Page 128 of My Big Fat Vampire Wedding

“Victor?” Pandora’s voice was half whisper, half sob as she blinked, thinking when her eyes opened again, he would be gone.

But he was still there.

In fact, he was moving closer toward her.

He looked better than she remembered, in his dark jeans and thick forest-green jumper that made his light-green eyes pop all the more.

His hair was a few weeks past needing a trim, but the disheveled look was endearing on him.

“Congratulations,” he said as he approached the counter, his gaze moving over her. “I always knew your bookshop would be amazing. Love the name,” he went on when she stood there, too stunned to speak. Or blink. Or pretend to breathe. “The Eternal Page.” He gave that small twitch of a smile she loved so much. “A little nod to who you really are.”

“Y … yes,” she said, nodding.

“It’s perfect. You nailed the vibe you were hoping for in here too. Bright and happy, but cozy and inviting.”

The door opened with a chime, making Victor turn to look at the man coming inside. A man so well-built that you could see the muscles through the thin material of his shirt. He had chiseled features and cool, dark eyes.

Something about him had Victor’s brows furrowing as he turned back to Pandora.

“Gargoyle,” she said, never wanting to lie to him again.

“Gargoyle,” Victor said with a little laugh. “Guess there’s still a lot I need to learn. Are there other creatures?”

“Well, Lucy is a werewolf,” Pandora told him, waving over toward where Lucy was making lattes behind the counter in the café section of the shop.

“A werewolf. Wow.”

“And there are fae, succubi, sirens … basically all the creatures you read about in fiction are based, at least partially, on reality.”

“I should be more shocked than I am,” he said. “How have you been, Pandy?”

She knew she was supposed to feed him some platitudes, tell him she was all right, that everything was OK. After all, her misery was of her own making.

But she couldn’t force out even a kind lie. Not to him.

“Not good.”

To that, Victor’s head tipped to the side as he watched her.

“I knew it was you,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“The funding for my department. I knew it was you the second I heard about it.”

“It was the right thing to do,” she said. “I didn’t think you would take the money directly from me. But if it came through the school, I thought you would take the opportunity to finish your PhD. You’ve earned it.” When he didn’t immediately reply, Pandora leaned forward. “Please tell me you took advantage of it.”

“The next term hasn’t really started yet, but, yes, I decided to finish.”

“Oh, good. I’m so glad to hear that. How have you been?”

“Doing a lot of thinking,” he said.

“About?”

“Many things. Not the least of which, going back over every movie, show, and book I’ve read about vampires, as well as my entire thesis, knowing now what I know.”

“Any new conclusions?”