, sleepy,” I greeted him.

“Hi, Gryph,” Lauren called out.

“Hey,” Gryph said, his eyes locked on mine. “Are you having a party without me?”

“I just came down to make something to eat,” I explained. “Lauren and Ray stopped by for a visit.”

“We also wanted to invite you over for the evening since we have no kids tonight,” Ray added.

“We might just stay in tonight,” Gryph told them. “Julia has to work in the morning. Another night would be better.”

“We totally understand,” Lauren said as she sidled closer to me. “I am a little disappointed. I thought we could have a little adult fun.”

Her hand settled on my lower back as she flashed a flirty smile.

“I guess you don’t get much time to just hang out with adults,” Gryph added as he rummaged through the fridge.

“We have a party every week or so that’s adult only,” Ray began. “We’d love it if you could come to one, but we wanted to get to know you better before the others try to steal you away.”

“If you’re comfortable with that sort of thing,” Lauren quickly added.

Gryph scented the air before standing to face his neighbors. “Julia’s my mate, so I’m afraid I wouldn’t like sharing her with others.”

He sounded perfectly calm. As for me, I was still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that I was being hit on by vampire swingers. Thankfully, Gryph handled the rest of the conversation because I was apparently much more prudish than I’d imagined.

“We’re having a party on Saturday,” Lauren told him. “Why don’t you and Julia just come by?”

“It’s not an orgy,” Ray quickly added. “At least, it won’t be if you get there before midnight.”

“We’ll definitely keep that offer in mind,” Gryph assured them politely.

As I fixed my grilled cheese sandwich, we made small talk with Ray and Lauren, all of it seeming more sexually charged than when I’d first met them. After seeing them to the door, Gryph returned to the kitchen chuckling.

“Your vampire neighbors are swingers?” I asked.

“It would seem so,” he replied. “You look quite shocked.”

“The last thing I expected today was to be invited to an orgy hosted by people who look fifteen,” I admitted.

“So, you expected to be invited to an orgy by people who look older than fifteen?” he teased.

I crumpled up my napkin and tossed it at him. “Did you know they’re swingers?”

“Nope,” he admitted. “This is the first time I’ve been invited to an orgy with the vampires. I think they like you better. Not that I blame them. You are nicer to look at. I hope you were okay with me responding to their invitation to the party.”

“I definitely didn’t mind you responding,” I assured him. “That reminds me. Trevor wants to get together. Would you mind if we have them over here this weekend?”

Gryph hesitated. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Sass.”

“It’ll be fun,” I assured him.

“It could lead people to my home,” he argued.

“They’ll be careful,” I promised. “I’m used to visiting with my friends and family more often. As much as I love spending time with you, if I don’t do some more socializing outside of work, those orgies will start to sound tempting.”

Gryph laughed. “I’m not sure that’s the kind of socializing you want to do.”

“It’s not, but I’ll end up getting desperate.” I told him.

“Fine,” Gryph relented. “We can have your brother and Melina over.”

“Allie and Dylan, too,” I insisted.

“You see them almost every day,” he pointed out.

“But we rarely have a chance to talk at Bliss,” I explained. “With Oliver gone, I need this.”

Gryph moved toward me and wrapped his arm around my waist before kissing the top of my head. I immediately leaned into him and sighed. “How can I say no to you?” he murmured. “It seems I’d do anything to make you happy.”

“I feel the same about you,” I told him. “I’d do almost anything to make you happy.”

“Almost?” he asked, pulling back to regard me with a raised eyebrow.

“No vampire orgies,” I replied with a shudder.