Page 109 of My Big Fat Vampire Wedding

Pandora knew what Lucy’s romance-novel-loving heart was trying to do. The same thing authors had been doing for ages. Pushing the main characters together as much as possible until the sparks flew.

But this was real life, not a book.

So Pandora was going to learn to keep her expect­ations firmly planted in reality. And the reality was, she and Victor had simply shared a couple of heated moments that, clearly, meant more to her than they did to him. She was just going to need to accept that and move on.

“It would be nice to cross this off my list,” Pandora said, pointedly ignoring Lucy’s eye roll as she shot off another text. “Victor will be meeting us here in ten. Then you two can head out.”

“I was supposed to be spending time with you.”

“Yeah, but you see me all the time.”

Pandora couldn’t argue with that. On top of working with her most nights at Luna Bean, she also had Lucy hang out with her and her family when they were making arrangements.

By the time the two women brought their cups up to the service station, Pandora spotted Victor crossing the road toward the shop. A gust of wind made leaves kick up around him and blew the hood back off of his head.

Unbidden, memories of the feel of his soft hair on her thighs flooded her mind.

Desire bloomed through her too quickly to tamp down, leaving her feeling achy and overly sensitive as Victor ran a hand through his hair to brush it back out of his face.

Despite knowing it would only make matters worse, Pandora let herself entertain the idea of her fingers sinking into all that soft hair as his bodyweight pressed her into the mattress, as his body moved with hers …

“You’re eye-banging him again,” Lucy said with a gentle nudge to Pandora’s side as Victor made his way into the coffee shop. She smiled at him. “You got here fast.”

“Yeah,” Victor said, nodding at her, then shooting a soft look at Pandora, who was too distracted by how her body was reacting to his nearness to untie her tongue and greet him. “Hey, Pandy.”

“Hello,” she said, then winced at how formal she’d sounded.

“Well, I am going to go run some errands,” Lucy said. “You two have fun flat-shopping.”

With that, she was gone, leaving Pandora standing there staring at Victor, as heat shot through her veins.

“You all right? You look a little …”

Turned on?

Ready to rip his clothes off right there in the middle of a crowded café?

“Fine.” Her voice came out in a squeak. “It’s a little warm in here,” she added, fanning her face.

“Want to walk, then?” he asked. “We have time.”

“Sounds good.” Maybe the activity would work through some of the sexual frustration so by the time they got to the flat, she wouldn’t be ready to throw herself at him.

As they walked, she tried not to let herself overthink every casual brush of his hand to her hip or lower back as he guided her through foot traffic and across the street. Or the way his hand closed over hers when they both went for the door of the building at the same time.

They both greeted the overly enthusiastic estate agent before taking the lift up to the second-to-last floor. Given how much the flat they were about to look at cost, Pandora could only imagine that the people who owned or rented the penthouse must be completely minted.

Then they followed behind the estate agent’s pristine cream trouser suit, perfectly coiffed hair, and click-clacking heels as she gushed about the light, the features, the recently re-finished floors, and the updated kitchen.

Pandora found herself annoyed by the woman’s cloying rose perfume when all she wanted to do was catch a hint of Victor’s signature scent.

“Oh, if you’ll excuse me,” the agent said a few moments later as her mobile started to ring.

She click-clacked away as Pandora watched Victor step in front of the windows, the sun moving out from behind a cloud to shine on his hair, making golden streaks cut through the brown.

“What?” Victor asked, watching her as she looked at him. She was sure her want, her love, was right there on her face for him to see.

“Oh, you won’t believe what I did,” the estate agent said, bustling back in. “I took my husband’s keys withme! He’s locked out of our flat. We haven’t finished our tour—”