Page 35 of My Big Fat Vampire Wedding

It clearly hadn’t meant what she’d thought.

Of course he liked her. If he hated her, there was no way he would be going through this bollocks plan with her. Especially when it was going to involve living with her for a full year.

“Yeah?” Dante asked. “I’d have thought that it would drag, with how much the aunts and Mum are all over you.”

“Don’t forget the cousins,” Pandora said.

The train of family members coming to stay had not stopped with the appearance of her great-great-grandmother Ambrosia.

There had been a day or two of peace before the -cousins started rolling in.

Though, for once, Pandora was pleased with the company of the younger female cousins who gushed over her ring, who asked her all sorts of questions about Victor. No judgment or weirdness about her choice to marry a human.

They worked as a nice buffer between the older -women’s often antiquated or crazy wedding-planning ideas.

There’d been a particularly worrying suggestion of some sort of full-moon blood ritual.

But the cousins put a quick end to that. Which also meant Pandora didn’t have to be the bad guy all of the time.

“We’re about bursting at the seams,” Dante said. “Wonder when it will stop.”

“The night before the wedding, I suspect,” Pandora said. “The rooms might be full, but we have the whole basement and attic to fill with more coffins, if needed.”

“Yeah. Been worried Mum was going to try to make me share. My whole room looks like a science laboratory.”

“Dante!” a voice called in the distance.

“That’s the other lifeguard,” Dante said. “I have to be getting back.”

“Right. Of course,” Pandora said, handing him back his sunscreen. “I’m sorry I followed you. I was just concerned.”

“It was good to talk to someone about things,” he said.

“I’m really proud of you,” Pandora said. “For knowing what you want and working toward it. But, please, get some rest. And get some blood. You’re wasting away.”

“I’ve just been busy. I will take better care. You’ve got enough to worry about. Don’t need to go adding myself to that list.” His colleague called his name again. “Coming!”

“Go ahead,” Pandora said. “I’ll see you at home.”

With that, she watched her brother rush back toward the jetty, smiling and laughing with his coworker.

Sure, he looked ridiculous, covered head to toe.

But he was also happier than she’d ever seen him.

For a moment, she watched him in his element, getting down on the jetty to dangle his legs just over the water as he watched the shoreline and the kayakers.

Finally, she moved out of the woods and made her way back toward Victor. She stopped a few feet away from him as well, watching him as he sat there engrossed in his story.

The wind kicked up, making his hair fall into his face a bit. It was in need of a trim. She just barely held herself back from reaching out, from brushing the soft strands back. The edge of his book curled in, making his hand spread out to flatten it so he could continue reading.

Her mind immediately thought of that hand.

When it was holding hers with gentle pressure.

Of it teasing the edges of her hair when they’d sat at the restaurant.

Of it pressed into the small of her back in a way that always felt comfortingly possessive to her.

Or, of course, as it moved over her body in the cupboard, sparking little fires of need until her body was an out-of-control wildfire.

“Oh, hey,” Victor said, looking up and catching her standing there watching him.

“Hey,” she said.

“Everything all right?”

“We had a good talk,” she told him as he stuck his book back in his backpack then got to his feet.

“I don’t want to pry …”

“It turns out he just has this job that, I guess, he doesn’t think our parents would approve of.

And he looks so tired because after he comes home from work, he’s been working on building a sort of business that has been consuming all of his extra time.

He really wants to become independ-ent. And not have to rely on our parents’ money. ”

“That makes sense. Strange how he felt the need to keep it from you.”

“He probably figured I was overwhelmed enough as it was,” Pandora told him. “Did I tell you that we have more family visiting?”

“More?” Victor asked, eyes widening. “How many more can there be?”

“Quite a few,” she said. “This crowd is younger, though. And they’ve been helping me out when the aunts or my mum are being a little crazy.”

They walked back to the Tube, discussing the many things Pandora had messaged him about when it came to wedding planning.

She was pleased to realize they agreed on pretty much every point.

And the only one he differed on was about a menu item that he learned Ravenna really wanted to include.

Since he had a soft spot for her, he went ahead and sided with her on that.

Pandora, charmed by his affection for her great-aunt, wasn’t bothered about giving in on that one point.

“Oh,” Victor said, patting down his pockets when they were climbing the stairs from the Tube.

“What is it?” she asked.

“I’ve misplaced my phone,” he said, turning his backpack to dig around in it. “Maybe I left it in your house?”

He had put it on the table when they’d sat down to discuss her texts. He could have easily forgotten it.

“We’ll check,” she said as they walked back to the house.

It was still too early for her to worry about any of her family. Or so she thought.

Until they walked into the dining room to find her great-great-grandmother standing there.

“Oh, hey,” Pandora said, stiffening.

Things hadn’t exactly softened between the two of them since the night of the in-laws’ meeting. She couldn’t help but blame Ambrosia for giving Bellatrix the idea to glamour Victor.

“Hello,” Ambrosia said, looking over Pandora, then Victor as he found his phone on the table.

She saw her great-great-grandmother zero in on the pendant hanging from Victor’s chest. Pandora could tell by the way Ambrosia stared at it, brows slightly lifted, that she knew exactly what it was.

“It’s good to catch you two,” she said, making a strange shiver move down Pandora’s spine.

“Why’s that?” she asked, moving closer to Victor.

“I never got a chance to give you your engagement present.”

“That’s not necessary,” Victor said before Pandora could think of anything to say.

“Of course it is,” Ambrosia said. “Traditions are important.”

“Do you need to go get it?” Pandora asked.

“It isn’t a gift so much as an … experience,” she said.

“What kind of experience?” Pandora asked, back going even straighter.

“Oh, just a little … lovers’ getaway,” Ambrosia said.

Why did Pandora get the feeling that there was some sort of catch?