Lady and the Vamp (Mystical Matchmakers Book 2) Page 2

  “Nice to meet you, Rune Ferguson,” she said.

  Instead of shaking her hand, he merely held it and replied, “Have dinner with me tonight.”

  Astra blinked, taken aback by the sudden invitation, but recovered quickly. “I have an engagement this evening.”

  “Tomorrow night then.”

  His thumb brushed her knuckles, breaking the trance she’d fallen under.

  “I’ll meet you for drinks at Dulce at six, and then we’ll see about dinner.”

  His mouth quirked. “Tomorrow at six, then.” He released her hand and grabbed a sticky note from the dispenser on top of Veronica’s desk. A pen was suddenly in his hand and a cold chill went up Astra’s spine. She hadn’t seen him reach for it. She watched as he quickly scribbled down his name and phone number. “Please call me if something comes up.”

  Astra took the note, looking down at his spiky handwriting for a moment, before lifting her gaze to his and raising an eyebrow. “And how will you get in touch with me if you can’t make it?”

  “Oh, I’ll make it.”

  Rune looked over at Veronica and Dominique. “Ladies, lovely to meet you.” Then, his piercing grey eyes looked back at her. “I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.”

  Astra couldn’t help herself—she twisted around to watch him walk toward the door. His stride was long and smooth, and his ass filled out the seat of his jeans in the most fascinating way.

  Then, he was gone.

  When she turned around, she noticed that both Dominique and Veronica were looking at her with bright eyes. Heat crept into her cheeks.

  “Well, that was…unexpected,” Dominique said. “I hadn’t considered him as a match for you, but I have to say, he was obviously very interested.”

  That was an understatement.

  Rune was the first male to ask her out on a date in years. Before she’d joined Mystical Matchmakers, Astra usually asked a man out if she found him interesting or her sister and mother constantly set her up with “suitable men.”

  Nerves fluttered in her belly, another feeling she hadn’t experienced for a very long time.

  “Yes, he was.”

  Veronica chose that moment to speak up. “Do you still wish to cancel our services?” she asked.

  Astra found herself blinking again, unsure of what to say.

  Dominique spoke before she could though.

  “Oh, no. I’m sorry to hear that you’re planning to leave our services before we’ve found you a match. Is there anything else we can do to help you or perhaps change your mind?”

  With the two of them staring at her with their sincere eyes, Astra found herself unable to muster up her earlier frustration.

  “No, no, I don’t think I want to cancel my membership any longer.”

  “Would you like for me to see about finding you some other matches?” Dominique offered.

  Veronica spoke before Astra could. “I’ve already asked Astra to repeat her intake interview. I think perhaps we made a mistake during her first one. Otherwise, we sure would have found her more suitable matches by now.”

  Astra’s earlier flush returned with a vengeance. “I’d be happy to redo the interview,” she said to Veronica.

  The woman smiled at her. “Wonderful. Do you have time right now? It will only take a half hour or so since you’ve already completed the other paperwork.”

  “Sure,” Astra replied.

  “When you’re done, please see me before you leave,” Dominique said. “I can give you a little more information on Rune.”

  This was something that Dominique had done before her dates with all of her other matches and Astra found herself hesitant.

  “I think I should let him tell me about himself,” she finally said. “So, I don’t go into the date with any preconceived notions.”

  Dominique nodded. “Maybe that’s a good idea,” she agreed.

  “One thing though,” Astra said.

  “Yes?”

  “You’re sure he’s not a serial killer or soul eater or anything like that, right?”

  Dominique smiled. “Absolutely sure. Does it matter what his supernatural species is?”

  It might to my family, Astra thought. But I’m not sure it does to me.

  Either way, her parents would give him hell. It was a family tradition after all.

  Finally, she answered, “No, it doesn’t matter.”

  “Then, I can assure you that he isn’t a danger to you.”

  He may not have been a danger to her physical safety, but Astra didn’t doubt for a moment that he would be a danger to her common sense.

  Chapter Two

  Rune hadn’t felt this nervous before a date in seventy-five years. Not since before he was turned by his maker. Who’d also been his last date as a human.

  Still, she’d saved his life, so he hadn’t been too upset when he’d reawakened as a vampire.

  Not at first anyway.

  Now, he understood why Daniela had been so apologetic. He was still grateful to be alive, but his existence had changed drastically in the intervening seventy-five years. He was aware of what he’d given up in order to live a long life.

  His parents were both dead now. As was his brother.

  He couldn’t contact his nieces and nephews. Nor their children.

  He had no family other than the one he could make now. With his friends. And, hopefully, one day, a woman and the children they might have together.

  And he may have met that woman yesterday.

  When he’d walked out of Dominique’s office, he was dumbstruck. The sunlight through the front window turned her hair to pure flame. Her eyes were both green and gold as she turned to look at the woman in front of him.

  In that moment, she appeared to be a goddess of fire. Beautiful and lethal.

  And he couldn’t tear his gaze away.

  He had to know her. To hear her voice. To experience her smile.

  So, he’d asked Dominique to introduce them.

  It was the first time he’d ever seen the demi-fae thrown for a loop.

  Tonight, he would see Astra again.

  He arrived early at the wine bar and the place was busy, but the crowd was beginning to thin out. The happy hour crowd was heading home, and the after-dinner group hadn’t arrived yet.

  Though the hostess had offered him a table, he waited for Astra at the bar at the front of the restaurant. He wanted to see her walk in. To have a chance to just look at her.

  It was still ten minutes to six when she walked in, and he was grateful that he was sitting out of her line of sight.

  Her tall, voluptuous figure was clad in a simple black dress, but the design was meant to showcase the body beneath the garment rather than the dress itself. The neckline was high, cut straight across her collarbones, but when she turned, he saw that her back was bared by a pattern of straps that crossed over her pale ivory skin. An intriguing tattoo peeked out from behind the draped fabric, a single line of text that curved around her ribs to the edge of her back. It looked like runes, Norse runes. He could only see it because she’d lifted her arm to brush her hair back from her face.

  He wondered about that for a moment…until he was distracted by the length of thigh bared by the slit on one side of her knee-length dress. Wow. Her legs were so long and so, so…yeah, wow was the only thing he could think of.

  Before he could get his shit together and stand up, she turned toward the bar and spied him. He stood as she walked closer, trying not to gape. Her eyes were more gold than green tonight and her lips were the same deep burgundy as the wine in his glass.

  “Hi,” he said, completely unable to think of anything suave to say.

  “Hello,” she replied. Her voice was low and lightly accented, something else he hadn’t noticed yesterday when he’d been blinded by the sight of her.

  “Shall we get a table?” he asked.

  “Please.”

  As they turned to walk back to the hostess stand, he instinctively reached a h
and out toward the small of her back before he stopped himself. She didn’t know him. While it might be acceptable after a few dates, he shouldn’t touch her just now.

  Instead, he lowered his hand to his side and his arm brushed her shoulder.

  The hostess smiled at him when she returned from seating another couple. “Your date has arrived, I see. Do you still want a table in the back?” she asked.

  Rune looked at Astra. “Is that okay with you? It will be quieter so we can talk.”

  Her lips curved. “That would be nice.”

  Rune nodded to the hostess, and they followed her to the rear of the restaurant where a small alcove stood. There were two tables there, but no one was seated at either.

  “Your server will be right with you,” she said, placing the menus on the table and walking away.

  Rune moved over to hold out the chair for Astra, confused when she remained standing by the table. “Is something wrong?”

  “I prefer to face the entrance,” she murmured.

  Though he didn’t quite understand, Rune moved to the other chair and pulled it out, pushing it in as Astra sat down.

  Once he’d taken his own seat, Astra said, “I’m sorry. I know it probably seems strange, but it’s a habit from work.”

  “Work?” he asked, leaning forward.

  Her cheeks flushed. “I’m a partner in a security firm.”

  His brows rose. “Really? That’s interesting. What do you do? Or are you in the office most of the time?” More questions wanted to trip off his tongue, but he swallowed them down. “I’m sorry, asking questions is a habit from my work.”

  “What do you do?” she asked.

  “I’m an author. I write mysteries and thrillers.”

  Astra folded her arms and rested her elbows on the table. “See, that’s interesting to me,” she said.

  Their server arrived, a young man who couldn’t be more than twenty-one or two. He took one look at Astra and Rune could all but see little hearts dancing around his head.

  Shit.

  They each ordered a glass of ice water, and he ordered another glass of red wine since he’d left his on the bar. Astra ordered prosecco.

  The young man lingered for a moment before he finally went about his business.

  Before Astra could speak again, Rune said, “The first thing I should have said earlier was that you look beautiful tonight.”

  A tremulous smile crossed Astra’s lips, as though no one had ever said anything like that to her before. Which blew his mind because, if she were his, he would tell her that at least twice a day. No matter what she wore or if she’d just woken up or finished cleaning the garage.

  “Thank you,” she murmured. “You look handsome as well.”

  “Thank you.”

  Their drinks arrived much more quickly than his wine had earlier, even though he’d been seated at the bar. It seemed their server was determined to ingratiate himself.

  “Thank you,” Astra said to the boy with a smile.

  Rune thought he might have to drag the kid off by the scruff of his neck, but the young man left quickly after he cleared his throat and shot him a hard look.

  “Intimidating our waiter?” she asked.

  “Only because he was horning in on my date with you.”

  She laughed and his breath caught in his chest. It was low, throaty, and very sexy. He immediately wanted to make her laugh again as soon as she stopped.

  Instead, he said, “Tell me more about your job.”

  “I don’t know,” she said, taking a sip of her prosecco. “It can be a mood killer to talk about it.”

  “I’m terminally curious and now you’ve just guaranteed I’m going to bug you until you answer me.”

  As he wanted, that got another laugh out of her. “Okay, fine. But don’t blame me when your eyes cross from boredom.”

  “I don’t think anything about you could ever be boring,” he said.

  Her gaze lowered and she cleared her throat. “You’d be surprised. My life basically consists of work, home, and working out.”

  “Then tell me about the work part of it for now and we’ll get to the rest later.”

  “You’re relentless.”

  “I already told you that,” he said, smirking at her as he leaned further across the table. “Give in. We’ll both enjoy it.”

  When he realized what he said, he grimaced.

  “Ignore that last statement, please. It was entirely too creepy and sleazy. Please, just tell me about your job before I start salivating.”

  “Fine, fine.” She took another sip of her wine. “I’m a partner in a security firm that my parents founded. We mostly consult with companies on their security protocols, but we do occasionally take contracts for protection of individuals or firms.”

  “Like bodyguards?” he asked.

  She smiled. “Sometimes, but mostly we help them design their procedures and streamline their process. We even have specialists that determine their system needs and install the sensors and other hardware. Some of our teams take individual contracts for clients, like bodyguards, but that’s not our specialty.”

  “I would love to see it,” Rune said.

  She smiled. “I doubt it. The offices are pretty plain and the training areas smell like sweat, feet, and B.O.”

  “Now, I have to see it,” he replied.

  Astra laughed again, her eyes shimmering like two gold coins. “Well, maybe I could arrange a tour,” she said.

  “Don’t say it unless you mean it because I’m just as relentless about things like this as I am about questions.”

  “Let’s see how this date goes and, if you don’t run away screaming at the end, then I’ll make it happen.”

  Rune grinned. “Then, I’d better make sure this is the best date you’ve ever had because I have no intention of running away, screaming or not.”

  Astra’s smile faded and the expression on her face made him wonder if he’d said something wrong. Before he could comment or ask what was bothering her, she seemed to shake herself.

  “Tell me more about what you do,” she said. “I never have enough time to read, but it is something I used to enjoy when I was younger.”

  Rune clutched at his chest. “You don’t have time to read? That’s like blasphemy.”

  She took it as the joke it was and smiled once again. “Unfortunately, as a partner, I somehow end up working ten or twelve hours most days. I’ve been bugging my parents for a year now to make my youngest sister, Sylvie, a partner, but they’re all dragging their feet. My sister included.”

  “Why?”

  Astra shrugged. “It’s a lot of responsibility for someone under thirty.”

  Rune nearly choked on his wine. “Under thirty? Are you…” he trailed off, realizing that he was about to ask her how old she was. A huge no-no, regardless of a female’s species.

  She arched a brow at him, something he was jealous of because he’d never been able to do that—lift only one eyebrow. “I’m sorry, what were you saying?”

  “Uh, I was preparing to shove my entire foot in my mouth, shoe, sock, and all.”

  She threw her head back and laughed again, louder than she had before. She looked completely relaxed in that moment. He was glad they were seated in the alcove, away from other people, or he probably would have had to fight off every other man in the room.

  “It’s okay,” she said. “I’m older than I look. Most Valkyrie are.”

  “You’re a Valkyrie?” he asked.

  “Yes. I just turned forty-five last fall.”

  No wonder she looked like a goddess. She was a descendent of one.

  “I’m nearly a hundred and fifteen,” he confessed.

  “You don’t look a day over thirty-five.”

  They both laughed and shook their heads. Thank the gods their server hadn’t returned during that conversation or he would have been a lot more intimidated than he was already.

  “All right, stop avoiding my questions,” she
said, leaning across the table and little smacking his forearm. “Tell me more about what you do. I’m curious.”

  “Well, basically, I sit in front of the computer all day long and either tell myself a story or wish I could yank all my hair out. Sometimes, I eat candy or drink soda while I do it. If a book is really cooking, I’ll pull a couple all nighters.” He shrugged.

  “I’m pretty sure there’s more to it than that,” she argued.

  “Well, there’s social media, blogs, and newsletters. My publicist keeps telling me I have to do that stuff, but I always forget. And there are the book tours. I get to meet my readers, which is cool, but it’s exhausting too because it’s city after city for a few weeks.”

  “That does sound exhausting,” she agreed. “But I can tell you love it.”

  “Really? How? Because I thought I was complaining.”

  “You were smiling the entire time you were complaining.”

  “I was?”

  She nodded.

  Their server returned and asked if they wanted refills.

  Rune looked at Astra. “Do you want another drink, or do you think you’d be willing to risk dinner with me?”

  Astra pretended to think about it for several moments, long enough for him to sweat a little, before she said, “There’s a fantastic Italian place nearby. Would you like to try it?”

  A grin spread across his face. “Absolutely.” He pulled out his wallet and handed two twenties to the server. “Keep the change.”

  The young man looked pitiful as they both got to their feet. His eyes stayed glued to Astra as she walked around him.

  “Thank you,” she said to the waiter.

  “No problem,” he mumbled.

  Rune actually felt sorry for the kid. But not sorry enough that he didn’t throw a glance over his shoulder as they walked away. This time with his fingers resting on the small of her back.

  Chapter Three

  Despite getting home after ten and not being able to sleep until midnight, Astra woke up at five-thirty, ready to take on the day.

  Her body was revving with energy. Which was a good thing because she was meeting her youngest sister, Sylvie, for a workout this morning.