Page 27 of Bite Me

“We’ll go to the dinner club on Twenty-third Street. Maybe your mystery vamp will be there.”

I must have winced despite my effort to keep my cool because Sheri’s face fell.

“Eddie?”

I shook my head and gulped the bubbly. I swallowed too fast, and it nearly made me cough.

“You told me you liked it,” Sheri said, sounding uncertain. “That he was hot and made you come like no one ever. You said you were a little mad at me for dragging you away.”

“We can go somewhere else,” I piped up, desperate to change the subject.

She put her fingers in front of her mouth, and her eyebrows drew together, making her look like a sad puppy. “It was bad, wasn’t it? Eddie, why didn’t you tell me?”

My face was burning. I was such a lousy liar. “Tell you what?”

Sheri’s voice rose in pitch like it always did when she was upset. “Why did you pretend it was fine when it obviously wasn’t!? You can trust me. Please, Eddie. If he did something… There are rules, I told you that. He bit you without asking, didn’t he?”

Oh Lord, she was jumping to conclusions again. “He didn’t. Russel wouldn’t do that. It was consensual.”

She gaped at me. “Russelwouldn’t do that?”

I took another sip of the prosecco, slowly this time. I could feel her gaze boring holes into my head.

“Spill. Did you go to the club without me to meet the guy again?”

I shook my head and drank the rest of the bubbly. It went down easily this time.

“I haven’t been totally honest with you, Sheri. I’m sorry. Can we talk?”

To avoid her glare, I refilled our glasses and sat on the sofa. I patted the cushion next to me and looked up. Yep, still glaring.

“Please?”

“This had better be good,” she muttered.

“It’s not. It’s awful.”

She sighed as she plonked down by my side. “I’m listening.”

Maybe it would be good to get it off my chest. Or not. I braced myself for the myriad of Sheri’s possible reactions. “Russel Greenwood, my new boss at the agency, is the same vampire I met at the dinner club on Twenty-third when I was there with you.”

Sheri’s eyes got comically big. “You’re kidding me.”

“Neither of us had any idea until he walked into the conference room the Monday after.”

“Fuck me! Are they going to fire you?”

I chuckled, probably sounding bewildered. “No. He didn’t tell anyone. He’s been professional. For the most part.”

That made Sheri squint. “The most part?”

“He tried to flirt a little on the first day, but I quickly made it clear I needed this job and wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize it.”

“And he went with it?”

“Yeah. But…”

“But?”