No words would come and forget about moving. It was as if my body was suddenly on vacation. My head spun. Part of me felt like I was about to pass out, but the other part was firmly aware of everything going on. The man, Dev, glided toward the rack without seeming to touch the floor. He hovered before my eyes like an apparition.

  Think, Wanda! I was supposed to be a professional business owner, yet here I stood like a slack-jawed teenager. Not even Astrid acted like this.

  “You do good work.” His gaze dallied over the rack, but he never took his eyes off me. “Maybe you could make something for me.”

  We’re about to close; so it will have to be tomorrow. The store… is about… to close. The words rang in my brain, but I couldn’t force them out of my mouth.

  Come back tomorrow. Right, that’s exactly what I should have told him, but my rational decision-making powers vaporized to nothing.

  “What… can I… do… for you?” I finally managed, my voice showing up as if it had just now been brought back to life.

  His lips slipped apart to reveal immaculate white teeth—sharp teeth. Was he… could he be…? A vampire? But, no, I definitely didn’t detect anything… dead about him. No, he was very much alive.

  He strolled over to the counter without waiting to be invited. He swiveled my design book around, so it was facing him and flipped open the cover. Then he tossed aside the laminated pictures of past creations with little interest. His eyes darted from one image to the other, and even then, I got the distinct impression he was still watching me to the exclusion of everything else.

  “You’re the expert here, so I’d like your opinion as to what might look good on me.” He looked up at me then and held my gaze. “I’m no fashion expert.”

  The fascination holding me in place released enough that I could turn in his direction, but forgotten instinct made me stay behind the rack. It offered pitiful protection against… whatever it was about him that scared the ever-loving crap out of me. And there was something about him that scared the ever-loving crap out of me—maybe because no one I’d ever encountered before made me feel this way. And the power emanating from him… it was strong.

  He definitely didn’t need my opinion on what might look good on him. Anything would look good on him, and if his tailored clothes gave any clue, he knew plenty about fashion.

  He held up the design book. “What about something like this?”

  He pointed at an image of black, denim boot-cut jeans and a linen jacket with nothing underneath. The model in the picture didn’t wear the jacket or the jeans with anywhere near the panache I could imagine… Dev… wearing them. He definitely had the shoulders to pull the jacket off and the narrow hips and waist to make the jeans look… ahem, smoking hot.

  “Um… sure,” I managed finally, after fighting to find my tongue again.

  He closed the book and then pushed it back where he’d found it as if it no longer served him—as if it were a woman he’d desired, but upon having her, decided he’d been there and done that.

  “Perfect. When can you have it finished?”

  I opened my mouth and closed it like a fish out of water. “Finished?”

  He sloped back to his former spot on the other side of the rack. “You’re about to close for the night, aren’t you?” he asked, smiling again.

  “Oh, right… yes.”

  “How rude of me.”

  “It’s… it’s okay.”

  “What do you need to do—take my measurements or something?”

  I just nodded.

  “How about I come back tomorrow and we can complete the… formalities… Wanda?”

  Those words fell from his lips with such a suggestive lilt that I thought I’d pass out right there on the spot. His eyes undressed me without appearing to look at me at all. Was he coming closer or was that just a trick of my eyes? I even felt his power reverberating against me, as if tendrils of it reached out through the air to touch me, however impossible that was.

  He stopped a few inches away.

  Only the clothes separated us from…

  He tipped forward. Those lips sailed through space and before I could even comprehend what was happening, I could feel his tongue in my mouth. I could taste his kiss, taste him. My mind dissolved in a hazy whirlwind of irrational desire and stark terror as I realized I could feel and taste him and yet, he was standing at least a few feet away.

  All at once, he stretched his arm across the rack and ran his thumb over my bottom lip. The sensation sent a charge of lightning through me, but the next instant, he pulled back and grinned.

  “You had some mustard on your lip. I didn’t interrupt your dinner, did I?”

  Without thinking, I licked my lower lip. For a fleeting second, I thought I tasted blood. My hand shot to my mouth, and I wiped my palm across my face. “Sorry. I was just…” I glanced down at my hand. There was nothing there.

  He turned on his heel and soared back to the door. Opening it, he looked back to grin at me again. “See you tomorrow, Wanda. It was… a pleasure.” The way he said the words—it was as if he was describing something we’d just done… in bed.

  The instant he left, whatever the hell was wrong with me snapped and the levelheaded, normal Wanda was back. I lunged for the counter and scrambled to pick up my phone.

  My hands trembled, and I almost dropped it while tapping Poppy’s contact information. All the while, I wondered what in the name of Hecuba did I think she was going to do for me? What could I say to her—that some creepy guy asked me for a custom order and I’m pretty sure he kissed me without ever touching me?

  The phone rang… and rang… and rang. Then it switched to the answer message. I hung up. I just… wasn’t in the mood to leave a message.

  “Balls!”

  I locked the front door just to make sure no more mysterious strangers surprised me with unexpected visits. Then, I finished my chores at lightning speed, my mind occupied with thoughts of Dev the entire time. After locking up, I looked both ways to make sure the coast was clear before I walked to my old, shitty car.

  I drove home, and when I arrived, Astrid was already home. That wasn’t anything out of the ordinary—whenever Astrid was finished with her lessons with Poppy, all she had to do was walk across Hollow cemetery, behind Poppy’s house in order to get to mine. For the rest of the evening, I was on autopilot. I mumbled something to Astrid about having a headache and barricaded myself in my bedroom.

  “Would I be correct in my diagnosis that you are under the influence of another bottle of that revolting intoxicating beverage of which you are so inordinately fond of imbibing?”

  I jumped a foot in the air and whipped around, ready to defend myself from… Hellcat. He was sprawled on the windowsill like some overweight deity from an Egyptian temple.

  “What are you doing in here?”

  “I live here,” he drawled, “Since that monstrous sasquatch you hired to rectify my future abode destroyed half the walls instead of completing the job you employed him to render, I am stuck here… with you.”

  I swallowed with difficulty, trying to comprehend what he was talking about. Monstrous sasquatch? The job I employed him to render? One puzzle piece at a time, my brain kicked into gear.

  “Roy?”

  “Yes, I believe he is the only monstrous sasquatch in your Rolodex?”

  “He tore down the walls?”

  “Shall I repeat the report in Sumerian? Would that translate it into a language you might understand?”

  I sank down on the edge of the bed and struggled to shut my mouth. Nothing was working right. “He probably… Maybe he found some… I don’t know… some rot or something.”

  “What is wrong with you? You seem… more dimwitted than usual.”

  “Nothing’s wrong with me,” I snapped back. “Roy probably had to reconstruct part of the… the…”

  “Shed?”

  “Shed to make it livable. It isn’t the newest building in town, you know.”

  “Rot?” he repeated, scowling at me.

  “What?”

  “Did I overhear the word ‘rot’ pass your shriveled lips?”

  I wasn’t sure if it had, but didn’t bother responding.

  “You wish me to live in a domicile riddled with mold?”

  I jolted off the mattress and shot an accusing finger at him. “Will you leave me the spell alone? I don’t… I don’t have time to deal with you right now!”

  He dipped his eyelids to half-mast. “I will have you know, my frazzled frump, that I happen to be entitled to…”

  “When you finally move into that magnificent palace that I’m paying to remodel for you,” I interrupted, “will I be free to walk in on your personal space whenever I please? Will I be entitled to park myself in your bedroom and wait for you to come home from work so I can throw insults at you? Are we playing tit-for-tat, Hellcat? Because I can dish it up just as well as you can!”

  He flicked a lazy ear at me. “I am a familiar. It is my professional function to be familiar with all my magical counterpart’s deeds and doings. If you need an official refresher on the rights, obligations, and duties thereof, you have only to consult the Statutes of 1453 under Section 48, subsection…”

  “I know what the Statutes say about familiars,” I snapped, feeling a real headache coming on. “I don’t need a refresher from you.”

  “And here I thought you were objecting to my presence in your personal boudoir…”

  “I was.”

  “... not that anything ever happens here that might pique my professional interest… hence my need for a separate domicile.”

  I turned away—I had no idea what he was prattling on about and I didn’t care. I was too tired and overwrought over the last five minutes of my life to argue with a cat with an attitude the size of Mesopotamia (to stick with the theme). If I did try to argue with him and insist that he vacate my room, he really would start speaking Mesopotamian or was it Sumerian? I didn’t know and I didn’t care.

  I folded down the covers, kicked off my shoes, and crawled into bed fully dressed. I couldn’t stay vertical one second longer. Every motion hurt and demanded all my energy.

  Hellcat made a few more glancing comments from the windowsill, but I was too out of it to understand him, so instead, I shut my eyes…

  Chapter Four

  I was lying on top of my bed wearing nothing but my bra and panties. A sultry breeze from the open window caressed my skin and ruffled the gauzy white curtains. My arms and legs grazed the sheets, flooding me with erotic hunger. And that was when I realized I wasn’t alone.

  I could feel another person looming close and when I looked up, I found Dev kneeling over me, stripped to the waist. The dragon tattoo rippled across his iron muscles as he moved. He propped his powerful arms on either side of my shoulders and lowered his lips to mine.

  My body exploded with insatiable desire as his tongue slithered into my mouth. I writhed under him, aching in every pore to bring him inside me. That craven need filled my every fiber. I couldn’t stand the waiting a second longer.

  I pulled him down on top of me and wrapped my legs around his waist. He smiled with that devil’s expression and his black eyes…

  Wait a minute…

  He didn’t have black eyes anymore. Now his eyes were green—emerald.

  What should have been dark hair was now blonde and his broad, muscled back began to lengthen beneath my fingertips into a lean, lithe frame. The taste in my mouth changed into one of coppery blood…

  The truth exploded through my mind and my eyes shot wide open.

  This wasn’t Dev at all. It was Lorcan Rowe.

  In a split second, I woke up, bolting straight upright. I was lying on top of my bed, all right. And I was wearing my bra and panties. My work clothes from earlier lay in a pile on the floor and Lorcan’s weight squashed me into the mattress.

  Lorcan’s weight…

  His lips dragged off mine, and he dove into my neck. He trailed his nose across my jugular vein and inhaled a deep, shuddering sniff. Then he reared back, and I caught a fleeting glimpse of him opening his mouth. His fangs sprang to their full length and a look of murderous insanity transfigured his normally placid countenance.

  There was no time to reason with him if he could reason at all. The sight of those fangs blotted out all thought of discussing this like consenting adults. He was clearly out of his mind over the smell of my blood.

  Lightning quick, I jerked my knees to my chest and kicked out with all my might. I nailed my heels into his chest and sent him hurtling off the bed, my strength courtesy of the vampire blood flowing through me. He pitched into the dresser with a splintering crash and bounced to the floor.

  The force of my kick toppled me sideways, and I tumbled off the bed, too. I hit the carpet and scrambled to get to my feet before he did. Of course, I failed because he was a vampire. That meant, he could move with unimaginable speed.

  He landed, crouching on the floor a few feet away. Every muscle coiled to spring, and he glared at me, as he rubbed his jaw, where he’d no doubt collided with my dresser.

  “What the… bloody hell was that for?” Then he looked around as if he had no clue where he was. “Where in the feck…”

  I staggered to the night table and pulled myself upright. “You were about to bite me, you… you leech! You no good...”

  “Bite you?” he repeated, frowning as he shook his head and appeared completely confused.

  I pointed at the window. “How dare you break into my room and… and try to… to have sex with me and then drain me!”

  He opened his mouth to retort… but stopped. He looked around again and his furious scowl evaporated. He glanced at the window. Then he looked at the bed where we were just… I didn’t want to think about what we were just in the process of doing.

  “What… what am I… how did I get here?”

  “That’s what I’d like to know!”

  He looked at me and his scowl deepened. “I don’t know what happened.”

  “What do you mean ‘you don’t know what happened’?” I roared. “When I woke up, you were on top of me! You bared your fangs and you were about to bite me!”

  He spread his palms up in a pacifying gesture and from the expression on his face, he looked completely perplexed. “I assure you, Wanda, I did nothing of the sort. Or… I meant to do nothing of the sort. I would never…” He trailed off, still blinking around the room. He really did look like he had no idea how he’d gotten here. In a flash, he changed from a murderous bloodsucker into the polite, considerate dentist I’d grown to know… decently well.

  He looked at the bed again and blanched as the truth sank in. He dove for the corner of the mattress, snatched the rumpled sheet, and yanked it toward him. Then he wound it around his waist to hide his body even though he was still wearing pants. The sheet made him look even more naked and compromised than before.

  “Believe me, my dear…”

  “Stop calling me ‘my dear’! I’m not your dear and the sooner you realize that, the better!”

  He nodded. “My apologies.” Then he cleared his throat, took stock of the room again and then met my eyes. “I would never… I can explain… Hmm, perhaps… perhaps I can’t explain.”

  “I am fascinated to hear any explanation that can vindicate this comedy of errors,” Hellcat sneered from the windowsill. I had no idea where he’d come from or if he’d been in the room the whole time, but I hoped not. Noticing the window was open, I figured he’d just leapt up to the windowsill, where he now sat.

  “You tried to bite me!” I shrieked, ignoring the little flea bag and looking back at the half-naked corpse.

  “I don’t know what’s happened,” Lorcan started.

  “I know what happened!” I nearly interrupted. “You tried to turn me into a vampire under the guise of a dream! Of all the no good...”

  “You, wanton little hussy, appeared to be appreciating his ministrations,” Hellcat interrupted, cocking his head to the side as I felt like punting him right out the window.

  “How long have you been sitting there, eavesdropping?” I demanded.

  The little rodent pretended extreme interest in his already polished claws. “Long enough. I was preparing for my triumphant return to Portland as I no longer…”

  “I give you my word of honor as a vampire, Wanda,” Lorcan interjected, pulling my attention back to him. “I have no idea how I got here. I would never knowingly put you in danger… you should believe that by now.”

  “Humph,” I started, but he took a step closer and stopped the words dead in my mouth.

  “Do you really think I’d go to the lengths I have these last few months to avoid turning you if I wanted to take you by force?”

  “Are you questioning my sanity?”

  “I am,” Hellcat announced. “Always.”

  “You were right on top of me!” I yelled, ignoring the furry little devil in the corner. “Do you think I just imagined that? You bared your fangs and tried to bite my throat. I was there! I saw it! And you… you… tried to have intimate, carnal knowledge of me!”

  “Intimate, carnal knowledge? Egad,” the cat said and then jumped to all fours, his back arching as he started throwing up a hairball. I wasn’t sure if it was on purpose or just bad timing.

  “Wanda…” Lorcan extended a hand to me and took a step before he thought better of it and stopped. “I’m as confused over this turn of events as you are. I promise.”

  “Why do I find that hard to believe?” As the anger and shock of our situation started to fade away, other feelings began to move to the forefront. Other, more sexual feelings as I stared at Lorcan in his current state of undress with his mussed up hair and… Oh dear Goddess, what was wrong with me?

  He shook his head. “I was in my house and then before I knew it… I was here. Yet, I don’t recall driving here and I don’t recall entering your abode. It was as though I sleepwalked.” He shrugged. “Perhaps that’s the case?” He shook his head again. “I cannot say for certain. But, I do remember the scene in the bed… your bed… as clearly as you do, but when I came to—here—I merely thought I was dreaming. That is, until you launched me off your bed.”