Then Elizabeth’s smile faded. “I really don’t know if this is a good idea. My brothers are a little bit protective.”
“I hadn’t noticed,” Jensen said, then gave her a wink.
She frowned. “You have to be in pain. You really should be resting.”
“Remind me to tell you about the time that I got kicked in the head by a mare in labor.”
Elizabeth turned on the bench seat, gaping at him. “That really happened?”
He nodded.
“Wow.”
“But I’ve got to say, your brothers are pretty damned protective.”
“And you haven’t even met Rhys.”
Jensen cringed. “He isn’t going to be here now, is he?”
“No.”
“Then I’m good to go. I can handle your brothers. They just got the jump on me.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to mention that they were, in fact, vampires, and it had been an unfair fight from the get-go, but she caught herself. That would be damned hard to explain, wouldn’t it?
As hard as explaining what she was.
“Hey, they are playing ‘Here I Go Again.’ That seems rather appropriate, doesn’t it?”
Elizabeth listened to a few of the lyrics, then laughed. “You’re funny.”
“I am,” he agreed, and they stared at each other for a moment.
“I really want to kiss you. Can you start a date with a kiss?”
She nodded. She actually knew nothing of dating. She’d flirted a bit at balls. She’d even stolen a kiss at one of the soirees, from a man, a lord who she’d dreamed of marrying and now who she barely remembered. She didn’t know anything about how real dates worked.
“I think we can,” she said, her eyes drifting down to that luscious mouth. She did know one thing for sure. No one on earth kissed like Jensen Adler.
He leaned across the seat, his mouth brushing very gently against hers. A faint touch, a mere hint at what his lips could feel like possessing hers. Then he pulled away. The fleeting touch was so entrancing, so erotic, she remained still, swaying toward him, until he touched her face.
“If we kiss any more, our new first date is going to end up pretty much like the original.”
Elizabeth blinked. For a moment she really couldn’t find a problem with that. Then she realized she’d degraded to pretty much what she’d been just a few days ago. Acting totally on sensation, on need.
Except this was more dangerous, because with this kiss she also felt emotions that she knew she shouldn’t. Emotions that she was liking far too much.
Still, she didn’t suggest they stop. She didn’t demand they just let things end here. Like she knew she should. She simply wanted him too much.
“Okay, are you ready to go inside?”
She noticed that he was casting a rather wary look at the bar’s entrance.
“We really don’t have to do this. I appreciate your thought of going back to where we met, but I do realize my brothers are a bit—intimidating.”
Jensen frowned at her comment, then straightened, his broad shoulders straining against his button-down dress shirt. Oh, if he were undead or immortal in any way, her brothers would be in big trouble. Jensen had a fine, fine physique—he just didn’t have anything paranormal on his side.
For a moment, guilt hit her again. Then she cast it aside. She wanted this man so, so badly. And she’d never wanted anyone like this. She’d never believed it possible, really. She just couldn’t let it go. Call her selfish. She
was
selfish. But she just couldn’t turn him away. Not while he wanted her, too.
“Let’s go in,” he said, opening his door.
She started to reach for the handle, too, then she saw that he was coming around. She waited as he opened the door for her. Again she was struck by what a gentleman he was, reminding her of her life so long ago. When she’d been a real lady—and he would have been the type of man she’d had a right to marry.
It was too appealing, too wonderful to let go of now.
She accepted his hand as he helped her down from the cab of the truck.
“My brothers really are very nice,” she suddenly felt the need to say, knowing that if they knew Jensen, they would agree that he was the type of man she’d expected to be with. For a moment, Brody flashed through her mind. Huge, unkempt, coarse. He wasn’t even close to what anyone would have thought she’d be with.
She pushed that thought aside. She didn’t want to go there. Too much guilt was involved, too much regret.
Not about Jensen, she realized. But about why she’d made the choices she had earlier in her life. She wished she’d been stronger. But as Mina said, she had made her choices to survive.
“So you have three brothers?”
She nodded. “Three too many, huh?”
Jensen grinned. “Well, you are loved, that’s for sure. Are you the baby?”
The question gave her pause. How did she answer? She had been the baby, but now she was actually older than Sebastian. Sebastian was eternally twenty-five, and she was about twenty-seven now. Werewolves did age, just very slowly. But given birth order...
“Yes, I’m the baby.”
“Well, it’s good to have family that cares about you.”
She noticed he struggled not to wince as he pulled open the door to the bar.
“Jensen, we really don’t need to go here.”
“I want to,” he assured her, the slight set of his jaw stating that he wasn’t going to leave, no matter how many times she asked. He was determined to do this, and she realized his decision was based on him showing her brothers that he was not intimidated by them.
She smiled slightly. That realization was oddly appealing. And oddly sweet.
“It is good to have family,” she said, deciding if he wasn’t going to be dissuaded, they might as well go back to what they were discussing. And she did love her brothers—having them back was one of the most important things in her life. She wanted Jensen to know that. “But they did act like bullies, which I intend to inform them of, repeatedly.”
Jensen shrugged—again, the movement was done gingerly. “They were looking out for you. I’d be a bully for you, too.”
She smiled at that. “Hopefully you won’t have to be.”
She slipped past him into the loud bar.
“Hopefully not tonight,” he agreed wryly.
Chapter 15
T
he bar was still crowded, despite the hour, and the band still played on the small stage usually allotted for the karaoke singers.
Elizabeth saw both Christian and Sebastian look in their direction as soon as they walked into the room. Christian started to move as if he was going to leave the back of the bar and approach them, but Jolee laid a hand on his arm and stopped him.
Sebastian continued to watch, but didn’t move from the stool he sat on beside Mina.
“So far, so good,” Elizabeth said as they found a table and sat down.
“Well, they sort of look like they want to kill me.”
Elizabeth glanced at them, slanting them a warning look of her own. Christian had the good grace to look away. Sebastian, however, watched, a curious glint in his eyes, until Mina caught his chin and leaned forward to whisper something to him, then kiss him soundly.
“Well, at least they seem to listen to their women.”
Elizabeth turned back to Jensen, smiling. “Yes. They are putty when it comes to Jolee and Mina.”
“Are they married?”
Elizabeth nodded. “Yes. Sebastian and Mina just mat—married about six months ago.”
“They are newlyweds, then.”
She nodded. “It’s funny, because Mina, that’s Sebastian’s ma—” she caught herself, “wife. She was my roommate and I didn’t even realize that she was dating my brother.”
Jensen leaned closer. “Really?”
“Yes, I... ” Again she stopped.
How did she explain why she hadn’t seen her brothers for years, literally for decades and decades. Again, Brody popped into her mind, and with that image, more guilt. How could she do this? Even attempt a normal thing like dating this man, when she could tell him so very little about herself.
Yet she heard herself continuing her story. “I actually got separated from my brothers when I was about seventeen, and I believed they were dead. I didn’t find them again until I happened to find them with Mina.”
Jensen stared at her for a moment as if he couldn’t quite believe her tale. It was pretty unbelievable, and that was the most believable part of the story.
“That’s like a fairy tale. That sort of fantasy that a kid has when you lose someone, that somehow they will come back.”
Elizabeth saw the wistful look on his face, and she started to ask him about it, when Jolee appeared at the table.
“Hi, Elizabeth. Can I get you two anything?”
Elizabeth smiled at her sister-in-law, appreciating that she was attempting to keep things normal.
“I’d like a soda.” She looked to Jensen.
“I’d like a club soda.”
Jolee nodded, giving Elizabeth a small, encouraging smile.
“I guess your sister-in-law isn’t so convinced I’m Satan,” Jensen said, obviously pleased that someone in her family thought he was okay.
“Well, from what I hear, Jolee has some experience with really evil people. Her own family, for example.”
Jensen cast a look at Jolee, who had returned to the bar to give Christian their drink order. Christian appeared reluctant to fill it, but finally did reach for two glasses.
“Well, I guess it’s good she has someone like your brother,” he said.
Elizabeth agreed.
“Hi, Elizabeth.”
They both turned to see Mina. She studied Jensen, not even disguising her curiosity.
“Mina.” Elizabeth smiled, the gesture easy because she knew her friend understood what she was feeling.
“I just wanted to meet your friend.” Mina smiled at Jensen.
Jensen responded in kind, obviously sucked in by the naively sweet quality so inherent in Mina. It was probably that same quality that brought Sebastian over to the table. He stood close to his mate.
Elizabeth cast her worries aside and answered Mina’s question.
“This is Jensen Adler. Jensen, this is Mina.”
Jensen stood and offered his hand to Mina. She accepted it, shaking it very briefly before Sebastian offered his hand.
“I’m Sebastian.” He gave a pointed look to Jensen and Mina’s clasped hands.
Jensen followed her brother’s train of thought easily and released Mina. He took Sebastian’s hand, shaking it firmly.
“Yes,” Jensen said. “I believe we met earlier.”
Sebastian’s lip quirked in amusement, which made Elizabeth immediately feel more comfortable. But, of course, she’d known Sebastian would be the easier of her two brothers. Christian was another story.
Still, she leaned toward Sebastian and murmured, “When did you get so damned alpha?”
Sebastian puffed out his chest. “I always was.” Then he looked at Mina. “Well, since I found someone I want to keep forever.”
Mina smiled adoringly at her mate.
Elizabeth glanced at Jensen, fully expecting him to find the whole scene a tad nauseating. Instead, he watched her.
For some reason, she felt her cheeks burn.
Jensen studied her for a moment longer, then smiled at Sebastian and Mina. “Why don’t you join us?”
Mina hesitated, but Sebastian readily grabbed the back of one of the chairs. “That would be great.”
Mina gave Elizabeth an
I’m so sorry
look, but she also sat down.
“So Jensen, what are your intentions with my baby sister?”
“Sebastian!”
Even though that was exactly what Elizabeth was thinking, it was Mina who cried her brother’s name.
Elizabeth threw Jensen a mortified look, but to her surprise, Jensen just laughed.
“Well, I have to admit they aren’t all pure. But mostly, I just want to be with her.”
Sebastian laughed, the answer obviously good enough for him.
As soon as the words truly registered with her, Elizabeth stared at Jensen. But before she could say anything, one of the band members, the lead singer, came over to speak with Sebastian.
Elizabeth glanced at Jensen as Sebastian introduced the musician, whose name was Ren, to the others at the table. Jensen shook the singer’s hand, and Elizabeth was again overwhelmed with the surrealism of what was going on.
A werewolf, several vampires, and a completely unaware human.
Elizabeth stopped fixating on the weirdness of the situation, only to realize that the singer was speaking to Sebastian about her.
“Yeah, I remember Elizabeth,” the singer said, giving her a wide smile.
And for the first time, she noticed his eye. Or rather the lash of his left eye. It was totally white—all pigmentation gone. She didn’t remember that, but she did recall him playing in her parents’ parlor. Then she remembered who he was... Renauldo D’Antoni, a composer who’d gained some attention in the 1800s.
“I played at your birthday,” he said.
“Yes,” Elizabeth said, hoping he would say nothing more. She didn’t want him to elaborate, and reveal things that would be hard to explain.
Renauldo must have sensed her uneasiness, because he announced that he needed to go sing some Journey and headed back to the stage.
“He played your birthday?” Jensen asked. “When?”
“When she was a teenager,” Sebastian answered, before Elizabeth could speak. Then his mouth snapped shut as he realized that might seem strange to Jensen.
And it did. Jensen looked up at Ren, assessing him. “He must have been young. He can’t be much older than we are now. Was he sixteen or so when he played your birthday?”
Elizabeth shot a glare at her big-mouthed brother.
“He’s a lot older than he looks,” Sebastian supplied, feebly.
Jensen seemed to accept that, and t
hank
fully he dropped the subject, and for a moment, Elizabeth hoped their “date” could go back to being a tad more normal. She glanced at Sebastian and Mina. Okay, not normal, but...
Just then, Jolee and Christian walked up to the table. Jolee placed a glass of soda in front of Elizabeth as Christian approached Jensen.
Elizabeth watched her brother nervously, worried that Christian might say or do something aggressive, but all he did was set a glass of club soda down on the table.
“Sorry about how I acted back at Elizabeth’s,” he said begrudgingly, and Elizabeth suspected that Jolee had made him apologize.
Jensen glanced at Jolee, obviously thinking the same thing. But he nodded. “I would be pretty angry if someone upset my sister, too.”
Christian shifted slightly, which Elizabeth found a little amusing. There was something rather funny about a tough, two-hundred-year-old vampire shuffling his feet sheepishly because his woman had called him to task.
But she was pulled out of her amusement when Jensen suggested that Christian and Jolee also join them.
“For a minute,” Jolee agreed with one of her warm smiles. “We are still pretty busy.”
Christian didn’t look as if he wanted to sit, but he did. Jolee really was a powerful lady. She knew how to keep her arrogant brother in line.
For a moment, everyone sat, uncertain what to say, the uneasiness thick in the air. But gradually, again t
hank
s to her sisters-in-law, everyone began to talk. Eventually, the conversation flowed rather easily, and Elizabeth found herself relaxing. She watched Jensen chat with her brothers, the awkwardness slowly disappearing. But while he made conversation, he also kept watching her, his gaze making her feel warm all over.
And for a moment, Elizabeth allowed herself to imagine what her life could be like with him. It was so easy to picture. He was all the things she’d believed she would have. But she couldn’t let herself imagine too much. She still was what she was, and she was tied to someone else. Jensen deserved so much more than what she could offer.
Maybe because she knew her time with this man was limited, she found she didn’t want their first official date to be spent with her family. Even though she was pleased that a truce had been reached.
Of course, before she could even figure out a tactful way to ask them to go, Christian rose.
“I guess we should let you two have a little time alone.”
This was a time when a vampire’s keen perception came in rather handy.
“Jensen and I were just discussing the pros and cons of club soda versus tonic water.”
Mina nudged him. “You can talk about that another time. I think we are interrupting.”
“No, we aren’t,” Sebastian said, genuinely confused.
“Sebastian,” Mina took her mate’s arm. “The band’s nearly finished playing.”
Sebastian frowned at her and then at the stage. Ren belted out the lyrics to a rocking ’80s hit. Again, Sebastian frowned at Mina. “They still have at least a few more songs left.”
Okay, it rather scared Elizabeth that Sebastian and Mina had followed this band enough that they seemed to have memorized the set list.
But Mina stood, her hand still on his arm. “Maybe they do, but I’m all finished listening.”
She purred the words with an allure that Elizabeth wouldn’t believe her uptight friend could pull off. But she did, very well.
Sebastian’s eyes widened with realization, then he grinned. “Yeah—sorry, Jensen. Great talk, but we have to go.”
He rose, tugging Mina along with him.
When Elizabeth looked at Jensen, he was smiling, too. They both laughed at her brother’s overeager behavior.
“Your brothers are actually nice,” he said, once they had stopped chuckling.
“Yes. They are. Do you have any siblings?”
Jensen shook his head. “No. Just me. My mother and father might have planned to have more kids. I’m not really sure. They were killed in a car crash when I was six.”
Elizabeth reached across the table and touched his hand. “I’m sorry.”
Jensen shrugged. “I don’t really remember them. My granddad and grandmother raised me. They were really the only parents I ever knew. And in truth, losing my grandmother was harder than losing my parents. That sort of sounds terrible, doesn’t it?”
Elizabeth shook her head. “No. Not at all. My parents died when I was thirteen. It was terrible, but it was far worse when I thought I’d lost my brothers. They were the ones who’d taken care of me after my parents died.”
“How did you lose them?”
Elizabeth fiddled with the napkin under her drink. How did she answer that? Somehow, telling him that she’d believed them all killed by an evil vampiress didn’t seem like the best idea. Or an explanation that he would even remotely believe. She couldn’t even tell him what happened to her. And these were the very reasons a real relationship was doomed.
But still she tried to find a way to explain. “I was—I thought that they had been killed, and because of that I got involved with a rough crowd.”
Jensen studied her. He’d seen this before—her reluctance to talk about her past. But he wanted to understand. The whole story seemed almost fantastical.
“How did you believe they were killed?”
She hesitated again, and he got the feeling she was weighing how much to tell. He wasn’t sure—he just saw hesitation there in her pale eyes.