Blake's Pursuit (Scanguards Vampires, #11)(28)

Nicholas and Adam were both sitting at the kitchen table.

“Morning,” Nicholas chimed and immediately turned back to the plate in front of him, shoving an overly full fork of scrambled eggs into his mouth.

Adam, who sat opposite him, nodded shyly and mumbled, “Hi. It’s not really morning anymore.”

“Hi,” she replied, forcing herself to sound cheerful. She pointed to the refrigerator. “I was just gonna make myself something to eat.”

Adam pointed to his plate. “We already finished the scrambled eggs Wes made. But there are more eggs in the fridge.”

He attempted to rise, but she raised her hand, stopping him. “No, no, eat, please. I’ll find something.”

Lilo placed Hannah’s appointment book on the counter and opened the refrigerator. It was well-stocked for a bachelor’s fridge, and not just with junk food. Staples like milk, eggs, and orange juice greeted her. As did yogurts and cheeses, cold cuts and vegetables.

She took out everything she needed for a healthy omelet and got to work.

“Lilo, do you want to play videogames with us later?” Adam suddenly asked.

She looked at him. “Oh, I’d like to, but I’m not very good. I’m afraid I’d just be holding you back.”

“That doesn’t matter.”

Nicholas shook his head, motioning to his younger brother. “Don’t give in. He’s just looking for somebody he can beat, ‘cause he’s got no chance against me.”

“That’s so not true!” Adam piped up.

Lilo tossed the omelet mixture into the hot pan, before looking back at the two teenagers. “I’m sure you’re both very good. But I never got into playing videogames.”

“So what did you do then?”

“Read.”

“Sounds boring,” Nicholas commented.

“Not really,” Lilo said, flipping the omelet in the pan, so it could brown on the other side. “Some books can take you on quite an adventure.”

Nicholas shrugged, disinterested. “Okay.”

Adam’s eyes widened a little, showing that he wasn’t quite as blasé about books as his older brother. “What kind of books?”

“I like mysteries and thrillers.”

Adam grinned. “You mean with lots of blood and gore?”

She laughed out loud. Figured that a teenager would be interested in that. “Not necessarily. But with lots of suspense.”

“Oh, yeah, well.” Clearly, she’d lost Adam’s interest now, too.

But she loved a challenge. And maybe there was a way of winning Adam’s interest again.

She tossed her omelet on a plate and walked to the table, joining the two boys. After the first bite, she said casually, “You know, I write books for a living.”

Both boys’ heads snapped up.

“You’re an author?” Nicholas asked, suddenly all ears. “You write, like, real books?”

“What do you write?” Adam wanted to know, his eyes now even wider than before.

She smiled to herself. One nil for Maxim Holt! Of course, she couldn’t tell the boys what her pen name was. It was a closely-guarded secret, particularly because she wrote under a male pseudonym, a necessity in order to be taken seriously in the male-dominated thriller genre. If it came out that the writer behind the Morgan West Bounty Hunter series was a woman, millions of male readers would feel cheated.

“I write thrillers and mysteries. You know—” She winked at Adam. “—with barely any blood and gore, but with lots of suspense.”

“Wow, that’s cool,” Nicholas said. “So, can we have one of your books? I mean just to see what they’re like.”

“I don’t have any on me right now.”

“You can probably order them online somewhere, right?” Adam tossed her a hopeful glance.

“Sure.” What had she started? All she’d wanted was to show the boys that reading didn’t have to be boring, and now they were eager to find out about her books. She’d have to stall them. “I’ll check on that later.”

Adam pointed to a nook where a laptop was sitting. “You can use that computer. There’s no password on it.”

Lilo shoved another forkful of her omelet into her mouth, buying herself a moment before answering. It turned out she didn’t have to, because the door suddenly opened. A young Asian woman with a boy entered.

She stopped, looking surprised. “Oh, hi!”

“Hey, Sebastian!” Adam called out and jumped up. “You wanna play videogames?”

Lilo rose from her chair and walked up to the woman, stretching her hand out and perusing her. Her black hair was straight, and shimmered when she moved, and her almond-shaped eyes were dark and mysterious. She looked exotic, graceful, and gorgeous.

“Hi, I’m Lilo. I’m just visiting.”

“She’s Blake’s friend,” Nicholas interjected. “She stayed overnight.”

At Nicholas’s words, Lilo felt like cringing. This wasn’t the impression she wanted to give everybody: that she was some one-night stand Blake had dragged in.

The woman smiled and took her hand, shaking it briefly. “I’m Ursula, Blake’s sister-in-law.” Her eyes followed her son who was heading for the refrigerator now. “Sebastian, you just ate.”