Page 12 of Midnight Kiss

“How did you?—?”

“You mentioned it on the phone,” I said. “When you were talking to the dispatcher.” The lie slipped easily from me. I’d already made a mistake. This was perilous, this strangeness about her. Whatever it was, it clouded my vision. Was it the same for the vampire who had attacked her? It was entirely possible that she had some kind of “defensive mechanism”, though we’d never found humans with the like before. Apart from those who had blood diseases, but those were an unhappy coincidence rather than an intentional defense.

Emily hadn’t said a word in all that time. Instead, she held her phone and stood on the spot, trembling. “I—I think I’m in shock.”

“You should sit down.” I held out a hand to her.

She took it with far too much trust. It angered me.

Regardless, I guided her toward the steps and sat her down, standing over her and watching the night sky for signs of others coming to take her life or the book from her cold, dead hands.

The book. It had to be in this apartment of hers, but could the vampire not gain access to it? Or had he failed to find it?

The whoop of sirens sliced through the dark.

5

EMILY

Alexander, the man who had saved me, stood talking to the police officers beside their squad cars, occasionally bobbing his head, his gaze dancing toward me occasionally. His eyes were the deepest hazel I had ever seen, bordering on an almost tawny gold color, and my stomach twisted as I thought about it.

I sat on the steps outside my apartment, my hands resting on my knees, my tote bag on the concrete beside me. The officers had already taken my statement and had another car out looking for my attacker.

Alex said goodnight to the officers then approached me, and I stared like I’d lost my damn mind, because clearly I had.

Maybe it was the shock of being attacked and then saved, maybe I was just low on sleep after staying up all night with the book, but I couldn’t get over how gorgeous he was.

Towering and broad-shouldered, with dark hair that curled slightly at his temples, and those nearly golden eyes. His jaw was wide and strong, clean-shaven, and he had a broody quality about him. He carried himself like he could jump into action at any given moment.

So, the complete opposite of me.

I bit my lip and released it. “Thank you,” I said, as he reached me. I rose from the step, and he caught me under one elbow before I could ask for help.

He released me again straight away, but the soft touch had set my heart racing.

“There’s no need for you to thank me,” Alex said. “Anyone would have helped a woman in need.”

“I don’t know about that. You were the only one who showed up,” I said, with a sheepish grin. “I—Where did you come from, by the way? I swear, one moment it was just me and the guy, and then …” The guy who had dropped out of mid-air.

“I was walking down the street. I saw your attacker drop from above.” He pointed toward the overhang above the door.

“Is that where he came from?” I asked. “That’s weird.”

“Seems like he was banking on the element of surprise.”

We stared at each other in the darkness. Quiet. A building tension.

“You should come upstairs,” I said, even though it was madness to ask a stranger up, especially after what had just happened. But he had saved me. He had literally saved me.

“Come up?” It sounded like he wasn’t exactly sure what I meant by that.

“Yeah, to my apartment. You should come up for a cup of coffee or something to eat,” I said. “I think my roommate made cookies this morning. At least she said she was going to, so maybe you can come up and have some cookies with me.” Say cookies again, you psycho. Why was I rambling so much? It was embarrassing. “Or, I could make you a cocktail. I think I have some vodka in the fridge. Morgan says that it’s essential to keep vodka cold, just like in the Russian motherland because she’s weird. I don’t know.”

Stop. Talking. Just stop talking.

“Cookies and vodka,” Alex said slowly.

And I hung off his words. “Yeah. Or, uh?—”