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He gave a low hiss.

“I’m sorry, Ryker. I didn’t mean to pry.”

“No, it’s okay. We sort of stumbled into it.” He shoved his fingers through his hair again. “It’s so easy to talk to you.”

She let the words linger, soaked them up. After a moment she said, “So tell me how you did meet him and how you knew you’d be friends.”

Before Ryker could begin, they were interrupted by a chattering group of high school kids who had visited her exhibit before. The kids had a dozen new questions for Leslie, and one of the girls seemed to touch every last model. She was gentle, though, so Leslie let it go.

When the group had moved on, Tai didn’t need a reminder where the conversation had left off. Without prompting, he picked it right back up again. “We met at a restaurant. Tai was meeting with a potential donor, and I was on a first date, which was going great until she went to the bathroom. When she came back, she was fuming. Said some vampire had blocked her in and tried to grab her.”

“Not Tai,” Leslie blurted.

Ryker held up one hand. “I’m getting there. She said she threw a knee but missed him, slipped past him when he dodged. So I’m like, ‘I’ll be right back,’ and she was like, ‘forget that, I’m coming with you, let’s teach him a lesson. White guy with black hair.’”

Leslie gave a theatrical blink. “That’s not much to go on.”

“I know, right?”

She couldn’t help it. She cracked up. “Mistaken identity.”

“You stole my punch line.”

“Please tell me you didn’t actually hit him.”

“Hit? No. I caught him coming out of the corridor to both restrooms, flung him into the wall with just enough control not to crack drywall, and hissed in his face.”

“And what did Tai do?”

“Next thing I knew, I was the one pinned to the wall getting hissed at. My date got between us like, ‘Wrong white guy with black hair!’ She apologized on my behalf and explained the situation, and Tai understood.”

“How long did you date her?” Maybe this shouldn’t matter. It didn’t mostly. She was curious, that’s all.

“A few months,” Ryker said. “It was a friendly breakup, totally mutual. She got married and she’s got a kid now.”

“Oh wow. A kid.”

Ryker nodded, his eyes suddenly sharper. But it was too early to discuss their respective thoughts on parenthood…right?

“So,” Leslie said, “y’all invited Tai to join you for a drink?”

“Not exactly. When Sophia and I said good night, Tai’s contact had left, and he was paying their check. I found him to apologize one last time. We started talking. Hit it off.”

“Despite his super-detached persona?”

“Oh, that’s never bothered me.” Ryker shrugged. “Even before he let me see through it, I knew I liked the guy. You know how it is. Vampire intuition.”

“Micro-expressions and body language, you mean.”

“Yeah. We’re hard to lie to.” Was that a flinch? “Not impossible, of course.”

“I know what you mean, though. I think only a fellow vampire could lie to me. Humans don’t have the same control of their facial muscles.”

“Exactly. But even among vampires, you can usually tell, right?”

She cocked her head and waited for him to realize what he’d said.

After an awkward second, he shoved his fingers through his hair again. “Right. Not a lot of practice around here.”