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I swirl my straw in the glass of water sitting to my right.

“At least I got this.” Ava holds up her fancy sparkling lemonade. “You got water, you plain Jane.” She sticks her tongue out like the mature adult woman she is.

I crumple up my straw wrapper and throw it at her face. It falls pitifully short and doesn’t make it anywhere near its mark.

“Hello ladies! I’ll be your server today!” A cheerful voice I know all too well pipes up.

Ava’s light blue eyes dart back and forth from the server to me, and her grin gets so wide I think it’ll split her face in half.

“Do I even want to look?” I shield my gaze from the side where the new presence stands and look at Ava who nodsvigorously. Shutting my eyes, I rub the heel of my palms against my eyeballs for the oncoming headache I’m sure to get.

Ugh.

Sure enough, when I turn my head and peel open my tightly closed lids, a crimson-headed Adonis stands there, apron and all.

Zavier tilts his head at me like a dog begging its owner for attention.

Where did I find this one? In an abandoned alley?

Well, kind of.

“I don’t want to know how you knew we were here or how you got this job on such short notice. You couldn’t go the day without me, huh?” I laugh but it is endearing in a twisted, unhinged way.

He leans over and rubs his cheek against the top of my head.

“Of course I couldn’t. I missed my pumpkin too much.”

“All right, get off me.” I shove Zav off, and he rocks back and forth on his feet. Now that I know he’s a vampire, I realize heletsme do this. He’s strong enough to not go anywhere if he doesn’t want to. “What happened to our original waiter?”

Zav certainly wasn’t the one to take our drink order and ask if we wanted any appetizers.

Zavier smiles mischievously, and I make a point to ignore it and not let my mind wander to what could’ve happened.

Ava and I rattle off our orders which Zavier writes down and takes to the kitchen.

“Speak of the devil.” She smirks at me while sipping on her lemonade. “How’s it going living together?”

“He’s attentive that’s for sure. I thought he was going to have an aneurysm when I told him I was going into work today.” I run a hand through my hair tucking flyaways behind my ear. “Midnight, the little shit, seems to love him for some reason so he’s living his best life. I wish there was movement on the intruder in my apartment, so I have a timeline for moving backin but so far nothing. I don’t want to be a burden to Zavier, you know? I basically took over his space and he refuses to let me sleep on the couch so I take his bed. It’s not fair to him.”

What I don’t tell Ava is I sleep better than I ever have in his bed. His scent which I thought would fade, only seems to stick to the sheets and lull me to sleep each night.

As much as I try to hold myself back from the goofy vampire, he continues to wiggle under my skin and into my heart. I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be able to hold back from pursuing a full-on relationship with him.

I keep that tidbit of information to myself. Zav would probably throw a parade in his own honor if he found out I’m thinking about asking him to make things serious.

“I doubt he’s bothered by you living with him,” she laughs. “He’s a walking boner for you. From everything I’ve seen he’s going to be heartbroken when you leave.” I spy Zav watching from the corner, but he quickly disappears when he’s caught. “It's an interesting situation, but maybe you moving in is the universe telling you to follow your heart and not your head.” Ava gives me a pointed look and sucks down the last of her drink. “Get yourself laid and see if your natural chemistry bleeds into sexual chemistry and decide if you want to take it further. Nothing wrong with walking away if it goes south.”

“Yeah, maybe.” She has a point but there’s still part of me reluctant to take the plunge. He’s also an immortal being and I’m a human. How the hell would that work?

I take a sip of my water, and a different waiter appears with our plates of food. Ava’s salad does look delicious, but my burger has me salivating.

I reach for my water for another sip and frown when I find it empty. I must’ve downed it without realizing in my discomfort answering Ava’s questions. Before I can dwell too long on my drythroat, another full cup of water is placed in front of me and a lemonade in front of Ava.

I slowly run my gaze up the apron covered chest, corded throat, and strong jaw in front of me. Zavier smiles and walks away without a word.

“See? He knew what you needed before you did.” Ava digs into her salad and draws her new lemonade closer.

“Pfft. It’s his job to stay on top of that. I’m sure he’d do it for anyone,” I reason with her, but know it’s more than that. I just don’t want to say it out loud.