Ripper (Hunter #1)(26)

“I don’t eat that much.” I was going to kick Jamie’s ass the next time I saw him. What did he do? Did he go around advertising that his sister was a complete freak? Did he have a stand-up routine focused on how weird I was?

“Hey,” Gray said softly and this time he let his hand find mine. He covered it with his big one and squeezed a little. I should have pulled away, but I enjoyed his warmth too much. “I wasn’t insulting you. You’re different. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s one of the reasons I’m interested in you.”

“Did you really ask Jamie to set us up?” Not that I was going to go out with him on a date that didn’t involve some form of kidnapping. I was simply curious. In our last year of high school and the first two of college, I tended to date friends of guys who wanted to date Liv. Since then the pickings had been slim.

He smiled and it lit up his face. It took him from brooding to gorgeous with one little tug of his lips. “I’ve been bugging your brother to give me your number for about a year and a half.”

I whistled because that was a long time to wait. “And it never occurred to you to look me up in the phone book? I’m pretty sure if you can turn on the GPS in my phone you can find my number.”

“I respect your brother, Kelsey. He said you weren’t ready so I backed off. You should know, though, that I had planned to require your investigative services in a couple of weeks if I couldn’t get Jamie to come around. I was tired of waiting.”

“What was I going to help you with?”

His smile turned rueful and he looked younger than his thirty years. It softened the hard lines of his face and made my heart melt a little. “I don’t know. I was going to come up with something. I was going to show up on your doorstep sooner or later, Kelsey Atwood.”

He took a drink of his wine and sat back. I tried the ruby-red liquid. I was really more a beer girl, but I wasn’t going to let it go to waste. It tasted rich on my tongue and I vowed to expand my horizons. “Well, now you can really use my services. Tell me about the missing girls.”

And just like that he clammed up.

“Kelsey, it’s an ongoing case,” he tried smoothly. “I’m not at liberty to talk about it.”

I huffed a little and sat back. I wondered briefly if Jamie was forever going to be the only man who believed I could get a damn thing right. I should have taken my chances with the vampire. At least he would have been honest about what he wanted. Sloane tried to tell me he was interested in me, but then didn’t want to talk about my work or his work. We were single people in our late twenties/early thirties. We were our work. I took another long drink of the wine and focused on something other than the man across from me.

I needed to find a vampire, possibly one named Alexander. I wondered if I showed up at the club at sundown tomorrow night, if this Vorenus person would be there. He’d seemed willing enough to talk with me. At least he’d seemed flattered by my attention. I wondered if it proved once and for all that I had a death wish that I was a little excited at the thought of meeting a strange vampire.

“I don’t like that look,” Gray said quietly.

I drummed my fingers on the table. “It really doesn’t matter, Sloane. You won’t have to put up with it for long. So, are you going to call Jamie or do you want me to?”

His handsome face was a mask of confusion. “Why would we call Jamie?”

“To come get me. Did you expect me to walk home? You made me leave my car.” I had been willing to come with him because I thought we were going to discuss the case and that photograph of me. I was not willing to buy whatever he was selling without some sort of explanation.

His jaw tensed, forming a stubborn line. “I told you you’re not going home. He knows who you are.”

“Then I’ll stay with Jamie. You can’t expect me to sleep in some fleabag motel until you solve this case. That’s completely unrealistic.” Jamie could protect me when I couldn’t protect myself. I wasn’t planning on mentioning anything at all to Nate. He would have me in a jail cell with a phalanx of armed guards, and then he might sleep well for the first time in over a decade.

He swallowed once and then decided to plow through. “You’re staying with me. My house is secure.”

“Yeah, I bet it is.” Now I knew his game and I wondered briefly if he’d set this whole thing up himself. He must be really hard up if he had to go through all of this just to get laid. He should do what I did. He should prowl a skanky bar, get really plastered, and lower his expectations. It worked every time.

“I have a room for you.” Gray frowned my way. “I’m not going to jump you the minute I get you home. If it would make you feel better, you can ask your mother to join us, or your friend Olivia.”

Both of whom would be shoving me into the Ranger’s arms as fast as they could. No, thank you. “I’m not staying with you. You can’t force me to. If you insist, then I’ll take the motel.”

“Why?” He was looking down at his hands. They were big hands. His voice was grave and when his eyes finally found mine, I saw a wealth of pain in his deep blue eyes. It made me stop my sarcastic inner commentary. “I wouldn’t hurt you, Kelsey. I would try hard to never change around you. I have excellent control over my form. You wouldn’t have to see that…side of me.”