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Her lavender top was feminine, a little frilly in places it didn’t need to be. Her jeans were embroidered on the sides of her hips with pretty white flowers. Her artfully silver hair and violet-blue eyes were a knockout combination. She was slim the way all vampires tended to be, something about a metabolism that subsisted entirely on blood and took very little energy to keep running at their average body temperature of 68 degrees. Any vampire alive could out-lift any human without effort, but a vampire would never bulk up the way some humans could, even if they weight-trained for the next hundred years.

Leslie was more than attractive, though. She was interesting. And she was his ideal match.

He wished she’d agreed to the Italian restaurant over a noisier, cheaper place. He’d wanted to treat her to something special. At the Harmony Ridge diner, she had the menu memorized.

Oh well. The whole point tonight was to make her comfortable with his unexpected arrival, not to show off.“Slow the roll, son.”He’d heard that advice from his dad countless times.

When he set aside his menu, Leslie said, “Questions for the local? Or are you confident in your choices?”

“Hmm, good point. Is the beef grass-fed?”

Leslie cocked one eyebrow at him. Those were silver too, not dark the way some women left them despite dyeing their hair. The uniformity was pleasant. “It’s not. The venison’s local, though.”

“Can I get a venison steak? Or do I have to eat it ground into hamburger?”

“You’ll have to ask about that. I’ve never ordered steak here.”

“Why not?”

“I prefer my meat ground into hamburger. Plus the job that pays my bills is head waitress at a steakhouse in the next town, so I’m kind of over steak.”

Ryker blinked. Kept his mouth shut with effort.

“Did you think I’m a full-time artist?”

“Uh…yeah, I guess I did.”

“Maybe someday, but probably not. Artists starve, you know.”

His thoughts were tumbling down a mountainside, post-earthquake. Would she hate that he had money?

The server came with their waters, and he tried to ask questions without sounding like…well, like an apex predator who liked his meat just so. Venison steak wasn’t on the printed menu, but there was a limited supply if you knew to ask.

When the server walked away, Leslie smiled with a hint of mischief. “She probably thinks you’re a wolf.”

“Why?”

“Venison is the only protein I’ve ever overheard them order.”

He shook his head. “Something you said earlier… It sounded like your family are the only vampires in Harmony Ridge.”

“Yep. Just the three of us.”

“Because of the wolf pack?”

“Oh, I don’t know. It’s just how things are here. But yeah, when I went away to college, I’d never met a vampire outside my family, and now that I’m back home, it’s just us again.”

“What about your extended family?”

“That’s a touchy subject. I grew up seeing my dad’s people, still do occasionally when we visit Knoxville. But my mom’s relatives are like…off limits.”

Wow. He sipped his water. Stalling? More like contemplating.

“What?” she said.

“Our life experiences are sort of opposite.”

“You have a lot of vampires in your life?”