Page 40 of My Big Fat Vampire Wedding

L uckily enough for Pandora, after they’d got back from Morocco, she was mostly too busy to overthink about what it meant that they’d spent several days in Morocco, curled up on the sofa reading a love story, when nothing had happened.

There were fittings to suffer through, endless magazine-plastered aesthetic boards provided by her aunts and cousins to choose from, arguments about her family’s chosen location for the wedding. Arguments she inevit-ably lost, then had to scramble to make it work somehow.

“That is the twenty-ninth text since we sat down,” Lucy said as Pandora reached for her phone, scrolling up through the last three texts she’d received.

“I’m starting to regret letting my family learn how to use mobile phones.”

“I guess it beats having to have sit-downs with them about every little detail, though,” Lucy said as she dropped a sugar into her tea.

“That’s true,” Pandora said after shooting off a response. “The last time we had a discussion at home, Vlad sat on his perch, sighing heavily and reciting Shakespeare’s Sonnet 87 dramatically while Elizabeth sat on the windowsill preening her feathers.”

“Why was he reciting sad poetry?”

“Because he thought Elizabeth was preening for the damn magpie eating off the bird feeder.”

“His jealousy is both hilarious and sad.”

“I know, right? Meanwhile, she’s clueless.”

“What’s he going to do when she eventually goes home with Dudley?”

“Good question. I imagine there will be a lot of pining. Maybe he’ll taunt another poet or something. Prompt him to create some awesome new art.”

“Something to look forward to. OK. Now, show me the next flat,” Lucy said, holding out gimme hands until Pandora passed her the tablet. “This is the one you like best?”

“One look at all of the bookcases and you will see why. And all of the windows for my plants.”

Lucy spent the next few minutes reading the description and scrolling through the fifty-plus images that Pandora had looked at so often that she was seeing them behind her lids when she closed her eyes.

Some nights, she would even imagine walking through the house, looking at her and Victor’s books on the shelves, their art on the walls, their toothbrushes in the holders.

Though, in those fantasies, she went ahead and imagined them in the same bed.

“Can I ask you a question?” Lucy said when she finally set the tablet back down.

“Sure.” Pandora cradled her chamomile tea between her hands.

“What is the plan after the divorce?”

“What?” Pandora’s stomach dropped at the mention of divorce from Victor. Even though their relationship was a sham and that had literally been the plan from the very beginning.

“You know, with the flat,” Lucy said, but Pandora was almost certain that wasn’t the only thing her friend was talking about. “When you divorce, what happens to the flat?”

Pandora’s heart ached at the idea of a home she’d once shared with Victor suddenly featuring the shadows of his absence all around.

“I guess I would keep it if I really fell in love with it. Victor wouldn’t fight me on it. Why?”

“Because you were watching me with hearts in your eyes as I flipped through the images. I hate the idea of you losing a place you clearly love already. Without even going to see it.”

“What are you doing?” Pandora asked when Lucy reached for her mobile, tapping something in, then lifting it to her ear.

“Hi! This is Pandora Von Ashmore,” she said, making Pandora’s brows shoot up. “I was wondering if I could do a viewing …” She rattled off the address, then listened to the estate agent. “That would be great! Can’t wait to see it.”

“You don’t even know my schedule,” Pandora said once Lucy hung up.

“And that’s why you are going in half an hour,” Lucy said, looking proud of herself.

“Since I know you’re free. Now … let’s see what Victor is up to.

” She scrolled through her contacts, then shot off a text.

“Guess he’s not busy,” she said when her phone pinged just a moment or two later. “He’s in. You guys have a date.”

“I was supposed to be having a date with you.”

“You did. Now you’re having time with Victor. Alone time.”

“With the estate agent.”

“Still. Time to walk around, plan your future, that sort of thing. Without your family involved.”

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 expect-ations 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 with me! He’s locked out of our flat. We haven’t finished our tour—”

“We could wait for you,” Victor said, gesturing around the room with its minimalistic staged furniture as if to say, “There’s nothing to steal here.”

“Well, maybe if I could just meet him downstairs,” the estate agent said, sounding conflicted to even leave them alone for a few minutes.

“We’re OK here. Gives us more time to argue over whose books get to be displayed on the shelves in the living room,” Victor said, all charm.

“OK. I will have him meet me here,” she said. She reached for her phone to shoot off a quick text. “I’m not thinking straight. My in-laws are coming to town,” she added with a grimace.

“We know a thing or two about that, what with all the wedding planning,” Victor said, draping his arm around Pandora’s hips and hauling her against his side.

She didn’t even pretend not to melt into him. She even let her hand slip up his stomach to rest on his chest.

The agent’s eyes softened before she hurried to the door. “I will be quick.”

They both heard the flat door close, but neither of them moved for a long moment. It was Victor who stepped away first, making Pandora feel like her heart was being pulled away with him.

“Obviously,” she said, reaching into her bag for a book. “My books go on the eye-level shelves.” She stuck the book there, front cover out. “It’s because of their superior cover design.”

“I can’t argue with … Is that the one we were reading in Morocco?” he asked, lines creasing between his brows.

“I … uh … yeah.”