Page 31 of Stubborn as a Shadow

“Everything okay?” Morgan whispered across the table when the server left.

How the hell was I supposed to answer that? Saying “Fuck no,” which was the only response I could think of, wouldn’t help anything.

10

LIKE HERDING UNICORNS

MORGAN

Something was wrong.

Nelson had the scowliest scowl on his face, and he was going all blurry again. Maybe the hotel had a spa package. It wasn’t good for anyone to be as stressed as he was.

Oh! We could do a couple’s massage. That’d be fun.

Sure, we weren’t a couple, but I’d always wanted to see if doing things as a couple changed the experience. I suspected it would. This would be a great chance to test my theory since Nelson seemed reluctant to leave my side.

He really did make a great sidekick, even if he was a bit grumpy. But that was part of his charm. My life had a lot of rainbows already; it was good to have a sidekick who was a little darker to balance things out.

Although it would have been nice if he had relaxed a little during dinner. He acted like everyone was out to get us. Poor guy. It’d be hard to live your life like that.

Hoping to ease his stress, I’d kept my side of the conversation to easy topics. I talked about how I’d never been skiingbefore and how brilliant hot chocolate tasted with nutmeg and cinnamon in it and how weird laugh tracks sounded. Nelson didn’t contribute much, but that was okay. Violet always said I didn’t need anyone else to talk once I got going.

She was mostly right. Although I really wished Nelson would share a teensy little bit about himself. I was fiercely curious about him.

Instead, by the time I’d polished off my main course and three desserts, I hadn’t learned much except that the sticky toffee pudding was scrumptious, the molten chocolate cake was hot enough to burn my tongue, and the cherry pie could have used more cherries. Well, I guess I’d also found out that when Nelson was stressed, three things happened: He didn’t eat anything but mushrooms, he went a little blurry around the edges, and his eyes turned black.

Maybe it was time to de-stress him a little. I pushed the empty plate away as I dabbed at my mouth with the corner of the cloth napkin.

“That was excellent.” I rubbed my full belly. My magic zinged along my skin, all fired up after eating so many sweets.

“I am pleased to hear it,” a man said as he approached our table.

The guy had dirty blond hair and angular features that weren’t softened by the scruff along his jaw. Nelson had scruff too, but with his, I wanted to rub my hand across it. I had zero interest in touching this new guy. His accent with its proper, upper-class British cadence was almost as sharp as his features—of course, I was guessing at where he was from. I’d only heard accents like that on TV, though, so I could be wrong.

Nelson stiffened.

“Are you the hotelier?” I asked. “If so, please extend my compliments to the chef.”

Shoot. I wasn’t supposed to sayplease, was I?

“No. I am your host for the weekend.” The man smiled—revealing the extremely pointy tips of his upper canines—as he adjusted a cufflink.

Oh! He was a vampire. My first!

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize who you are. And you are?”

“Keenan Huntington.” He bowed slightly.

Personally, I thought my bow to Nelson had been better. Speaking of Nelson, he was getting blurrier by the second. I kicked him under the table. His edges snapped back into place a moment later.

“I am so glad you could attend, Mr.Tadaand Mr.Long.” Keenan emphasized our aliases and punctuated his words with a wink. How did he know those weren’t our real names? “I hope I am as lucky as you this weekend and find exactly what I’m looking for. But I already fear it isn’t here.”

“I’m not sure I’ll be lucky yet—” I shook my head. Oops. Did my wig move? Maybe I shouldn’t have done that “—but I’m looking forward to seeing what is available tomorrow.”

“Oh? How unexpected.” The vampire raised an eyebrow in Nelson’s direction before turning back to me. “Idowish you luck.”

“And I wish you the same.”