Fangtabulous Read Free Page B

well-filled café gave him a second glance. The woman at the coffee counter had known his order without even asking. It arrived in a cup the size of a swimming pool and had some kind of mystic spiral swirled into the foam. Ulric and Eric had opted for plain black coffee, and the rest of us, except for Brent, who still looked oddly shaky and alert, went drinkless. I wasn’t thirsty … for coffee. Not that I could drink it anyway. But if bleeding books didn’t do it for me, Ulric certainly did, and my fangs had been at half-mast ever since he’d ripped off his mask. I’d tasted him once back on that very first mission. I’d needed the blood so very badly, and he was there. And willing. And, okay, hot. But even though we were bloodsuckers, and Bobby should understand—hell, he’d made me that way—I knew he wouldn’t.
    Ulric had taken care to arrange things so that he’d sit beside me. I made sure not to look at him, for fear something would show on my face. Then I feared the lack of eye contact would be telling and glanced up when I thought I’d felt his attention shift. I was wrong. Immediately our eyes met, aventurine green (mine) to topaz (his).
    Ulric leaned toward me. “I knew you couldn’t stay away.”
    “Oh yeah, like I knew you’d be here. If anything, you’re a total liability for me. Maybe I should just take you out.”
    “I’m free tonight,” he said, eyes twinkling, just as they’d done right through the mask.
    “Not in the fun way,” I hissed, exasperated.
    He gave me a slow, intimate grin, and I had to look away … straight into Bobby’s frowny face. I debated sticking my tongue out at him, because I was totally my own person and he had no say in it if every once in a while I got my head a little turned by some stone-cold hottie. I wasn’t dead … well, except maybe in the technical sense. To stake his claim, Bobby blew me a kiss across the table.
    Ulric couldn’t help but notice. Yet, undeterred, he leaned in close, his mouth right up next to my ear to ask, “You’re here because of that girl, aren’t you?”
    It wasn’t exactly the sweet nothing I’d been expecting, which meant the intimacy part was completely for Bobby’s benefit.
    I pulled away from him. “What girl?”
    “The one who was murdered last night,” Ulric answered, watching me with those deep amber eyes to see if I was playing him with my ignorance. I half-wondered if he was some kind of human lie-detector. I’d met one before, and Ulric had nearly blown my cover back in New York when he’d figured me out.
    “We’re not here about any girl,” I said honestly.
    “Ah, then it must be my wolfish charm. I knew it!”
    I punched him in the arm, but that only got me a grin as wolfish as previously advertised.
    Bobby wasn’t the only one watching us. Brent looked like he’d tried to eat a lemon whole. I knew it was bad that I’d been recognized, but I didn’t see what I could do about it at the moment. Maybe we’d decide we had to move on. Maybe we wouldn’t. After all, Ulric hadn’t given me away the last time. He’d even helped me on my mission. His leer said that he might be willing to do so again.
    A hand reached across me into Ulric’s line of vision, flashing long, shapely nails in Plum Passion. “Since Gina’s too rude to introduce us, I’ll have to do it for myself,” Marcy purred. “I’m Marcy, her BFF.”
    Real names? Was she crazy? Second thought, silly question.
    “ Marley ,” I said with emphasis.
    Ulric took her hand, and instead of shaking, pressed his lips to it. “Enchanted,” he said, staring deeply into her eyes and then sliding a glance toward me, as if to see whether I was jealous. So not.
    “I can’t believe Gia didn’t tell me all about you,” Marcy said, emphasizing right back for good measure.
    Apparently, the only people who weren’t fascinated by Ulric were Eric and Nelson, who were deep in conversation with Donato about his act. Eric, who had a very special gift