A Vampire for Christmas(4)
Just as she smelled the faint evergreen scent of his cologne, the white of his dress shirt drew her attention. A hoodlum in a suit? The image didn’t make sense. Was it possible that this man didn’t belong with the two chasing her? That he was here to help her?
He leaned in close. “Get into your car, lock the doors and wait for me.”
The concern in his voice was unmistakable. Maybe he was in law enforcement and knew a bad situation when he saw it.
Without waiting for her response, he dropped his hands and was gone.
CHAPTER TWO
TRACE WAS GOOD at getting people to follow orders, but for once, he wished he wasn’t.
As he rounded the corner of the building and found the tan Volvo parked in the exact same spot it had been twenty minutes ago, he felt a strange mix of satisfaction and anger.
He flexed the fist that had just made contact with someone’s jaw. He’d easily caught up to those two parasites who’d been after Charlotte and taken care of them. They weren’t Darkbloods, but they weren’t model citizens of the city’s secret vampire population, either. As soon as they realized that Trace was one of them but wasn’t carousing around on the hunt for the same thing they were—a vulnerable human host—they’d taken off. He’d hauled their asses to the ground in a nearby alley and called one of the Agency’s capture teams for a pickup.
Good God, what kind of a woman would listen to a complete stranger? A sane, reasonable one would’ve gotten the hell out of Dodge the minute she climbed into the car.
And the Charlotte Grant he knew had always been sane and reasonable.
How the hell had all this happened tonight? Why had he been drawn here when she’d needed him the most? It wasn’t like this was an area he’d frequented much. In fact, the last time he was here, he’d been with Charlotte. He kicked a small stone, watched it bounce off the edge of the sidewalk. He recalled the claustrophobic sensations that had forced him to abruptly leave the field office, as if his subconscious knew something he didn’t.
His stomach clenched at the thought of what those two would’ve done to her. Being a former Guardian, he knew only too well the horrors his kind could inflict upon humans.
And Charlotte was—
Jesus, why hadn’t he insisted she take a self-defense class? Taught her how to use a gun? Given her a blade of silver and shown her how to wield it? He thought about her canister of pepper spray. Sure, it was effective against human lowlifes, and for that, he was glad she carried it. But it was hardly a deterrent to a revert, a vampire who gave in to the bloodlust of their ancestors. The urge for blood was a powerful one and once activated, it was not easily controlled. No, he decided, self-defense techniques wouldn’t have worked on those two.
Over the past year, there’d been many times when he’d ached to see her, wanted to drive past her house to see the light on in her kitchen window. The thought had even crossed his mind to “casually” bump into her from time to time. In line at her favorite Starbucks. At the bakery where she bought her bread. At the pet store where she bought Augustus’s special cat food. He could’ve easily inserted himself back into her life, but he hadn’t. He’d remained true to his promise, his pledge to stay away. Until now.
He recalled the way she’d looked at him under the streetlights. She’d been leery at first, frightened. Yet there she was in her car. Waiting for him.
Doubt nagged at the back of his mind. Maybe the memory wipe hadn’t been deep enough. Could she have remembered him on some level, enough to know that he wasn’t a threat?
Impossible, he decided as he tugged at his already-loosened tie and headed across the lot. He’d been thorough and very careful. Others he’d worked with over the years in the Agency may have been reckless and foolhardy, but not him.
As he approached Charlotte’s car, he tried not to think about how long it’d been since he’d last seen her. Tonight, she was simply a stranger he’d helped, not someone with whom he’d once had a passionate affair.
Yes, just a stranger.
He knocked on the driver’s side window.
Charlotte jumped, her eyes widening before she rolled it down halfway. Holy hell, she looked good. Twin spots of color formed on her cheeks, her skin just as smooth and touchable as he remembered.
Did you—”
What the hell are you still doing here?”
Her jaw dropped as if he had slapped her. “You told me to wait, didn’t you?”